I don't think there is one cause of Gulf War illness.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
This gulf war syndrome thing is truly unfortunate, and I've met some of the vets who have this. These are my guys, and I feel terrible about it.
What some of us believe is that it is possible that if chemicals are related to Gulf War illness that some of the more severe symptoms may not erupt until 10 or 20 years down the line.
War is just an effect, not a cause.
I think recent revelations about who's in what bed speak to the problems with what happened in the Gulf.
The Gulf War is responsible for the huge and horrifying rise in Islamic terrorism.
What we know from World War I is that some of our troops had acute symptoms of exposure to chemicals, had bad health and died because of chemical exposure in World War I.
No matter what the president or anyone tried to do on health care, they never got the headlines, because the Gulf oil spill happened. It seemed like it sucked the wind out of the whole health care debate.
The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom.
The study also included the disturbing revelation that most of the troops who reported having mental health problems also reported that they did not seek or did not receive care for their problems.
But Gulf War Syndrome is not one cause, not one illness. It is many causes, many illnesses.