Pentagon Fails To Learn From Gulf War Illness

[seemslikeadream]

Across the USA, troops fresh from the Iraq war are learning another meaning for the U.S. doctrine of pre-emption. They're checking into medical facilities to follow new Pentagon orders. Give a blood sample and answer a long questionaire on your health and Iraq service. The information is designed to speed the diagnsis and treatment of any new outbreaks of the mysterious symptoms still afflicting tens of thousands of Persian Gulf War veterans.

But the success of such pre-emptive actions, ordered by Congress, depends on aggressive Pentagon implementation. Already it has missed the chance to collect the best possible before and after health snapshots of troops by failing to carefully screen Iraq-bound soldiers.

The oversight--- coupled with new evidence that the Pentagon continues to downplay exposure to dangerous chemicals in the first Iraq war --- casts doubts on the military's promise to learn from past blunders and make troops health a top priority.

more www.ngwrc.org