Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CBS
June 12, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: A retired Navy officer went before Congress today looking for justice. For decades he says the Pentagon has denied using him and his fellow sailors to test weapons that were used during the Cold War. He believes those tests led to some serious medical problems. Here’s David Martin.
DAVID MARTIN: Four decades ago, these tugboats were sprayed with biological agents in top-secret tests known as “Project SHAD.” Jack Alderson, a Navy lieutenant at the time, goes down a list of his fellow officers.
LT. JACK ALDERSON [Project SHAD Veteran]: McFadden is dead. McQueen I can’t find. Smith I can’t find. Forster’s dead. Goforth’s dead. And they died of respiratory problems, lung problems.
MARTIN: Alderson was the captain of one of those tugs. First it was sprayed with biological agents, then decontaminated with caustic cleaning solutions.
ALDERSON: I’ve had a malignant melanoma – a big one. I have prostate cancer.
MARTIN: For nearly 30 years the sailors of Project SHAD never talked.
ALDERSON: We were pretty strongly debriefed and said if we ever talk about this we could find ourselves with free room and board at Leavenworth. And everybody kept their mouth shut.
MARTIN: When he finally complained, the Pentagon insisted there was no Project SHAD, so he went to his congressman.
REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D-CA): After a couple of years of banging on the doors over there, they finally admitted that there was in fact this project that took place, Project SHAD.
MARTIN: But Congressman Mike Thompson still didn’t get the whole truth from the Pentagon.
THOMPSON: They told me – they said, but don’t worry about it, we only used simulants. And my first thought was, well, you’ve lied to these guys for 40 years, you’ve lied to me for a couple of years. It would be a real leap of faith for me to believe that now you’re telling me the truth.
MARTIN: The truth finally came out, but after all these years, it’s impossible to prove the tests caused the medical problems, so none of the sailors or their widows are eligible for disability benefits. David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.
June 12, 2008
CBS Evening News, 6:30 PM
KATIE COURIC: A retired Navy officer went before Congress today looking for justice. For decades he says the Pentagon has denied using him and his fellow sailors to test weapons that were used during the Cold War. He believes those tests led to some serious medical problems. Here’s David Martin.
DAVID MARTIN: Four decades ago, these tugboats were sprayed with biological agents in top-secret tests known as “Project SHAD.” Jack Alderson, a Navy lieutenant at the time, goes down a list of his fellow officers.
LT. JACK ALDERSON [Project SHAD Veteran]: McFadden is dead. McQueen I can’t find. Smith I can’t find. Forster’s dead. Goforth’s dead. And they died of respiratory problems, lung problems.
MARTIN: Alderson was the captain of one of those tugs. First it was sprayed with biological agents, then decontaminated with caustic cleaning solutions.
ALDERSON: I’ve had a malignant melanoma – a big one. I have prostate cancer.
MARTIN: For nearly 30 years the sailors of Project SHAD never talked.
ALDERSON: We were pretty strongly debriefed and said if we ever talk about this we could find ourselves with free room and board at Leavenworth. And everybody kept their mouth shut.
MARTIN: When he finally complained, the Pentagon insisted there was no Project SHAD, so he went to his congressman.
REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D-CA): After a couple of years of banging on the doors over there, they finally admitted that there was in fact this project that took place, Project SHAD.
MARTIN: But Congressman Mike Thompson still didn’t get the whole truth from the Pentagon.
THOMPSON: They told me – they said, but don’t worry about it, we only used simulants. And my first thought was, well, you’ve lied to these guys for 40 years, you’ve lied to me for a couple of years. It would be a real leap of faith for me to believe that now you’re telling me the truth.
MARTIN: The truth finally came out, but after all these years, it’s impossible to prove the tests caused the medical problems, so none of the sailors or their widows are eligible for disability benefits. David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.