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Gulf War Vets Discuss Iraq
FOXNews.com
Gulf War Vets Discuss Iraq Monday, November 11, 2002 By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos WASHINGTON? ?? 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
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IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND SSgt. Roger A. One Proud Marine 1961-1977 68/69 http://www.geocities.com/thedrifter001/ |
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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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IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND SSgt. Roger A. One Proud Marine 1961-1977 68/69 http://www.geocities.com/thedrifter001/ |
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