[Peace-discuss] hunger strike

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Gulf War soldier on hunger strike 
A former soldier has gone on hunger strike in an attempt to secure a public 
inquiry into Gulf War Syndrome. 
Alexander Izett said he was ready to die to force the military to "come 
clean" over the issue. 

The former lance corporal from Cumbernauld stopped eating last Saturday, on 
his 34th birthday, at his home in Germany. 

Mr Izett said he developed brittle bone disease after being vaccinated in the 
run-up to the Gulf War in 1990 to 1991. 

He took his case to the Scottish Parliament earlier this year but has become 
frustrated with the progress being made by MSPs. 


I'm now too ill to do anything else but make this final stand 
Alexander Izett 
In a letter to his local MSP Cathy Craigie, the ex-soldier said he was 
"heart-broken" that he could not get the treatment he needed in Scotland. 
He wrote: "This is a last desperate attempt in trying to force the Ministry 
of Defence (MoD) to tell the truth regarding my suffered illness of Gulf War 
Syndrome." 

He wrote: "I'm now too ill to do anything else but make this final stand. 

"I was willing to fight and die for my country. Now I am willing to die to 
make that country come clean and tell the truth of not only my suffering, but 
that of thousands of my fellow sufferers of Gulf War Syndrome." 

Mr Izett said he wants a UK-wide public inquiry into Gulf War Syndrome 
because the Ministry of Defence continues to deny the existence of the condition. 

Nine injections 

He said sufferers should be given priority on the NHS, better pension rights 
and compensation payments for them and their families. 

He said he received nine inoculations, including one for the plague and 
another for anthrax, whilst serving with 25 Engineer Regiment, based in Osnabruck, 
Germany. 


In the event he never served in the war in Iraq because it lasted only a few 
weeks and he left the Army in May 1991 after serving for six years. 
He said he became ill in 1993 and has since broken his ribs, knee cap and 
shoulder and suffered from depression and stomach ulcers, leaving him unable to 
work. 

In a bid to get better treatment, he moved to Germany and he now lives in 
Bersenbrueck near Bremen on a 70% war pension of £72.50 a week, which he secured 
after a long legal battle with the MoD. 

Mr Izett said he would take fluids for the first 14 days of his protest. He 
said he was being looked after by his wife, from whom he is separated. 

Speaking from his home, he said: "When Tony Blair got into power he promised 
a full public inquiry and we are still waiting. It's all promises. I want to 
see action." 

Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee agreed to write to the Scottish 
Executive about Gulf War Syndrome after hearing an emotional plea from Mr Izett in 
March. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3682525.stm

Published: 2004/05/04 10:24:12 GMT

© BBC MMIV