Dear Gulf War Veteran Client:

In order to maintain attorney-client confidence, do not copy or publish this letter, except for pages 7 & 8. Pages 7 & 8 can and should be distributed to your friends, family, and other veterans as soon as possible.

In this status report, I will discuss the status of the Iraqi funds legislation, the litigation against the chemical and biological warfare suppliers, the successful litigation for the DoD civilians, and the research developments since my last annual status report of September, 1999. Most importantly, pages 7 & 8 are a proposal for a letter that you should send as soon as possible to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, your Congressional Representative, your Senators, and the White House. If you do not have time to read this whole report right now, at least read pages 7 & 8 as soon as possible.

First, to make note of some successes for your compatriots, I have successfully completed litigation for two DoD civilian Gulf War veterans, Herman Piceynski and Karl Lane. Mr. Piceynski took care of the Army helicopters, and Mr. Lane took care of the Marine helicopters during the war. They have both been ill since then with the multi-symptom problems of Gulf War Illness. Both became so ill that they were unable to function in their jobs. Their employers, Dyncorp and Bell Helicopter, respectively, refused to recognize that their illness came from their toxic exposures during their work in the Persian Gulf. They thus had no medical care and no compensation for their lost income. I filed claims for them under the Defense Base Act, a Federal worker’s compensation statute for civilians who support our military overseas. I had objective tests done on each: a Brain SPECT Scan, a computerized posturography test (done to detect poisoning of the brain in the Tokyo subway Sarin victims), an enhanced thermogram test, chemical sensitivity testing, and a battery of neuropsychological tests (to again detect toxic exposure impact). I also had them genetically tested for susceptibility to Sarin nerve gas. They had positive results on all of the objective testing, which indicated toxic exposure; and they both proved to be genetically susceptible, more than the average person, to Sarin exposure. They were both very fit and had successful work careers before the Gulf War. I compared their symptoms to those identified in the CDC case definition of Gulf War Illness and extensive medical literature that identifies Gulf War veteran health problems, and they were compatible. The employers and their insurance companies hired doctors that testified in both trials that any apparent symptoms did not come from service in the Gulf War. The Court ruled in our favor. The employers and their insurance companies filed appeals in both cases. Since my last status report, the appellate court has upheld the lower court’s judgments; and both cases have been concluded. The men have been paid their back overdue compensation and past medical bills and are receiving weekly compensation and current medical benefits now. The appellate court also agreed with the evidence submitted that Mr. Lane’s cancer since the Gulf War was causally linked to his Gulf War exposures to the carcinogens, low-level mustard gas, and depleted uranium (he visited a number of the Iraqi vehicles soon after they were hit by d.u. rounds, and tests of d.u. in his body showed elevated levels of it). There are no further appeals pending in either case.

There were about 3,000 DoD civilians supporting the approximately 700,000 U.S. troops in theater. Unfortunately, I have not heard of one of their employers that has voluntarily paid medical or compensation benefits to those that have suffered from Gulf War Illness. Since they do not even have the V.A. to take care of them (clumsy though it has been for many military veterans), they have clearly been left out in the cold. I tried two other DoD Gulf War civilians’ cases in the last three months, and I will be trying three more next month. This has been good experience preparing to try the military veterans’ cases. I have not gotten decisions from the Court yet on the recently tried two, but I am guardedly optimistic that I will win those two also and the three next month. If you know any other Gulf War DoD civilians that have had significant Gulf War Illness, please invite them to call and talk to me. I am the only attorney in the country, so far, who has litigated any Gulf War Illness cases under the Defense Base Act.

