2. Incorrect - the affliction of Gulf War servicemen was and is called "Gulf War Syndrome". Taken from http://www.biofact.com/gulf/:-

Symptoms of Gulf War Illnesses (according to the American Legion) :-

- Chronic Fatigue
- Signs and symptoms involving skin (including skin rashes and unusual hair loss)
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Neurologic signs or symptoms (nervous system disorders which could manifest themselves in numbness in one's arm, for instance)
- Neuropsychological signs or symptoms (including memory loss)
- Signs or symptoms involving upper or lower respiratory system
- Sleep disturbances
- Gastrointestinal signs or symptoms (including recurrent diarrhea and constipation)
- Cardiovascular signs or symptoms
- Menstrual disorders

In other words, chronic fatigue is *one* of the *symptoms* of Gulf War Syndrome, so GWS (whatever the cause is) may be diagnosed as CFS. But chronic fatigue is a frequent symptom of many conditions - consider how much enegery you had when you last had flu, for instance!

True Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a separate kettle of fish - it's also known as ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis). Troll is not guessing, he's spot-on right. ME/CFS has been around *much* longer than just since the Gulf War - check any websites about it. A friend of mine had to drop out of school with it in 1990.

Re Gulf War Syndrome, AFAIK there's still no sure cause of it. One popular theory is that the many vaccines servicemen had to take (to ward off possible bioweapon attacks) collectively overwhelmed the person's system, since no-one before or since had ever used so many vaccines together. I personally think this is quite likely - all vaccines have some side-effects, some of them long-term.

Donuel, as far as "the greatest pandemic etc", do you know *any* history? I suggest you look into The Black Death, the epidemics across the non-immune American Indian populations on the arrival of Westerners or any of the various flu epidemics before you make such claims.

Also please provide evidence on your last claim about depleted uranium being a "weapon of mass destruction" - I know there are talks about phasing it out due to health risks (IIRC the risk is due to the formation of dust particles which attack the lungs), but it's not to my knowledge been called a "weapon of mass destruction". These are nuclear, chemical or biological weapons designed to wipe out large quantities of people - DU certainly does not fall into this category. (Please don't say "well it's uranium so it's a nuke", bcos that would be completely incorrect.)

Re the "recycled nuclear products", that's DU. If a GI didn't know about tanks using DU projectiles, he's not doing his job! Note that DU is *only* used in armour-penetrating anti-tank rounds, not anywhere else. DU has a very low radiation level, but IIRC the particles have an effect on the lungs roughly like particles of cigarette smoke. I'm working from memory here, so if anyone has the definitive gen on this, please correct me.

Donuel, just a thought: what was the purpose of this thread?

Graham.