The Iraq War... In Alaska

Warfare

History Hit

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4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you were asked what you thought about the Iraq War in Alaska, you'd probably be more than a little confused. But that confusion might turn to shock when you learn about the conflict's controversial legacy of destruction in America's 49th state, of all places.

Despite long-held local protests and previous restrictions, the US Department of Defense controversially reopened Eagle River Flats - an Alaskan estuary that had been historically polluted with white phosphorous munitions - for weapons testing & training during the Iraq War.

In this episode James is joined by Dr Matthew Leep, the researcher who pioneered a damning study on the issue, who helps us understand the broader impact of war well outside the regions of declared conflict - and how war has also impacted animal life, plant life and a whole range of flora & fauna in Alaska.

Edited and sound designed by Aidan Lonergan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If I was to ask you, what do you think about the Iraq war in Alaska, you might give me a bit of a strange look.
0:07.0	Probably similar to the look that I had on my face when I first read about this slice of history,
0:11.0	but that confusion soon turned to one of shock when I learned
0:15.0	about how despite long held local protests and previous restrictions the US
0:19.8	Department of Defense controversially reopened Eagle River flats, an Alaskan estuary that had
0:26.5	been historically polluted with white phosphorus munitions, and they reopen this for weapons
0:31.5	testing and training during the Iraq war.
0:34.7	So from 2003, the impact of the war in Iraq wasn't just felt in Iraq or in the homes and
0:40.4	minds and bodies of those who served, but in places you would never imagine the force of war to be felt.
0:47.0	To tell you all about this fascinating period of history, we have the researcher who pioneered this study on the podcast Dr Matthew Leep.
0:54.9	Matthew helps us to understand the broader impact of war well outside the regions of
1:00.4	declared conflict and how war also has impacted animal life plant life. of So here is Matthew Leep on the Iraq War in Alaska. Enjoy. Hi Matt, welcome to the Warfare Podcast. How you doing?
1:31.0	Don't know, thanks for having me on the show today.
1:33.0	Not a problem at all. I mean, I saw the title of an article by you that had the term Iraq
1:40.7	war in Alaska in it. And I had to read it. I had to go through and
1:46.5	understand what on earth you mean by the Iraq War in Alaska. Because when we
1:51.7	think about the costs and the impact of war we focus in on the region of conflict itself so if we talk about the Iraq war then we think of course 2003 we think of post 9-11 we think of the war on terror and how
2:05.5	Saddam was embroiled in this axis of evil alongside Osama bin Laden at this
2:12.4	period of time.
2:13.5	Now of course we know that all of these were tangential, if not make-believe links that were made
2:18.1	up to justify the war in Iraq, but either way, when we look into that conflict, we think
2:22.2	about Allied forces being deployed en masse we think
	...

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