ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996 TAG: 9612090015
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
U.N. investigators have confirmed the presence of the deadly chemical agent sarin at the site of an Iraqi weapon dump blown up by Americans during the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon said Thursday.
``They drilled into a rocket, and sarin spurted out of that rocket,'' said Bernard Rostker, the Pentagon's coordinator for Gulf War illnesses. ``So sarin was present, and they did find a cache of mustard gas.''
The Pentagon has previously spoken of chemical agent canisters found by U.N. investigators at the site of the Kamisiyah ammunition depot, but the detail of sarin shooting out of one of the rockets provided graphic evidence of the chemical's presence.
Many Gulf War veterans blame chemical or biological weapon exposure for a series of unexplained illnesses with symptoms that include memory loss, joint and muscle pain, depression, skin rashes and chronic fatigue.
The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs, after a slow start, have acknowledged a serious health problem exists and are conducting studies. Other possible causes being examined include experimental vaccines, parasites, environmental pollutants, and stress and psychological factors.
The government thus far says it has found no evidence of a single ``Gulf War syndrome.'' And until recent revelations that U.S. troops blew up the Kamisiyah dump in March 1991, the government had denied there was any evidence that Americans might have been exposed to chemical or biological agents.
Rostker said he had no doubt that there were chemical munitions at Kamisiyah. The bunker contained chemical munitions and ``we destroyed the bunker,'' he said. ``Well, I guess I have to conclude that there were chemical weapons that were destroyed.''
At the same time, the Pentagon again denied that there has been any effort to conceal missing records from March 1991 that could show whether American officers were aware of chemical exposure at the weapon dump in southern Iraq.
The New York Times on Thursday said military logs are missing from eight days during which troops destroyed the weapon cache.
``We aren't holding back anything,'' said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon. ``We want to get to the bottom of this as quickly and as carefully and as accurately as possible.
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