Andrea Joy Campbell: “ever since the conclusion of the gulf war, returning veterans have complained about a variety of symptoms including…”

“ever since the conclusion of the gulf war, returning veterans have complained about a variety of symptoms including dizziness, nausea, loss of equilibrium, and depression. All of us have visited veterans in our States. And through a series of hearings, those of us on the Veterans' Affairs Committee have been dismayed by the steadfast denial on the part of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense to acknowledge these brave men and women are suffering the after effects of all airborne or waterborne agent or agents that have caused their sickness. As late as this week, Mr. President, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that after spending $80 million of taxpayer money, they found no evidence of sickness-inducing agents during the gulf war. Kind of sounds like Vietnam and agent orange all over again. Well, lo and behold, Mr. President, thanks to an extensive study done by the University of Texas through a grant given by Ross Perot, those complaints from our men and women in uniform appear to be true, and the culprit was a combination of three agents acting in concert with each other. One agent was a common pesticide. Last night the Pentagon, somewhat sheepishly admitted their mistake. My only questions are these, Mr. President. One, what the heck did they study with the $80 million? And two, if they are that incompetent they must be in an unmendable state of denial in helping our returning veterans. Hooray for the University of Texas--boo on the Pentagon.…”