Hundreds of victims of American soldiers for "chemical" Iraq

Hundreds of victims of American soldiers for "chemical" Iraq

US officials said Thursday that more than six hundred American troops since 2003, told about their exposure to chemicals in Iraq, a much larger number than previously announced by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon).

The newspaper "New York Times" the first to publish the news, revealing in a series of articles this month that American soldiers were exposed to a stockpile of obsolete chemical weapons, and sometimes asked them to remain silent on this subject.

The newspaper said quoting officials of Defense in the Pentagon did not acknowledge the number of cases of exposure to chemical agents did not follow up and provide the necessary treatment for soldiers at risk of injury.

Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the former US President George W. Bush stressed that the regime of Saddam Hussein hiding an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction usable.

US forces did not find any trace of such a program, but the remains of an old chemical stocks were not trained should also how to deal with him, according to the newspaper.

Sarin and mustard

The newspaper pointed out in the beginning to 17 injured as a result of exposure to the subjects of sarin and sulfur mustard, and eight other soldiers also were reported injury.

New review of military files by order of the Minister of Defense Chuck Hagel revealed that hundreds of soldiers had told the military authorities for exposure to chemical agents, which confirms the report of the newspaper according to officials.

Hegel conduct and ordered new medical tests for soldiers and veterans wounded fighters, officials said that the contacts held a special line for reporting cases of possible infection and access to medical care needed.

Source: French