One of the most tragic times of the year occurs in early November, where the US publicly celebrates and honors the sacrifices of the armed forces on Veterans Day. It is terribly tragic in the sense that while we see flags being waved and the collective cries of “support the troops,” these gestures and mantras tend to ignore the fact that soldiers are still dying in treacherous mountains 7,000 miles away.

And they’re not just coming home in coffins either. They’re reuniting with their families riddled with horrific and mysterious symptoms like chronic breathing problems, sleep apnea, skin rashes, nerve damage, and cancer. This is due to the presence of “toxic burn pits” at military bases like Camp Taji and Balad Air Force Base, where 150 tons of trash is burned a day. Ever since the US began lighting up Mesopotamian skies with bombs, US troops have been consistently exposed to this toxic. Due to the great reporting of The Military Times, the cause of the symptoms becomes a little more clear.

The Pentagon denies that these burn pits have anything to do with the soldiers’ medical problems, of course, since the Five-Sided-Monster generally views 18 and 19 year-olds as mere cannon fodder anyway.

What’s pleasantly surprising though is that Congress is finally getting a backbone and proposing legislation that is setting some actual guidelines regarding this waste to help protect out soldiers. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and will be part of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act if President Obama signs it into law. Here are some of the key provisions:

• Prohibit the use of burn pits for hazardous and medical waste except if the Secretary of Defense sees no alternative;
• Require the Department of Defense (DOD) to report to the congressional oversight committees whenever burn pits are used and justify their use, and every six months to report on their status;
• Require DOD to develop a plan for alternatives, in order to eliminate the use of burn pits; further, DOD must report to Congress how and why they use burn pits and what they burn in them;
• Require DOD to assess existing medical surveillance programs of burn pits exposure and make recommendations to improve them;
• Require DOD to do a study of the effects of burning plastics in open pits and evaluate the feasibility of prohibiting the burning of plastics.

In the grand scheme of things, these measures may not seem like much. It’s a small step, but any chink in the armor of our empire is a good and necessary one.

As Veterans Day approaches, we should not look to catchphrases and slogans to honor the thousands of veterans who have lost limbs, minds, and lives. While our “leaders” dismiss the disastrous effects that our perpetual war has on the military, truly honoring our veterans means insisting that our brutal and expensive empire (with its posthumous medals, knocks on heartbroken wives’ doors, and cross-covered graves) finally comes to an end.

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For more of Robert’s work, please visit his Libertarian Examiner blog.

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