GOVERNMENT LYING TO VETS ABOUT GULF WAR SYNDROME
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The Government Is Lying To You -- And 
Ill Veterans -- About Gulf War Syndrome.
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[Spotlight, July 3, 1995]
By Mike Blair
 
Some 50,000 U.S. servicemen who served in the Middle East during 
Operation Desert Storm are suffering from maladies resulting from 
exposure to chemical and biological warfare weapons, despite 
government claims to the contrary.
 
And worse, it has been determined that a laboratory-produced 
microorganism, responsible for much of the suffering of the 
American GIs, is being passed to their children and others who 
come in contact with them.
 
In a joint statement, Dr. Garth L. Nicolson, and his wife, Dr. 
Nancy L. Nicolson, have isolated a laboratory "engineered" 
microorganism, *Mycoplasma fermentans* (*incognitus* strain), 
which is the cause of much of the suffering of the U.S. 
servicemen.
 
The Nicolsons said they believe the microorganism is airborne and 
highly contagious.
 
Nicolson is professor and chairman of the Department of Tumor 
Biology at the world's largest cancer facility, the University of 
Texas' M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Nancy L. Nicolson 
is president of the Rhoden Foundation for Biomedical Research, 
also in Houston.
 
Garth L. Nicolson, who has published more than 400 scientific 
papers, edited 13 books and serves as the editor or associate 
editor of 13 scientific and medical journals, has revealed that 
the "mycoplasma that we have found in Desert Storm vets has very 
unusual retroviral DNA sequences; thus in all probability it was 
'engineered' and did not evolve naturally."
 
His wife has written that the cause of the American servicemen's 
suffering is the result of the development, illegal testing on 
inmates at a Texas correctional facility and the sale and 
transfer of the microorganism to the Iraqi Atomic Energy 
Commission prior to the Gulf war.
 
Since the microorganism was in all likelihood illegally developed 
and tested in the United States and then illegally sold and 
transferred to Iraq prior to the Gulf War, it is believed a major 
effort is underway by the Clinton administration to conceal these 
findings, according to the Nicolsons.
 
                     -+- Possible Cure -+-
 
The pair of scientists also claim to have developed a means of 
treatment.
 
After working with hundreds of GIs exposed to both chemical and 
biological weapons used by the forces of Iraqi strongman Saddam 
Hussein during the war, the researchers have determined that 
thousands of U.S. servicemen are dying now from lingering 
ailments resulting from the deadly chemical and biological 
warfare agents that were used against them.
 
"We have possibly uncovered one of the messiest controversies and 
cover-ups since Watergate," Garth Nicolson revealed in a lengthy 
letter written to retired U.S. Army Chaplain Col. James Ammerman 
of Dallas, Texas. "This one makes Watergate seem like a tea 
party."
 
Ammerman put The Spotlight in touch with the Nicolsons. The 
Spotlight has obtained a copy of that letter.
 
Referring to *Mycoplasma incognitus*, Garth Nicolson explained 
this particular mycoplasma, and possibly others, is "a common 
pathogen in Desert Storm illnesses."
 
Nicolson said the U.S. government has stifled their efforts to 
reveal their findings, other than a brief paper published earlier 
this year in the *Journal of the American Medical Association* 
(JAMA).
 
"Since I have been working on Desert Storm health issues," he 
explained, "I have encountered numerous attempts to prevent us 
from continuing our work on Gulf War Illnesses [GWI]. I have 
suffered attempts to block my papers and journal articles from 
publication, my grant applications have been tampered with, and 
my mail, phones and fax have all been repeatedly intercepted."
 
In a lengthy interview with The Spotlight, Mrs. Nicolson said she 
is certain their efforts are being stifled due to business links 
that current or former high government officials have with U.S. 
firms that have developed chemical and biological warfare (CBW) 
agents. She mentioned specifically former President George W. 
Bush, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and current 
CIA Director John Deutch.
 
                    -+- Under Pressure -+-
 
"Administrators at my own institution who are close personal 
friends of James A. Baker III," Garth Nicolson said, "have also 
attempted to discredit me as a scientist and prevent us 
administratively from working on GWI. In addition, they have 
attacked academic colleagues who came to our defense in the name 
of academic freedom."
 
"For example," Nicolson continued, "I was called to a meeting 
with our institutional president and his four vice presidents, 
where they attempted to prevent or limit our access to facilities 
and materials necessary to conduct research on GWI or collect 
data on soldiers who are ill. They also indicated that I cannot 
be involved in any professional or public discussion of our 
research without first having a special committee appointed by 
the administration review the contents of such research. (This is 
the first time that such a tactic has ever been used in the 
history of my institution.) ... Obviously, this is a gross 
distortion of academic freedom and a crude attempt to prevent us 
from continuing our research and discussing it publicly."
 
"The reason for such highly unusual events," he explained in his 
letter to Ammerman, "is probably due to the fact that former 
President Bush and former Sec. of State James Baker, as well as 
the president of UTMDACC [the Anderson Cancer Center], have 
financial interests in the local biotechnology companies that we 
strongly suspect were selling illegal biological weapons to Iraq 
that were subsequently used against our soldiers in Desert 
Storm."
 
"In addition, we have been visited at our hospital by armed 
Defense Intelligence agents and warned not to continue our 
research."
 
               -+- Thousands "Turned Away" -+-
 
"At the moment," Nicolson continued, "thousands of very sick 
soldiers and their family members are being turned away from 
military and VA hospitals without any treatment for their 
conditions and are being branded as mentally ill. We strongly 
suspect that this is being done to protect a few individuals that 
were involved in the decisions to pursue the development of CBW, 
even though the U.S. is signatory to international treaties 
banning the development and deployment of biological weapons."
 
Mrs. Nicolson told The Spotlight it is estimated that at least 
250,000 Iraqi soldiers have died as a result of exposure to 
chemical and biological weapons obtained by Hussein's regime and 
that an additional million are currently ill.
 
She revealed a real shocker, indicating that even Hussein 
himself, as well as his family, are afflicted, including a 
cousin, whom she said has sought help from them.
 
Her husband stated the Nicolsons "suspect that tens of thousands 
of our Desert Storm veterans and their immediate family members 
are being refused medical treatment to hide the possible origin 
and use of biological weapons during the Gulf War."
 
He cited the case of an Army nurse who contracted GWI while 
assigned to a graves registration unit during the hostilities. 
She is currently the sole survivor of the 17 members of her unit.
 
"She has severe GWI, is partially paralyzed, has multiple 
chemical sensitivities [which complicate treatment] and has the 
mycoplasmic infection. All of the other 16 members of her unit 
are dead from what we suspect were infectious diseases..."
 
"These [graves registration] units had to deal with the 
registration and disposal of thousands of dead U.S. soldiers (not 
the 148 claimed) who were, we strongly suspect, exposed to CBW," 
he added. "But since Mr. John Deutch (then deputy secretary of 
defense) declared that no chemical or biological weapons were 
used during Desert Storm, the actual number of Gulf War deaths 
has been hidden."
 
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