U.S. troops as victims in our own war

[BeHereNow]

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2003/09/09/6429

Excerpt:

By Joel T. Helfrich
U.S. troops in Iraq are annoyed with their treatment by
the U.S. government. Julian Borger, writing for The
Guardian in late August, said many bitter editorials
have lately appeared in, of all places, the Army Times. One
editorial said, “In recent months, President (George W.)
Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have missed
no opportunity to heap richly deserved praise on the
military.” The editorial continues, “But talk is cheap — and
getting cheaper by the day, judging from the
nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are getting lately.”
Similar statements from military personnel and their families
could be heard on National Public Radio and other
mainstream sources at various points throughout this past
summer.

How might we take seriously this dissent in the military, given
that veterans from the Persian Gulf War are suing chemical
corporations from France, Germany, Switzerland and the
United States who sold chemical weapons to former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein during the 1980s? According to The
Associated Press, “The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages
for more than 100,000 soldiers who it alleges suffered severe
injuries and staggering economic losses after they were
exposed to chemicals when coalition forces blew up Iraqi
ammunition dumps.” The veterans are urging the
corporations to “reject future requests for business from
tyrants around the globe.”

In other news, on Aug. 21, CBS News correspondent Sharyl
Attkisson reported that the U.S. military, which touted its
supposedly successful, death-free inoculation campaign of
half a million U.S. soldiers for the most recent war with Iraq, is
not telling the entire truth. Attkisson notes, for example, that
army reservist Rachel Lacy received her military shots last
spring and died shortly after because of her “recent
smallpox and anthrax vaccinations.” Still, Attkisson said, “The
military doesn’t mention Lacy under ‘Noteworthy Adverse
Events’ in an article in the Journal of the American Medical
Association touting its smallpox vaccine success.”

God, this makes me ANGRY!
BHN