Regarding the frozen Iraqi assets, the Gulf War veterans’ claims against this $2+ Billion in assets must be allowed by Congress and signed by the President. The U.S. House of Representatives has voted unanimously to allow you to make a claim against those assets and to give priority to Gulf War veterans’ claims. This legislation was filed by Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas. We are still in a stalemate however. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, still opposes your being allowed to make a claim. He has forwarded legislation that would allow corporate business claims against Iraq (which include the tobacco industry claims) to have priority, and would exclude Gulf War veterans from being able to make any claims against the assets. We have successfully blocked his legislation, and he has blocked ours. It has not been his way or our way. It has been no way. As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Helms can keep this legislation bottled up in his Committee. Because of his position, it will not reach the floor of the Senate for a vote unless he agrees to it. Senator Helms is not up for reelection until 2002. It is speculative on whether he will retire or seek reelection. There have been recent stories in the press that he may retire in 2002 since he is 79 and not in good health. Certainly we do not want to get quoted in the press as appearing to be happy about the possibility of his retiring, since he may make a point of running for reelection in that case. If he does run for reelection, we should make the inclusion of the veterans in the claims process an issue in his campaign. If there is no compromise and he does run for reelection, perhaps the annual Gulf War Veterans’ conference can be held near Fort Bragg in September, 2002; and Senator Helms can be invited to address the conference. There has been some talk of a compromise, where all claims are pro-rata, and no one gets a priority (neither the Gulf vets or the corporations); but this has not occurred yet. It may be the way the matter is resolved without having to wait for a possible non-reelection in two years. Senator Helms has supported veterans in the past so reason may prevail. If the matter is resolved, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission would evaluate each claim and distribute the funds. They are a subdivision of the Justice Department. Its head, Delissa Ridgway, has told me that she believes they could start sending out checks within two years of receiving the money to distribute. That two years would be filled with claims process procedures.

The money from the Iraqi assets will probably come before any money from the litigation does. Even with a successful jury verdict, the Defendants can keep a verdict on appeal for about three years going through each possible appellate step before it is final and collectible.

The lawsuit, filed with class action allegations, has not been certified as such by the Court. There has been no decision on the matter. It may not be certified as a class. Supreme Court decisions have made it very difficult to be certified as a class action in a personal injury case, because of the extent of different effects between plaintiffs. There may eventually be some form of class certification with common issues tried, or it may be decertified. If so, we will probably try 2-4 people, and then repeat that. If we win a victory or a string of them, the Defendants may decide to start settling the individual cases. This pattern has occurred in some other mass tort cases in the past.

We have struggled with both jurisdictional issues and merits discovery this year (the latter only began recently because of delays over jurisdictional fights). The Defendant, American Type Culture Collection (“ATCC,” which sold anthrax and other bio weapons to Iraq) and Preussag, AG (whose employees built chemical warfare facilities in Iraq) both filed motions to be released from the lawsuit because they argued that they did not have enough contact with Texas to be properly sued here. The Trial Court ruled against them both. They both appealed. The Texas Appellate Court held that we have jurisdiction over ATCC, but that we do not have jurisdiction over Preussag. We have appealed the latter decision to the Texas Supreme Court, where it is now; and ATCC has appealed to them also.

We have filed pretrial written discovery requests with Defendants essentially asking them to produce their documents concerning their sales to Iraq before the Gulf War. The responses have mostly been innumerable objections to the requests or denials that there were any sales. There have been some documents produced. For example, two months ago I went through about 270 boxes of documents in London, England that were produced by the Defendant, M.W. Kellogg, in their offices there.

In large part, I believe any documents produced by the Defendants will be produced out of fear that we will be obtaining the U.N. inspection documents (UNSCOM). If they deny any contacts and we prove otherwise, it will look even worse for them. Our government has a copy of the UNSCOM inspection documents. I have sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to our government requesting a copy of those documents that relate to the suppliers to Iraq of its chemical and biological warfare arsenal. John Hanchette, national correspondent for USA Today and Gannett News Service, has been kind enough to join me in those requests so that they are in a media-requestor category. I sent a $2,000 check as an initial deposit to cover copying costs - months ago. I do not have the documents yet, but it appears that the government is processing our request. If they do not produce them, that would of course become a media story and political issue itself. After the UNSCOM documents are produced, there may be new Defendants added or old ones dropped based on the evidence.

