Reading

Iraq hostage Peter Moore arrives back in UK
BBC January 1, 2010

Iraq hostage Peter Moore is now home in the United Kingdom. Still no word on the last missing security guard, Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, Scotland who was also kidnapped at the time with Moore.

Three-part series from the Salt Lake Tribune on the open air Burn Pits operating at US bases in Iraq.

The satellite image to the left shows the burn pit at Anaconda (now known as Joint Base Balad) in October 2009. It is from Google maps - see the link in the right hand side bar.

According to the Army Times, in 2008, 'Balad’s average daily output of almost 250 tons of waste is three times higher than the average of 83 tons per day generated by the city of Juneau, Alaska, which has a comparable population [of 25,000].'

One of the theories I've put forth is that Kirk von Ackermann was killed on a US base and his body disposed of in a burn pit. The most likely candidate is Camp Anaconda near where Ryan Manelick was killed just two months later. As far as I know, investigations have never pursued the theory.

Part I: Government waits for proof - sometimes for decades - before caring for sick veterans
By Matthew D. LaPlante, The Salt Lake Tribun, January 15, 2010

The VA requires former service members to prove an illness was caused by military service.

Part II: Vets: Burn pits are killing us
By Matthew D. LaPlante, The Salt Lake Tribune, January 15, 2010

Sickened warriors searching for help will have to wait for science and government bureaucracy to link their conditions to their service.

Part III: Vets say toxic tests sickened them; government says prove it
By Matthew D. LaPlante, The Salt Lake Tribune, January 15, 2010

Army says it used 'voluntary human subjects,' but ill man says 'I was private first class, I did anything they told me to do.'

Also see:

Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns
By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times, October 29, 2008

Troops say chemicals and medical waste burned at base are making them sick, but officials deny risk.