By: Norm Brewer
And John Hanchette
Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON—Gulf War Illnesses in the years following the
1991 conflict with Iraq were "handled rather cavalierly" by the Pentagon, says
retired general Norman Schwarzkopf, who led the troops who now say they are sick.
Schwarzkopf also told Gannett News service that he regretted not telling
senators earlier this year about a chemical weapons case involving an Ohio Soldier.
Unpublished battlefront reports showing that Schwarzkopf knew about the
soldier in 1991 raised questions about why he told Congress this year that he had no
knowledge of anyone being exposed to chemical weapons.
The commanding general of Desert Storm has been a defender of the war and an
advocate of helping sick veterans. But he previously has shied from criticizing the
Pentagon’s investigation of why more than 1000,000 Gulf War veterans report being
sick.
"When the initial reports (of illness) were coming in it was taken
somewhat lightly by some people in the Department of Defense", said Schwarzkopf, who
later said he wanted to amend "cavalierly" to say: "It wasn’t taken as
seriously as it could have been."
But, he said, that changed with the 1996 appointment of Bernard Rostker to
head the Pentagon’s probe.
Department of Veterans Affairs doctors also have failed to believe veterans
are sick, Schwarzkopf said.
The chemical weapons incident involved Pfc.David Fisher of the 3rd
Armored Division, who was crawling through a destroyed Iraqi bunker when he came into
contact with munitions that blistered his upper arm. Schwarzkopf was told of Fisher’s
case on March 3, 1991, in a field report from Army VII Corps officers.
"CINC (commander in chief Schwarzkopf) did not want us to make a big
deal out of the soldier suffering chemical agent burns," the report says.
"Don’t deny the report to the press."
But in Senate testimony in January and February, Schwarzkopf passed up
several opportunities to tell of it.
"We never ever had a single report, number one, of verified chemicals
and, number two, of anyone ever showing any symptoms consistent with nerve agent
poisoning," he told the Armed Services Committee.
He told the Veterans Affairs Committee, "We never had a single symptom
shown by any of our troops of known symptoms of any chemical contamination and I never
received a single report of the Iraqi use of chemicals."
Fisher was considered a confirmed mustard agent casualty by VII Corps and
chemical detection units found traces of blister compound on his clothes. But Schwarzkopf
said the reports were conflicting.
"Yes, it was a chemical burn, no it wasn’t a confirmed chemical
burn," is how he now describes information coming in from the field. "The final
report we got back was that we can’t confirm it was a chemical burn.
Why didn’t Schwarzkopf mention the case to senators?
"I wish I had now," he said, "It wasn’t a question of it
slipping my mind. I should have said it."
Schwarzkopf said he has referred to the case "over and over again"
in private conversations" and in a 1993 letter to Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ind.
Schwarzkopf also disputed that he ever told officers in 1991 not to treat the
Fisher incident as a "big deal." He said there were "some
misinterpretations of my remarks the first night."
Schwarzkopf has been the target of veterans activists like Jim Brown;
president of the Desert Storm Justice Foundation, who says the commanding general
didn’t react to warning signs.
Brown said the Fisher incident and other warnings should have made the brass
more cautious about Khamisiya, an Iraqi ammo dump that, when blown up by US troops on
March 4, might have exposed 100,000 to chemical agents.
Schwarzkopf said additional protective measures were not ordered because
there was no "smoking gun."
Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Sunday that "although neither we
nor the presidential advisory committee can explain what causes the illnesses that some
veterans are suffering, we are working hard to provide the best medical care we can and to
conduct research that will help us answer remaining questions."