WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's latest discovery that 5,000 more veterans of the 1991 Gulf War may have had contact with chemical weapons appeared to heighten suspicion yesterday among veterans of the conflict that the Defense Department has been trying to cover-up the issue.
The Pentagon's new announcement marked the second time in three months that the Defense Department has acknowledged that more U.S. troops may have been victims of chemical weapons. In June, it disclosed that 400 soldiers might have been exposed as a result of the same operation.
Pentagon officials insisted that the risk of exposure was only a possibility, insisting that there still is no evidence that any U.S. troops were poisoned during the incidents, which occurred while U.S. forces were destroying an Iraqi ammunition bunker.
Nevertheless, activists who have been pushing the Pentagon to recognize the so-called Gulf War syndrome reacted sharply. Richard Haines, president of Gulf War International, said the discovery showed that the investigation into the issue should be handled by an outside, independent body.
James Tuite III, director of the Gulf War Research Foundation, agreed. "I don't know how the Defense Department keeps denying that hundreds of thousands of troops were exposed," he said. "They say 5,000 now. They will be up to 20,000 soon."
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said the department was committed to contacting veterans who had been involved in the destruction of the chemical weapons so they can be examined. As a result, he said officials may expand the list further later.
Asked about the suspicion among some veterans that the Pentagon has been seeking to evade the issue over the past few years, Bacon said: "I can't talk about the past, but I can tell you that we're listening now."
As was the case in the announcement made last June, the latest disclosure involves the demolition of Iraqi ammunition at the Khamisiyah weapons storage complex in southern Iraq in March 1991 - just after the Gulf War ended - by U.S. troops in the 37th Engineering Battalion.
In June, the Pentagon announced that it had discovered that Bunker 73 in the Khamisiyah dump - which had been blown up by members of the 37th Engineering Battalion on March 4, 1991 - had been found to contain sarin, the nerve agent used in the 1995 Tokyo subway bombing.
Yesterday, defense officials said that in talking with veterans who had been involved in that operation, they discovered that U.S. soldiers also had destroyed Iraqi weapons that had been stashed in a pit several miles away - which also contained sarin and cyclosarin.
The second operation, which involved the destruction of some 297 122 mm rockets, was conducted on March 10, 1991. Officers who uncovered the incident speculated that the total number of weapons destroyed might have been even larger.
Bacon said officials still do not know how many chemical weapons might have been in the pit, and had been unable to reconstruct the storage area on a computer model because the computers used in the assessment had been damaged by recent floods.
Soldiers who claim that they are suffering from a Gulf War disease have reported chronic symptoms ranging from memory loss and concentration problems to disabling fatigue, joint aches, abdominal ailments, breathing problems, rashes, other skin conditions and hair loss.
Also cited have been muscle pains, nerve disorders, neuropsychological problems, sleep disturbances, heart problems, abnormal weight loss, menstrual disorders, circulatory and digestive problems, infections, depression, and stress and anxiety.
Some veterans also have reported serious neurological problems involving their children.
Those suffering from such symptoms are entitled to treatment at Veterans Administration hospitals, and new legislation permits the VA to pay disability claims of Gulf War veterans even though no such illness has yet been recognized officially.
Bacon said that veterans who believe they were part of the unit that may have been exposed to the toxic agents should call (800) 796-9699 and (800) 749-8387.
Bacon said that although officials have interviewed some of the veterans involved in the March 4, 1991, operation, physicians so far had "not been able to find any unusual patterns" that might point to a link between the incident and the Gulf War symptoms.
But he added, "We're not saying it isn't," and one reason for the latest announcement is to make contact with enough veterans who took part in the operation "to find out whether there is a link."