HELP FOR SICK GULF WAR VETERANS

President Clinton launched an attack on Republican home turf, saying that $200 million of cuts in veterans health benefits proposed by GOP House leaders were "unwise and unnecessary" and would harm the Americans "who need their nation's help the most." Brushing aside tentative Pentagon studies, he said he would create a presidential advisory panel and pour $13 million into research to get to the bottom of Gulf War Syndrome, the unexplained illness or complex of illnesses reported by thousands of veterans who served in Iraq and Kuwait. The President told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention that he will increase spending on Department of Veterans Affairs by $1.3 billion over five years -- most of that for health care.