Subscribe
Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division uncovered these munitions in a large weapons cache in Iraq on Sept. 28, 2005.

Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division uncovered these munitions in a large weapons cache in Iraq on Sept. 28, 2005. (Kevin Bromley/U.S. Army)

A New York Times investigation this year found a “previously untold chapter” of the U.S. campaign in Iraq, with more than 600 servicemembers coming forward to say they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents.

These were not the chemicals of any active program to develop “weapons of mass destruction,” the Bush administration’s justification for going to war, but instead were degraded chemicals dating from the 1980s, when Iraq produced and used chemical weapons without significant U.S. pushback.

The Times originally disclosed 17 cases of U.S. servicemembers injured by sarin or a sulfur mustard agent. But soon after, more servicemembers came forward. Soon after that, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered an internal review of Pentagon records, which revealed that hundreds of troops told the military they believe they were exposed, officials said.

From 2004 to 2011, the Times wrote, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered chemical weapons from Saddam Hussein’s rule.

American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Troops and officers were instructed to be silent or give deceptive accounts of what they had found, the Times wrote. “ ‘Nothing of significance’ is what I was ordered to say,” said Jarrod Lampier, a recently retired Army major who was present for the largest chemical weapons discovery of the war — more than 2,400 nerve-agent rockets unearthed in 2006.

According to The Times, defense officials admitted late this year that the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may have been injured.

The Department of Defense revived a telephone line — 800-497-6261 — for veterans to notify the Pentagon that they may have been exposed. The line, he said, had been used for veterans reporting Gulf War-related illnesses.

Some servicemembers fear that given the lack of reporting and paperwork, they could struggle with getting long-term care in the Department of Veterans Affairs system, which requires solid documentation.

dickson.patrick@stripes.com Twitter: @StripesDCchief

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now