Q. What is the Department of Defenses' reaction to the CIA's April 9, 1997 White Paper entitled, "Khamisiyah: A Historical Perspective on Related Intelligence?"

A. The documents the CIA released do not fundamentally change what we believe occurred at Khamisiyah, nor do they advance medical knowledge about Gulf War illnesses. We are pleased that the CIA is fully engaged on the issue as we search together for answers to the fundamental question of what is causing our veterans to be ill. It was during the drafting of our Khamisiyah narrative (released on 21 Feb.) and the discovery of the February 91 warning about "possible chemical weapons on Objective GOLD," (also known as Khamisiyah) that was -- at least in part -- responsible for energizing the intelligence community to re-look what was known and disseminated in regards to possible chemical weapons storage at Khamisiyah. We have been working with the CIA to surface all information that could be relevant to our investigation of Gulf War illnesses and we welcome all new information that helps us understand events that occurred in the Gulf so that we might better understand how it is affecting the health of our veterans.

Khamisiyah Case Narrative

Q. I've heard that coalition forces were exposed to chemical agents at a place called Khamisiyah. Is this true? Where is Khamisiyah and what happened there?

A. During the demolition operations at Khamisiyah and throughout the entire period of U. S. occupation at Khamisiyah, there were no reports of verified chemical agent detections, nor were there reports of anyone, soldier or civilian, experiencing symptoms consistent with exposure to a chemical agent.

Khamisiyah is in southern Iraq about 15 miles southeast of a city called Nasiriyaha. To better orient you, this location is northwest of Kuwait.

During the Air War of Operation Desert Storm (16 January - 1 March 1991) Coalition Forces aircraft attacked Khamisiyah, destroying scores of warehouses and several ammunition bunkers. U.S. forces were not in the area at the time but located instead in Saudia Arabia.

Immediately following the end of the ground war, U.S. Army units occupied the Khamisiyah area in order to perform demolition activities on the munitions located there. The Khamisiyah bunker complex contained 100 ammunition storage bunkers and measured approximately 25 square kilometers in size.

To perform the demolitions, U.S. forces set off at least two very large explosions, one on March 4, 1991, a second on March 10 and perhaps a third on March 12. They also set off a number of smaller explosions to destroy small caches of munitions and to test techniques for destroying bunkers.

Q. Why did it take so long for the Department of Defense to admit that there is a possibility that chemical weapons may have been stored in munitions at Khamisiyah?

A. During the Gulf War Iraq engaged in widespread deception with regard to where it stored its chemical weapons. Iraq never declared Khamisiyah a chemical weapons storage site. After the war, in October 1991, Iraq reported that it moved some chemical weapons to Khamisiyah in January 1991 and said that the weapons were blown up by coalition forces in March 1991. Because Iraq engaged in widespread deception with regard to where it stored its chemical weapons, many reports received during this time were viewed with skepticism by government analysts who were investigating the possibility of chemical exposure to American troops. When Iraq led UNSCOM inspectors to the Khamisiyah site in October 1991 the inspectors were skeptical of the Iraqi reports that coalition troops had destroyed chemical weapons at the site. UNSCOM was unable, at the time, to corroborate that a demolition had occurred at Khamisiyah in March 1991 as the Iraqis' claimed.

In March 1995, based on the President's directive to "leave no stone unturned" the Department of Defense established the Persian Gulf Investigation Team and ordered it to begin a broad review of all information, including intelligence findings and operational records, that might help explain the health problems being experienced by many Gulf War veterans. It was in October 1995 that the CIA asked DoD's investigation team to look into whether troops were located at the Khamisiyah site. DoD and the CIA researched the issue together, and by early 1996 had developed information that led us to believe that U.S. troops did, in fact, destroy munitions stored at Khamisiyah. Able to place U.S. troops in the location of the Khamisiyah explosions, an UNSCOM team re-inspected the site in May 1996. During this inspection they documented the presence of high-density polyethelene inserts and other material normally associated with handling and storage of chemical munitions. Based on the new information, DoD announced on June 21, 1996 that it appeared that a bunker at Khamisiyah contained chemical weapons and that U.S. forces had destroyed the bunker on March 4 and some chemical munitions in a nearby pit on March 10, 1991.

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