Mystery illness blamed on depleted uranium

Herbert Reed, 54, says he has required an arsenal of medicines since being exposed to radioactive depleted uranium while serving in Iraq with the 442nd Military Police out of New York. Taking so much medication, he says, makes him feel like "just a zombie walking around."

It takes at least 10 minutes and a large glass of orange juice to wash down all the pills — morphine, methadone, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, a stool softener. Viagra for sexual dysfunction. Valium for his nerves.

Four hours later, Herbert Reed will swallow another 15 milligrams of morphine to cut the pain clenching every part of his body. He will do it twice more before the day is done.

Since he left a bombed-out train depot in Iraq, his gums bleed. There is more blood in his urine and stool. Bright light hurts his eyes. A tumor has been removed from his thyroid. Rashes erupt everywhere, itching so badly they seem to live inside his skin. His joints ache. Migraines cleave his skull.

There is something massively wrong with Herbert Reed, though no one is sure what it is. He believes, but cannot convince anyone caring for him, that the military's new favorite weapon has made him terrifyingly sick.

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