From the Journal Inquirer, 6/05/97, editorial
A time for heroes
by Charles A. Regulbuto

Ret. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf has ignored our repeated please to him for help. Instead, he is a tragic example of a master of escape and evasion. He asked in Hartford last Thursday what reason he could have to cover up the Gulf War illnesses. If he is not part of the coverup, then he should be part of the un-coverup. He should not be one of the few good men who do nothing. He must stand up for the troops who made him the hero. He should not merely publish while the veterans perish.

His own aide in the Gulf, who was forced to stay on the surface while the general went six stories underground in his bunker when the chemical detection alarms went off, has a disabling neuromuscular disease with ALS symptoms, known to be caused by nerve damage from chemical and biological exposure. Yet the general claims no knowledge of exposure to the troops. Conveniently, too, the wartime chemical logs under his own command are now missing.

In his appearance in Hartford, Schwarzkopf continued the party line of the Pentagon institution liars in denying any exposure to the troops from Iraqi chemical weapons. However, he avoided any reference to chemical and biological exposure from bombing raids, from experimental inoculations supposedly to protect them from nerve gas, and from pesticides - any one or combination of which can cause the debilitating and disabling diseases the veterans are suffering.

These as causes of the vets' illnesses have been documented by the Israelis and the Germans. Yet our government and military hide their incompetence in failing to protect the troops, and through responsibility-shirking individuals stonewall determination of these causes, thus tragically delaying life-saving treatments for the afflicted vets.

Schwarzkopf said he was "satisfied with the sick veterans' medical treatments by the Department of Defense and VA." Outrageous. Ask the vets who have no treatment available to them, and those who are flying around the world for treatments in other countries at their own expense.

Schwarzkopf has said he knows of no illnesses reported during the war. He fails to note the 4,000 troops who have died and whose illnesses manifested after the war. Or the fact that Iraq had biological weapons designed to cause illnesses five years later, which we are now seeing in more than 100,000 veterans. And he is part of the coverup that avoids the fact our country supplied Iraq with the components of those weapons.

He and his comrade in duplicity and ignorance, Colin Powell, should stand up for the troops who won a war for them, giving them national fame and allowing them to make millions on the vets' pain and suffering. They should recognize that their gold stars mean more than dollars in their pockets. Their silence isn't golden here. The war isn't over, and they should be leading their troops again. Be a real hero and do the right thing, general. You know what it is.