Message from Veterans
to the Poisoned Troops of the Gulf War

Some members of VVAW AI had the opportunity to attend the Gulf War Syndrome Conference hosted by the Northwest Veterans for Peace on September 9 and 10 in Portland, Oregon. It was the second of three conferences in the country on this topic, with the third to be held this spring in Tennessee. An activist at the conference recalled hearing a vet speak out at a protest during the military build-up just before the Gulf War. The vet said that when the troops come back from the Gulf with PTSD and who knows what else, it won't be the government or the VA who will help them, it will be the peace movement. VVAW AI wants to wholeheartedly salute Northwest Veterans for Peace for leading the peace movement in the fight for the truth about the Gulf War Syndrome. The following statement to the troops of the Gulf War was inspired by what we learned at the conference. VVAW AI is calling on vets of all generations to contribute ideas for the statement and sign your name to it as a pledge of unity. We'll also need your collaboration in distributing the final draft of this message as broadly as possible.

For more information about the Gulf Syndrome contact

The recruiter promised you job skills and travel in a 'peace time military.' Then came the Gulf War, and the government told you you were needed to 'defend democracy' and 'save the world from the next Hitler.' You did your time in the Middle East and now you're home, but the war's not over for you. You're sick, and so are your wives and children. More of your buddies died after the Gulf War than during it. Your babies are born with no eyes, a tumor twice the size of his heart is found in your friend's chest, making love with your wife results in burning semen that creates open sores wherever it touches. You experience muscle pain; fatigue; nausea; loss of memory; night sweats; heart, respiratory and intestinal problems; immune system failure... But the VA claims your illness isn't service related, that you're no sicker than your civilian neighbors, that maybe it's all in your head. All the government wants to do is damage control. Because the truth about the Gulf War Syndrome would damage them.

More than 70,000 Gulf War vets are suffering from the Gulf War Syndrome and the military simply denies responsibility. Even the few individuals who do claim to be on your side say no one is to blame--that it's just 'a necessary evil of war that couldn't be avoided.' The media minimizes the epidemic scope and life-threatening, sometimes deadly, effects of the Syndrome, while you and your family are trying to survive a living hell.

Those of us who no longer have a stake in the U.S. War Machine, veterans of wars who've been used and thrown away before you, want you to know the whole truth. You are only the latest in a long line of casualties of war, and you will not be the last guinea pig to be used in service of the War Machine. You now share a common history with Vietnam vets sprayed with Agent Orange, the nuclear vets irradiated in Nevada and the Pacific, and VA patients given radiation experiments as part of research by the Atomic Energy Commission.

And let us not forget that the people of Iraq were the main targets of the U.S. arsenal. The Iraqi vets, their wives, children and friends, are still living in the toxic environment created by the Gulf War. 300,000 civilians were killed in the bombing and 2,000 people die every day due to the lasting effects of the war and the U.S.'s refusal to lift the sanctions. You have much more in common with the Iraqi people than you do with the government that poisoned you. You were not betrayed by the government, they were never on your side in the first place. The military used your body to complete their mission for their interests at whatever cost.

The root of all this misery has a name. The Gulf War Syndrome may have a number of different causes--oil well fires, chemical and biological warfare agents, experimental shots and pills--but they all share the same source--U.S. Imperialism.

The system wants you to sit down, shut up, and fall into line. The military wants you to accept their transparent rationalizations and half truths and stop questioning authority. The government wants you to remain loyal to them even if it kills you.

Like you, we learned the hard way. And these lessons were paid for in blood, by us, and by the people of the world. There is no honor and dignity in fighting and dying for the rich and powerful. There is no honor and dignity in bombing and killing the people of another country.

Now the peace and justice movement needs your voice. You can play a part in exposing what the military is really all about. You can use your experience to prevent the next generation from falling for the recruiter hype. You can be part of another kind of history--the history of vets as heroes in the international struggle against imperialism. You can be a path breaker of a future society where the people of the world are not treated as our enemy, but as our brothers and sisters.