Gulf War Syndrome stats withheld

[jbrown72073 at cs.com]

Roughly 110,000 Gulf War vets are registered with the VA and DoD for Gulf War illness--the gov't admits ‘about 25,000’ are sick.  I haven't seen a peep about this from the left.  Are we so PC we have to tie one hand behind our backs?  (One reaction I got was, 'I can't get too sad about the vets, what about Iraqi children?')  This was after a talk by Medea Benjamin--almost entirely about the impending war--in which she suggested that we could reach 'ordinary people' by mentioning the dollar costs of a new gulf war.  But U.S. vets are beyond the pale.

VA witholding Crucial Gulf War Statistics as we approach war with Iraq
The VA is in violation of public law
At: http://www.ngwrc.org/article.asp?id=142

The National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) is requesting that the Department of Veterans Affairs release up-to-date Gulf War veteran death and disability statistics. The NGWRC has made this request informally and now formally with a letter to Secretary Principi.

 
Public Law 102-585 Sections 701 and 702 state that every three months, as required by law, the VA must publish the "Gulf War Veterans Information System" report.

 
The last Gulf War statistics were released in February 2002. The next release was due in May 2002. VA is now four months delinquent in distributing these critical statistics. 

As we approach the possibility of returning to IRAQ to fight a second Gulf War these statistics will provide key evidence about the last Gulf War and the illnesses those veterans face as a result of fighting on a toxic battlefield. This report also has political implications on the VA's ability to handle additional casualties from what is already proven to be a Chemical/Biologically dirty battlefield.

Based on current US policy toward Iraq it appears that a confrontation is inevitable. The NGWRC is concerned that offensive chemical and biological agents may be used by Iraq against our forces. The VA is ill prepared to handle large amounts of veterans returning from a Chemical/ Biological battlefield.

 
The NGWRC routinely assist Gulf War veterans who have had claims on file with the VA for over 5 years. Some Gulf War veterans cannot obtain treatment or compensation because of the “Burden of Proof” required by the VA for claims approval. We simply want the VA to abide by Public Law 102-585 Sections 701 and 702. The VA should not be in the business of considering the political implications of this report on current events.

 
America is strong enough to hear bad news. If this report makes us pause and rethink our position on the VA’s ability to care for veterans returning from a Chemical/Biological war then so be it. The NGWRC understands that the VA is under funded and we object strongly to President Bush's recent refusal to spend $275 million for much-needed healthcare. As a result of this budget cut, VA services to all veterans will suffer; let alone the VA’s ability to handle a new generation of Gulf War veterans.

Posted to the NGWRC Web 8/28/2002 5:53:12 PM

See also:
http://www.ngwrc.org/Resources/VANumberGame.htm
for more on the VA numbers game.

Jenny Brown