banks get in jeopardy from their derivatives, it will spread into europe when the president says something like barden, that's his job is to reassure people. so they calm down. they don't rush to the banks and pull out their money. but i doubt if biden or anyone in his administration or even the federal reserve has any idea of the extent of risk. if one of the very large banks, the job bikes, if they get into serious trouble with the derivatives, it will impact the rest of the world. well, that's a rop for now. film on any of those stories that you've just seen, do you head over to all websites or t dot com? in the meantime, money's peter scott will be back again at the top of the hour within the rundown of all the ladies, thanks. find the full moon

when alex so sing wrong when i just don't know if to see how it is be because of the advocate and engagement. it was the trail. when so many find themselves well to porn, we choose to look so common ground. china has performed a master stroke of diplomacy. it is brokered in agreement that we'll see a ran and saudi arabia again re establish diplomatic relations. this could be a step not only to reorder the middle east, but also usher in an air of stability in the region. today. washington is the odd man out ah,

imagine you're in the u. s. military and your job is to take care of waste disposal . that sounds easy enough and your orders are to pull those everything into a giant pile, spray it with jet fuel and set it on fire. that sounds like a terrible idea. it'll pollute everything, and it will cause untold health problems. i'm john kerry aku and you're watching the whistleblowers burn pits have become a serious issue in u. s. military policy. the concept of burned pits is relatively simple. the military needs a way to dispose of its waste. but that waste includes every thing, food scraps, plastics, rubber, medical, waste, chemicals, even broken military equipment. the policy for decades was to bulldoze everything into a giant pile using acres of land hose it all down with jet fuel and then set it on

fire. just imagine all of that burning waste, it would have to be one of the most toxic environments on earth. and what happened is that soldiers and proximity to the burned pits began returning to the united states and showing signs of rare cancers, especially glee, oh bless, domus brain cancers claiming the lives of people. busy like bo biden, the son of president joe biden, and claiming the life of my best friend, david mccracken, the connection between the burned pits and these rare cancers was clear, but the pentagon refused to acknowledge it. and for years after the burn pits were wound down and the u. s. withdrew from places like iraq and kosovo, the victims continued to suffer and to die. our guest today is joseph hickman. joe hickman spent most of his life in the military 1st as the marine and then as a soldier in both the army and the national guard. he is deployed on several

military operations throughout the world, sometimes attached to foreign militaries, the recipient of more than 20 commendations and awards. joe hickman was awarded the army chief met metal and the army commendation metal. while he was stationed at guantanamo bay, he's also the author of the book, the burn pits, joe, welcome back to the show. thanks john. joe, the problem of burn pit seems to be patently obvious. everybody knows that you can't burn plastic. everybody knows that you can't burn rubber or medical waste out in an open field. everybody knows you can't mix chemicals and equipment and food and just set it all on fire. how did this stupid policy begin in the 1st place? i began in the beginning, you remember and trash and military years, decades during the war we birch. but we really started to realize something's wrong

. even though we changed that realization we gave the job to dispose of waste from soldiers. and from the basis we're building to government contractors and the government contractor that did we get her to change this change? he was former ceo of the company or vice president united states and they were cutting cost figure out way, way high temperatures generators decide to take acreages of fields and burn our ways in burn joe, how long was it before people began to see a correlation between the bern, pits and illnesses, even if those illnesses weren't these rare cancers, what happened then? did the complaints go back to the pentagon in a timely fashion?

it did with the once the down cause it's new. so slowly on we started seeing crowns. almost within months after we dated once we got into iraq, they call it the iraqi within 2 to 3 months. so you're coming down really sick with a lot of bonuses and mostly sort of a symptoms almost immediately. and they call it the regular people begin to realize that you're living. this is causing this so called the cylinders you've done a major investigation of this policy that led to your 3rd book, the burn pits. why did the pentagon deny for so long that there was a problem? why did they deny that these clusters of rare cancers affecting a wide variety of people who had one thing in common that they worked in or near

the burn pits? was this financial issue that the pentagon just didn't want to have to deal with? it was definitely a financial issue. it was also after, wow, the pentagon stopped at 9. it was an issue, but they went so it was a legal li loophole that they could use k b, r was held responsible for the birth. so that's actually losses from over 400 soldiers. maybe the owner of the burg this well gave york laid it on the military towing saying the military saying that the military came up with the idea of where to build the schools, the military stages on the issue. because the fair soccer, you can't sue the military. so have you are going to military no to stay solid. and

it was just the case for my use of this problem because it just who do you why? why sides denying the other side by side? this denying it and you get to that well, let me ask you a follow up on that issue because i think i think you're hitting on a very important point here. you've got these military contractors who are more or less indemnified for what they're doing in war zones during war time. you've got k, b r which is a multi $1000000000.00 company with very, very close ties to the military industrial complex. but then they get away with something like this. this is the same company that got away with multiple accusations of sexual harassment, of female employees. for example. why is it that these 2 big to fail military contractors who are clearly in the wrong on some of these issues of life and death?

