My early reaction was to look for holes in his story, to somehow discern a way to discount the claims of Dr. Doug Rokke as an anti-war quack enlisted by the mobilizing peace movement in the country.

But as the lecture at St. Bonaventure University Thursday night went on it was hard not to take note of what he was saying and, while the information wasn’t totally new, to really listen for the first time.

Dr. Rokke was discussing the U.S. military’s use of depleted-uranium ammunition — tank-busting ordnance that pierces armor and then detonates in searing explosions — an issue which has barely registered in the U.S. while a small group of scientists swears it is the cause of thousands of illnesses in Gulf War veterans, not to mention civilians where the weapons have been used.

Dr. Rokke, a nuclear physicist and major in the Army Reserves, was a hand-picked Army expert on cleanup of radioactive debris when he was exposed to depleted uranium on a Persian Gulf War battlefield. Looking more like a rumpled professor (actually, that’s exactly what he is) than a Reserve officer who still speaks with reverence of the “American warrior,” he stakes his career and reputation on the claims while warning that the Pentagon fully intends to use a greater concentration of DU weapons if (when?) military action against Iraq commences.

Dr. Rokke talked about his own health problems, which he is convinced are the result of DU exposure, and he almost quivers with frustration when discussing the neglect American soldiers have been subjected to when seeking treatment for their illnesses. He said DU caused many of the more than 206,000 cases of Gulf War Syndrome reported by veterans of the Gulf War; 8,000 veterans have died. Two members of his Gulf War team, good friends, are dead from cancer.

Dr. Rokke said it’s a travesty that, despite the increased use of depleted-uranium ordnance expected in the almost-imminent conflict, U.S. military gas masks and protective clothing are useless in keeping out DU particles. He said he expects DU to permeate battlefield sites.

The Pentagon denounces Dr. Rokke as a liar and insists soldiers are safe from DU exposure. Gulf War Syndrome? That’s discounted as a mass case of goldbricking, soldiers seeking disability benefits.

Perhaps.
Perhaps the professor, Army officer and veteran of two wars (Vietnam being the other) with rapidly developed cataracts and kidney problems is lying while the Pentagon, which over the decades has covered up, lied about or ignored exposing soldiers to radiation, syphilis and Agent Orange is telling the truth this time.

Why hasn’t the effects of DU and it alleged connection to Gulf War Syndrome been more widely reported?
John Hanchette, the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for Gannett who covered the story and now a professor at St. Bonaventure, participated in the program and his explanation was simple. With the Pentagon unwilling to discuss the matter there are few credible sources, so the story dries up. Meanwhile, calls might be made to editors in an effort to discredit reporters attempting to pursue the story and, for some journalists, it becomes easier to turn to something else, like politics.
One wonders how U.S. troops feel about the potential exposure to DU. Dr. Rokke said if they are aware of the dangers, being young and having the sense of invincibility, he doubts they give it much thought. He also noted the military doesn’t give much thought to the long-term effects DU can have on a battlefield, contamination that can effect civilians for years to come.
After Vietnam, morale and the overall quality of our military sank low. By the late ’70s, according to the military’s own assessments, effectiveness was alarmingly sub par. An overhaul of our armed forces was adopted and, with a new commitment to improvement, the pendulum swung the other way.

Modest successes in Grenada and Panama lent even more momentum to the new high tide of our military. With the Persian Gulf War, in all its made-for-prime-time-TV glory, our armed forces reached a new apex of excellence that, by all appearances, has remained through today.

The military isn’t doing itself any favors if it’s beginning to see troops as expendable parts that are secondary to newer and better ways to kill the enemy.

(Jim Eckstrom is managing editor of The Times Herald.)

©The Times Herald, Olean, N.Y. 2003