MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) – The US Department of Defense is to offer medical examinations and continuous health monitoring to US troops exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq, The New York Times reports citing the Army and the Navy of the United States.
The affected US troops and veterans are expected to be examined from 2015, the newspaper states.
According to The New York Times, the order on medical checks was made by the US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. The Pentagon's decision is a response to a New York Times investigation carried out in October, which revealed lack of proper medical care for US army veterans who had been exposed to mustard gas and nerve agents during the Iraq war from 2003 through 2011.
The newspaper report revealed that at least 25 of American troops exposed to chemical substances received neither adequate medical care nor recompense for being wounded in the course of action.
Following the New York Times investigative report, Chuck Hagel ordered an investigation into the issue.
"The secretary's [Chuck Hagel's] expectation is that service members and their families are going to get the care and support that they need. And if they aren't, he wants to make sure that leadership addresses that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at the press briefing on October 15.
The Pentagon keeps the number of incidents involving chemical exposure secret, as the disclosure could potentially result in weapon stockpiles falling into hands of terrorists in Iraq, The New York Times reports.
Maj. Gen. Gary H. Cheek, deputy commanding general of the US Army, said the poor treatment of the soldiers was disturbing, but he justified Pentagon's secrecy behind the incidents.
"These are some of the rationales for keeping this stuff within secret channels," Cheek said as quoted by The New York Times.
The old chemical stockpiles in Iraq are the legacy of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's. During the United States invasion of Iraq, the troops encountered and destroyed old weapon arsenals. As a result some of them were accidentally injured by chemical substances stored nearby.
