US scientists hounded over Gulf war syndrome case

Empowering Weak & Oppressed

S B Ahmed

Dhu al-Qa'dah 12, 1416 1996-04-01

World

by S B Ahmed (World, Crescent International Vol. 25, No. 2, Dhu al-Qa'dah, 1416)

On September 16, 1994, two conscientious scientists, Dr Garth Nicolson (Chairman of Tumor Biology Department at the M D Anderson Cancer Hospital University of Texas, Houston), and his wife Dr Nancy Nicolson (a Bio-Physicist) revealed a sinister deed of the allied troops during the 1990-91 Gulf War. At a medical conference in Houston, Texas, they told Christy Meyer, the Channel 13 (ABC TV) Evening News reporter that the cause of the mysterious illness contracted by about 50,000 US and other allied troops during the war was traced to the United States, which was termed as the Gulf war syndrome.

About 2,200 army personnel had already fallen victim to this mystery disease, it was authoritatively learnt. The irony is that to this day the US government denies the existence of the Gulf war syndrome, caused by the fallout from indiscriminate bombing by allied aircraft of Iraqi targets (where chemical and biological agents had been stored) during the early phase of Operation Desert Storm.

The winds blew these deadly agents to far away places affecting troops and civilians alike. Upon such disclosure the first victim was Dr Nancy Nicolson herself, whose research activities were halted under pressure from the US department of defence and intelligence agencies. The US government was determined to silence these honest people whose only aim was to inform the public and suggest possible remedies in order to save thousands of lives.

As time passed and more information was released to the media, official pressure was intensified to retaliate against the Nicolsons. M D Anderson’s chief threatened Dr Garth Nicolson with charges of insubordination if he did not stop his research activities related to the Gulf-war syndrome. The Nicolsons have decided to leave M D Anderson, to move their entire research group to the University of California, Irvine, where the research will be funded through a Foundation dedicated to research in Cancer and Tumors, operated with private funds. Recently, the management of M D Anderson has embarked upon intimidating the Nicolsons by bringing a charge of insubordination due to their refusal to discontinue research and publicity about this horrible disease.

The Nicolsons are conscientious and concerned scientists who have gone beyond their call of duty to stop further Chemical/Biological warfare weapons research undertaken by many ‘prestigious’ research establishments in the US, of which some is being conducted in Houston.

It is worthwhile to note that these Chemical/Biological agents were exported to Iraq from 1985 to 1990, by many American companies and laboratories, whose full details were revealed in a Senate report ‘US Chemical and Biological warfare-Related Dual use Exports to Iraq and their possible impact on the health of the Persian Gulf War,’ by the Committee on Banking & Housing, and urban affairs with respect to Export Administration, dated May 25, 1994. These C/B agents were first used by Iraq in Halabja, the Kurdish village in Northern Iraq, and adjacent Iranian villages in March 1988 but American and western officials deliberately ignored these crimes.

The Nicolsons are the victims of State sponsored terrorism, in this instance, the US. Their only crime is to seek the truth and possible remedies. The US is not prepared to allow information of chemical and biological weapons even pertaining to ill-effects on its own soldiers much less on the citizens of other countries whom it brands as the enemy.

The evil that exists in the US establishment is truly appalling.

Muslimedia - April 1996-August 1996

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