Gulf War Vets Discuss Iraq
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  1. #1

    Gulf War Vets Discuss Iraq

    FOXNews.com

    Gulf War Vets Discuss Iraq

    Monday, November 11, 2002

    By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos


    WASHINGTONÂ —Â As another war in Iraq appears imminent, somee of the nation's
    original Persian Gulf War veterans offered mixed sentiments on Veterans Day
    about how much the country should support another war.

    "It's a frustrating feeling -- we should have stayed there and done the job
    the first time around," said Ret. Maj. Denise Nichols, who was a nurse in the
    Gulf War and now heads the Desert Storm Veterans of the Rocky Mountains.

    Nichols' complaint is common among military types: The U.S. was given a
    limited mandate that did not allow them to depose Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
    when they had the chance.

    "When I left in 1991 in June, there wasn't one person in my unit who did not
    think we would be back -- it was just a matter of when," said Steve
    Robertson, Gulf War vet and national legislative director for the American
    Legion.

    The Persian Gulf War was instigated by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August
    1990. For months, the United Nations kept up an economic embargo on Iraq
    until President George H.W. Bush asked the U.N. Security Council in November
    1990 for a tough resolution authorizing the use of force if Iraq did not
    withdraw from Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991.

    Saddam missed the deadline and two days later U.S.-led troops began an air
    campaign against Iraq.

    Operation Desert Storm, the official name of the military battle, was fought
    from Jan. 17 until Feb. 28, 1991. The land war lasted approximately 100 hours.

    The United States sent 400,000 soldiers to bases in Saudi Arabia and a host
    of coalition partners sent 200,000 more. When the action was over, 240 troops
    -- 148 of whom were U.S. soldiers -- were killed in action and 776 soldiers
    -- 458 of whom were American -- were wounded.

    Since the start of the conflict, the United Nations has passed 16 resolutions
    demanding Iraq comply with orders to disarm. U.S. and British air forces have
    maintained a no-fly zone above two areas of Iraq in order to prevent Saddam
    from attacking his own people.

    On Friday, the U.N. Security Council passed a 17th resolution, demanding the
    return of weapons inspectors and the immediate disclosure and disarmament of
    weapons of mass destruction. This resolution, however, leaves open the
    possibility that individual nations can force compliance if Saddam does not
    volunteer cooperation.

    "We achieved that limited mission of liberating Kuwait, and then the next
    mission was maintaining the no-fly zone," Robertson said. "Now we are looking
    at a new mission and that will probably put a lot more troops over there to
    defend the country."

    That doesn't bother Scott VanDerheyden, a Marine Corps Gulf War veteran who
    works with the National Veterans Service Fund in Connecticut. VanDerheyden
    said he's in full support of finishing the mission.

    "Absolutely, we should go -- absolutely 100 percent. They were supposed to be
    doing X, Y, Z, and they aren't doing X, Y, Z," VanDerheyden said, referring
    to the previous U.N. resolutions. "I think [Saddam] should be removed from
    power."

    But then there are veterans who say the government has yet to live up to its
    responsibility for thousands of sick Gulf War veterans, and that gives them
    pause about supporting another invasion.

    It took 10 years, but the Pentagon has finally admitted that more than
    100,000 of the 550,000 troops in the Persian Gulf were exposed to deadly
    sarin, mustard and cyclosarin gases during the destruction of an Iraqi
    weapons depot in 1991. Three years ago, the Pentagon also admitted that the
    protective gear given to the troops may have been faulty and may not have
    protected the troops from harm.

    Scientists, doctors and veterans groups have tied that exposure -- and
    speculated that a mix of untested vaccinations given to the troops before
    entering the theater also contributed -- to the mysterious Persian Gulf
    illnesses of which thousands of veterans have complained since returning
    home. Symptoms range from chronic fatigue syndrome and disorientation to a
    rare form of Lou Gehrig's disease.

    Not everyone agrees that chemical exposure and vaccinations are directly tied
    to the illness, but in December 2001, after a decade-long fight by veterans
    advocates, Congress approved a bill that would significantly expand the
    access vets suffering from these undiagnosed illnesses have to government
    health benefits.

    Regulations have yet to be written, and thousands of claims are still being
    denied, leading Stephen Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War
    Resource Center in Maryland, to argue that President Bush hasn't given the
    American people a compelling reason to go back.

    "Veterans who fought in the last war and are ill think it's a big mistake to
    go back," Robinson, a staff sergeant during the war, said.

    "Having been there, seeing the last 11 years and how the veterans have been
    treated, I feel differently. I'm not sure it's worth the risk," he said. "In
    my opinion, I think Saddam's a bad guy, he is certainly a threat. But I think
    this can be dealt with by world pressure -- not by U.S. pressure alone."

    Nichols, who worked hard for last year's bill to pass Congress, agrees.

    "I'm very concerned about the protection of our troops," she said. "As a
    veteran, you feel for the next group -- are we sending in another group to
    get ill?"

    VanDerheyden says he understands the sentiments, but for himself, he was
    aware of the risks when he joined up.

    "I was willing to live with those consequences," he said.

    Robertson said he too understands the complaint of sick and neglected
    veterans, but "if we operated under that premise, we would never have an
    independent country," adding that with the exception of WWII, veterans from
    every war were treated negligently by the government.

    "The most important part of this war is going to be the American people," he
    said. "They have to make sure, whether they agree or oppose the plan for
    going in, they have to support the soldier. They are doing what every
    American should be doing, serving their country. Never, ever forget that."


    ©Associated Press. All rights reserved.
    Copyright © 2002 Standard & Poor's

    FOX News Network, LLC 2002. All rights reserved.


