A Gulf war widow pleaded before an unprecedented US congressional hearing in Westminster yesterday for Tony Blair's government to have the " honesty" to set up a public inquiry into the spate of illnesses that have hit over 5,000 troops who took part in Operation Desert Storm 11 years ago.
Samantha Thompson, whose 44-year-old husband Nigel died last January from motor neurone disease which he was convinced he contracted during the war, accused the Ministry of Defence of "washing its hands" of the fate of British troops.
"It seemed to Nigel that the day you handed in your ID card the MoD washed their hands of you and it was the Royal British Legion who were thankfully there to pick up the pieces," she told the hearing.
She was giving evidence alongside three Gulf war veterans to an investigations panel of the congressional sub-committee on national security, veterans' affairs and international relations at Portcullis House.
The three veterans - John Nichol, an RAF navigator shot down over Iraq; Larry Cammock, chairman of the Gulf veterans branch of the Royal British Legion, and Shaun Rusling, chairman of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association - pressed for a public inquiry.
The US committee headed by Christopher Shays, a Republican, was joined by Ross Perot, the former US presidential candidate, and Lord Morris, the former Labour minister for the disabled, to question witnesses from veterans to lawyers, MPs and medical specialists.
They were united in claiming the MoD had covered up the dangers, from giving compulsory multi-vaccines against 14 diseases from smallpox to anthrax to the troops, to the effects of wearing uniforms coated with pesticides and being exposed to depleted uranium and other toxic chemicals during the Gulf war. Most vaccination records of servicemen had disappeared.
The US committee - which also included Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and the youngest congressman, David Putnam - pointed out that Mrs Thompson's husband would have qualified for war related compensation in the US where the disease is recognised.
The congressmen expressed shock that Britain was behind the US in recognising the problem of Gulf war syndrome at a time when both the US and Britain were likely to go back to fight another war in the Gulf.
The inquiry is also linked to fears in the US that the war on terrorism could lead to the civilian population facing chemical weapons attacks.
Lewis Moonie, the defence minister responsible for veterans, was due to attend an address by Ross Perot today but has cancelled because of an overseas visit.
