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13 May 1997

THE PENTAGON

Cover-up charges forced Clinton to take the lead

FROM IAN BRODIE IN WASHINGTON

CHARGES of foot-dragging and cover-up have led to big changes in the American Government's approach to investigating "Gulf War syndrome" in recent months.

President Clinton took the lead by appointing an independent advisory committee, with wide powers, that reports directly to him. After its first report, he extended the committee's life to conduct further investigations throughout this year.

He has also prolonged the deadline for Gulf War veterans to claim disability until 2001. The limit had been two years after their service in the war zone. At least 5,000 veterans whose earlier claims were rejected have been encouraged to reapply.

Yet, despite the upsurge of activity, little evidence has been found to establish that exposure to chemical weapons or pollutants was the cause of the syndrome. If a single ailment contributed to the veterans' illnesses it was probably the stress of combat, the President's committee concluded.

However, the committee sharply criticised the Pentagon for failing adequately to examine potential links between the health of veterans and low-level exposure to poisonous gases. There are also continuing concerns about an experimental drug, pyridostigmine bromide, that was given to troops to counter the effects of nerve gas.

The Pentagon has belatedly admitted that American troops could have been exposed to chemical weapons when engineers blew up the Kamisiyah weapons dump in southern Iraq in March 1991. The CIA had warned of possible chemical weapons at the site but the information was apparently never passed on to units in the area.

The Pentagon had previously claimed that the army learnt that poisonous gases might have been at the site only after its destruction. The changed story confirmed the view of the American Legion and other veterans' groups of a widespread cover-up. So did the Pentagon's admission in February that 80 per cent of US military logs recording the detection of chemical weapons during the Gulf War had been lost.

The President's advisory committee on Gulf War illnesses was formed in May 1995 with an annual budget of $2.5 million (£1.54 million). Its full report was made public on January 7 this year when Mr Clinton extended the committee's life until at least next October.

The United States Department of Veterans' Affairs first became concerned about the health effects of the Gulf War environment while hostilities were still going on because of the smoke from oil fires and concerns about Iraq's capacity to wage chemical warfare.