Is The Gulf War Syndrome Real Essay

Is The Gulf War Syndrome Real. Essay, Research Paper

Is the Gulf War Syndrome Real.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The United States government acted

very quickly. Ships were dispatched to the Persian Gulf, and oil prices shot up as and oil

embargo was placed against Iraq. The U.S. government told us that Saddam Hussein was

poised to invade the neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, and the worlds oil

supply was threatened. George Bush launched operation “Desert Shield” in which a

coalition of many nation’s armies gathered in the deserts of Saudi Arabia bordering Iraq

and Kuwait.

As the war began, the coalition of national armies assembled in Saudi Arabia took

a few SCUD missile shots fired from Iraq. When the troops started moving in, Sadam’s

army turned and tried to get out of Kuwait. The Iraqi “Republican Guard” stayed safely

back, far from the fighting. Several hundred U.S. troops died in the brief battle, and ten’s

of thousands of Iraqis died. Many, if not most, of the U.S. deaths were the result of

“friendly fire”.

At this point, George Bush decided to bring the troops home. UN weapons

inspectors converged on Iraq and the coalition armies dispersed. Perhaps the most hyped

war in history was now over. It was almost certainly the war most orchestrated for the

media. All the troops had been drilled for months in preparation for a tremendous battle

and possibly chemical and biological weapons. Suddenly it was over. They were sent home

and returned to their normal everyday lives. Memories of the threat of chemical and

biological weapons remained.

Years pass before rumors begin to surface, a veteran suddenly died for no known

cause there was a veteran who developed an enormous tumor and there was a veteran

who’s new child is severely malformed. The threat of chemical and biological weapons

returns to everyone’s memory. People start thinking that perhaps this is the cause of all

these illnesses.

The threat seemed very real. If it could be demonstrated that Gulf War

veterans are suffering from the effects of chemical or biological weapons, they might have

grounds for some restitution from the United States government, or perhaps the Iraqi

government. Organizations began to form in response to rising concern over the plight of

Gulf War veterans.

Official Pentagon numbers show a total of 697,000 U.S. citizens took part in the

Gulf War, but they may not include non-military members. About 6 percent of Gulf War

veterans have reported an ailment they believe is linked to their service. The Pentagon

found that 85 percent had ailments or diseases with known causes not linked to the Gulf

War.

Further Defense Department research is focusing on the slightly less than 1 percent

of all Gulf War veterans, whose ailments could not be diagnosed. Their problems included

headache and memory loss, fatigue, sleep disorders, and intestinal and respiratory

ailments. These have come to be known as the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

The Gulf War Syndrome is nothing more than a hearsay. It is a disease in which

all of the science involving it is replaced by rumor. The opinions or real medical experts

are replaced by the opinion of veterans who believe they are now medical experts.

There have been accounts of symptoms such as: aching muscles, aching joints,

abdominal pain, facial pain, chest pain, blood clots, flushing, night sweats, blurry vision,

photosensitivity, jaundice, bruising, shaking, vomiting, fevers, sinus growths, irritability,

fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, weight gain, loss of appetite, heartburn, nausea,

bad breath, hair loss, graying hair, rashes, sore throat, heart disease, diverticulitis and

other intestinal disorders, kidney stones, a growth in the eye, tingling and itching

sensations, sore gums, cough, cancer, diarrhea with and without bleeding, constipation,

testicular pain, epididymitis, unspecified swelling, memory loss, dizziness, inability to

concentrate, choking sensation, depression, lightheadedness, hot and cold flashes, labored

breathing, sneezing, sensitive teeth and other dental problems, neurological disorders,

nasal congestion, bronchitis, leg cramps, twitching, hemorrhoids, thyroid problems, welts,

rectal and vaginal bleeding, colon polyps, increased urination, a “bulging disk” in the neck,

hypertension, blood in urine, insomnia, headaches, and “a foot fungus that will not go

away.

There have been more believable examples such as in the case of Michael Adcock.

Adcock died in 1992 from lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymph glands, which then

spread to the rest of his body. He thoroughly believed that he had contracted the

lymphoma by being exposed by something in the war.

His story was very believable, and the media attentively reported the story. But

the Army Surgeon General reported that he had suffered from rectal bleeding, which is the

first symptom of lymphoma, shortly after arriving to t

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