DISGRACEFUL COVER-UP – AT 7:16 A.M. ET:  It is remarkable that so little attention has been paid to this story, which started to surface recently.  I guess a lot of people don't want to know the full truth.  Might help Bush.  Or Cheney.  Can't have that.  From, ironically, The New York Times: 

More than 600 American service members since 2003 have reported to military medical staff members that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq, but the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may have been injured, defense officials say.

The Pentagon’s disclosure abruptly changed the scale and potential costs of the United States’ encounters with abandoned chemical weapons during the occupation of Iraq, episodes the military had for more than a decade kept from view.

This previously untold chapter of the occupation became public after an investigation by The New York Times revealed last month that although troops did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program, they did encounter degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden in caches or used in makeshift bombs.

The Times initially disclosed 17 cases of American service members who were injured by sarin or a sulfur mustard agent. And since the report was published last month, more service members have come forward, pushing the number who were exposed to chemical agents to more than 25. But an internal review of Pentagon records ordered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has now uncovered that hundreds of troops told the military they believe they were exposed, officials said.

COMMENT:  I love the way The Times still assures us that troops "did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program."  Actually, our inspectors did find that program.  What they didn't find were stockpiles of weapons.  But, clearly, chemical weapons were present and did damage. 

Oh, why were those chemical weapons kept?  For holiday decorations?  And what other weapons were kept that we didn't discover?

Anyone interested?  Might affect some journalistic and university careers.

November 8, 2014