Army Times reports:

5/8/98 News Release from American Gulf War Veterans Association

In what appears to be a complete reversal of military policy, the Army Times reported in its May 4th, 1998, edition that the Gulf War Illness not only exists, but that it is possibly communicable and that there is "No cure for the illnesses at this time." Since the first reports of illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans, the Pentagon and the Department of Defense have continued to deny the existence of the Gulf War Illnesses and attributed these maladies to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

After years of denial, the Army Times quoted Nancy Bitsko, a nurse at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as stating "There is no cure for the illnesses. This program is a chronic-symptom management plan. Our goal is to try to return these vets to their highest physical capacity."

The hospital now offers programs to cope with the illnesses-including sessions on caring for the dying and trips to Arlington National Cemetery with the theme of "coming to terms."

Sgt. Robert Jones, a Gulf War veteran, stated, "I didn't think it was appropriate to take sick people to a cemetery. It made me pretty irate." Jones, his wife and two of his three children all suffer from symptoms of the Gulf War illness and have tested positive for Mycoplasma fermentans. Dr. Garth Nicholson has been researching mycoplasmas for the past several years and has detected Mycoplasma fermentans incognitus  in the blood of over half of the Gulf War veterans tested. His recommendation of antibiotics as a treatment has until recently fallen on deaf ears. Nicholson has tested civilians who suffer with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and has detected similar mycoplasmal infections indicating that these illnesses are likely spreading into the general population.

Joyce Riley vonKleist of the American Gulf War Veterans Association has stated, "We have been offering this information for the past three years and no one in a position of authority would address it. How many people are now sick and how many have died? How many more will die until Washington, the media, and all of America listens?"

American Gulf War Veterans Association
3506 Highway 6 South, #117
Sugarland, Texas 77478-4401
281-438-1699, (Fax) 281-438-4581
http://www.gulfwarvets.com