Who's side is VA Secretary on ?

Burden of proof verus benefit of doubt
The majority of medically relvalent records have Never been released to the public
or the researchers who write the Studies on gulf war undiagnoesed illness.
This how they are led, by omitting information.

Does the government believe that Khamisiyah event occur? – YES
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16551

Did the government inventory these chemical weapons in Iraq? – YES
Did the military blow up thousand of rounds in the Khamisiyah area – YES
Were there American troops down wind of the explosions – Yes

From the beginning, Peake has been carefully packaged by the White House.
Article on "Packaging Peake" here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfDEC07/nf121007-1.htm
So are we surprised when he fails to give gulf war vets the benefit of doubt

Additionally, the VA is perceived as having a conflict of interest between its role as payor of disability benefits for veterans found to have war-related illnesses and its role as researcher into war-related illnesses. Distrust of the DoD was exacerbated when it notified 100,000 veterans of the Gulf War that they may have been exposed to chemical warfare agents destroyed at Khamisiyah, after the department had made repeated assurances that no such exposures had occurred. (OCR for page 28)http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9713&page=26

Therefore GW veterans must still fight for their benefits and ratings.