just get away with it. how does this happen? well, i can see all of the q u r i c biggest things there. like i said, dick cheney is a timers before or become and why he had resigned years ceo, he was he, you know, he had very close hires. gave your money less. he left which $1000000.00 in stock. gosh, that was part of his stepping down. was part of what he seized after the rocky and started his thoughts are stock options for trips. so i really, i mean, i figured there was a lot of evidence. so certain yeah, it's a lot of things when,

why have you got the contract, which is a no big contract at least managed and the money that you're you know, government official laid on this? absolutely, sir. yeah. yeah. it's astounding for these members of the u. s. military who were exposed to the burn pits. joe, tell us a little bit about what they had to endure. in the case of my friend david mccracken, he worked on burn pits both in kosovo and iraq. he came home and developed a glee, oh, blessed alma and was dead. less than a year later, at the age of 46, his family was denied defense department medical benefits. and he was even denied permission to be buried at arlington national cemetery. because they said that his illness was not service related. was that kind of treatment common for soldiers coming back, who had been exposed to the burn pits? is that what ho biden's family and others endured? yes, and i did practice. and this was for

a client was a terrible story, cerebral french story. unfortunately, this story is very common is to shop the back or yet i don't understand why this should be right on the front page. a lot of people actually be denied at 1st. everyone was denied down and denied benefits need. a lot of them died just completely drunk and not giving heroes. you know, all we're just under the radar. and these are all your lessons. tell us about some of the diseases that we're talking about here. i mentioned in a moment ago glee, oh, blessed oma, which is this rare brain cancer?

it's something that my friend had. it's something that bo biden had. it turned out that in, in my friend david's case, he had to tumors in his brain. one, the size of a walnut and one the size of a p, but they were so deep in his brain that they were in operable. there was just nothing that could be done. it turned out that bo biden had pretty much the same thing. but what else are we talking about here? are we talking about respiratory illnesses like c o, p d? are we talking exclusively about cancer's? what are these people coming home with the current home? what was so different diagnosis, you have to share, there was, you're burning anything and everything, so you're happier to deal with with thousands of cars that are affected by so many different ways. i've talked to people that have this soldier who had a tumor on the side of his side on the side,

the size of the boss. and i think you're really understand, always look at the rack and what your purpose, ash the cdc, don't even have names for dollars. so i think i think the sex where does you know so many different things. the soldiers are having an error and are having this i'm believe you may go, you make a very good point there. and a very important point. i read a new york times account of bern pits in iraq. that said that when the, when the wind would shift, the smoke would settle on a u. s. military base. and literally everybody on the base was, was forced to breathe in this. iraqi gunk as you call it. everybody got sick, whether it was from asthma or a cold, or an upper respiratory infection,

all the way down to these these rare cancers. but then just imagine what people and neighboring villages had to go through. if you're a soldier, you're eventually going to cycle out of that base. you're going to come home or you're going to be transferred somewhere else. if you're an iraqi national or a coast of our or an afghan, and you live near these, these burn pits, you breathe this in for years and, and nothing good is going to come to this. no, it was um you're talking about over a 180 different builds law across iraq or outside of or military basis. and like i said, the burke respects to their state now they stay 1st tried to say it was uranium, they're awesome. bought several doctors. so you can see that there is from the over the country on a developing story. it is very sad to know the service these children are being

born with some of the worst birth defects you ever see. we are speaking with jose have heckman about the toxic burned pits created and used by the u. s. military around the world and how they lead to untold human misery among american soldiers and others, including the locals. we're going to take a short break and come right back, stay tune. 2 2 2 2 2 look forward to talking to you all. that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except to wear such orders at conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about our personal intelligence and the point obviously is to create a truck rather than fit with the various jobs with

artificial intelligence. real, somebody with a robot must protect its own existence with a ah with

it ah, welcome back to the whistle blowers i'm john kerry. aku were speaking with joseph hickman, a u. s. military veteran, an author of the book, the burn pitts. good abbey back, joe. the u. s. defense department is now estimating that 3 and a half 1000000 troops. that's u. s. troops in kosovo, iraq and afghanistan eventually returned to the u. s. with respiratory or other health problems because of, of exposure to the burn pits. that is a gigantic number, but the problem that we've seen since 2010 is that the pentagon didn't bother to keep records of what was actually burned, where it was burned, how it was burned, and who was exposed to the smoke. as a result, the u. s, department of veterans affairs has been reluctant to admit that these diseases were

service related. has that finally been fixed, or veterans finally receiving the care and the benefits that they deserve. a lot more better in here. ready packed, acted recently was a huge benefit, but again, we are move so slow, we're still seeing a lot of people being denied that we shouldn't be there. but it is turning around, it's getting better. it should have been better a lot faster. what happens with ages aren't, which is very similar to. ready as far as how we handle it took 27 year shooters, veterans from the army and were just seeing the same thing with them or from 6 inches or what are you trying to do tribute that to, to just bureaucratic normalcy or, or is there some other reason why the,

the pentagon and the department of veterans affairs just can't seem to get it's, it's act together on this issue. i, i think it's, it's deeply cool at all. i can tell you that before the 14, now i had a company, global research solutions. and i submitted a detailed report on what was happening with these burg this in the better and just going through the problems. i told me directly to senator john directly, the senator ron johnson thompson and i asked him to explain to this you got behind it 100 percent basic is august and he said he would do what he can. and then just a couple weeks later, a bill was introduced to jackson recognize the issue and to do

