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Daily Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Reeves County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

OPINION

Greg Harman

Opinion

Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Loose Fish


By Greg Harman

Accurate facts may best honor vets

As we honor our family members and loved ones who served our
nation in the armed services this Veteran's Day, I wonder, what
better present could there be for so many of them than the
Department of Defense stepping forward with accurate information
concerning the controversial "Gulf War Syndrome?"

Since our fighting men and women returned from the war in Iraq six
years ago, thousands have complained of a broad range of
illnesses. It was only this year, six years after the close of the
war, that Pentagon officials have finally admitted that as many as
100,000 troops were definitely exposed - now watch this concession
- to "minute amounts of nerve gas."

Conceding to the exposure of our GIs to "minute amounts" of nerve
gas is a slap in the face to any GI who fought faithfully in the
war against "Sadam" and lived this long, under the shadow of a
government which denies their claims, with the consequences of a
poisoned mind and body. But still they (the Pentagon and
Department of Defense) maintain that there is no firm evidence
that any of the symptoms of the Gulf War Syndrome were caused by
this exposure.

Gulf War Syndrome, or Persian Gulf Illness (PGI), manifests itself
as chronic fatigue, arthritic-like pains, migraine and tension
headaches, severe depression, weight gain, sleep disorders, and
memory loss.

After five years of adamantly denying any troops were exposed to
debilitating chemicals, the Pentagon finally acknowledged PGI in
the summer of '96. It was stated that 400 army engineers "may have
been exposed" to the toxic nerve gas Sarin when they blew up an
ammo depot in Kamisiyeh. Later the Pentagon upped their figures to
5,000 troops exposed. . .then in Oct, '96, they estimated the
figure ran as high as 20,000 troops.

About thirty thousand American GIs returning from the war
complained of the symptoms now known as Gulf War Syndrome and to
date it would seem that the DOD and the Pentagon would have us
believe it is all in their heads. How is this honoring our brave
young men and women?

In VA clinics, doctors are diagnosing Gulf War Syndrome. Charles
Jackson, M.D., in Tuskegee, Alabama, has issued diagnoses of GWS
due to chemical-biological exposure. These were soldiers who did
not have such symptoms going into the war.

Those not willing to believe our own GI's testimonies to their
infirmities may be referred to the findings of the Gulf War
Veterans of Georgia who obtained eleven pages from the Pentagon by
filing a Freedom of Information request. What they got in response
probably surprised even them.

The eleven pages written during the war with Iraq, and prepared by
an aide to General Norman Schwarzkopf, had been classified
material prior to the Georgian's request. The log covers seven
days of activity in which GIs are recorded as enduring chemical
injuries, chemical supply dumps are discovered in Iraq, fallout
from other chemical dumps are recorded as well as direct chemical
attacks issued from Iraq into Saudi Arabia.

Chemical attack was expected from day one by the heads of the UN
offensive so should it come as such a shock that so many are
complaining now of what they believe to be the horrible aftermath?
Throughout the Gulf War sirens were used to alert soldiers to
chemical activity in the area; they went off almost constantly. In
fact, according to several soldiers' testimony, the sirens
eventually came to be ignored because of the high level of "false
alarms."

So, in light of all the claims of these GIs, isn't it time that
more documents concerning the war be declassified and more
testimony regarded honestly, without the defensive posturing of
recent years, in order that our American GIs be truly honored with
a more clear and comprehensive picture of what happened during the
brief and fiery Gulf War.

Editor's Note: Greg Harman is an Enterprise writer whose column
appears each Wednesday. He can be e-mailed at: greg@pecos.net

Our Views

More attendance needed at public meetings

Have you attended many public meetings recently?

If you have you may have noticed a lack of attendance by the
people who need to be there, namely department heads or, in the
case of schools, principals.

In such public meetings items are often discussed that require
someone present to later tell an absent department head about
something that needs to be done.

In the case of the schools, so many principals don't go to board
meetings that the day after a meeting you can't get in touch with
the superintendent because all the principals are calling to see
what happened.

The situation has become so bad that now there is an
administrative meeting the morning after a school board meeting.
Wouldn't it be better if they were there to find out what was said
and done rather than get it second handed? We know of bad
information that has been circulated because of such second hand
information.

There are also questions that arise during meetings that
administrators need to be present to answer.

Obviously, having the necessary people in attendance at meetings
would help overcome communication problems. In any organization
complete and adequate communication is always a problem.

And, of course, we believe more people from the public need to be
in attendance. After all, it is your tax dollars at woWe've
noticed their absences.

In such public meetings items are often discussed that require
someone present to later tell an absent department head about
something that needs to be done.

In the case of the schools, so many principals don't go to board
meetings that the day after a meeting you can't get in touch with
the superintendent because all the principals are calling to see
what happened.

The situation has become so bad that now there is an
administrative meeting the morning after a school board meeting.
Wouldn't it be better if they were there to find out what was said
and done rather than get it second handed? We know of bad
information that has been circulated because of such second hand
information.

There are also questions that arise during meetings that
administrators need to be present to answer.

Obviously, having the necessary people in attendance at meetings
would help overcome communication problems. In any organization
complete and adequate communication is always a problem.

And, of course, we believe more people from the public need to be
in attendance. After all, it is your tax dollars at work!



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