Medical causation from what the Defendants did has to be shown in order to recover from them. There is good evidence of widespread low-level chemical warfare agent exposure and between that exposure and the symptoms of Gulf War Illness. There is also science to implicate the suppliers of Saddam’s biological warfare arsenal, like ATCC. Unquestionably there was stress for all of you during the Gulf War that Saddam would attack with his biological warfare arsenal. We had no real-time biological warfare agent detectors and no real defense from such an attack; and he had used weapons of mass destruction in violation of international law just three years before. The threat was real and was obviously part of the combat stress of the Gulf War. Defendants like ATCC, who sold Saddam the anthrax, brucella, West Nile Fever virus, botulinum, and other biological warfare agents that he was “hanging over your head,” so to speak, were largely responsible for that stress. There is scientific research since the Gulf War that pyridostigmine bromide (“p.b.”), which normally does not break the protective blood brain barrier and enter the brain, will do that when the person taking it is under stress. The p.b. pills, as we know from research since the war, made you more susceptible to damage from low-level Sarin exposure than if you had not taken them (though it would protect against Soman nerve gas, which it turns out Saddam did not have). The p.b. was thus in your brain because of the Gulf War stress ATCC helped create, and it synergistically combined with low-level Sarin to cause Gulf War Illness. ATCC should be seen as sufficiently liable in these facts to not avoid all responsibility.

The Defendants will eventually argue that they had no duty to you. They will argue it was not foreseeable that you would be hurt by their actions. This will be a legal question for the courts. Since we are dealing with the unique character of weapons of mass destruction and a rogue dictator who was violating international law concerning weapons of mass destruction, we have a lot to argue on our side that there was a duty; and there was foreseeability. In that connection, it is noteworthy that the U.S. government pressed during the last year for an international war crimes prosection of Saddam, for among other things, his use of chemical warfare in the 1980s, when the Defendants were selling this arsenal to him.

October, 1999 - RAND published its government-funded report that the pyridostigmine bromide (“p.b.”) anti-nerve gas pills “could not be ruled out” as one of the causes of Gulf War Illness. RAND called for new research into p.b. and its possible interactions with organophosphates. Nerve gas and many pesticides are organophosphates.

October 25, 1999 - A Congressional Staff Research Report shows that Gulf War veterans in the Sarin fallout plume from Khamisiyah are 7 times more likely to be permanently and totally disabled compared to veterans not deployed to the Gulf. Gulf War veterans in general were 4 times more likely to be disabled than those not deployed.

October 29, 1999 - Associated Press - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a preliminary risk assessment on 40 organophosphate pesticides, stating there was some evidence that they could affect the nervous system in humans.

November, 1999 - Gulf News (a DoD periodical) - a Canadian government study found that Canadian Gulf War veterans are reporting similar symptoms at about the same frequency as U.S. and British Gulf War veterans.

Spring, 2000 - “Deployment Stressors and a Chronic Multisymptom Illness Among Gulf War Veterans,” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 188, pp. 259-66. The authors from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention found in the study of four air units that severe and mild-moderate illness was positively associated with self-reports of pyridostigmine bromide use, insect repellent use, and perceived threat from chemical or biological weapons.

April 18, 2000 - Dr. Haley publishes research that Gulf War vets show electrical abnormalities in the brain stem that mirror those seen in victims of the nerve-gas attack in a Tokyo subway in 1995. Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vol. 122.

April 20, 2000 - Dr. Abou-Donia at Duke University Medical Center publishes research indicating discovery of an antibody bio-marker for organophosphate exposure in the blood. Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology, Vol. 2, pp. 37-41.

May, 2000 - “The Role of the Sand in Chemical Warfare Agent Exposure Among Persian Gulf War Veterans: Al Eskan Disease and ‘Dirty Dust,’” Military Medicine, Vol. 165, pp. 321-36. The authors are Gulf War veteran, Col. Andras Korenyi-Both, (flight surgeon with the Ohio Nt. Gd.), the Surgeon General of the Hungarian Army, and four other contributors. They point out the plausibility that chemical warfare agents from the aerial bombing of Iraqi production and storage facilities, and from the demolition of chemical agents at Khamisiyah and elsewhere, micro-impregnated the extremely fine dusty sand present in the region. This “dirty dust” enhanced the toxic persistency of the chemical agents, as it blew southward with the prevailing winds toward U.S. troops. The dust acted as a vehicle for low-level exposure to chemical warfare agents. The saturated particles, being less than 1 um, penetrated the U.S. MOPP chemical protective suit mesh grid. Formerly secret, now declassified, DoD documents confirm that fine sand/dust will penetrate the MOPP suit. Micro-impregnated chemical agent in dust also made less vapor, which rendered it less detectable to the M8A1, M256, and Fox chemical agent detectors. The article also performs a useful review of the evidence of sporadic Iraqi deliberate use of chemical agents during the Gulf War.

