The BBC recently broadcast a radio programme about Gunner John Gough. It can be heard by clicking on this link. It is part of the BBC's 'The Untold' series. The purpose was to highlight the plight of a former British soldier, and Gulf War hero, John Gough. Unfortunately, the telling of his story leaves much that remains 'Untold'! His story can be quickly related.
- A school friend described him as a confident, cheeky boy, who was popular with the girls, and that the life of the form revolved around him.
- When he left school he trained as a bricklayer, but as employment was difficult at the time, he decided to join the army, the Royal Artillery.
- He served in Northern Ireland, and in the first Gulf War, helping to liberate Kuwait, during which time he was injured by a land mine.
- He eventually left the army 20 years ago.
- He is now suffering from what was described as 'post traumatic stress disorder'.
- His father described his changed behaviour when John returned to live with him. He would not socialise, he had massive mood swings, and displayed aggressive and violent behaviour.
- He left home and got involved with illicit drugs. He is now on medication as a result.
- He has attempted suicide on 5 separate occasions.
- He does not sleep in his bed, preferring to sleep on the floor.
- He has disengaged from all social contact, he has completely shut himself off from his friends and family.
- He was threatened with eviction from his accommodation, and fearful that he might end up living 'on the streets'.
The programme focused on several important and legitimate issues. Is this how war heroes should live? Is the support given to former soldiers, both in terms of counselling and housing, adequate? The programme ended on a more optimistic note: accommodation was found for him, and he attended a reunion of his former army colleagues, and he is now hoping to start university.
It was an interesting programme, and my only objection is one of omission. John Gough was clearly one of many thousands of UK and USA soldiers who suffered from 'Gulf War Syndrome. His life was transformed, from being a "confident, cheeky boy, popular with the girls", a brave and strong solder who served his country in two dangerous missions, to a depressed, reclusive and suicidal man, unable to cope with normal life.
Gulf War syndrome was almost certainly caused by the plethora of vaccinations and other drugs given to the soldiers prior to the first Gulf War. In the latter 1990's it was a topic worthy of discussion and debate. Now that debate has ended. The BBC programme was interested only in the consequences of the war for an individual ex-soldier, not the cause of his problem - to the extent that 'Gulf War syndrome was not even mentioned, leave alone the pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines he would have been given before the start of the action.
Soldiers sent to the Gulf were give a huge cocktail of drugs and vaccinations over a brief period. Some estimates say that soldiers were given as many as 17 different vaccines, for polio, for yellow fever, for anthrax, bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid, Hepatitis A and B, Meningitis, and that many of them untested and unapproved. The vaccines that were approved and tested were known to cause the kind of symptoms experienced by Gulf War veterans!
So it was not a surprise when, in 2002, a study of 900 veterans found a strong correlation between the anthrax vaccine and subsequent ill health (Psychol Rep. 2002 Apr;90(2):639-53. Self-reported changes in subjective health and anthrax vaccination as reported by over 900 Persian Gulf War era veterans. Schumm WR, Reppert EJ, Jurich AP, Bollman SR, Webb FJ, Castelo CS, Stever JC, Sanders D, Bonjour GN, Crow JR, Fink CJ, Lash JF, Brown BF, Hall CA, Owens BL, Krehbiel M, Deng LY, Kaufman M. School of Family Studies and Human Services, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506-1403, USA. Schumm@humec.ksu.edu). The study found that soldiers receiving the anthrax vaccine reported more adverse reactions than those who did not. It also found that the more severe any initial reaction to the vaccine was, the more severe long term health effects were. There were other studies at the time, coming to similar conclusions.
This was not good news for either the government, the Ministry of Defence, the conventional medical establishment, or the pharmaceutical industry. So they did what they usually do. They denied it! For many years they did not release information about the vaccines and drugs the soldiers had received. Other possible causes were looked into, like infectious disease, biological and chemical weapons, burning fuel from oil wells, organophosphate pesticides, depleted uranium, and many more. But unfortunately for the deniers none of these stood up to serious scrutiny.
So eventually, medical 'science' was brought it to save the situation for those who had given soldiers this cocktail of drugs and vaccines, and, as usual, medical scientists were able to deflect attention away from pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines!
In May 2003, the government published the results of an 'independent review' of UK research into Gulf veterans’ ill health, concluding that there was "no evidence of a unique syndrome had been found in this country or aboard following research of troops deployed to the Gulf". At the same time the governemnt was paying compensation, and arranging support programmes for the troops, who were suffering from this non-existent syndrome!
In July and October 2006, the MOD published scientific papers that looked at "the possible adverse health effects of the combination of vaccines and tablets given to troops to protect them against the threat of biological and chemical warfare". The conclusion was that the combination of vaccines and tablets given to UK forces before the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict "would not have had adverse health effects".
And so the scientific whitewash continued,. All the studies, bought and paid for by government coming up with the same conclusion. The 2002 findings were wrong. However the new evidence was unable to come to any alternative conclusion about what had caused 'Gulf War syndrome'. The Ministry of Defence outlined this research in a 'guidance' document, "Gulf Veterans Illnesses" in 2012.
"The overwhelming evidence from the programme is that the combination of vaccines and tablets that were offered to UK Forces at the time of the 1990/1991 would not have had adverse health effects."
So the BBC, and the rest of our mainstream media, meekly accepted that position. It appears that investigative journalism is not permitted within any mainstream news media when it concerns matters of health! I have written before about the refusal of the BBC to look at the controversy about the MMR vaccine. It was a similar situation. Thousands suffered from the vaccine, and evidence began to emerge of a link with the Autism epidemic. So there was a crisis within the conventional medical establishment. So medical science is paid to come up with evidence that the vaccine was not, in fact, linked to the Autism epidemic. And that, for the BBC, was the end of any further discussion. Even in 2014, when the co-author of the 'bought' science admitted that the research team had intentionally excluded, and destroyed evidence that would have come to a different conclusion, the BBC refused to publish the evidence. It was, they said, not a matter of public interest!
So it is for John Gough, and other former soldiers suffering from Gulf War syndrome. The cause of their condition is not "a matter of public interest". The only issue open to discussion is the consequence, not the cause of his current situation. The cause of his current situation would, after all, be embarrassing for the government, the Ministry of Defence, the conventional medical establishment, the pharmaceutical industry: and now, of course, the BBC, who have gone along with this medical cover-up for over a decade.
Honest media reporting now would only highlight the dishonest media reporting of the past! So it is censored.
There remains no other reasonable explanation for Gulf War syndrome. There is no other satisfactory reason why John Gough's life was so drastically altered, ruined indeed, for the last 20 years. There is no known alternative cause for the destruction of so many lives - the lives of strong, fit young men, in the prime of their lives.
Yet to ask such questions, to investigate further, would bring the BBC up against powerful government interests at a time when their contract is up for renewal! Best, then, not to cause waves in that quarter! And the rest of the mainstream media would be taking on the rich and powerful pharmaceutical industry, one of their main paymasters. Best, then, to leave matters as they are! No need to rock the boat!
And so the mayhem caused by the conventional medical establishment continues, unchallenged, unreported .......
