How VP Cheney really feels about "volunteers"

How VP Cheney really feels about "volunteers"

In the past few days our surly Vice President who is normally in an "undisclosed location" surfaced to be interviewed by ABC's Martha Radditz in a now famous exchange, something to the effect that two thirds of Americans want us out of Iraq and his one word reply was "SO".
Then in this interview Cheney on ABC, on milestone of 4,000 dead


"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

If President Bush has the biggest burden, I wonder how the families of the 4,000 dead "volunteers" feel and the over 30,000 severely wounded, I am sure it bothers them that the President has this huge "burden" on him.


I have no sympathy for the Bush Administration they took this nation, by lies and manipulation into the first preemptive war this nation has ever jumped into, all based on desires of the neocons.
In the meantime they were actively working to deny Cold War veterans used in human experiments, veterans benefits that may be entitled to them for long term medical problems that could have been caused by the exposures.

These involved chemical weapons such as Sarin and Mustard Agents, drugs known as LSD, PCP, Ecstacy and Scopolomine, in all 254 substances were used at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. The experiments violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947. There were 7120 enlisted men used in this program.

There were other programs known by names as SHAD/112 between 1960 and 1973 total men used is unknown, and Operation White Coat at Fort Detrick that used biological weapons on 2100 volunteers, from 1953 thru 1972.

There have been attempts by many Congressmen to force the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Veterans Administration (VA) to find and help these men since the early 90's.

On April 28, 2005 Congressmen Lane Evans and Ted Strickland (now Governor of Ohio) sent this letter to VA Secretary James Nicholson


April 28, 2005
Honorable R. James Nicholson

Secretary

Department of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20420

Dear Mr. Secretary:

In the past, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sent letters to veterans identified as being previously exposed to hazardous chemical, biological or radiological environments while on active duty and who have the potential for presumptive or related, service-connected conditions. We have previously expressed our interest in VA providing veterans with notice of such exposure and of the potential service-connection of conditions related to that exposure. VA has sometimes been unable to provide veterans with individual notice because of difficulties collecting lists of participants exposed to the hazardous condition. We understand that VA is generally dependent on the Department of Defense (DoD) for providing such lists.

Enclosed are sealed sets of lists of names of individuals who were exposed to potentially hazardous materials while participating in tests or programs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, or Edgewood, Maryland, for the period 1954 through the present. In many cases, the lists provide specifics regarding the exposure associated with the individual's name and service number. We ask VA to provide written notice to the living veterans named on these lists who may have an illness or injury related to their participation in the programs or tests managed at the two DoD facilities listed above.

Mr. Secretary, the limiting factor in VA's due diligence in this arena has been its ability to secure lists of participants from the DoD. Our proactive approach to this issue quickly yielded the enclosed lists, which we understand contain approximately 10,000 names. We expect that you should be able to

determine address information on the living veterans through VA health and insurance records and by using VA's authority to cross match data with the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.

We ask that you provide us with a timetable for sending notice, as appropriate, to the listed individuals who you are able to determine are still alive. I am requesting this be done no later than May, 27, 2005, and to complete the mailing of all notices no later than 120 days after that date. Democratic Committee staff point of contact is Mr. Len Sistek, 202-225-9756.

Sincerely,

LANE EVANS TED STRICKLAND

Ranking Democratic Member Ranking Democratic Member

Subcommittee on Oversight

and Investigations

Enclosures as stated


On October 5, 2005 then Secretary Nicholson finally responded to their letter with this reply:

Secretary Nicholsons reply you will need to click on the link to read his response, it is posted as a photo image and I am not capable of transferring it to print.

To Summarize it though, he states their lists of 10,000 names from April, is not useful to help find these men, so he was sending it to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld where he could have DOD work on it.

Then there is this new Government Accountability Report (GAO) http://www.gao.gov/new.item s/d08366.pdf


What GAO Found
United States Government Accountability Office
Why GAO Did This Study
Highlights
Accountability IntegrityReliability
February 2008
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DEFENSE
DOD and VA Need to Improve Efforts to Identify and Notify Individuals Potentially Exposed during Chemical and Biological Tests
Highlights of GAO-08-366, a report to congressional requesters

Tens of thousands of military personnel and civilians were potentially exposed to chemical or biological substances through Department of Defense (DOD) tests since World War II. DOD conducted some of these tests as part of its Project 112 test program, while others were conducted as separate efforts. GAO was asked to (1) assess DOD's efforts to identify individuals who were potentially exposed during Project 112 tests, (2) evaluate DOD's current effort to identify individuals who were potentially exposed during tests conducted outside of Project 112, and (3) determine the extent to which DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have taken action to notify individuals who might have been exposed during chemical and biological tests. GAO analyzed documents and interviewed officials from DOD, VA, the Department of Labor, and a veterans service organization.

