[Gulf War Syndrome] Gulf War veterans sue banks , firms over chemicals

[Kellanved]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Veterans of the first U.S.-led war with Iraq filed a lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday alleging that companies that exported chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s, and the banks that financed those deals, are liable for illnesses the U.S. veterans sustained from exposure to chemical weapons stockpiles that were blown up during the 1991 war.

The veterans are among the more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers who have symptoms including extreme fatigue, memory loss, and bone and joint pain, which are often referred to as Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness.

The defendants are 11 companies that the suit accuses of supplying Iraq with precursors for chemical weapons, and 33 banks that provided letters of credit for Iraq's purchases according to Iraq's declarations to U.N. weapons inspectors.
...

"They knew or should have known that the chemicals that were being sold were being used a part of the weapons of mass destruction program of the Iraqi regime," attorney Kenneth McCallion said.
...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/19/iraq.chemical.suit/


Edit: subject.

[Zuni]

1. It is about time

that people are taking action on behalf of those soldiers...but companies and agencies in France, Germany and the former Warsaw Pact nations also need to be held to account.

[Kellanved]

2. Hello?

--snip
The banks sued are mainly based in Germany, Italy, France, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Kuwait, and Pakistan, and include such well-known firms as Deutsche Bank, Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro, Barclays Bank, Credit Lyonnais, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
--snap


And why? Is it proven that the syndrome was caused by Iraqi WMD? Or is it caused by DU? By vaccines?

And: Iraq was allowed to have those weapons prior to the war - western nations (the US among them) gave them to Iraq.