No conspiracy theory here, Jeff. I only reference official government documents, in the original, on official government websites.
Jeff, I also discount "conspiracy theories." Too many stories lack good solid support. So I only relay on incontrovertible proof, plainly admitted in details, on official high-level government documents, signed or initialed or admittedly reviewed by known high level government directors.
There are thousands of cases where the US government has totally admitted, officially and publicly, to experimenting on US civilians, military, and even foreigners in friendly countries. They used real, known deadly stuff. Many died of diseases, especially cancer.
Working at the VA, I'm familiar with the benefit programs that were enacted into law as a result of various government "research programs" that were secret at the time, but are public knowledge now. For starters, look up Projects SHAD, 112 and 212, atmospheric testing of ionizing radiation, Projects Longshot, Milrow, and Cannikin. You might remember when President Clinton apologized for the CDC's 40-year "Tuskegee Study" of 600 black men who were told they were being "treated" for "bad blood" and then died of syphilis.
Here's an overview, quoted from a 1994 Government Accounting Office report to the Congressional National Security Subcommittee (which also includes the LSD tests), "…exact numbers may never be known. However, we have identified hundreds of radiological, chemical, and biological tests and experiments in which hundreds of thousands of people were used…without their knowledge…basic safeguards to protect people were not used…some died…20 or 30 years later.”
When our military and intelligence leaders get worried, they have done some nasty stuff in the name of national security. Since things "above Top Secret" can be classified for decades, even after first-hand witnesses have died, a lot of things may never be admitted. And by the way, I used to have 'above Top Secret" when I gathered intelligence in the Navy during the 1970s. (The actual names of the clearances are, themselves, secrets.)
THE GOOD NEWS is that if, in fact, DoD caused this round of military-related ALS, then A) maybe they can treat it, or B) they owe us a LOT of money, and C) we can persuade Congress to put a tighter leash on human experimentation.
THE BAD NEWS is that, historically, it takes a lot of very powerful people to get the government to own up to these things.
We can do something now, at least: Although the Atomic Veteran Registry is still used, and the Depleted Uranium Registry and the Agent Orange Registry continue, the Gulf War ALS Registry was terminated early. We should ask for that to be re-opened.