What GAO Recommends

GAO suggests that Congress direct DOD to develop guidance to notify potentially exposed civilians. GAO also recommends that DOD and VA take steps to improve their efforts to obtain, share, and use available information to more effectively identify and notify individuals. DOD and VA generally agreed with most of the recommendations. However, DOD did not agree with the recommendation to conduct a cost-benefit analysis regarding additional Project 112 research. As a result, GAO suggests that Congress direct DOD to conduct such an analysis.

Since 2003, DOD has stopped actively searching for individuals who were potentially exposed to chemical or biological substances during Project 112 tests, but did not provide a sound and documented basis for that decision. In 2003, DOD reported it had identified 5,842 servicemembers and estimated 350 civilians as having been potentially exposed during Project 112, and indicated that DOD would cease actively searching for additional individuals. However, in 2004, GAO reported that DOD did not exhaust all possible sources of information and recommended that DOD determine the feasibility of identifying additional individuals. In response to GAO's recommendation, DOD determined continuing an active search for individuals had reached the point of diminishing returns, and reaffirmed its decision to cease active searches. This decision was not supported by an objective analysis of the potential costs and benefits of continuing the effort, nor could DOD provide any documented criteria from which it made its determination. Since June 2003, however, non-DOD sources--including the Institute of Medicine--have identified approximately 600 additional names of individuals who were potentially exposed during Project 112. Until DOD provides a more objective analysis of the costs and benefits of actively searching for Project 112 participants, DOD's efforts may continue to be questioned.

DOD has taken action to identify individuals who were potentially exposed during tests outside of Project 112, but GAO identified four shortcomings in DOD's current effort. First, DOD's effort lacks clear and consistent objectives, scope of work, and information needs that would set the parameters for its effort. Second, DOD has not provided adequate oversight to guide this effort. Third, DOD has not fully leveraged information obtained from previous research efforts that identified exposed individuals. Fourth, DOD's effort lacks transparency since it has not kept Congress and veterans service organizations fully informed of the progress and results of its effort. Until DOD addresses these limitations, Congress, veterans, and the American public cannot be assured that DOD's current effort is reasonable and effective.

DOD and VA have had limited success in notifying individuals potentially exposed during tests both within and outside Project 112. DOD has a process to share the names of identified servicemembers with VA; however, DOD has delayed regular updates to VA because of a number of factors, such as competing priorities. Furthermore, although VA has a process for notifying potentially exposed veterans, it was not using certain available resources to obtain contact information to notify veterans or to help determine whether they were deceased. Moreover, DOD had not taken any action to notify identified civilians, focusing instead on veterans since the primary impetus for the research has been requests from VA. DOD has refrained from taking action on notifying civilians in part because it lacks specific guidance that defines the requirements to notify civilians. Until these issues are addressed, some identified veterans and civilians will remain unaware of their potential exposure.

To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on GAO-08-366.
For more information, contact Davi M. D'Agostino at (202) 512-5431 or dagostinod@gao.gov.


There are previous GAO reports on the human experimentation going back to 1994, so this problem was not exactly a new secret.

September28.1994
Human Experimentation
An Overview on Co1d.Wa.r
Era Programs

Then there is this other GAO report May 2004
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DEFENSE
DOD Needs to Continue to Collect and Provide Information on Tests and Potentially Exposed Personnel

Then there is this April 3, 2006 newspaper article from Lisa Friedman of the Los Angeles Press Telegram VA: Foot-dragging seen


In the notification letters, Pamperin said, veterans will be told the chemical they were exposed to and the dosage, and be encouraged to seek hospital tests to determine if they suffered related injuries.
"If and, hopefully, none of them have been harmed they will receive the kind of compensation they're entitled to," Pamperin said.

Rick Weidman of the Vietnam Veterans of America accused the VA of dragging its feet.

"The VA is incredibly slow," he said. "They don't really want to do it. They will screw around with that list for a year or longer, and then they'll say they cannot find a lot of the veterans. If you wait long enough, we'll all be dead."

Notices coming

Pamperin strongly disputed the criticisms.

"I understand that some frustrated veterans believe that to be true," he said. "Our responsibility is to implement (veterans' benefits) to the full extent Congress has authorized it, without regard to how much is spent," he said.


Due to this overwhelming evidence of disregard for the veterans and their families caused by human experimentation from the mid 50s thru 1975, when then Chief of Staff Dick Cheney to President Ford and Sec of Defense Donald Rumsfeld agreed to allowing the human experiments to continue when they inherited them from the Nixon administration, the disregard they have for the lost lives in the Iraq War is not surprising to me. This shows they are as bad as Saddam Hussein was, he used chemical weapons on the Kurds, a group of people he was at war with, they were trying to kill him and he did kill them.

On the other hand Rumsfeld and Cheney allowed military enlisted members to be used as human guinea pigs and now are actively working to deny them benfits at least until they leave office in January 2009, why? Because of the questions that might be put to President Bush and VP Cheney and the embarassment it would cause them? It's obvious they don't care about the soldiers.

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please go to the link and read the links available to see the entire evidence

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