An American Crisis Gulf War Syndrome Essay Example For Students

An American Crisis: Gulf War Syndrome Essay An American Crisis: Gulf War SyndromeImagine a soldier that is willing to die for his country in the Persian Gulfregion, so that Americans could pay less for petroleum products in the Gulf, thesoldier serves his country, with honor, loyalty, and dignity. In an attempt towin the war, Saddam Hussein launches a chemical attack on American troops,leaving some soldiers with a lot of incurable symptoms. Such symptoms includeheadaches, diarrhea, bleeding gums, chronic fatigue, joint and muscle pain, andrashes which are being grouped as Gulf War Syndrome (Fischer 148). Then thesoldier receives a good old American welcome back home from supporters of thetroops. After the parades and ceremonies are finished the veteran experiencesrecurring headaches and chronic fatigue. The veteran seeks treatment at a VAhospital, saying his illness is a result of serving in the Gulf. Instantly, heis denied benefits and services for making a claim that he cannot prove. Whywould the US government want to deny c ombat veterans of his claim? What isAmerican government trying to hide? I believe that Gulf War Syndrome is a sideeffect of low-levels of chemical and biological warfare agents the troops wereexposed to during their service in the Persian Gulf. I can justify my belief bythe number of ailing vets and Saddams stockpile of chemical and biologicalweapons. The use of chemical warfare in the Gulf is a reality. First there was the IraqiArsenal, they possessed several weapons of the death. They were buildingnuclear weapons and already had chemical and biological weapons. Iraq owned1500 gallons of anthrax which were in 50 bombs and 10 missiles, and 100 bombsand 15 missiles were loaded with the toxin agent Botulinum that destroys thenerves and eventually chokes the inflicted to a horrible death. Also Iraqpossessed a nerve agent called Ricin that could kill with only a single drop(Hedges and Cary 41). Classified reports from the Pentagon also support the veterans claim that theywere exposed to chemical warfare. The documents reported that chemical agentswere detected and that some chemical weapons were left on the battlefield. Alsoour allies, the Czech and French forces detected chemical agents with theirdetection devices in Northern Saudi Arabia during the beginning of the Gulf War,but US commanders ordered that any warning coming from the Czechs were to beignored. When the Marines first landed in Kuwait, chemical detection devicessound (Hedges and Cray 43). Also a former CIA analyst, Patrick Eddington,revealed records from the 101st Airborne division that showed the divisiondetected exposure to chemical agent. (AP 5)Besides the alerts and chemical warfare arsenal there were also Saddams ordersand threats. Iraqi papers that were intercepted by US intelligence reveals thatSaddam ordered that chemical warfare was to be used on Allied targets, but hisorders were not to be followed t hrough. Saddam did this so he would not beresponsible for the chemical attacks. Within other documents were instructionson how and when the chemical and biological weapons were to be released. Theinitial attack would come when troops invaded Iraq. Saddam had drawn defenselines across Kuwait and if that the final line were crossed the Iraqi were readywith a chemical or biological attack on the Allied Forces (Timmerman 14). A chemical attack is not the only possibility on how the troops were exposed. The second possibility is that the troops could have been exposed when theAllied forces conducted installation bombings raids on Iraqi targets. Considering the above factors concentration of agent, the elevation of theagents plume, and environmental factors such as wind speed and inversionconditions and wind direction many thousands of fatal casualties could berealized in neighboring countries such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon,Turkey, Israel, Iran and the Soviet Union, (Timmerman 14).A 100 kilogramsof anthrax could drop entire communities of people. After the bombings, chemicaland biological weapons were found. In one site near Baghdad, 75 tons of sarin,60 to 70 gallons of tabun, 250 tons of mustard gas and stocks of throdiglycal, aprecursor used in mustard gas. (Fisher 151). Speech On The White Privilege EssayWhen it came to compensation, the department adopted the same stance towardthese vets as it had taken with Vietnam Veterans in the late Seventies: no proof,no compensation. (Fischer 151). The VA had denied because there was nonumerical code in VA diagnostic book. Without a code for the symptoms, the VAwould not help the vets. Tired of not receiving treatment, Roberts decided to see a private doctor,paying the medical bills out of his pocket. His doctor treated him anddiscovered that Roberts had developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma or cancer. Inanother six to eight weeks, the doctor told him, the tumor would have shut downhis kidneys and thrown him into a comaor killed him. The close call made itclear to Roberts that had I relied on the VA, Id be dead now (Fischer 152). Besides chemical warfare, there are two more remote possibilities that explainGulf War Syndrome. The first is the depleted uranium coating that is onartillery tips. The coating made the tips harder, which then could penetratestronger targets. When the shell explodes it releases radioactive dust, thiswhich in turn would cause the troops to become ill. (Fischer 150). The second explanation comes from possibility of multiple chemical sensitivitysyndrome. The oil fires, pollutants, petrochemicals were too much for thesoldiers immune systems. The chemicals broke down their immune systems. Insteadof not being unaffected by common chemicals, they are extremely sensitive tothem. The symptoms of gulf war syndrome are present.(Fischer 150). In my opinion Gulf War Syndrome is comparable to the Agent Orange Scandal inVietnam. Both instances troops were afflicted with pain and suffering fromchemicals, and the government was unwilling to pay the veterans the benefitsthey deserve. After a decade of the Vietnam veterans pleading their claims tothe government, the government finally caved in and paid the benefits to thevets. The vets in Vietnam were sprayed by a chemical defoliant called AgentOrange which caused a wide variety of illnesses like the Gulf War vets areexperiencing Gulf War Syndrome (Fischer 151). Why does the government cover-up these kinds of topics? Is it so they will nothave to pay millions of dollars in benefits? I think the answer is no. In myopinion the government wants to keep the topic of chemical warfare a secret. The American government wants to be seen as an invincible super power. Imagineif the threat of chemical warfare was a part of everyday life. We would beliving in a nightmarish world. Chemical warfare is a threat to Americas statusas an invincible superpower. One drop of chemical agent could kill or injurethousands. I believe the reason why America covers up this type of situation sothat the citizens can believe that they are safe at all times. Also I believethat the politicians who sent the troops into war do not want to takeresponsibility for their actions. We helped Iraq injure some of our troops. Inthe Iraqgate scandal we aided Saddam in beating the Iranians by selling themstrains of chemical agents. In turn with these strains the Iraqis could growtheir own chemical agents (Fischer 203). With the ability of to make chemicalagents, they could load the agent in weapons and use them against Americantroops, thus the problem of Gulf War Syndrome in the troops arise. Works CitedEx-CIA analyst accuses Pentagon of hiding data on Gulf War illness. KansasState Collegian 31 Oct. 1996: 5. Fischer, Mary. Dying for Their Country. Gentlemans Quarterly May 1994:147-153, 203- 206. Hedges, Stephen and Peter Cary. Baghdads Dirty Secrets. U.S. News and WorldReports 11 Sept. 1995: 41-43. Sherwood, Ben. Toxic Shock. The New Republic. 6 May 1991: 10-12. Timmerman, Kenneth. The Iraq Papers. The New Republic. 29 Jan. 1996: 12-15. History