I am a TEST VET.

We took an oath of secrecy.  Honorable men keep their oaths.  But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us.  It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.

On August 25th, I will be 51 years old.  I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes.  This all started in 1992 when I was 36.  I am in contact with 11 other "test vets" and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA

Why the hell won't anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975?   While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare.   From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.  

The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.

I think we should demand that Congress pass a simple law, requiring all Congressional members and staffers to switch from whatever health insurance coverage they have now, to Medicare. And, they should all have to enroll in the drug prescription program seniors have been forced into. After all, what's good enough for seniors should be good enough for them, right? Given a report now being circulated by familiesusa.org, it looks like the Republican medicare drug benefit has, as many would have guessed, provided the highest benefits to the drug companies, who have now RAISED their prices on the top 20 drugs seniors take.

While the VA is allowed to negotiate for best prices with the drug companies, the Medicare prescription legislation passed by Congress FORBIDS such negotiation. Is it any wonder that of the top 20 drugs taken by seniors, the costs have gone up this year and are astronomically higher than the prices the VA negotiated?

Here's a portion of the report from familiesusa.org:

It is important to remember that soldiers operate in an environment beyond our comprehension. Our current mission in Iraq is ill defined and the enemy unseen. Daily existence under such circumstances can't help but grind away at one's humanity. Furthermore, immoral leadership from the top condoning torture (Bush's so-called "regrets" notwithstanding) has filtered down to the ranks.

The recent allegations of cold-blooded murder perpetrated upon Iraqi civilians by American soldiers are the direct result of the Bush Administration's moral bankruptcy. Atrocities happen in all wars on all sides but this may be the tip of the iceberg and only what has been exposed to date. Yet while their actions should not be excused the real blame for their crimes truly resides with the political leadership that launched an illegitimate war. Both Iraqi civilians and American soldiers are victims of George Bush's foolish imperialism.

ePluribus Media has just published Blaming the Veteran: The Politics of PTSD.

Along with their PTSD Timeline, the folks at ePM hope to shine a light on the plight of veterans returning to us suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. They're not the only ones working on educating the public on this issue -- Garry Trudeau has been doing his part, too.

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau

Following up on my last diary on the award-winning comic strip, let's find out how returning character B.D. (a hard-nosed wounded Iraq combat vet and amputee) is dealing with his PTSD...