Greg Szymanski / American Free Press.com – 2005-01-10 22:16:56
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/greely_breakingnews.htm
Feds Whitewash US Bio-Chemical Tests in Alaska
Greg Szymanski / American Free Press.com
http://www.rense.com/general61/bio.htm
(January 2, 2005) — President Bush extended holiday greetings to military troops this Christmas, but one gift he’ll never open is the executive order he signed, which keeps sensitive documents secret about biological and chemical testing at Fort Greely near Fairbanks, Alaska.
The president, by sealing important documents, obviously feels military health concerns were of secondary importance to protecting the Department of Defense (DOD) against potential exposure for injuries resulting from chemical testing and dumping.
What little is known about chemical and biological testing at Fort Greely has surfaced from leaked documents, eyewitness accounts and other general information provided reluctantly by the DOD after health problems began to surface by those living near the base.
Other information, scratching the surface of what really happened, has also appeared in Seymour Hersh’s book Chemical and Biological Testing: America’s Hidden Arsenal, a historical account of the base by Norman Chase and a March 2003 article entitled “Northern Exposure” in The Nation magazine by Korey Capozza.
“The real story of what went on is in the classified documents kept secret by the DOD and President Bush,” said Capozza, a critic of the recent executive order signed by Bush. “They have yet to give veterans a clear definition of possible causes of their health problems. The DOD also refuses to grant any of the veterans health care based on exposure to agents used in the secret site’s experiments.”
Ft. Greely’s Bio-War Mystery
Records show that Fort Greely, as far back as 1952 and continuing to at least 1970, was used for the explicit purpose of testing chemical and biological weapons. The base, located 100 miles southwest of Fairbanks on 640,000 acres, originally began operating in 1942 as a staging area for planes ferried to the Soviet Union during World War II.
However, seven years later a nuclear reactor was built to serve as the military’s power plant. Then in 1966, the Army began testing biological, chemical and various other weapons. The reactor was dismantled in 1973, and in 1995 the base was scheduled for closure.
But recently, under the Bush administration, the DOD proposed Fort Greely be used as a storage site for interceptor missiles in support of the space-based missile defense program.
However, what transpired on the base during the 1960s and 1970s is still heavily debated as veterans are now surfacing with what amounts to “chemical horror” stories.
Hundreds of Rockets Loaded with Sarin and VX Nerve Gas
According to several veterans who spoke to VA officials, between 1962 and 1967, the Army blasted hundreds of rockets and bombs containing sarin and VX nerve gas into the region which is densely populated by forests and wildlife.
Veterans recall canisters of VX nerve agents being indiscriminately buried approximately a mile from the Alaskan highway or tossed in a nearby frozen lake in the winter of 1966, where the canisters later sank to the bottom when the ice melted in the spring. Regular dumping expeditions were reportedly carried out until 1970, when the testing discontinued.
Now, 30 years later, veterans and civilians are coming forward with serious health concerns, but since no records are available due to Fort Greely’s top-secret status, VA officials at first had a hard time believing the veterans’ credibility.
After heavy pressure was applied by watchdog groups, the DOD has released some documents revealing the test site may have been operated with blatant disregard for human and environmental safety.
The documents also suggest that some of the deadly materials used may still be unaccounted for and buried somewhere beneath the pristine Alaskan wilderness.
Critics suggest the executive order signed by Bush was designed to protect the DOD against conclusive evidence, hiding a massive cover-up of illegal chemical and biological testing.
Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute – as long as full credit is given to American Free Press – 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bio-chemical_tests.html
• Read The News Release titled “40 Years of Government Sponsored Ecological Terrorism” BY Joyce Riley vonKleist posted Oct. 1998:
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/greely.htm
• Read The FULL TEXT Document of “INSTALLATION ASSESSMENT OF GERSTLE RIVER TEST SITE” :
http://www.gulfwarvets.com/greely/greely.html (Posted on the website Oct. 1998)
Related Articles:
• October 20, 2002
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Gov. Tony Knowles is demanding that the Department of Defense reveal all Cold War-era chemical or biological weapons testing in Alaska.
• Oct. 9, 2002
Fact Sheet from The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs)
Deployment Health Support Directive.
© The Power Hour 2003. thepowerhour@thepowerhour.com
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code for noncommercial, educational purposes.
http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/102002/ala_102002ala0030001.shtml
Gov. Knowles Demands Military Disclosure on Bio-War Tests
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE (October 20, 2002) — Gov. Tony Knowles is demanding that the Department of Defense reveal all Cold War-era chemical or biological weapons testing in Alaska.
In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Knowles also insisted that the military work with the state to investigate and, if necessary, clean up any disposal areas or unexploded projectiles and canisters at the Gerstle River test site at Fort Greely.
The test area is open to the public for subsistence hunting, gathering and recreation, Knowles said.
In tests conducted between 1962 through 1967, the military placed sarin gas and VX in artillery shells and rockets that were launched into the woods or detonated in place on the Gerstle River Test Site about 30 miles southeast of Delta Junction. The military then studied how the chemicals dispersed, including how well they stuck to mannequins dressed in cold weather gear.
Last week, the Department of Defense acknowledged the testing but said it didn’t harm people or the environment. Until then, the Army had refused to release documents about the site.
The governor has formed an eight-person team from four state agencies to work with the federal government.
