Mystery Illness Causing Major U.S. Casualties in Iraq

The overwhelming majority of soldiers sent home for recovery from the current Persian Gulf War were not injured in combat but probably by a doctor’s needle. Were some “shot to death” by vaccinations?

 

By James P. Tucker Jr

 

About 6,000 soldiers have been sent home for recovery since Persian Gulf War II began, but of these, only 1,200 were wounded in combat. Many of the others are suffering illnesses that leave them so physically and emotionally disabled the military has no choice but to discharge them.

Why would healthy young men who have known the rigors of basic training become so ill, so quickly and in such large numbers? This is being intensely debated inside the Pentagon.

A series of anthrax and smallpox vaccinations are blamed by some for leaving soldiers so gravely ill they have difficulty breathing and sleeping and experience loss of memory. Others have been diagnosed with lupus and heart ailments. At least six died shortly after receiving their shots. But the Pentagon has rejected such claims in such a routine and intimidating manner that many GIs say they no longer report the illness. They’re told to “suck it up” and move on.

But an outbreak of more than 100 suspected cases of pneumonia among soldiers serving in Iraq and southwestern Asia has caused concern in Congress.

Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) held eight hearings on the safety of the vaccine while chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations. He issued an angry report that found serious safety and regulatory problems with the vaccine.

The Pentagon reluctantly admitted that two soldiers—Spc. Joshua Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo. and Sgt. Michael Tosto, 24, of Apex, N.C.—died from complications arising from pneumonia on July 12 and June 17, respectively. The Army is investigating their deaths. But more have been reported.

Family members of Army Spec. Zeferino Culunga, 20, of Bellville, Tex. and Staff Sgt. Richard Eaton, 37, of Guilford, Conn. told Insight magazine that their sons died in August after being diagnosed with pneumonia. A third death involved Spec. Rachael Lacy of Lynwood, Ill. According to her autopsy, “smallpox and anthrax vaccinations” contributed to her death on April 4 after she had first been diagnosed with pneumonia.

“We as a family are concerned that we are not being told the truth,” the family of Neusche wrote Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They, like other families, asked to see medical records in order to get a second opinion on the cause of death.

But the Pentagon persists in denial. “In 200 years of vaccinations, no vaccine has ever been shown to cause pneumonia, and there are multiple reasons to believe that the vaccines have no role,” Col. John Grabenstein, deputy director for clinical operations at the Military Vaccine Agency, told United Press International.