Las Vegas SUN: Gulf War legacy Sun 4/14/97
*THIS BOOKLET [Photo appeared here] may offer some evidence that the Iraqi Army planned to use chemical weapons.
The presence of the booklet and kit on a front-line soldier indicates that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein planned to use chemical agents against Allied troops and had prepared his soldiers for entry into that kind of environment.
The booklet is 3 1/2 inches by 5 inches and has a pale green cover. On its front is an emblem with the symbols for nuclear and chemical warfare.
The inside pages are photocopies of an original and are a mix of passages from the Koran, propaganda, advice on how to use a gas mask and chemical kit, and a list of the symptoms of exposure to various agents, including nerve, blood, blister, choking, tearing and hallucinogens.
The booklet appears to have been first printed in February 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war. The discovery of the booklet and chemical kit in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War underscores that chemical arms were a staple of Iraq's arsenal.
"Brother Hero Fighter, put before your eyes the saying of our valiant leader Saddam Hussein (may God keep him in good health). The training polishes the military personality and achieves the element of unity ...," the book states.
"Brother Fighter, get to know the types and characteristics of the toxic chemical agents and the means by which they enter the body, the symptoms of exposure to the chemicals and they means by which they are conducted. ...
"Using your protective gear protects you against exposure to these injuries. In order to achieve decisive victory over the racist Iranian enemy which covets our country's wealth."
Sen. Bryan has sent the booklet to the Pentagon for translation. But he said he did not know if it was authentic or if it would shed light on Gulf War Syndrome.
"What does it prove?" he asked, pointing out that the symptoms of exposure to certain chemical and biological agents are known already. But Wegner thinks otherwise. He looks at the picture of the rash or blister in the booklet and then at the rash on his leg and torso: They are the same, he maintains.
Symptoms that he and other veterans complain of -- rashes, digestive problems, chronic headaches -- are the very symptoms attributed to exposure to chemical agents.