Arlen Specter: “I wish to comment briefly on a report on damage to United States troops from exposure to Iraqi poison gas back in 1991…”

“I wish to comment briefly on a report on damage to United States troops from exposure to Iraqi poison gas back in 1991 during the gulf war. This is a subject on which there was a joint hearing earlier this week, on Wednesday, of the Intelligence Committee, which I chair, and the Veterans Affairs Committee, on which I serve, chaired by Senator Alan Simpson. During the course of those hearings, we heard from the chief medical officer of the Department of Defense, Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, as well as representatives from the CIA and the Veterans Administration. The views expressed by Senators on both sides of the aisle were that the Department of Defense had not done nearly enough to respond to the ailments which came out of that exposure to Iraqi chemical warfare agents. There were those, principally Senator Simpson, who made the point in his customary strong way that the evidence was inconclusive, saying that people had not shown the effects of the poisonous gas immediately and that would have happened if there had really been a problem, and was in defense of the Department of Defense. Virtually every other Senator--and I think some 14 attended, from both sides of the aisle--was very critical of what the Department of Defense had done. And perhaps no one was more critical than Senator Rockefeller, the ranking Democrat, on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.”