Groups representing US military veterans have sued to demand information on hazardous materials at K2 base in Uzbekistan
The Pentagon has hidden information on uranium, nerve gas and other hazardous materials that allegedly sickened American troops when they were stationed at an Uzbek military base in the early years of Washington’s war in Afghanistan, groups representing ex-soldiers have claimed in a lawsuit.
The federal court lawsuit was filed on Monday in Connecticut, demanding that the Pentagon turn over its records on the toxins to which troops were exposed at the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, known as “K2,” during US operations there from 2001 to 2005. At least 15,777 US service members were deployed at the base, from which US troop transports and air strikes on targets in Afghanistan were staged.
“These K2 victims have been living with this truth inside their bodies for over 20 years, and many died as that toxic truth took them to their early graves,” Kim Brooks, a board member for the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, said on Monday at a press briefing in New Haven, Connecticut. “Yet we still do not know exactly what lurked in the air and water and the earth at K2. We do not know because the government refuses to release the records of the toxins found at K2.”
@SenBlumenthal, @CTVeteransLegal, and @YaleVetsClinic on behalf of all K2 Veterans and surviving spouses, thank you for the support in filing our FOIA against the DOD today. pic.twitter.com/vVlUMNaLi3
— Stronghold Freedom Foundation (@SFF_K2) April 4, 2023
Brooks’ husband, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Brooks, died of a brain tumor at age 36 in 2004, less than three years after being stationed at K2. A preliminary study by the US Army found in 2015 that K2 veterans were five times more likely than other troops to develop cancer. The contaminants allegedly included pools of “black goo” that caused troops to pass out.
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