May 19, 2000 - Sen. Hutchinson of Texas was instrumental in having $5 million earmarked in the 2001 DoD appropriations to establish a Gulf War Illness Research Center at U.T. Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She praised the work done for Gulf War veterans by Dr. Haley and the others at U.T. Southwestern.

June, 2000 - “Brain Abnormalities in Gulf War Syndrome: Evaluation with H MR Spectroscopy,” Radiology, Vol. 215, pp. 807-17. Dr. Haley and five other doctors at U.T. Southwestern tested 22 Gulf War veterans ill since the war, and compared them to 18 well veteran controls, and performed Brain SPECT Scans on all of them. Evidence was found of neuronal damage in the basal ganglia and brainstem portions of the brains of the ill veterans. This was compatible with the neurotoxic chemicals that the veterans were exposed to (such as low-level Sarin). It was also compatible with the heightened genetic susceptibility to Sarin proven to exist in the same group of ill veterans.

June 9, 2000 - The Environmental Protection Agency announced that pesticides containing chlropyrifos will be phased out by the end of the year because they can cause neurological effects.

Summer, 2000 - “Cardiovascular Stress Responses and Their Relation to Symptoms in Gulf War Veterans With Fatiguing Illness,” Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol. 62, pp. 509-16. A team of nine doctors performed tests on 51 Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue and 42 healthy veterans. They found that compared to healthy controls, the same amount of mental work in the ill Gulf War veterans seemed to require greater effort on their part, as measured by cardiovascular function. They found this interpretation of the results to be consistent with reports that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have reduced blood flow in the brain. The authors concluded that: “This pattern of results seemed to suggest a problem in the brain areas interfacing cognitive and autonomic activities. (This is also consistent with the results of the June, 2000 Radiology article above.)

August 3, 2000 - Stem cells from bone marrow can be reprogrammed in the lab to become nerve cells. Experimental Neurology, Vol. 164, pp. 247-56. This may eventually help repair brain damage from toxic exposure in Gulf War veterans.

September, 2000 - “Effect of Basal Ganglia Injury on Central Dopamine Activity in Gulf War Syndrome,” Archives of Neurology, Vol. 57, pp. 1280-85. Dr. Haley and 50 other doctors from U.T. Southwestern and the V.A. Hospital in Dallas found that the reduction in functioning neuronal mass in the left basal ganglia of the brain in ill veterans seems to have altered central dopamine production. The finding supports the theory that Gulf War Syndrome is a neurological illness.

September 7, 2000 - the Institute of Medicine released its study, entitled: Gulf War and Health, Volume 1 Depleted Uranium, Sarin, Pyridostigmine Bromide, Vaccines. It is a 328 page book. It is a good synopsis. It was an assessment of the scientific literature concerning “the compounds of most concern to the veterans.” They went through 10,000 abstracts and medical articles and 1,000 peer reviewed medical journal articles - “all relevant toxicological, animal & human studies” on these compounds, at “any dose” level. The relevant gist of it is in the proposed letter below, on pages 7 & 8, that I am suggesting that you send to the Secretary of the V.A., your Congressional representative, Senators, and the White House. You can find the report on the web at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9953.html.

The V.A. is trying to identify all Gulf War veterans with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Syndrome) or other motor neuron diseases, to investigate the connection to the war. They have found 28 so far. I am representing three of them: Major Donnelly, Major Hebert, and Staff Sgt. Oliver. If you personally know any other Gulf War veterans that have been diagnosed with this, please ask them or their relatives to call me. They should also let the government know of their condition by calling 1-877-342-527.

During the last twelve months, there has been a lot of controversy about the anti-anthrax inoculation program, which is scheduled to inoculate everyone on active duty. There has been a fear that the anthrax shots caused Gulf War Illness. There have not been long-term studies submitted to the FDA. There have been some problems with the sole manufacturer. Nonetheless, since the shots have been used for years by some veterinarians and workers that handle animal skins, and since only about 150,000 of the 700,000 in the Gulf were inoculated, and since most you that are ill never got the anthrax shot, it appears that it is not what caused Gulf War Illness. Until the DoD/V.A. publicly moves Gulf War Illness from a “mystery illness” to begin identifying its causal factors, based on “preponderance of the evidence,” there will be heightened fear of the anthrax shots.

