[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2652]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           GULF WAR ILLNESSES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, America has been built by the bravery and 
sacrifice of patriots. Every freedom that America stands for, has been 
fought for by brave American men and women. Exactly 135 years ago this 
week, Abraham Lincoln stood on the east steps of this grand Capitol 
building and delivered his second inaugural address. Thousands stood in 
silent attention as he delivered his concluding paragraph:

       With malice toward none; with charity for all; with 
     firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let 
     us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the 
     Nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the 
     battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may 
     achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
     and with all nations.

  Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more important our country can do than 
bind up the wounds of those who fight for the freedom of all Americans. 
We must fulfill the promises we have made to our sons and daughters who 
have put on the uniform of this country.
  In 1991, American troops began coming down with an alarming spectrum 
of maladies which soon became known as Gulf War illnesses. These 
valiant soldiers offered their lives in service to America. They 
deserve every effort by their government to answer questions about what 
might have made them sick. They deserve every effort by their 
government to try to find treatment for their illnesses.
  But what is really happening? Unfortunately, some in government have 
given the appearance that they will do everything in their power to 
block the answers to the questions and to block the search for 
treatments. A recent scientific, peer-reviewed study showed an 
overwhelmingly large number of tested veterans suffering from Gulf War 
illnesses are testing positive for antibodies to squalene. This study, 
``Antibodies to Squalene in Gulf War Syndrome,'' was recently published 
in the February 2000 issue of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. On 
January 31, I and nine of my House colleagues sent a letter requesting 
that the Department of Defense do an objective analysis of this study. 
We had great hope for that test, that this study might prove to be a 
breakthrough that would lead to better treatments for suffering Gulf 
War era veterans.
  While waiting for a response to our request, I discovered that the 
Department of Defense was misrepresenting and attacking the article on 
its own Anthrax Vaccination Inoculation Program Web site, AVIP. In one 
section, AVIP even claimed that the conclusions derived from the test 
results in the study had no scientific basis. The results of a peer-
reviewed study published in a scientific journal have no scientific 
basis? This is an outrageous statement. Our DOD is obviously 
stonewalling this issue. Therefore, I sent a letter to Secretary Cohen 
requesting that the inaccurate AVIP statements be removed. DOD needs to 
do this immediately.
  Last week, DOD delivered the response requested by myself and my nine 
colleagues. I had hoped that DOD would seize this opportunity to 
conduct a legitimate, thorough inquiry of the scientific, peer-reviewed 
study. Instead, we were provided irrelevant material and an anonymous 
half-page analysis. It is difficult to imagine that DOD would expect 
Congress to accept a half-page anonymously written analysis as an 
appropriate response to our request. The main point of our letter was 
completely ignored.
  Mr. Speaker, we need answers and action from DOD, not a maze of smoke 
and mirrors. The people's representatives are asking for answers from 
Secretary Cohen, and all we are getting is stonewalling and 
bureaucratic delay tactics. How can DOD expect to regain the seriously 
eroded trust of its military personnel if misrepresentations posted on 
the official Web site are allowed to go unchallenged and congressional 
requests for legitimate information are stonewalled?
  Mr. Speaker, Secretary Cohen must intervene to halt the 
misinformation campaign being waged by DOD officials concerning issues 
surrounding antibodies to squalene research. He must provide Members of 
Congress and those suffering from Gulf War illnesses the real answer. 
The Department of Defense must stop this deadly game of delay and 
distraction--many of our veterans are dying and thousands more are 
suffering indescribable agonies.
  Mr. Speaker, as Abraham Lincoln said 135 years ago just a short 
distance from this House floor, let us ``care for him who shall have 
born the battle.'' Congress must do whatever is necessary to get the 
care needed to our suffering Gulf War-era veterans.




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