...for as long as it takes
Factory Assessed as "Unlikely"
The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses released
today a
case narrative that assesses whether chemical warfare agents were
present at
an industrial area outside Kuwait City.
"Upon reviewing all available evidence, our investigators
determined
that the exposure of U.S. armed forces in the area must be assessed as
unlikely," said Bernard Rostker, the special assistant for Gulf War
illnesses. "However, we have also identified a number of lessons to be
learned from our investigation of the events at the cement factory."
Evidence presented by the Fox Nuclear, Biological, Chemical
Reconnaissance Vehicle tape, the soil analysis and the lack of
casualties
from exposure to chemical agents, make a very strong case that there
were no
chemical warfare agents at the cement factory, Rostker said. However,
since
one of the two Fox tapes is missing and the soil samples may have been
packaged incorrectly, it is not feasible to completely rule out the
possibility of chemical warfare agents.
The narrative suggests the need for improvements in the areas of
communication, sampling procedures, and transporting evidence for
analysis.
It also focuses on chemical alerts and soil samples taken from the area
and
examines the events that occurred before, during and after the incident.
This investigation was undertaken in response to veterans' testimony to
the
Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, and to
follow-up reports published last year in Chapter 11 of the MITRE
Corporation's draft report, "Iraqi Chemical Warfare: Analysis of
Information
Available to DoD."
Rostker reminds veterans that this is an interim, not a final report.
The
report will be reissued and the assessments revised, if new evidence
warrants. "I hope that veterans will read this report. If there is an
error or information that we missed, we encourage veterans with
additional
information to call us toll free at 1-800-497-6261," he said.
The complete case narrative is available on DoD's
Internet
website at: GulfLINK
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