Ladybbird

British Troops Knowingly Exposed to Toxic Chemicals During Iraq War

US Troops Exposed to Toxic Chemicals During Iraq War

BBC 15 MAR 2024







Image: British veterans say they are experiencing health problems after guarding the Qarmat Ali site. (Clockwise L-R: Ben Evans, Craig Warner, Eric Page, Darren Waters, Tim Harrison, Tony Watters and Andy Tosh)


British troops 'knowingly exposed' to toxic chemical during Iraq war tell of cancer battles and daily nosebleeds


Nearly 100 RAF soldiers were ordered to guard the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in 2003. They didn't know it was covered in sodium dichromate, a deadly chemical that causes cancer.




Sergeant Andy Tosh in Iraq


Iraq war veteran Andy Tosh points to his nose where he was treated for skin cancer and shows the red marks on his hand.


His health has been permanently damaged - not by the baking heat of the Iraqi desert, he says, but by a toxic chemical at the industrial site he was ordered to guard.

"It's clear British troops were knowingly exposed," the 58-year-old former RAF sergeant says.

US soldiers would escort a convoy of KBR workers to Qarmat Ali on day trips, where they worked under the protection of British RAF troops.







Image: The site was in disrepair when they arrived. Pic: Andy Tosh



"It was like a scrapyard," says Jim Garth, a former corporal who was deployed to Iraq after serving in Northern Ireland.

Amid the chaos of the invasion, much of the site had been looted for metal. Leaking chlorine gas canisters lay on the ground.

But what could not be explained were the nosebleeds, rashes and lesions suffered by UK troops stationed there, say the former servicemen, and among the US soldiers who visited the site.

"I noticed a rash on my forearms," Mr Tosh said. "I'd operated in other hot tropical countries, I've never had a rash like I had on my forearms.

"Other members of our teams had different symptoms but at the time we had no idea why."

It was a mystery.





Qarmat Ali feature


Image: Workers appeared wearing hazmat suits and respirators and put up the warning sign. Pic: Andy Tosh


That is, until two workers in hazmat suits and respirator masks turned up in August 2003 and put up a sign with a skull and crossbones on it.

"Warning. Chemical hazard. Full protective equipment and chemical respirator required. Sodium dichromate exposure" the sign read.


"We were shocked," Mr Tosh added. "We'd already been on that site for months, being exposed.

"It was a different type of threat that none of us could really understand."





Image: Andy Tosh in Iraq.


And the yellowy orange powder wasn't just on the ground, it was blown around in the wind, Mr Garth says.

"So unbeknownst to us it was all around us all the time," he added.

An investigation by the US defence department found service members and civilians were "unintentionally exposed" to toxic chemicals.


Sky News can reveal that nearly 100 British troops may have been exposed to sodium dichromate while guarding the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in 2003.

Ten British veterans who guarded the plant have now spoken publicly about their ordeal - and say they feel "betrayed" by the UK government after struggling with a range of health problems, including daily nosebleeds, a brain tumour and three who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Described as a "deadly poison", sodium dichromate is a known carcinogen. The ground at Qarmat Ali was covered in it, according to the former servicemen.

The Ministry of Defence says it is willing to meet the veterans to work with them going forward - but the former troops say they want answers and accountability.

Lord Richard Dannatt, former chief of the UK general staff, called for a "proper investigation" into what happened.

He told Sky News: "And if the health of some of these service people has been affected, then I guess there probably is a case for at least medical support, if not compensation."

'It was like a scrapyard'

In the opening months of the Iraq war, around 88 British troops were deployed to Qarmat Ali, providing an armed guard detail round the clock.

Located near Basra, Qarmat Ali was built in the 1970s to pump water through a network of pipes in order to flush out oil nearby.

Wearing heavy combat gear, British soldiers endured baking 50C heat in the day and listened to rocket fire from insurgents at night as they patrolled the industrial facility.

What they didn't know was that the place was contaminated with sodium dichromate, a chemical used to prevent corrosion.

Before the US took over the site, the water was filtered and treated with sodium dichromate to increase the life of pipelines, pumps, and other equipment.





Image: Sodium Dichromate is highly carcinogenic.



It's a type of hexavalent chromium, a group of compounds made famous by the 2000 film Erin Brockovich, which dramatised the contamination of water around a California town.




Members of the military described how thousands of bags of the orange powder were kept in a building with no roof, some of them ripped open, exposing their contents to the wind. Others were spread throughout the facility.

UK veterans want answers - and an apology

Now discharged from the military, and two decades after they were posted to Qarmat Ali, the British veterans say they want the Ministry of Defence to take responsibility.

"Is it a cover up? I don't want to believe it, but it's true," Mr Garth says.

Mr Tosh adds: "I'd hate to think, nowadays, out of the number of people who went there, how many people are ill or maybe have passed away."








US TROOPS


During the Iraq war, American soldiers were unknowingly exposed to old chemical weapons long abandoned by Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The story of the troops who were injured trying dismantle the contaminated weapons has been kept secret


In a statement to Sky News, US KBR said: "The company was performing work at the direction of the US Army under the extreme and continually-evolving conditions of wartime Iraq.

"KBR abided by the war zone chain of command. KBR reasonably, timely, and repeatedly notified the US Army of sodium dichromate at the facility upon discovering it, and acted promptly to address it. All of the claims made against KBR were dismissed by US courts.

"KBR is a proud supporter of US and Allied forces and serve these nations with integrity and honour.",,, BULLOCKS..