Hundreds of US Troops Exposed to Chemical Agents. . . . ?

[Oscar]

More Than 600 Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq, Pentagon Acknowledges

[ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world ... .html?_r=0 ]

By C. J. CHIVERSNOV. 6, 2014

More than 600 American service members since 2003 have reported to military medical staff members that they believe they were exposed to chemical
warfare agents in Iraq, but the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may
have been injured, defense officials say. [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/inte ... ne=nyt-geo ]

The Pentagon’s disclosure abruptly changed the scale and potential costs of the United States’ encounters with abandoned chemical weapons during the
occupation of Iraq, episodes the military had for more than a decade kept from view. [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/inte ... ne=nyt-geo ]

This previously untold chapter of the occupation became public after an investigation by The New York Times revealed last month that although troops did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program, they did encounter degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden in caches or used in makeshift bombs. [ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... apons.html ]

The Times initially disclosed 17 cases of American service members who were injured by sarin or a sulfur mustard agent. And since the report was
published last month, more service members have come forward, pushing the number who were exposed to chemical agents to more than 25. But an
internal review of Pentagon records ordered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has now uncovered that hundreds of troops told the military they believe
they were exposed, officials said. [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference ... ne=nyt-per ]

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[ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world ... .html?_r=0 ]