Delay, Deny, Hope You Die

Thousands of American soldiers returned from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with severe
illnesses from the chemical war. They are not the victims of ruthless enemy warfare, but of decisions made
by their own military commanders. These soldiers, afflicted with everything from respiratory diseases to rare cancers, were sickened by the smoke and ash swirling out of the “burn pits”, where both the military and private contractors incinerated mountains of trash. According to soldiers who served there, every type of waste was disposed of and burned, including batteries, appliances, vehicles, plastics, dead animals ... even human body parts. Ash laden with hundreds of toxins and carcinogens blackened the air and coated
the clothes, dining hall, work areas, and living areas of soldiers.
 

The burn pits were allegedly adopted as a temporary measure for waste disposal but remained open
long after alternative methods such as incineration were available. Although the government denies
there is any link between burn pit toxins and illness, internal military memos show that it was known
as far back as 2006 that there was “an acute health hazard for individuals.” Today, up to 100,000
soldiers may be sick.