
              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7  Num. 41
             ======================================
                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
BEHIND THE "GULF WAR SYNDROME" AND OKC RESCUE TEAM ILLNESSES
============================================================
Interview with Sherman H. Skolnick, March 8, 1996
-------------------------------------------------
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Before, we had been talking about the Gulf War. And I know that 
there *is* some kind of cover-up going on with the Gulf War 
Syndrome. But you had explained what it was.
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
The military instruction manual for the tanks that were used 
there provides for a lead shield over the shells. But inside the 
tank it's so crowded that the ones inside the tank usually do not 
use it.
 
They didn't quite explain to them [the tank crews] that the lead 
shield was necessary because the shells were "uranium depletion". 
And what that means is, it is something that was developed to go 
right through the enemy's armor plate on *their* tanks.
 
But there is a danger from radioactivity, so the instruction 
manual provides for a lead shield. However, most of the tank 
people do not... Well, it's not workable. It's too crowded inside 
the tank.
 
So the result is that that's *part* of the explanation of the 
Gulf War Syndrome, of these strange illnesses that are not, so 
far, exactly diagnosed and they detect that some of our troops 
suffer from.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
And you know this from talking with people?
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
From talking with people that know specifically about the 
military instruction manual and so on. Yeah.
 
In other words, the lead shield is not workable. It would be 
workable in an x-ray laboratory where the technicians stand 
behind the lead shield while they x-ray you. But the lead shield 
is virtually unworkable in a tank, because to keep the munitions 
behind that, and then to get the munition out, and put it into 
the barrel, is not quite workable.
 
But it indicates that those who ordered that to be used *knew* 
that there was a radioactivity problem.
 
There are other things too. There's believed to be a secret 
weapon of some kind or another that Saddam Hussein fired into the 
air, which may or may not have been detected by our side.
 
But in the beginning there was just a few thousand ex-soldiers 
sick. But now they estimate (according to published accounts) 
upwards of 50 thousand of former soldiers, reservists and so on, 
are sick. That's upwards of 10 percent of the troops that were 
there! That means it's quite a problem, and the government has 
been ducking it.
 
And they call some of the soldiers that are sick and can't work, 
or are barely able to drive themselves to work, they're calling 
'em "malingerers". (Which is really insulting.)
 
And they find the same thing, now, with the rescue team (both men 
and women) that came from Maryland and a few other places and 
were flown into Oklahoma -- with sniffing dogs and so on -- to 
see who they could rescue. (And of course they *did* rescue some 
people, under the rubble.) But the point is, a growing percentage 
of *those* people (back at their regular jobs, or back in their 
regular life) are suffering from extreme health problems. And 
they're not diagnosed; doctors can't figure out what it is. And 
in some instances, the government or other doctors are telling 
the people, "Get out of bed. Go to work. You're a 'malingerer.'" 
Which is insulting. They haven't figured out what these people 
are suffering from, *or* *they* *don't* *wish* it to be brought 
out.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Going back to the Gulf War Syndrome, let me re-state the way I 
understand what you're saying: that in their tank they had 
artillery shells...
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
That were "uranium depletion", is what they called it. And it was 
radioactive, and the military instruction manual for the tank and 
the weapons said that artillery shells are to be kept behind, in 
lead shields.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
And these shells... They used uranium because they would be 
better able to penetrate the armor?
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yes. It's called "uranium depletion". *All* the technical 
details, I wouldn't say that I know. A little of that has been 
published. What has *not* been published, so far as I know, is 
that there is an instruction manual for this thing. And the 
troops (or whatever you call the personnel that are in the tank) 
were told that they should keep the shells behind the lead 
shield. But in the close quarters...
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Yeah. But it's not workable.
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah. And *in* *combat*, you don't think about... First of all, 
nobody emphasized the radioactivity or why the lead shield is 
there. And hey: when you're in combat, you're not gonna stop and 
follow the instruction manual that says, "Hey! Keep the shells 
behind the lead shield, and have that lead shield there while 
you're loading."
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
So specifically, this kind of shell is designed to be more 
effective at penetrating armor?
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah. Very effective. I think they have not developed a defense 
to it: that is, the type of armor that could not be penetrated by 
this type of shell.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
So basically, some bureaucrat way, miles away from the actual 
battle, dreamed all this up, and they just put out, say, an 
instruction manual saying, "And by the way: stay behind the lead 
shield." But when these guys were in combat...
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
It wasn't workable.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
...Yeah. Not workable.
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
I save a lot of the published stories, and I have not *seen* 
that. But I have talked to people that are greatly familiar with 
the situation that mention about the lead shields.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
As a result of your previous story, called "The Oklahoma Bombing 
and the Story of a Magazine", you were deluged with phone calls: 
people that came forward and volunteered information.
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah well, in other words, the militia networks circulated my 
story from place to place, by fax and other means, and said that 
they were very pleased that somebody put the details together. 
Because they had anecdotal information which supports their 
suspicions that Lawrence W. Myers is some kind of a government 
operative, a counter-intelligence agent.
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
But some of the people that got in touch with you were people 
that were victims of this radiation poisoning, that were in 
rescue teams.
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yeah, right. I talked to them and it is a very suppressed story 
now. These government and other doctors, about the only thing 
they're doing is insulting them and saying, "You're a 
'malingerer.' Get back to work."
 
 
CONSPIRACY NATION:
Were these stories kind of heartbreaking for you to listen to?
 
 
SHERMAN SKOLNICK:
Yes.
 
My purpose is, trying to play this up as big as possible. And it 
is now 11 months after the [Oklahoma City] bombings, and I think 
that if another year goes by and the story stays suppressed that 
the people would be too far gone: beyond "the point of no 
return". I think that some of them still can be saved through 
treatment. But the government has got to own up to it. They can't 
just wait decades from now, like they did with -- what was it? 
St. George, Utah? Where a third of the town came down sick from 
the fall-out. And of course, they played it up, about 30-some 
years later, I think it was on the 60 Minutes program {1}. But by 
then a third of the population was either dead, or they had been 
operated on, chemotherapy, the whole thing. My point is that 
something has got to be done about it *now*.
 
                   [...to be continued...]
 
---------------------------<< Notes >>---------------------------
{1} 60 Minutes, by the way, is about to have Mike "The $150,000 
Kid" Wallace do some subtle disinformation on Mexican money 
laundering allegedly involving Citibank. Watch for Mikey to lay 
off the huge Mexican money-laundering scandal at the feet of 
bribery. "Nope, nope," will say Mikey, "Nope, no drug money was 
laundered. Just bribes. Yep."
   Hey Mikey: How much are they payin' you for this one?
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
     I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail 
address, send a message in the form "subscribe cn-l My Name" to 
listproc@cornell.edu          (Note: that is "CN-L" *not* "CN-1")
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  For information on how to receive the new Conspiracy Nation 
  Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc? 
(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
-----------------------------------------------------------------
       See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
          See also: ftp.shout.net  pub/users/bigred
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

