CHR - Episode#3 Adding Insult to Injury

Top Line

BREAKING 

Leaked Military Memos Indicate US soldiers Were Exposed to Potentially Toxic Agents Including Radioactive Materials After Iran’s JAN 2020 Ballistic Missile Attack On Their Base.

Retired Army JAG Says Both The Courts And The Biden-Harris DOJ Have “Sided with Iran.”

Injured Service Members Blocked From Suing Iran Abandoning Long Standing Precedent.

“It’s not about getting Iran to pay. It’s about holding them accountable.”

“We’re going to have another Agent Orange.”

“Congress has got to act”

CONTEXT

Iran’s current regional threat impacts US service members at a key air base in Iraq called Al Asad. These service members are at the center of vital national security operations and they know what it means to be in Iran’s crosshairs.

Deep Dive

Iran’s assault on the Al Asad airbase in Iraq on January 8th 2020 remains the largest ballistic missile attack on American forces in US history.

And now, leaked military memos, reviewed by our investigative team, suggest that US service members were also exposed to potentially toxic and hazardous agents, including radioactive materials.

“We're going to have another Agent Orange situation,” Retired LTC Robert Broadbent warned.

Broadbent, an Army JAG, recently retired after 23 years of service. He filed the lawsuit against Iran on behalf of injured service members and their families.

“Ten years down the road, these service members are going to be out and they're going to be dying and they're not going to be cared for,” Broadbent explained. “And the VA's going to say, ‘Well, it wasn't service connected.’ ”

I first reported on the Al Asad attack in 2021 when our investigation at CBS News revealed dozens of service members with traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, were not immediately recognized with the Purple Heart.   After our report, the Army Awards team moved quickly to retroactively approve the long delayed acknowledgement of their injuries.

Three years later, I have confirmed that some of the same service members, in their 20’s and early 30’s, are now sick. They blame the fallout from Iran’s ballistic missile attack on their base in Iraq and there is evidence, including soil sample testing, that appears to support their suspicions.

But first, let’s back up for context. The January 8th 2020 attack was Iran’s retaliation for the US strike that killed its top general Qassem Soleimani days earlier — 11 warheads struck the Al Asad air base, each weighing about 1600 pounds.

As part of our investigations, photos of the aftermath were shared with our investigative team.

Alan Johnson, a retired flight surgeon, said of the ballistic attack, “None of us really should have survived and we weren't expected to survive.”

“The amount of percussive force that travels through your body, you can't really put words to that,” Johnson said, describing how one missile detonated 60 feet from their bunker that was designed to only withstand much smaller munitions. “If you fell off your fourth story roof onto your back and survived, that's probably what it felt like. You lose your hearing…I was knocked unconscious twice from two different impacts.”

Johnson selflessly came forward to our team because he had the back of his soldiers. During the investigation we learned of a cluster of illnesses including Johnson.

As part of our commitment to transparency, CHR newsletter is posting the highlighted documents for independent review and analysis.

The 28 April 2021 “MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD” has the subject line “Exposure to Hazardous and Toxic Materials.”   Special Operations Aviation Regiment (ARSOA) directed service members to annotate the exposures in their personnel files. 

You can think of these toxic exposure memos like insurance policies.  If a service member gets sick five years down the road, the exposure memo in their file can help make the “service connection” link. Important medical and financial benefits flow from “service connection.”

The two page memo reads in part, “Purpose: To identify and record exposure to hazardous and toxic material for all assigned or attached to ARSOA while forward deployed to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq (AAAB) from 15 JAN 2020 to 13 FEB 2020.”

“All US military assigned or attached to ARSOA who served in this area for more than two weeks are directed to annotate this exposure….”

Page 2 contains a chart labeled “Soil Sample results from 15 JAN 2020.” It lists nearly two dozen results covering radiation, heavy metals among others. The date, JAN 15, confirms the soil sample was taken seven days after Iran’s attack.

Based on additional records reviewed by our team, the soil sample was collected at or near the impact site of missile 6. Based on unclassified drone video of the attack released by CENTCOM, missile 6 had one of the largest heat signatures.

Johnson said he was surprised to see the testing data, and based on research, the results reflect “potentially, profoundly dangerous” materials.

We asked four independent environmental specialists to review the records.

Two of the specialists, who spoke on background citing the subject’s sensitivity, raised concerns about radioactive elements, including Actinium-228, Bismuth-214 and Cesium-137, saying they seemed “out of place” with a conventional explosion.

Olli Heinonen, who served for 27 years at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, said the mix of toxic agents is potentially concerning and the identification of radioactive elements stood out.

"Uranium, which in nature contains Bismuth-214, was used in the Middle East during the Gulf War in warheads. To understand whether it is actually the case now would require having the actual concentration of uranium and its chemical composition from the samples."

"Cesium-137 is also in nature as a result of nuclear weapons tests, and as a result of the Chernobyl accident.  With regard to Cesium-137, the actual concentration of it in samples would be beneficial. If there is a high actual concentration, it could be a warning shot indicating possible use of it in a dirty warhead.  Before such a conclusion can be reached, more information is definitely needed."

Heinonen said these radioactive elements are not typically found in conventional warheads, but was cautious about drawing conclusions.

