Cord Byrd: “Senator Specter announced earlier today the release of a voluminous and comprehensive report of the Committee on…”

“Senator Specter announced earlier today the release of a voluminous and comprehensive report of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs special investigation unit on Gulf War illnesses. I commend the Senator from Pennsylvania and the other Members of the Committee, including my colleague from West Virginia, Senator Rockefeller, on this report, which was over a year in the making. In great detail, this report and its appendices provide the justification for legislation that Senator Specter, Senator Rockefeller, and I introduced on July 28, S. 2358, the Gulf War Veterans Act of 1998. The history of this sorry saga of war, illness, and bureaucratic bungling it details has not improved with time. Indeed, age has turned this victory wine into sour vinegar, not a vintage to be savored. Since the signing of the cease fire in Iraq in 1991, soldiers have been complaining of symptoms that have been poorly dealt with by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.”