[Peace-discuss] Today's Democracy Now Program is on soldiers contaminate ...

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/5/04 11:25:54 AM Central Daylight Time, 
pstinard at hotmail.com writes:

<< Clinton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she will 
 write to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demanding answers and soon will 
 introduce legislation to require health screenings for all returning troops.
  >>


The medical screenings have been required for years in accordance with Army 
regulations and directives  but they have been ignored in order to maintain use 
of uranium weapons by avioiding acknowledgement of adsverse health and 
environmental effcts. Late today when Juan Gonzales and I were discussing today's 
events he told me the daughter of one of my Gulf War 1 Depleted Uranium team 
members called him and let him know her Dad, one of my guys, had died of cancer 
due to dUI exposure during Gulf War 1 when we cleaned up the mess.  Please see 
www.traprockpeace.org for more information. 

Then later today I received the following press release that is an abrupt 
change for NGWRC. 

doug rokke

*************

NATIONAL GULF WAR RESOURCE CENTER

Press Release
April 6, 2004
Contact:
Steve Robinson 
(301) 585-4000 
Ext. 162

Failure of the Department of Defense to follow public law in screening 
soldiers for Depleted Uranium must stop.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
(Washington, D.C.) – The National Gulf War Resource Center is very concerned 
that veterans returning from combat in Iraq are being denied testing for 
exposure to depleted uranium and potentially other hazards.

"This is an example how little has been learned about the exposures of the 
modern battlefield, it's an insult to 1991 Gulf War veterans who’s lives were 
forever changed by DoD’s failures in 1991.  The time has come for holding Dr 
William Winkenwerder personally responsible for not following public laws and 
directives designed to protect soldiers." said Steve Robinson, executive director 
of National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC). "This action represents a 
clear-cut case of misplaced priorities. Winkenwerder presides over the same office 
which asserts DU is not harmful under any circumstance.  This callous view 
towards DU and soldier’s exposures ignores the real needs of those who return 
from the war zone, and will impose undue hardship on them later when attempting 
to gain treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

"We do not accept or comprehend the logic behind DoD’s refusal to learn from 
the mistakes of the past," Robinson said. "We have had 13 years of 
Congressional hearings related to the first Gulf War and identified numerous failures to 
monitor troops while on the battlefield.  It has cost the taxpayer billions of 
dollars to research, care for and compensate veterans from the last Gulf War. 
 In the wait for science to catch up it has cost many Gulf War veterans their 
health, their homes and their livelihood, all while fighting a bureaucratic 
VA healthcare system that asks the soldier to provide the evidence to prove 
battlefield exposure .

DoD’s effort to deny soldiers DU surveillance is a gamble not worth taking.  
It is intentionally rolling the dice and hoping no one was exposed. Congress 
must act now to hold accountable anyone who would take such risks with our 
fighting men and women.  Reckless is the only way to describe it," Robinson said.

The family members of the 442nd are right to be concerned about proper DU 
screening.   Both the DoD and the VA have done a poor job of testing and 
evaluating veterans in the past, and it is hard to ignore the withholding of 
information and manipulation of study findings from the DoD DU Surveillance Program.    

The NGWRC is seeking the truth and the science behind the hazards of DU.  No 
one can say with confidence that there is no health problems related to DU 
exposures. We are calling for large scale scientific studies in Iraq and on our 
soldiers.  Now is the time for real science to take the place of spin.  We are 
in Iraq; we believe that certain DU exposures can cause health effects.  What 
excuse for not conducting the science could be worth even one soldier’s life?