On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the PACT Act, a law that will expand healthcare and disability benefits to nearly 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals from burn pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. It took former Daily Show host Jon Stewart to give this issue high profile attention and shame Republicans into voting for the bill.
We'll also discuss how burn pits, bombings, and military occupation have impacted the health of Iraqi and Afghan civilians. While burn pits are no longer active, they continue to have long term effects.
Guests:
Megan Stack, contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, fellow at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, and author of two books, including Women's Work: A Personal Reckoning with Labor, Motherhood, and Privilege
Dr. Kali Rubaii, assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University who recently returned from Fallujah, Iraq
Web Resources:
The New York Times: The Soldiers Came Home Sick. The Government Denied It Was Responsible.
Vox: Senate Republicans threatened to burn a bill that would have helped veterans. Here’s why.
Military Times: Supreme Court rejects appeal from veterans in burn pit lawsuit against KBR, Halliburton
MERIP: Birth Defects and the Toxic Legacy of War in Iraq
Aljazeera: The US must compensate burn pit victims in Iraq too
Brown University: Cost of War
