A leader in trying to help frustrated, sick Gulf War veterans obtain long overdue and critical health care, is charging there is a serious, on-going cover up in that critical process by the "highest level" veterans' affairs officials.
James H. Binns Jr., leader of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, wrote a four-page letter detailing that complaint to The White House, The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and to an investigating Congressional committee. His letter alleged that top VA leaders had prevented his committee from eliminating VA barriers to effective military veteran's health care.
In addition, Binns said, other valid issues brought up in Congressional testimony last year by a former senior VA scientist turned whistleblower, Dr. Steven Coughlin, have been ignored by top VA officials. They include: "slanting research studies; failure to publish critical research results; disseminating false information to the medical community; manipulating even (scientific organization) reports; failing to conduct studies as ordered by Congress; and reporting false and misleading information to Congress."
A related scandal about the VA cover-up of delays in executing actions for large waiting lists of health needy veterans is already being looked into by the VA, White House and Congress. It resulted in the recent resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
In March, USA Today reported that the VA took actions in the past year to show its disapproval of Binns. "The agency has replaced all but one of the board members, weakened Binns' tenure as the board's chairman, removed the board's charge to review the effectiveness of the VA, and pushed research that looks at stress as a cause, rather than environmental factors," said USA Today. On March 25, Binns testified before the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee about the problems with effectively treating sick Gulf War veterans.
Binns, a veteran of the war in Vietnam, told this reporter in an interview that the VA has backed off portions of those demands against his committee. It's obvious, he said, that the VA emphasis on veterans' stress, rather than their real underlying war created illnesses has been more than overplayed.
In Binns' complaint letter obtained by this reporter last week, Binns identified by name three VA officials who have opposed or resisted efforts to properly identify veterans' health problems,
Binns said one of them had been convinced by staff to eliminate Binns' committee's review of the effectiveness of VA's research program and to announce that all committee members would be replaced. The other, said Binns, had argued for putting stress experts, rather than true professional health advocates, on that committee.
A third VA official, supervising benefits, said Binns, opposed even using the term 'Gulf War illness' because it "might imply a causal link between service in the Gulf and poor health which could necessitate ... disability compensation for veterans who served in the Gulf."
Since last week, the VA has not answered repeated telephoned and email requests for comment on Binns' allegations. As a result, the three officials named by Binns are not identified in this article.
Binns' letter said: "I have witnessed the same willingness to hide the truth and put bureaucratic agendas ahead of veterans' health that has occurred in Phoenix (the committee's location) and elsewhere. In this case, however, the duplicity reaches the highest levels of the department and obstructs hopes for better health of an entire generation of veterans.
"Congress created our committee to advise VA on research to improve the health of the quarter-million veterans who came home sick from the 1991 Gulf War, after expelling Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait in four days. They suffer from unremitting pain, memory loss, intestinal disorders, exhaustion, and ruined careers. Many have died, but we don't know how many because VA has not published that information since as of 2000," continued Binns.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
