According to some military and science experts, the U.S. military has been using the equivalent of dirty bombs in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom; and the resulting contamination is biogenetically affecting U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and civilians and will continue to do so for generations to come.
The Louisiana House of Representatives became the first legislative body in the nation to acknowledge the toxic effects of depleted uranium (DU) when it passed a bill on Tuesday that guarantees DU testing for war veterans as a medical benefit. The bill passed by a vote of 101-0. No state expenses will be incurred since the federal government subsidizes the $170 test. The bill will become law if passed by the state Senate and signed by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
"The Army calls it the silver bullet. But the team that was assigned to go in and clean up after the first Gulf War was one hundred men," said Ret. Marine Corps Command Sgt. Maj. Bob Smith, who served three tours of duty in the elite Green Berets during the Vietnam War. "A third of them are already dead," he said. Smith is responsible for bringing the issue to the attention of House Rep. Jalila Jefferson. Jefferson enlisted House Rep. Juan LaFonta, who agreed to sponsor the bill. "Louisiana is very service friendly," LaFonta said. "We're concerned about our troops."
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Army officials assembled a team to clean up the DU contaminated tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. Most team members became sick within 48 hours, with the first cancers developing within nine months and first deaths from lung cancer within two years. Today, 14 years later, some veterans are still attempting to obtain medical testing and care, but say that military and Veterans Administration (VA) officials simply refuse to provide mandated services.
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