During the Bush Administration when American soldiers were being dosed with experimental vaccines intended to protect them from both disease and potential biological warfare in Desert Storm, Zoh was vocally speaking out on The Zoh Show, way before anybody else, about the dangers of such vaccines and their synergistic potentials for harm. After the oil refinery fires were put out and Desert Storm was officially over, returning veterans began complaining of mysterious symptoms reminiscent of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and Zoh was one of the first to lend a sympathetic ear. Despite much ridicule from fellow broadcasters at our own station who called the sick veterans cry-babies wanting attention or money, Zoh scheduled repeated Gulf War Specials on her program and interviewed numerous veterans, medical investigators and policy makers to examine the mysterious Gulf War Syndrome.

Her pioneering diligence finally paid off in July 1996 when syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, together with Jan Moller, wrote "Vindication on Gulf War Illness" in which they recounted the CIA's final acknowledgement of the veterans' exposure to chemical weapons. According to the Anderson column, agents of the CIA were listening to a "Baltimore radio station" just by chance and learned of a video showing the stockpiles of chemical weapons, produced by Brian Martin of the 37th Engineering Battalion. "The Baltimore radio station" from which the CIA they learned of their conclusive evidence by "just dumb luck" was, of course, WCBM 680, Baltimore on The Zoh Show when Zoh was interviewing Brian Martin on one of her Gulf War Syndrom Specials. The CIA viewed Martin's tape and finally, after four years of denial, made an official announcement, that yes, some of our troops HAD been exposed to chemical weapons.

The CIA claimed that it was just "dumb luck" that they had discovered this information, but then went on to discover corroboration in a U.N. report that was "gathering dust". It sounds to us more like a calculated bit of damage control: admit a small piece of the truth while continuing to obscure the larger pattern of events. In 1996 the CIA is congratulating itself on its "luck" of discovering what former CIA Director, James Woolsey was quoted one month prior to deployment saying we knew -- Iraq had a highly developed chemical and biological warfare program with over one thousand tons of poisonous chemical agents loadable into two types of missiles. Other U.S. officials would know more specifically what type of chemical weapons Iraq possessed since the U.S. was one of several countries that sold it to them. Throughout 1985-1989 under the Reagan/Bush Administrations the U.S. exported biological and chemical warfare materials directly to Iraq and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs was aware of these shipments.

The Jack Anderson column cited an emergency statement by the Pentagon on June 21, 1996 claiming they were "Sorting through vast numbers of documents," and "it was pain-staking detective work." No doubt their search was made more difficult since the DOD had previously announced that it had "accidentally" destroyed portions of N.B.C. logs, the field records of known combat encounters with Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons.

According to the "dusty" U.N. report, materials that either survived the allied bombings of inventoried weapons and/or were returned to the Muthanna facility for destruction include the following: 13,000 155mm artillery shells loaded with mustard gas (H); 6,200 rockets loaded with nerve agent; 800 nerve agent aerial bombs; 28 SCUD warheads loaded with nerve agent Sarin (GB); 75 tons of nerve agent Sarin (GB); 60-70 tons of nerve agent Tabun (GA); 250 tons of mustard gas; and stocks of thiodiglycol, a precursor of mustard gas. U.N. inspectors concluded that the Muthanna plant could produce "two tons of Sarin (GB) and five tons of mustard gas (H) daily."

Plagues Out Of The Middle Ages

Prior to the Gulf War deployment the U.S. Government knew Iraq was building a chemical and biological arsenal, so how could it have been such a surprise when the symptoms began showing up in the veterans. How could it be just "dumb luck" that the CIA discovered proof of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons? Saddam Hussein's stockpile sounded like something out of the Middle Ages. It included the causative agents for: anthrax (bacillus anthracis); botulism (Clostridium Botulinum), which Iraq admitted to having made 5,300 gallons, enough to kill 15 billion people; gas gangrene (Clostridium Perfringens), E Coli, Histoplasma Capsulatum, and Brucella Melentensis which is contracted from infected animals or consumption of their products. Iraq was also working on the causative agents for of tetanus lock jaw (Clostridium tetani); conjunctivitis (bacillus subtilis); brucella abortis, which causes contagious abortion in cattle and domestic animals; francisella tularensis; bacillus megatillus; and bacillus cereus, an opportunistic invader of immuno-compromised patients.

Iraq Goes to Boca Raton

According to computer security expert, Peter Kiwaja, the CIA was deeply involved in the pre-war planning for chemical and biological warfare in the Gulf War. On The Zoh Show on October 10, 1995 Kiwaja related how he was contracted to supply a "computer based security system for PIT, Product Ingredient Technology, of Ishan Barbouti International (IBI) in Boca Raton Florida." Ishan Barbouti, who has since died of an alleged heart attack, was an Iraqi national who constructed Libya's chemical and biological weapons plant, Pharma 150. According to Kiwaja, the residential West Palm Beach PIT plant was conducting more than the above-board food processing business -- hydrogen cyanide, otherwise known as Prussian Blue, was also being developed there and tested for war theater gas masks. Kiwaja took his discoveries to the CIA and U.S. Customs and was recruited under a code name to find out as much as he could. "The Government told me that they [Barbouti and his associates] were international terrorists," and yet, "as I was proceeding with my rapid deployment team, which was comprised of combat vets who were stationed throughout Texas and Oklahoma," said Kiwaja, "we began to encounter FBI counter intelligence and U.S. Intelligence involved with the same people that I was reporting to [at] the CIA."

