Journalist Catherine Herridge is reporting that newly leaked military memos reveal United States military members were exposed to several toxic agents, which include radioactive materials, after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on their base in January 2020. Along with this, Herridge is also reporting that a retired Army JAG is claiming that courts and the Justice Department have now “sided with Iran,” and that service members injured in the attack have been blocked from suing Iran.
The article, published by the U.K.’s Daily Mail, goes on to state that as of this writing, neither President Joe Biden’s administration nor anyone else has publicly acknowledged that U.S. soldiers were put at risk by exposure to radioactive fallout. The attack on the Al Asad base was in retaliation for former President Donald Trump issuing a strike on Jan. 3, 2020, that killed top-ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guard member General Qassem Soleimani. A total of 11 warheads, each one weighing close to 1,600 lbs, hit the air base.
“Iran’s attack on Al Asad was launched in retaliation for the US strike, ordered by former President Donald Trump on January 3, 2020, that killed top Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani. Alan Johnson, a retired flight surgeon, who was stationed at Al Asad at the time of the strike, told me, ‘None of us really should have survived and we weren’t expected to survive,’” Herridge wrote.
‘The amount of percussive force that travels through your body, you can’t really put words to that,’ Johnson went on to say before detailing how one of the missiles detonated just 60 feet from a bunker where he had taken shelter.
‘If you fell off [a] fourth-story roof onto your back and survived, that’s probably what it felt like… I was knocked unconscious twice from two different impacts,’ he further elaborated.
“I first reported on the Al Asad attack in 2021 while working at CBS News. Then, our investigation revealed that dozens of service members with traumatic brain injuries from the strike were not immediately recognized with the ‘Purple Heart’ – a military decoration awarded to those wounded or killed while serving,” Herridge continued in her report. “After our report, the Army quickly moved to retroactively approve the awards. Three years later, I have confirmed that some of the same injured service members, now in their 20s and early 30s, are sick – and that they attribute their illnesses to exposure to fallout from Iran’s strike.”
There is also evidence, which includes samples of soil, and Army reports that provide credence for their suspicions. Herridge stated that there is an official Army memorandum that is dated April 28, 2021, that was handed out to service members who were at Al Asad airbase during the Iranian missile attack. There were other memos put out into circulation with the title: “Exposure to Hazardous and Toxic Materials.
Part of the document, two pages in length, reads, ‘Purpose: To identify and record exposure to hazardous and toxic material for all assigned or attached to [U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command] while forward deployed to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq (AAAB) from 15 JAN 2020 to 13 FEB 2020.’ Herridge says that members of military personnel who received the memo were then told they needed to keep the document in case they experienced an illness later down the road.
“These official Army memos provide service members with proof of exposure to toxic materials and can facilitate what’s known as a ‘service connection.’ Verification of ‘service connection’ enables a soldier to receive financial and medical benefits for illness or injury,” Herridge wrote in the article. “On the second page of the memo is a chart labeled ‘Soil Sample results from ’15 JAN 2020.’ The January 15 date confirms that the soil sample was taken by US Army investigators seven days after Iran’s attack.”
The chart reveals 19 materials, some of which are radioactive elements and heavy metals, all detected in the sample. Other records have revealed the soil sample was collected near the impact site of a missile that has been labeled “missile 6” by investigators. Drone footage captured of the attack by U.S. Central Command, says that “missile 6” is one of the warheads that had a very large heat signature, one of the largest, that was used in the strike on the base.
Herridge revealed, “At my request, four independent environmental specialists reviewed the records, most have experience analyzing military records and conducting toxic exposure evaluations of military sites. Two of the specialists, who spoke on background citing the sensitivity of the subject, raised concerns about radioactive elements, including Actinium-228, Bismuth-214 and Cesium-137, saying they seemed ‘out of place’ at the site of a conventional explosion.”
Later in the report, Herridge says that a spokesman for the Army stated the materials involved in the assault on Al Asad airbase were not of a high enough level to cause any threat to the soldiers’ health. ‘No hazards or chemicals were found to exceed Military Exposure Guidelines… [and] no elevated risk was identified. Therefore, no active personnel monitoring was deemed necessary,’ the spokesman’s statement read. For many members of the military, the assurance offered in the statement is lacking.
“Retired Army Judge Advocate General, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Broadbent is now representing 183 plaintiffs — who include the former soldiers and their families — in a sweeping court case. Broadbent recently retired after 23 years of military service representing the legal interests of the Army and its soldiers. He told me, ‘We’re going to have another Agent Orange situation,’” Herridge wrote in the report.
For those who may not know, Agent Orange was used during the Vietnam War by our military in order to clear away brush and other vegetation that served as shelter for the Viet Cong. It eventually was connected to various health conditions such cancer, heart disease, and even Parkinson’s.”Ten years down the road, these service members are going to be out [of the military] and they’re going to be dying and they’re not going to be cared for,” Broadbent stated. He then said that he wants to see Iran held accountable for the assault on the base, though it has been a struggle to make that happen.
“Earlier this year, a federal court broke with long-standing precedent and dismissed his lawsuit, Hansen V. Islamic Republic of Iran. Broadbent believes that these soldiers are still due their day in court – and is calling on Congress to amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and allow their lawsuit to go forward. Broadbent said Congress can add one word to the legislation to make clear that nation-states are still liable for attacks, such as the strike on Al Asad. Iran’s intent was to kill service members, but miraculously all the soldiers survived,” Herridge said.
