On October 24th, we remembered the 2000th American killed in action in Iraq. We started this invasion to neutralize an imminent threat, then when no weapons of mass destruction were found, the cause shifted to regime change. When Saddam was captured in a "spider hole," obviously not in control, the next step was democratization. What's next, terrorists with WMDs? I look for the word for what we are doing there and I can't find it. Collin Powell was right when he said, "you break it, you own it" and the price has been high. I had the privilege of observing October 24th in a very solemn place, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
My son was admitted to Walter Reed last Friday. After suffering a relapse of leukemia brought on by the stresses of combat in 130-degree heat and poor nutrition, his body went into revolt and the mutations of blood cells started to take over his body. Many now have asked me if it was the depleted uranium that caused the relapse, and I don't know. Many hundreds of thousands of armor-penetrating rounds have been expended all over Iraq. I know, because I used to buy those rounds for the Air Force. I know, because I was involved in anti-armor munitions studies when I was at the Pentagon. I know, because this was a hot issue in 1996 when the Army tested a new round that failed a vital test and the DU industry was truly in jeopardy. But it was your congressmen in the areas vital to that industry that won the day. My guess is that they haven't had any children exposed to DU in Iraq. I never wanted the DoD to buy these weapons then and I hope they have stopped now. But the United States military used them because they were very effective and I now wonder how many children in Iraq have now died from the exposure to this highly radioactive substance.
I have now talked with several oncologists who are seeing the number of soldiers, now cancer victims, returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They keep telling me that the numbers are still in the normal range when compared to a normal population. I don't believe them. One told me that there were five to six a week coming through Germany from Iraq. That is not normal. The social worker in Ward 71 at Walter Reed, the cancer ward, expressed to me that she has a file drawer full of records of cancer patients that only two years ago was pretty much empty. That's not normal. She wishes to stay off record but, if ask to testify before Congress or a court, she has no hesitation.
I now ask if we are going to turn our eyes away when we leave this mistaken, misled adventure. For those suffering months of chemotherapy and bone morrow transplants, will this be another thirty years of legal debate like it was for Agent Orange? Are we going to ignore those children in Iraq that will continue to suffer a very agonizing death from mutated blood cells that cannot function properly? Is anyone looking into this? I ask you to ask your senators and representatives those questions.