ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996 TAG: 9612160097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
SOURCE: Associated Press
In his drab office on the outskirts of Prague, Lt. Vladimir Braun keeps the worn notebook in which he recorded his unit's activities during the 1991 Gulf War.
One entry, made at 11:30 a.m., Jan. 19, in a Saudi desert camp, notes that troops in the Czechoslovak chemical monitoring unit had detected traces of mustard gas and nerve gases, probably from a cloud after an explosion inside Iraq. ``Americans didn't detect it, we did,'' Braun scribbled.
That discrepancy has gnawed at the Czech veterans, some of whom have complained of the same chronic illnesses as their American counterparts: headaches, fatigue, sudden loss of hair and teeth.
The Czechs - like some American vets - say their own government did not take their health concerns or their wartime reports of exposure seriously.
``I remember when Agent Orange was used in Vietnam. Different health problems manifested themselves after years - not weeks or months,'' said Braun, who is healthy.
In Washington, Congress is looking into possible ties between chemical agents and ailments afflicting thousands of veterans, after the Pentagon said in June there were chemical weapons at Iraq's Kamisiyah weapons depot blown up by U.S. troops in March 1991, possibly exposing up to 20,000 Americans.
The Pentagon released logs in September confirming that the Czechs had told the Americans of gas being released, but the Pentagon said the reported incidents were not considered a threat. In November it said it would double - to $27 million - the money spent to check whether U.S. troops were exposed to chemical gases.
The 200 Czech Gulf War vets left the region in May 1991, pledging to meet every year in Prague. At their first reunion in 1992, some had noticed changes in their health. They had read of illness among U.S. veterans, and knew some Americans blamed exposure on Iraqi chemical weapons.
``That's when we started asking the Ministry of Defense: `What have you done with the documents and everything we brought back from the Gulf?,''' recalled Maj. Petr Zelinsky, the veterans' spokesman.
Of 30 Czech Gulf War veterans surveyed by the English-language Prague Post, 11 said they were ill. Seven attributed their maladies to service in the Gulf, where a multinational force had rolled back Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
The Czechs felt they had evidence that allied troops were exposed to chemical weapons. Their unit was responsible for round-the-clock testing and spot checks of the impact sites of Iraqi Scud missiles.
It detected traces of toxic compounds in the air and sand on two days during the war, and reported that to Saudi troops. It also submitted reports and substance samples to the defense ministry of Czechoslovakia, which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
And there was Braun's own log.
``I made my private reports during the war days, because one day I'll be old and forget,'' said Braun, who now works in the Prague city government.
But already he has used the diary to help prove to his government that his unit had submitted reports of chemical detections to the defense ministry.
The Czech government first denied having the reports. It eventually acknowledged them, but decided the detections were - in Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Suman's words - ``certainly not health-damaging.''
Zelinsky noted there was much more than the health of 200 Czech and Slovak soldiers at stake. If they get compensation, tens of thousands of American veterans might use that as a precedent to bolster their own claims for compensation.
The Czech government, which wants to join NATO, ``has to be loyal to its foreign partners,'' Zelinsky said. The Czech vets learned this year that some U.S. commanders ordered their troops to disregard the Czech unit's reports.
The Czechs put on gas masks and other protective gear several times; the Americans did not follow suit, said Vaclav Hlavac, a retired Czech officer who monitored chemical gas during the war.
Czech veterans say their government did not thoroughly check soldiers' health. Suman countered that only 39 accepted when all were invited for repeat checkups after being examined right after the war.
``None of the checkups showed that their health problems would be caused by their stay in the Gulf,'' Suman said.
His ministry has now agreed to investigate the veterans' health complaints, and to compensate soldiers whose health suffered - if a link with Gulf service is proved.
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