Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh

by Wendy S. Painting

The realities of the Gulf War and later attempts to determine the truth were further complicated because, immediately after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Defense Department sought and obtained approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to administer a cocktail of experimental drugs to troops without their informed consent, claiming that to obtain such consent was simply unfeasible. The known experimental drugs administered included pretreatments and vaccines meant to counter the effects of chemical and biological weapons. At the time, the FDA had previously barred the use of two of them, botulinum toxoid and Pyridostigmine Bromide (BP), on civilian populations and botulinum, specifically, remains unapproved by the FDA for civilian use because of its adverse side effects. Further, the doses administered to soldiers during the Gulf War were estimated based on previous tests on (actual) guinea pigs and the effects of the combined use of all the drugs had not been tested. For several days prior to the start of the ground war and throughout its duration, commanders ordered soldiers to take anti-nerve gas and anti-anthrax agents as well as BP pills, the latter meant to enhance the effectiveness of the former. If they refused, they were threatened with court martials. Worse still, not only had informed consent requirements been bypassed but the military kept no records of those who received widely distributed anthrax vaccines, BP pills or botulism shots or the dosages administ...