(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – In a disgraceful situation, the initial US military forces sent overseas following the September 11 attacks are grappling with radiation exposure, a condition that remains unrecognized by the government 23 years later, with even infamous leftist comedian Jon Steward fighting for them.
In early October 2001, special operations forces were deployed to a defunct Soviet base in Uzbekistan, from where they initiated the earliest attacks on the Taliban in Afghanistan.
This included the clandestine horseback mission portrayed in the film “12 Strong.”
Over a span of four years, the Karshi-Khanabad base, also known as K2, hosted over 15,000 U.S. troops.
While stationed there, the troops discovered patches of yellow powder near bunkers that had housed Soviet missiles.
Tests confirmed this substance was radioactive uranium, as per a November 2001 declassified assessment by the Defense Department.
Decades later, numerous K2 veterans have developed cancers, kidney disorders, and other health issues linked to radiation exposure.
Yet, these conditions from K2 exposure are not recognized under the PACT Act—a significant veterans’ aid legislation President Joe Biden enacted in 2022.
“K2 veterans were the tip of the spear. They were the first group deployed in the war on terror, and they are still on a lazy Susan of bureaucratic nonsense, keeping them from getting the benefits and health care that they earned,” Stewart stated in an interview with The Associated Press, cited by Newsmax.
Stewart is actively advocating for the Biden administration to ensure full coverage for K2 veterans.
He participated in a Monday meeting discussion between veterans and the Defense Department’s assistant secretary for health affairs.
An initial assessment by an Army health team in 2001 identified uranium debris around K2 as “pellets, discrete pockets of yellow residue, and finely distributed throughout the soil.”
The report clarified that the uranium found was not depleted but rather an enriched form.
Despite such evidence, the Defense Department has not officially acknowledged the base as a radiation exposure site.
Furthermore, the Department of Veterans Affairs hasn’t included it among the presumptive conditions related to service there.
The White House has emphasized its importance to President Biden but has deferred action to the respective agencies, citing a need for further information.
Analysis of the declassified K2 data from 2001 by nuclear specialist Arjun Makhijani revealed that the radiation levels at K2 were up to 40,000 times higher than normal background radiation levels.
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