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Schwarzkopf: Logs don't mention chemical exposure
January 9, 1997Web posted at: 9:20 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Speaking before a Senate committee, retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Thursday said there is no information whatsoever in his personal logs about the exposure of U.S. troops to chemical agents during the Persian Gulf War.
"There is nothing in those logs at all about chemical contamination of my troops," Schwarzkopf said.
The response came after Sen. Jay Rockefeller, (D-West Virginia), raised questions about the content of the logs, basically personal notes of Schwarzkopf's activities and meetings while he was commander of coalition forces in the 1990 and 1991 Gulf War.
They include sensitive discussions with foreign leaders in which he made promises and commitments that the foreign leaders asked be kept confidential.
Tracking mystery illness
The Pentagon and other agencies are investigating whether exposure to chemical weapons may lie behind the mystery illnesses afflicting thousands of Gulf War veterans.
Stung by criticism that he may have allowed his troops to be exposed to deadly toxins on the battlefield, Schwarzkopf invited Senate investigators to examine his private logs.
He angrily refuted suggestions of a cover-up, calling them "ridiculous."
The Pentagon ruled in 1994 that Schwarzkopf could keep his unclassified logs, although the National Archivist disagreed with the ruling.
Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon told reporters that investigators will accept the retired generals offer to review the logs, but said he thought it was "a wild goose chase" given his public statements that he knows nothing about any exposure of U.S. troops to chemicals in the Gulf.
These logs differ from those kept at Schwarzkopf's headquarters, which noted when chemical weapons detectors went off. Crucial pages from that log are missing, the subject of a Pentagon investigation.
'No reports,' Schwarzkopf said
"There were no reports, absolutely none, zero," about release of chemical agents, Schwarzkopf said. "I would have loved to have announced that we found huge caches of chemical weapons."
Schwarzkopf also discounted incidents in which Czech soldiers participating in the coalition reported sarin gas detections. U.S. followup on those reports found no evidence of the nerve gas.
"With a chemical alarm, you're going to build one that is oversensitive because you would rather the alarm go off and give you a false alarm than to err on the other side," Schwarzkopf said.
"So the alarms went off all the time over there. When they did, we put our troops in protective gear and then we sent in our most sophisticated equipment."
Related stories:
- Study says Gulf War illnesses caused by toxins - January 8, 1997
- Panel: no link between Gulf illnesses and nerve gas - January 7, 1997
- Gulf War veterans accuse Pentagon of coverup - December 10, 1996
- Gulf War vets to testify on chemical weapon detections - December 10, 1996
- Report: Schwarzkopf doubts chemicals made vets sick - December 6, 1996
- Some Gulf War records on chemical weapons missing - December 5, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- GulfLINK
- DefenseLINK
- Gulf War Veteran Resource Page
- Persian Gulf War Syndrome, from ChronicIllnet
- Gulf War Syndrome Cover up, from Covert Action Quarterly
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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