Comedian Jon Stewart has teamed up with veteran groups to
ensure that service members infected with combustion pit toxins receive the
medical care they need, according to the Military Officers Association of
America.
“Frankly, this isn’t just about fire pits – it’s about the
way we go to war as a country,” said Stewart when he visited Washington, DC on
January 17. “We always have money to make war. We always have to.” Have money
to care for what happens to people who are selfless and patriotic enough to
wage these wars for us.
Stewart traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with MOAA and other
veteran groups that make up the toxic exposures in the American military
coalition, a MOAA press release said.
Formerly prevalent in the United States, cremation pits are
believed to have led to cancer, skin and respiratory problems among veterans of
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As of January 6, a total of 192,000 veterans and
service members reported health issues that they believed to be related to
their operations by participating in the Ministry of Veterans Airborne Hazard
Register and Open Pit.
“We want to make sure
we do it wisely,” said Stewart on January 17. “We won’t take a lot of pictures
with that.” After all that you’ve given, you should do the last thing you
should do is fight the country that you’ve given so much to. That makes no
sense.”
Stewart has long been a lawyer for troops, police officers,
firefighters, and others who have become ill as a result of exposure to toxic
chemicals. Last year, he helped shame Congress to permanently re-authorize the
Victims Compensation Fund on September 11th. He pays claims to first-aiders who
have become ill or have died as a result of their work at the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.
At the January 17 meeting, Stewart thanked the Vietnam
veterans present for the fighting to ensure that the troops exposed to Agent
Orange were finally receiving related disease care.
“They were the
pioneers of the idea that chemicals and toxicity … had a terrible impact on
everyone who fought there,” said Stewart. “And you had to fight and keep
fighting so that the next generations didn’t have to do that.”
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