Gulf War Illness Proven But Not Cured
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In this country when soldiers enlist, they know wars are possible, even likely. They accept the sacrifice of precious moments with their wives, children, and friends, and most acknowledge the possibility of the ultimate sacrifice, their lives. This dutifulness is what makes them admirable in the eyes of America; we afford them a special brand of dignity through our heart-wrenching movies and romanticized media coverage. What most wartime soldiers are not prepared for and never warned of, and what we civilians routinely ignore is that there is a good chance they will be stripped of that dignity when they come home.
It’s a tragedy when 25% of the 700,000 soldiers who came home from the Gulf War have neurological illnesses. It’s heartbreaking to learn that 17 years later it appears that they will not recover. It’s unimaginable that our own government caused it, but it is a crime of the highest order that for 17 years their suffering has been called into question. All of this has finally been made clear through an overdue and exhaustive scientific study into the validity of Gulf War syndrome which says “scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved.”
To borrow an outraged question from a friend upon hearing the results; Where are the Arrests?!
Seriously, who is to blame? Is it the doctors that administered pyridostigmine bromide, a drug meant to offset the effects of nerve gas? The commanders that ordered soldiers to coat their uniforms in poisonous pesticides? The veterans benefit administrators that repeatedly denied care? What about the politicians who pulled at our heartstrings with their tales of Vietnam war valor while year after year denying veterans’ medical benefits and undermining the public medical care system they depended on? That’s right John McCain, that one was for you.
You wouldn’t have known it by listening to the McCain campaign, but McCain was blasted for his dismal record on veterans by veteran rights advocates such as the bipartisan group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). He landed on the IAVA’s D list along with just 3 other senators and 5 congressmen, including Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul. There has been a real and undeniable effort on the behalf of some politicians and the government at large to cover up the consequences of war and muffle the voices of a veteran population in trouble.
But what about an American public that conveniently forgot the ravages of Agent Orange just twenty years prior? As the saying goes, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The study is certainly a breakthrough for veterans fighting for treatment, and a testament to American determination, but what of today’s soldiers? Will they have to come home and fight another war just like their predecessors? The United States will not stop waging war tomorrow, and we won’t stop sending young men and women into toxic environments in the name of democracy. What we can do is realize that we are beholden to these soldiers for as long it takes for them to recover. Whether we agree with the wars they fight or not, for once let’s grant them dignity in spirit and in deed.
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