By It appears former USFK servicemember Steve House who started the entire Camp Carroll Agent Orange issue this year is going to allow himself to be used as a useful idiot by the usual anti-US leftist in South Korea:
A whistleblower who claims he was ordered to bury Agent Orange at a U.S. military base in 1978 will visit South Korea next week and speak with members of South Korea’s National Assembly, according to South Korean officials and activists.Steve House, 54, claims he was one of three veterans who buried the toxic defoliant while stationed at Camp Carroll and now suffer health problems because of their exposure to the chemical. The defoliant was widely used during the Vietnam War but has been linked to a number of fatal diseases and severe birth defects.
“This wasn’t what I joined the military for,” House told Stripes in a recent interview from his home in the Phoenix area. “I wanted to defend the country and the Korean people, not hurt them.”
The veterans’ allegations have attracted widespread attention in South Korea and generated significant anger in a country where the environmental condition of U.S. bases has long been a sensitive issue. The U.S. military and South Korea are conducting a joint investigation into their claims, which has included using water sampling and the use of ground-penetrating radar at the site, as well as interviewing dozens of U.S. veterans and South Koreans who once worked on the base.
According to South Korean officials, House was invited by a coalition of more than 80 activist groups who want the U.S. to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations.
An official with the coalition, which includes environmental and leftist groups, said two government opposition parties also asked House to visit Korea, though his claims could not immediately be verified. [Stars & Stripes]
I like how Mr. House expresses concern about the Korean people, but if he was so concerned about them why did he wait until he had to get a VA claim approved to come out and tell his story? Also what is him traveling to South Korea to be used by the anti-US leftists going to accomplish? The US and South Korean governments are already conducting a large scale investigation which so far has found no evidence of Agent Orange buried on Camp Carroll.
4:26 am on July 26th, 2011 1
Hey I was at Camp Mercer and they claim theres stuff buried there. I haven’t been to Korea since 81. I wonder?????????? A free trip????????? Who do I contact????????
5:03 am on July 26th, 2011 2
I just saw this guy on YTN news shot on location down in Daegu. Actually, another guy names Phil Stewart (or maybe it was Stuart – can’t say for sure since it was written in hangul) did most of the talking during the news segment.
5:34 am on July 26th, 2011 3
Where were the leftist groups in support of Kim, Yong-chul the S. Korean(former Samsung lawyer) who blew the whistle on Samsung?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0618/South-Korean-whistleblower-Kim-Yong-chul-breaks-silence-on-Samsung
7:58 am on July 26th, 2011 4
He’s being used for political reasons.
8:16 am on November 24th, 2011 5
The comments here are from people who obviously were not at Camp Carroll or served with these men during the time in question The assurity of such comments indicate more the igornance of what they think is the reality then what is actually known 1st hand.
With no records at hand to indicate where such burial occured, I guess it would be a while to find agents (if at all). Yet, contamination, illnesses and premature deaths should not be dismissed with a political persuasion until facts are known as and if dumping occured. Read “Slient Spring” or “Love Canal”, OSHA/EPA records of quietly convienient, cost-saving out-of-site dumping by companies large and small (and the government).
Claims of “leftist”, “being used”, “whistle blower” denigrates the reality of “cover-up”, “lost records”, “swollen livers” etc.
You likely have not met and do not know of people affected resulting from decades old decisions and actions. It would be wise to not comment as if you do.