3.5
The Burn Pits
ByPublisher Description
“There’s a whole chapter on my son Beau… He was co-located [twice] near these burn pits.”
–Joe Biden, former Vice President of the United States of America
The Agent Orange of the 21st Century… Thousands of American soldiers are returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with severe wounds from chemical war. They are not the victims of ruthless enemy warfare, but of their own military commanders. These soldiers, afflicted with rare cancers and respiratory diseases, were sickened from the smoke and ash swirling out of the “burn pits” where military contractors incinerated mountains of trash, including old stockpiles of mustard and sarin gas, medical waste, and other toxic material.
This shocking work, now for the first time in paperback, includes:
Illustration of the devastation in one soldier’s intimate story
A plea for help
Connection between the burn pits and Major Biden’s unfortunate suffering and death
The burn pits’ effects on native citizens of Iraq: mothers, fathers, and children
Denial from the Department of Defense and others
Warning signs that were ignored
and much more
Based on thousands of government documents, over five hundred in-depth medical case studies, and interviews with more than one thousand veterans and active-duty GIs, The Burn Pits will shock the nation. The book is more than an explosive work of investigative journalism—it is the deeply moving chronicle of the many young men and women who signed up to serve their country in the wake of 9/11, only to return home permanently damaged, the victims of their own armed forces’ criminal negligence.
–Joe Biden, former Vice President of the United States of America
The Agent Orange of the 21st Century… Thousands of American soldiers are returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with severe wounds from chemical war. They are not the victims of ruthless enemy warfare, but of their own military commanders. These soldiers, afflicted with rare cancers and respiratory diseases, were sickened from the smoke and ash swirling out of the “burn pits” where military contractors incinerated mountains of trash, including old stockpiles of mustard and sarin gas, medical waste, and other toxic material.
This shocking work, now for the first time in paperback, includes:
Based on thousands of government documents, over five hundred in-depth medical case studies, and interviews with more than one thousand veterans and active-duty GIs, The Burn Pits will shock the nation. The book is more than an explosive work of investigative journalism—it is the deeply moving chronicle of the many young men and women who signed up to serve their country in the wake of 9/11, only to return home permanently damaged, the victims of their own armed forces’ criminal negligence.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Burn Pits Reviews
3.5
“This was fascinating and well done investigative reporting. It's shocking to me that we have been content putting our soldiers at risk for so long. Even more heart-breaking is how often their claims are denied. I just can't comprehend it.
I'm giving it three stars because it was a well explained story/problem, but was just more detailed than I needed. There were just more and more examples, which, of course was the point. I was convinced early however, so didn't necessarily need the excess. That's completely a ME problem though, hence reflected in my rating. If you are intrigued by the topic, I'd highly recommend it!”
About Joseph Hickman
Joseph Hickman spent most of his life in the military, first as a Marine, then as a soldier in both the Army and the National Guard. He has deployed on several military operations throughout the world, sometimes attached to foreign militaries. The recipient of more than twenty commendations and awards, he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal while he was stationed with the 629th Military Intelligence Battalion in Guantanamo Bay. He is currently working as freelance journalist covering national security issues, and corporate fraud. He is also an independent researcher, and Senior Research Fellow at Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Policy and Research. His revelations about the abuse of prisoners at Gitmo resulted in a National Magazine Award–winning story in Harper’s magazine and a 2015 book, Murder at Camp Delta. He has also written for Newsweek, TIME, VICE News, and Al-Jazeera America.
Other books by Joseph Hickman
Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura is the former independent governor of Minnesota. He is also a former US Navy frogman, a professional wrestler, a movie actor, a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including American Conspiracies, 63 Documents the Government Doesn’t Want You to Read, and Don’t Start the Revolution Without Me! He was the host and executive producer of truTV’s Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, which won the Stony Award from High Times magazine in 2010. He was also the host of the political talk show Off The Grid, which aired on RT America and online at Ora.tv. He has a reputation as a rebel and a freethinker, and he has no qualms about questioning authority. He spends half the year in Baja, Mexico and the other half in his home state of Minnesota.
Other books by Jesse Ventura
David Talbot
David Talbot is the New York Times bestselling author of Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and The Devil’s Chessboard. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon and has written for the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Time. He lives in San Francisco.
Other books by David Talbot
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