NYT reporter C.J. Chivers: U.S. soldiers wounded by chemical weapons in Iraq, told to keep quiet
The United States knows that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction. The UK knows they have Weapons of Mass Destruction. Any country on the face of the earth with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction.Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
In the lead-up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld couldn't have been much more definitive. The invasion was justified -- indeed necessary -- because of Saddam Hussein's arsenal of chemical and biological weapons.
The war in Iraq was barely a year old when serious doubts about that threat began to emerge. And by the fall of 2004, even Charles Duelfer -- the CIA Director's Special Advisor on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction -- was telling the President it just wasn't true.
Chief Weapons Inspector Charles Duelfer has now issued a comprehensive report that confirms the earlier conclusion that Iraq did not have the weapons that our intelligence believed were there.George W. Bush, former U.S. President
That's how the story stayed for the better part of the last 10 years. Critics say it was a flawed justification for an unjust war. Others argue the motivation doesn't matter if one less dictator was abusing his people.
But now, New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers has uncovered a new -- and potentially even more damning -- chapter in this story.
• The Secret Casualties of Iraq's Abandoned Chemical Weapons -- C.J. Chivers, The New York Times
According to him, there were plenty of chemical weapons in Iraq, just not the ones the U.S. Miltary expected or wanted to find. He also found that at least 17 American soldiers were hurt by those weapons. Some didn't get the medical attention they should have. And what's more, the whole thing appears to have been deliberately hidden by the military.
C.J. Chivers is a Senior Writer with The New York Times, a contributor to Esquire Magazine and a former U.S. Marine. He was in Rhode Island.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, spokesman for U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, declined to address specific incidents detailed in the Times investigation. But he told them that the military's health care system and awards practices were under review, and that Mr. Hagel expected the services to address any shortcomings.
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This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott.