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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 23, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Gulf War Syndrome

A Pentagon cover-up on depleted uranium

By John Catalinotto

What are they covering up?

President Bill Clinton's Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses reported Jan. 7 that the Pentagon "has done veterans and the public a disservice" regarding Gulf War Syndrome.

It never hurts to be reminded that the heads of the U.S. military are liars. They never admit their crimes or even their mistakes.

But the committee offered no conclusion of its own regarding the syndrome. And Clinton offered only to look over the Pentagon's shoulder as it conducts further studies.

After a groundswell of complaints from Gulf War veterans, the Pentagon has been forced to pull the lid back a little from its total cover-up. No longer can the generals say Gulf War Syndrome is only in the minds of the 50,000-80,000 veterans who have exhibited symptoms.

Medical studies have already shown a greater incidence of disease among Gulf War veterans than among other veterans.

But the Pentagon is making sure the media put all the attention on possible troop exposure to nerve gas. This minimizes the damage to the interests of the military-industrial complex.

Why? Because even if nerve gas were a contributor to Gulf War Syndrome, it can be passed off as a one-time error.

A Jan. 9 news release from the Depleted Uranium Education Project of the International Action Center raises some possibilities that would have a much more serious and permanent impact on Defense Department operations.

This group calls for "an independent investigation into the Pentagon's use of depleted uranium weapons during the Gulf War, the connection of DU weapons to Gulf War Syndrome and a complete examination of the outbreak of rare diseases among the population in the Persian Gulf."

Such a study could expose the role of DU and give impetus to those fighting for a complete ban on DU weapons. The IAC backs such a ban.

Depleted uranium, the residue of the process for obtaining fissionable material for bombs, has been used to manufacture shells for U.S. weapons. Because uranium is such a dense material, the shells so made penetrate tank armor effectively. They were used extensively for the first time in the Gulf War.

The millions of shells-and the vapor from burnt shells-are both poisonous and radioactive.

The U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute Report of June 1995 admits the Army was aware of the possible damage from DU weapons' radioactivity. It notes that "when DU is indicted as a causative agent for Desert Storm illness, the Army must have sufficient data to separate fiction from reality."

What Gulf War veterans need is a look at the reality of all possible causative agents of their illnesses. This includes DU as well as exposure to chemical agents, oil fires, parasites and whatever else is under suspicion.

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