What seems to be emerging is a troubling pattern of events involving individuals who have received medals -- Bronze Stars, Meritorious Service Medals, Army Commendation Medals, and Purple Hearts -- in the course of coming into contact with unconventional weapons that the Department of Defense continues to insist were not even present in theater. Chemical and biological weapons were either present. or they were not present. If weapons such as these were present, they were deployed doctrinally, as a matter of Iraqi Army practice, not in isolated instances. These events raise serious concerns about the veracity of the Department of Defense's claims as well as their motives. These reports call into question each and every Department of Defense refutation of previously reported detection’s and each and every triggered chemical agent detection alarm.

We know that there were chemicals found near An Nasiriyah, in an area that was secured by elements of the 18th Airborne Corps. The U.N. confirms that they were there, and a Defense Department official testifying before the Senate Banking Committee confirmed that troops were close to this facility -- contradicting previous testimony in the same hearing by another senior Defense Department official.

Careful scrutiny leads us to conclude that they were found in a container in southeastern Kuwait in an area tested by Kuwaiti, British, and American soldiers from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

We know from the reports on Sergeant Fisher that they were found in an Iraqi bunker complex south of Basra in an area that was secured by elements of the 3rd Armored Division.

Two U.S. Marines were injured by chemical agents in breaching operations during the "ground war."

We now know that many of the soldiers that were present during each of these events are ill -- others were given medals for their actions. Many of the veterans of the Gulf War and their families are now suffering permanently debilitating illnesses -- some have died. Currently it is estimated that there are 29,000 servicemen and women on the Department of Veterans Affairs Persian Gulf Registry and 7,000 on the Department of Defense Registry. The Department of Defense Registry is growing at a rate of about 500 individuals per week.

Just over one year ago, on September 9, 1993, when the first staff report was prepared for the Chairman, we were forced to estimate the numbers of sick veterans. Since that time we have learned that 5,400 Persian Gulf War veterans had registered with the Department of Veterans Affairs up to that point. The Department of Defense Registry numbered only a few hundred. In just over a years time the number of veterans who have registered in these registries has grown by nearly 700%. We have also learned that many of the signs and symptoms of illnesses initially experienced by the veterans of the Persian Gulf War are now being experienced by their spouses and families. This data confirms that these illnesses are becoming a major threat to the health and well-being of a significant and rapidly growing number of individuals and warrants a serious and immediate effort by the government to determine the precise causes of the illnesses.

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