Why Are American Gulf War Soldiers Sick?

Increasing numbers of Gulf War veterans are beginning to believe they were deliberately sent into a chemical and biological war theatre without adequate protection. Sterling Syms, Petty Officer First Class, U.S. Naval Reserve remembers, "There was a high odor of ammonia in the air that burned your eyes.... The skin even got burned after we got into our chemical clothing." Syms testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Subcommittee on Force Requirements and Personnel, June 30, 1993, saying, "We have had men that were ordered to shut up talking about it."

"I was in perfect health until the night when we were hit," testified Nick Roberts, U.S. Navy Reserve, before a special hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, November 9, 1993. "After coming out of the bunker I was exposed to something. My skin began to burn and sting, my lips were numb... chemical detectors were sounding, radio transmissions were coming in: 'confirmed gas attack- go to MOPP level 4' [the highest level for chemical protection]... When I spoke with the decontamination leader... he advised me that his test kit detected mustard gas and likewise."

But it is the physical effects AFTER the war that are most puzzling, especially since they appear to be contagious. A Reuters news service report of October 21, 1994 cited Senator Donald Riegle's Senate Committee findings that "found the disease spread from afflicted veterans to 78% of their wives, 25% of offspring born before the war, and 65% born since." The physical complaints of the affected Gulf War veterans include Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, even widespread Alzheimer's Disease, Lou Gehrig's Disease and other neurological illness, as well as an insipid climb in the number of HIV diagnosed patients.

Could We Have Brought This On Ourselves With the Vaccines?

While officials are busy trying to deny the very existence of the Gulf War Syndrome, some are wondering if the numerous vaccines administered to the troops before deployment may have played a part. Some of our soldiers were too sick to deploy as a result of the experimental vaccines which included botulinum toxoid and anthrax among several undisclosed others. According to the veterans' testimonies, one warfare antidote, Pyridostigmine Bromide, a nerve agent pretreatment, was blamed for several battalions vomiting, chronic diarrhea, high fevers, rashes and overall incapacitation, causing many to wonder if their weakened immune systems are the resulting fall out of government-approved human experimentation, i.e., vaccination.

Reverse Engineering The Biological Weapons

Aggressively pursuing the cause and the cure of the elusive Gulf War Syndrome are Dr. Garth Nicholson, the David Bruton Jr. Chair in Cancer Research of The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and his wife, Nancy Nicholson, President of the Rhodon Foundation for Biomedical Research in Houston, Texas. By reverse engineering one of the biological weapons, the Nicholsons concluded that the problem is Mycoplasma Fennantans Icongnitus which is capable of surviving for many years as an active contagion in blood, air and soil meaning the potential is there for millions of people to eventually become victims of Gulf War Syndrome. The U.S. Government's conclusion, on the other hand, is that the muscle and joint pain, bloating, memory loss, intermittent internal bleeding, lymph swelling, organ dysfunction, miscarriages, depression, diarrhea, respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, birth defects, still born births and the other symptoms attributed to GWS are all psychiatric problems, the result of post traumatic stress.

The Nicholsons use a unique diagnostic test involving gene tracking and polymerse chain reaction to detect the incidence of mycoplasma infections in the blood leucocytes. They have had success treating the illness with the antibiotic Doxycycline among several others and claim they were thanked off the record by President and Mrs. Bush for helping treat their mysterious condition which was publicly revealed to be Graves disease. In fact, many speculate that the Bushes were exposed to some of the chemical fallout during their visit to the Gulf War theater to support the troops.

No Holds Barred

Garth and Nancy Nicholson mince no words and in one of their interviews on The Zoh Show on July 11, 1996 they postulated that the anthrax botulinum stock may have been contaminated, accidentally or even purposefully, at Ft. Deitrich, Maryland, statements which do not endear them to the U.S. government, of course, and they have begun to notice signs of someone trying to keep them quiet. According to the Nicholsons, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center where they work has participated in deliberate efforts to sabotage their research, eliminate and steal computerized files, and attempt to destroy thousands of Gulf War veterans' blood samples. Dr. Garth Nicholson related "repeated threats to shut done his laboratory" and two efforts of saboteurs who "tried to destroy between 5,000 and 10,000 samples of Gulf War blood samples by unplugging the refrigeration unit." Their mail has been intercepted both coming in and going out, and M.D. Anderson's press officer, Jane Brust, and others have "really obstructed the flow of information [and] blocked interviews," said Nancy Nicholson. Needless to say, the Nicholsons are planning to leave M.D. Anderson soon to establish a private lab since all their grievances were reported to the FBI with no reaction.

Now that admissions are finally being made on an official level that Gulf War Syndrome is a valid physical ailment caused by some as yet unknown exposure during the Gulf War, it is interesting to review some official sworn statements made along the way of this investigation: Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Mr. Edwin Dom, on May 25, 1994, to the Senate Banking Committee: "There were no confirmed detections of any chemicals or biological agents at any time during the entire conflict."

General J. Shalikashvili, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and William J. Perry, Secretary of Defense told the same Senate Committee: "There is no information, classified or unclassified, that indicates that chemical or biological weapons were used in the Persian Gulf." One need only read the official field log and personnel testimonies, NBC logs, foreign Government reports, or the U.N. reports to comprehend the magnitude of these lies. It looks like when you sign up to serve and defend our country, you are also signing up your body for experimental use, and risking abandonment by those who put you in peril. We hope those in a position to do something about it will soon concentrate all their efforts on curing these brave soldiers instead of trying to convince them it's all in their heads.