A fourth specialist, Robert Brounstein, who specializes in occupational safety and health, said of the readings for Cesium-137, “a health concern does not appear to be apparent.”

According to the Al Asad lawsuit filed by Broadbent’s team, several other materials - including Chromium, Chrysene, Mercury and Pyrene — are “known or probable causes of cancer and other chronic or fatal disease in humans, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).”

For Broadbent, the Al Asad litigation is personal. He has served in some of the same units. His plaintiffs include 65 service members and two contractors who suffer from traumatic brain injuries.

Broadbent said the group was initially reluctant to sue Iran because they were scared of retaliation, “Iran's never going to pay. And all of these plaintiffs know that because it's not about getting Iran to pay. It's about holding Iran accountable.”

A federal law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act blocks citizens from suing nation-states but there are exceptions, including terrorism.  Earlier this year, a Federal court dismissed the Al Asad suit, Hansen V. Islamic Republic of Iran, concluding the exception did not apply.  

“We have 183 total plaintiffs that are part of this case, and the court dismissed the case,”  Broadbent explained. “They said a death had to occur for the exception to apply. Congress created that exception decades ago to open the door to prosecute Iran, adding ‘attempts’ were included in the interpretation by the courts for 30 years.”

Broadbent’s legal team argued to the court there had been a death.  Sergeant Jason Quitugua was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury after Iran’s attack and struggled to get help.  The 22 year-old took his own life in October 2021, 21 months after Iran’s historic strike.

“We had one of the pre-eminent traumatic brain injury experts in the nation look at his case,” Broadbent explained.  

“And the medical opinion was that Jason's death was directly related to the traumatic brain injury that he received in the attack.”  Broadbent emphasized, “And the court said, you know what? That death doesn't count.”

The District Court judge wrote in the June opinion, “…the weight of evidence suggests that Iran did not intend to compel or induce Sergeant Quitugua’s suicide. Rather, it fired eleven 3,000-pound missiles at the Al-Asad airbase, likely intending death from the missiles themselves.”

“Nor have the plaintiff’s presented any evidence that the intentional missile barrage carried a natural and foreseeable effect of inducing a traumatic brain injury that led to suicide.”

Asked if the court’s decision to dismiss the case because no one died minimized the severity of Iran’s attack, Johnson said yes, adding it also diminished the service of his fellow service members and the life of Jason Quitugua.

Broadbent went further.

Asked if it’s a fair assessment US service members are taking a backseat to Iran and politics, Broadbent said, “The recent decision and the position taken by the Department of Justice subordinated the interest of US service members to Iran.”

In a similar case involving Iran, the Justice Department filed a friend of the court brief that stated, “This exception is inapplicable when a states carries out an act that constitutes an attempted extrajudicial killing.”

Steve Perles, who is a pioneer in this area of the law, and part of the Al Asad litigation said, “The real problem arises from the Biden administration’s advice to the Court of Appeals that the court below got it right. As it turns out, servicemembers and Gold Star families are most substantially and adversely affected by the new reading.”

Perles said the court’s interpretation breaks with precedent, and “…allows compensation for minor injuries so long as there is at least one death in an attack but disqualifies crippling life altering injuries if no one happens to have been killed in an attack intended to kill people.”

“Congress has got to step in and act,” Broadbent said. “ It is a simple fix. Congress can step in and add one word to the Act “attempts” that’s all it would take.”

“Attempted killings gets you back into the courthouse, allows you to hold Iran accountable, allows you to deter future attacks.”

Asked if a change in administration would make a difference, Broadbent said, “It could, if the administration wants to take a different tact with Iran. It absolutely could.”

Our reporting reveals there may be more to the toxic exposure allegations. A recent deployment to Al Asad airbase included dosimeters which measure radiation exposure.

Soldiers deployed to the base in 2020 told us they believe the distribution of dosimeters is a new development.

“The Department of Defense has issued or is issuing service members deployed to Al Asad with dosimeters, which is like a watch that measures radiation exposure,” Broadbent explained. 

Injured US service members from the Iran lawsuit are reaching out to Congress including Senators Cornyn, Klobuchar and Tillis to push for a legislative change to include “attempted” extrajudicial killings, and to push for much needed health surveillance by the Defense Department for toxic exposure illnesses.

Asked what it would mean to finally walk into a US Court and hold Iran accountable, Broadbent responded, “It means that Iran doesn't get a pass. It means that these service members are taken care of. It means that the administration and that the judicial branch and that Congress care about our service members and is fulfilling their obligation to their service too.”

SIT-REP

In response to nearly a dozen questions, over 6 days, an Army spokesman stated “no hazards or chemicals were found to exceed Military Exposure Guidelines..(and) no elevated risk was identified.”

The Army referenced testing by the 898th Medical Detachment. Our investigation suggests testing was done by more than one unit.

The one paragraph Army statement did not address the current use of radiation watches or dosimeters at Al Asad.

A separate military source insisted they are “not aware of any chemical exposures that resulted from the 2020 attack.”

After CHR asked about the status of 8 Purple Heart packets filed in August, the Army Human Resources Command and its awards team approved the awards and provided this statement. 50 Purple Hearts have been “retroactively approved” for injured Al Asad service members.

Asked why the Biden-Harris Justice Department took a position that advantaged Iran and disadvantaged US Service members, a Department spokesman declined to comment.

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