There is some research at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, M.D that they need 50 Gulf War veterans for. Essentially, it is to measure your blood pressure and heart rate at different angles, and compare it to non-Gulf War veterans. They will pay for your flight or travel mileage to and from Baltimore, Maryland and also $100 for your time. If you would like to possibly participate in this study call 1-800-624-4562 or e-mail them at jkaczmar@jhmi.edu for more information. They also have more information available at www.med.jhu.edu/gws.

This year we discovered interesting research from Colonel John Gratham, the British Liaison Officer of Gulf War Illness, stationed in D.C. Between 1936 and 1989, about 20,000 British soldiers volunteered to be exposed to low-level Sarin nerve gas and mustard gas at Porton Down. There has never been a follow-up epidemiological study of the long-term effects on that group. We should encourage our DoD/VA to fund such a study, in view of the Institute of Medicine’s September 7, 2000 described on pages 7 & 8.

I will send my next annual report next September, and will contact you personally if I need information from you in the meantime. Please continue collecting your medical records since the Gulf War and keep them in a safe place in chronological order. You are entitled to one free copy of your records from the V.A.

With best regards, I remain

GPBP:miv

Your letters and communications to Congress were effective in getting the legislation concerning the Iraqi funds through the House of Representatives unanimously. They obviously made a difference. We are coming up on an election and many want to do the right thing for veterans. If you will, please write another letter that could do a lot of good for yourself and other ill Gulf War veterans. The suggested letter follows. Please add your own words to it, if you would like to. Time is important in getting it out however. According the law (38 U.S. Code §1118(c)), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has 60 days from the Institute of Medicine’s September 7, 2000 report to “determine whether or not a presumption of service connection is warranted.” The Institute of Medicine will probably not do another report on Sarin for five years, according to its leader, Dr. Harold Sox, who I spoke with on September 15, 2000. So the time to encourage is now.

The Honorable Hershel W. Gober

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Department of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Ave. NW

Washington, D.C. 20420

Re: 38 U.S. Code §1118(c) Determination of Service Connection Regarding Presumed Sarin Exposure

Dear Secretary Gober:

All Gulf War veterans are presumed exposed to Sarin nerve agent by Public Law 105-277 (Oct. 21, 1998). The National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine report of September 7, 2000 shows a positive association between exposure to Sarin and the health problems that Gulf War veterans have suffered. This positive association crosses the statutory threshold, which is set out in 38 U.S. Code §1118(b)(3): “The credible evidence of the association is equal to or outweighs the credible evidence against the association.” The standard is not the criminal standard of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” or the civil litigation standard of “preponderance of the evidence.” The reason the legal standard is essentially an “as likely as not” standard is the remedial intent of the law.

Since Gulf War Illness is a chronic long-standing multi-symptom illness, connections to transient acute local effects like redness and swelling at an inoculation site can be disregarded. Concerning long-term effect, there was only one compound that rose above the “we don’t know” category: that was exposure to Sarin sufficient to cause acute signs and symptoms. They held that probably did cause long-term health effects like the kind the vets suffer. They based this on studies of industrial workers exposed to Sarin in the U.S. and Japanese civilians exposed to Sarin terrorist attacks. In regard to low-level Sarin exposure, they made this positive association (p. E5-8):

The chronic multi-symptom illness that was described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) in its case definition of Gulf War Illness is the same kind of chronic multi-symptom illness that Sarin exposure produces. Compare the CDC definition published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), September 16, 1998, Vol. 280, pp. 981-88, with the following finding by the Institute of Medicine (p. E5-8):

Sufficient evidence exists to meet the legal standard of 38 U.S. Code §1118. Thus, a determination of service connection with illness regarding the presumed Sarin exposure is warranted. It is almost the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War. It will be fair and just to make this determination.

[Any additional text you would like to add, including that you are a veteran of the Gulf War]

Thank you for your attention and service to our nation’s veterans.

Respectfully submitted,

[type or print your name, and then sign above it]

The same letter should be sent to your U.S. Representative, each of your Senators and the White House. Their addresses are as follows:

[Your U.S. Representative’s name] [Your 1st Senator’s name]

Member of Congress United States Senator

House Office Building State Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510

[Your 2nd Senator’s name] President William Jefferson Clinton

United States Senator President of the United States

Senate Office Building The White House

Washington, D.C. 20510 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20500

Attn: Veterans Affairs Policy Advisor