Gulf Vets Say Va Not Doing Enough

Five years after the Persian Gulf War, veterans told Congress Monday the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department still aren’t doing enough to help sick vets.

“It’s been physically harder to fight the VA than it was fighting the Iraqis in the Middle East,” Army veteran Brian T. Martin of Niles, Mich., told a House Government Reform and Oversight panel.

Thousands of people who served in the 1990-91 operation in the Gulf returned home suffering from a variety of nerve, respiratory, heart and skin ailments, collectively known as “Gulf War syndrome.”

The Pentagon, after numerous studies, says there is no evidence of a single cause for the health problems. One evaluation of 10,000 veterans concluded that all but 11 percent of the ailments could be identified and that 37 percent were suffering from psychological problems.