some sort of, you know, testing evaluations on soldiers or the purpose. and he, he goes against the bill. oh, i couldn't understand why he is all the staff and his better use people don't staff in any yeah. a couple weeks on a missile system. i think the guy that he had to go for $35000000.00 to help them and the bank. i didn't want that this will just because it hasn't worked in 2 years trial trials. but after that i, i d d lilith where she, we're, we're, we're just really paid by the military industrial, military and so much and those are slows these issues down. one of the things

that has me perplexed is, it's now clear to everybody, including at the pentagon and the pentagon's leadership, that burn pits are toxic, that they kill people and that they should not be in use. but at the same time, the defense department still has not officially bands there use. why is that, and is there any role for congress here? why are the oversight committees? not banning the bern pits and legislation your job here? yes, this is mine. actually, my wife has serious respiratory issues. i don't why she's on the burn. just shoot in my racket into this issue is just not going away and their, their band a but they're not all in late summer,

jo president biden signed a bill into law that is supposed to improve medical benefits for service members who were exposed to the burn pits, do you think that's enough? it took a long time and it doesn't look like there's any more legislation pending. is there more that you think should be done? or do i think there's more on morality issues that should be done. military deal with their own veterans. i don't, i didn't. i didn't like the village time, but there's so much to do hardly see the bill itself. i think i think we should just star, i believe in our veterans and sicknesses. the v a has worked for years and years years under the concept. okay. you're sick, you're injured, military label and that's how they operate. instead of operating that way,

they have to just change. change that and say okay, you are sick and you're shown you tell me we have to prove it's not. ready ready a big change that i don't see. we started off here talking about k, b, r and and defense contractors have defense contractors taken a position on these legislative issues that k b r a side obviously, because k b r has a vested interest in bern, pitts, not being recognized as a health concern. what about some of the other big defense contractors or are the victims of the burn pits, standing alone there standing these, these covered these, these companies a draft drake themselves and the american flag is out of our window in the end. they don't, they don't they,

it's all about them. and why do you think we're not seeing more support on capitol hill? you just now told this awful story about senator ron johnson, which i completely believe. i worked on capitol hill for many years and, and this kind of thing happens all the time. but why isn't there a movement among other members of congress, whether it's the house, the senate to do something to protect our service members, it just seems like there's this is a no lose situation. if you're a politician, they all how do you have a couple that are really good? north carolina, very impassioned in the driveway. one help story book or for helping veterans. all these what there's just like there's, there's some that are just independence. some to seem like the talk again,

but when it comes to soccer they're not really i think is over is the country we have to start paying attention to target. yes or no. and all these things are supposed to help. not just jo, back in august. there was a protest about the bern pits right here in washington, dc with big names like john stewart, standing with veterans and trying to bring this to light. what more do you think needs to be done to bring about change? ah, when like i said, i think it has to start into the system itself. completely has to be turn around and start actually better actually give stacks. when i go on there is a lack of respect to the veterans. so they don't really believe with

a better saying maybe the doctors are just overwhelmed because it's short staff every time i go to church and they have a lot to do, it just has to. they have to change this you know, good luck. we haven't seen that yet. i'm sorry. that's okay. you have to follow the fact joe, one last question for you. you have blown the whistle on 2 major issues affecting the u. s. military, that's torture at guantanamo. and we're going to discuss that separately. and on these bern pits, what has the reaction been to you personally by the us military? i'm sure the rank and file are grateful for what you've done. i know that my friend, david's widow, is grateful for what you've done. but what's the reaction been from the pentagon? pentagon prevents the i had

a hard time when i came with this group lunch on the 1st go to radar. i was still active duty and it was probably a really bad time. but i had to because literally a life or death situation. so they, they gave me a hard time sometimes too much because there is payroll issues, some issues with where i was station to be moved to a different job. it was a lot of problems in a lot of people hired to them spoke pretty roughly for the people in my my peers got longer and i always research

joe heckman. thank you so much for joining us today. that's all we have for you today. remember, in this case, the words of the dalai lama. a compassionate concern for others well being is the source of happiness. a self centered attitude is the source of the problem. we have to take care of ourselves without selfishly taking care of ourselves. if we don't take care of others, we cannot take care of ourselves. i'm john curiosity. and this has been the whistle blowers we'll see next time. ah. 2 2 2 2 ah, well do it the best of both. should buy for the mother when you lose your annual g . d. p per capita is about $4000.00 euros. last does that. we've got

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a ran and saudi arabia again reestablish diplomatic relations. this could be a step not only to reorder the middle east, but also usher in an area of stability in the region. today. washington is the odd man out. ah, okay. city all dark mode is further encircled with the russian. wagner, group releasing postage from inside the stronghold as on planned, the underground passages. the president, bashar assad in moscow for talks with leaders are discussing bilateral corporation in the face of western sanctions. also had this our a ropes outside the form of pakistan, the prime minister among cons residents.