Clinton Investigates Possible Gulf War Cover-Up

WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Clinton ordered an investigation into a report that the Army blew up an Iraqi ammunitions dump despite a CIA warning that it might contain chemical weapons -- then covered up what it had known when Gulf War veterans began to complain of serious health problems. If confirmed, this would indicate that for the first time that negligence by the CIA and U.S. military was a factor in exposing veterans to poison gas during the Gulf War. The Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses has 60 days to examine the report, made public yesterday. While the Pentagon admitted last year that at least 20,000 troops may have been exposed to sarin, a highly toxic gas, the CIA has kept its advance warning about the chemical weapons in the Kamisiyah storage site under tight wraps since 1991. "It is, in my judgement, a cover-up of major proportions," fumed Senator Jay Rockefeller, a harsh critic of the military's reluctance to look into veterans' complaints. The Pentagon terms the incident a "missed opportunity."