More than 60 U.S. military personnel deployed to a site in Uzbekistan where ponds glowed green and black goo oozed from the ground have reportedly been diagnosed with cancer or died from the disease. McClatchy obtained documents showing reports of radiation at the base, known as K2, which was leased by the U.S. from the Uzbek government weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks because it was near targets in northern Afghanistan. The documents reportedly show that K2 was contaminated with chemical-weapons remnants, radioactive processed uranium, and other lethal hazards. They also indicate the Defense Department was aware that K2 was toxic from the start, with one report dated from November 2001 saying: “Ground contamination at Karshi-Khanabad Airfield poses health risks to U.S. forces deployed there.” A report from later that month stated: “To call this site a landfill is an insult to landfills.” Master Sgt. Paul Widener, who served at K2 in late 2001, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007. “I don’t go to the funerals anymore,” Widener said. “It got to the point where there were just too many.”
