Iraqi Crud

U.S. military nickname for the respiratory problems suffered by some soliders in Iraq.

CNN.com reported that “many of the soldiers who went through Balad [Air Force base] since the beginning of the war had become used to ‘Iraqi crud”’ – and quoted an Air Force surgeon who said, “I had a chronic cough, irritation, shortness of breath … I was coughing up phlegm, sometimes black stuff and dust.”

It seems that Iraqi crud is nothing new; in 2004, an internal U.S. military newsletter [PDF] referred to the crud as an “initiation” for soliders in Iraq, and said: “A soldier arrives in the country and may soon experience symptoms of a runny nose, sneezing, sore throat and coughing to name just a few symptoms.”

However, CNN’s report suggested that Iraqi crud might be more serious than a few coughs and sniffles, and questioned whether a link existed between the symptoms and Balad’s massive open-air “burn pit” which was, until recently, the only way to destroy trash and medical waste. CNN quoted a 2006 military memo in which a Lt. Col in Aeromedical Services said: “In my professional opinion, the known carcinogens and respiratory sensitizers released into the atmosphere by the burn pit present both an acute and a chronic health hazard to our troops and the local populations.”