    Sempers,

    Roger


  2. #2

    Cool Veterans Say 2nd Gulf War Would Present Chemical Arms Danger

    washingtonpost.com
    Iraqi Battleground Fiercer, Veterans Say
    2nd Gulf War Would Present Chemical Arms Danger,
    Ex-Soldiers Fear

    By Steve Vogel
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Monday, November 11, 2002; Page B01


    Only four days into the ground war -- with the Iraqi army on the run -- Sgt.
    Kevin Gregory and his squad from the Army's "Tiger" Brigade were stunned when
    the orders came to cease fire.

    The platoon sergeants gathered the soldiers near the Kuwaiti city of Al Jahra
    and told them that they would advance no farther. The Persian Gulf War was
    over.

    "When we stopped, we were ticked off," recalled Gregory, 38, who lives in
    Anne Arundel County. "We wanted to know why. We wanted to see a good end."

    Now President Bush is promising to deliver that "good end," threatening an
    attack that would force out Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and rid that
    country of its weapons of mass destruction.

    Gregory and many Gulf War veterans, though, greet the prospect with decidedly
    mixed feelings. Although many are eager for troops to finish the job they
    started, they worry about the cost of returning to the Middle Eastern nation,
    which is believed by the U.S. government to be armed with chemical and
    biological weapons.

    "I'm kind of upset we have to go back," Gregory said. "I wish we'd done it
    right the first time."

    While history remembers the Gulf War as all "smart bombs" and sorties --
    surgical strikes with few casualties on the battlefield -- veterans recall
    the thousands of men and women who came home wounded, physically or
    emotionally.

    "On this Veterans Day, we need to remember the price of this war is going to
    be more than rebuilding Iraq," said Stephen Robinson, a former Army Special
    Forces soldier who served in Iraq and is now executive director of the
    National Gulf War Resource Center in Silver Spring. "It's going to be
    upholding our promise to take care of the soldiers who go there to fight."

    Gregory was seriously wounded during his service in the war as an infantry
    squad leader with the 2nd Armored Division's Tiger Brigade. The day after
    fighting stopped, a truck he was in ran over a land mine. The blast shattered
    his feet and ankles and left him hospitalized for more than two months. He
    now wears a leg brace to walk.

    Despite his injuries, Gregory said he supports going back to Iraq. "I wish I
    were in good enough physical condition to go myself," he added. Gregory's
    wife remains on active duty with the Army, and he worries that she might be
    sent to the region. "I don't want to see her go," he said.

    The war this time, he fears, will be much costlier for U.S. troops than the
    1991 Gulf War, which claimed 148 Americans killed in action. "Now [Hussein]
    knows what to expect," he said. "He knows how we fight. I don't think it'll
    be as easy this time."

    Some veterans worry about being bogged down in city-street fighting in
    Baghdad, a scenario the Defense Department hopes to avoid. The gravest
    threat, others say, is that Hussein will make full use of chemical and
    biological weapons, unlike during the last war. "We've basically given Saddam
    no option," Robinson said. "He's going to use everything he has to kill as
    many as he can."

    Kirt Love served during the war with the Army's 141st Signal Battalion, part
    of the U.S. "left hook" aimed at destroying the elite Iraqi Republican Guard.
    Like Gregory, he was upset when the attack abruptly ended after the Iraqi
    army abandoned Kuwait.

    "I was ready to drive to Baghdad myself and take out Saddam," said Love, 38,
    a resident of Mount Jackson in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. "All the troops
    were angry. We all felt betrayed."

    Now he is an activist on the issue of illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans
    and is adamantly opposed to U.S. ground forces going back for another war. He
    is worried that gas masks and other protective gear issued to troops have not
    been adequately upgraded.

    "Our government knows our equipment is not up to standards," Love said. "This
    isn't going to be the same as before. This is going to be a bloody affair.
    They haven't shown us that they have learned anything."

    Love suffers from migraine headaches, respiratory difficulties and nerve
    damage, problems he attributes to his service in the theater. He co-founded
    the Desert Storm Battlefield Registry, an advocacy group trying to bring
    attention to the unexplained illnesses reported by thousands of Gulf War
    veterans. The causes have been variously attributed to vaccines given to
    protect the troops, exposure to chemical agents released at depots, oil
    fires, battle stress or depleted uranium used in some U.S. armaments.

    Gregory works in the Washington office of Disabled American Veterans, and
    many of the soldiers he deals with fought in the Gulf War. "I think people
    tend to overlook what happened there," he said.

    Many are suffering orthopedic problems, others have chronic fatigue syndrome
    and others are experiencing post-traumatic stress, he said.

    Soldiers who were sent to the Saudi Arabian desert during the buildup to the
    war, including Gregory, had no way of knowing that the war would end so
    quickly with so few casualties. "We were scared," Gregory said. "There was
    constant fear for your life. There's quite a few Gulf War veterans who are
    experiencing problems."

    Robinson's last assignment before retiring from the military last year was in
    the office of the secretary of defense, where he did research on Gulf War
    illnesses. He was disillusioned by what he saw. "It seemed that everything we
    produced leaned away from helping the veterans," he said.

    "Gulf War veterans were treated as if they were crazy and didn't have real
    problems," added Robinson, who served with the 10th Special Forces Group in
    northern Iraq assisting Kurds immediately after the ground war ended. "Now
    science is catching up."

    If the United States sends troops to fight Iraq again, Robinson said, it must
    ensure that they are fully protected against chemical and biological hazards.
    "I served 20 years. I loved my military career," he said. "But I don't want
    to see guys make the same mistakes we made."

    Gulf War veterans will be among those marching this morning along
    Constitution Avenue in the "March to Remember" -- an event sponsored by
    Vietnam Veterans of America -- as a show of unity among veterans past,
    present and future, Robinson said.



    © 2002 The Washington Post Company

    Sempers,

    Roger


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