EXPOSING THE MYTH OF THE ‘CASUALTY-FREE WAR’: GULF WAR SYNDROME

 

The lie that the United States won Desert Storm with few casualties has been blown apart by a nurse whose crusade to help veterans suffering from the mysterious Gulf War Syndrome has brought attention to the hundreds of thousands who have died or continue to suffer from the unexplained illness.

 

Exclusive To American Free Press

By Mike Blair

 

Of approximately 697,000 American servicemen and women deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, some 40,000 are dead and 400,000 are currently suffering from various maladies associated with what has become known as Gulf War Syndrome.

Today, the administration is preparing for a new war with Iraq, dispatching hundreds of thousands of troops to the region and equipping them with flawed gear intended to protect them from biological and chemical weapons suspected of being in the arsenals of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

According to the findings of the American Gulf War Veterans Association, headed by Capt. Joyce Riley, RN, there are more than 250,000 flawed chemical and biological warfare protective suits in the military’s inventory, which many believe will be issued to troops who will face the Iraqis.

Ms. Riley was a former Air Force Flight nurse in the 1970s who returned to active duty as an air-evac flight nurse at the onset of Desert Storm. She flew air-evac missions in a C-130 for six months during 1991 and returned to her position as a heart, lung, kidney and liver transplant nurse at the Denton Cooley Center in Houston, Tex.

Ms. Riley is also a victim of Gulf War Syndrome, which she says she contracted from U.S. troops she had treated from the war zone. However, she recovered and went on to found the American Gulf War Veterans Association.

Ms. Riley has been at the forefront of an on-going battle to force the government to admit the atrocities it inflicted upon hundreds of thousands of servicemen during Operation Desert Storm.

After extensive interviews with Riley and other reliable sources, the conclusions by American Free Press (patriots will surely cringe at the prospect) is that America’s youth will unknowingly face a determined enemy in front of them and a back-stabbing government behind them.

DEFECTIVE SUITS

During Operation Desert Storm, it is estimated that the military obtained 800,000 chemical and biological protective suits from the Isratex Company of Rainelle, W.V., which Pentagon quality control should have known were defective, and contained holes and tears.

A single hole or tear in a protective suit can allow in sufficient biological or chemical material to kill the person wearing it.

Pentagon officials claim they did not find out about the defective suits until 1996—five years after the war ended and soldiers had returned home from the Middle East battlefield.

On Oct. 1, 2002, Dr. Anna Johnson-Winegar assistant secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense, testified before a hearing on biological warfare attack preparations of the House Government Reform Sub committee that 250,000 of 800,000 defective chemical-biological warfare protective suits have not been located and taken from inventory, meaning they will likely be is-sued to soldiers going to the Persian Gulf.

Isratex, which made millions from the Pentagon, declared bankruptcy in 1995. Most of its top-level management officials—none of whom can now be located—maintain strong ties to Israel.

Those officials include Isratex president Abraham Brin, vice president Yehudah Yoav Brin, and production manager Zoi Rosenthal.

After palming off the cheaply-made, defective suits on the Pentagon, company officials were charged with various OSHA safety violations and an $88,000 fine was levied against Isratex.

GWS SYMPTOMS

Gulf War Syndrome is a series of maladies, which many contend resulted from Iraqi chemical and biological warfare weapons being released upon U.S. serviceman, as well as toxic responses to depleted uranium which is used by the United States in anti-armor artillery shells.

Some of those Iraqi chemicals and biologicals were released by American forces.

During Desert Storm the military suspects that U.S. troops destroyed 100 bunkers located at Khamisayh, situated on the Euphrates River between Bosrah and Baghad. It is believed that these contained chemicals and biologicals exposing U.S. forces to the contents.

Desert Storm veterans have suffered a variety of deadly illnesses, including fast-moving brain tumors and leukemia.

They have also passed their health problems on to their loved ones. Children of vets have been born with de formities and various other defects, dooming them to a life of misery—if they even survive.

Nine out of 10 Desert Storm vets who have contacted Ms. Riley’s national organization claim they are ill.

Of the 697,000 soldiers deployed during Desert Storm, the Department of Defense has determined that 580,000 are qualified for care through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical facilities.

Due in a large part to illness, it is estimated that 90 percent of Gulf War veterans had left the service by 1995.

Ms. Riley has gathered extensive documentation to support her organization’s fight to get help for veterans of Desert Storm.

Among that documentation is proof that Iraq obtained much of its biological and chemical agents directly from the United States—with the direct approval of the U.S. government.

According to Ms. Riley: On May 7, 1989, with U.S. government approval, American Type Culture Collections of Rockville, Md., sold to Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education batch No. 08-20-82 of bacillus anthracis (anthrax). On that same date, the American chemical and biological plant sold the ministry clostridium botulinum (botulism).

American Type Culture Collections obtains its anthrax from the Army’s biological warfare laboratories at Fort Dietrich, Md.

Riley said that the Iraqis were shipped chemicals and biologicals in 55-gallon drums at various points from U.S. sources.

A Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing on May 25, 1994 determined that pathogenic and other biological-related materials were exported to Iraq with the approval of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the Department of Commerce between 1985 and 1994.