Clinton Broadens Gulf Ills Benefits

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton on Friday broadened benefits for possible victims of the mysterious “Gulf War illness,” ordering that veterans be eligible for compensation for chronic and undiagnosed maladies that appear before the end of 2001.

Previously, government regulations have barred claims for such undiagnosed illnesses if they had not appeared within two years of the time a veteran ended his service in the Persian Gulf conflict.

“Gulf War veterans who fell ill as a result of service to their country should receive the compensation they have earned, even if science cannot pinpoint the source of their illness,” Clinton announced at the start of a news conference.

Although the press briefing focused on the broadening controversy over campaign-finance illegalities and improprieties, the president also sent a message to Congress about his unchanging position on a measure that would ban a procedure widely known as “partial-birth” abortion.

Clinton also urged the Russian government not to stand in the way of expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to include nations that once were part of Eastern Europe’s communist bloc. Clinton was asked about the issue in light of strong statements made Thursday by Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin about the danger such expansion might pose for his country.

Clinton’s decision to personally announce the extended Gulf War illness eligibility is another sign of the political sensitivity that surrounds the issue.

Increasingly, veterans groups and lawmakers have been accusing the government of ineptitude or a cover-up on the issue, noting that the Pentagon initially dismissed complaints about Gulf-related illnesses. And some lawmakers had been threatening to push an extension of benefits through Congress.

Some 84,000 veterans have claimed disability because of their experiences in the Persian Gulf, including many thousands who maintain that they were sickened by chemicals or unknown organisms.

Many of these veterans have complained of chronic fatigue, digestive ailments and sleep problems, all of which have been wrapped together under the label “Gulf War syndrome.” But government investigators so far have been unable to identify a single source for the maladies.

At his news conference, Clinton also ordered the government to implement recommendations of an advisory committee that he had set up to look into the controversy.

That means, for example, that the government will look more closely at the health problems plaguing veterans who were near an Iraqi munitions bunker in southern Iraq, where tons of chemical warfare munitions were blown up on March 4 and 10, 1991. Some veterans groups have pointed to these explosions as potentially a leading cause of the ailments.

Also in line with the committee’s recommendations, the government will examine more fully how wartime stress affects troops and how some chemicals used in the Persian Gulf may have combined to cause chronic illnesses.

Officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs could provide only the broadest estimates of how many veterans would be affected by Clinton’s order broadening benefits.

They said that about 5,000 veterans have had claims thrown out because their undiagnosed illnesses did not appear within two years of their departure from the Persian Gulf. But they said that they do not expect all these veterans to become eligible under the easier rules. Those seeking benefits still must prove that they have a chronic illness, that they have had it for six months and that it has resulted in a disability of at least 10%.

The maximum compensation payment, for a 100% disability, is $1,924 a month. The veterans’ department will also cover the cost of health care.

As he has done frequently in the past, Clinton defended his veto of a bill sent to him last year that would have outlawed the “partial-birth” abortion procedure and suggested that he would take the same action again if a similar measure were sent to him.

He repeated calls for abortion foes to join him in drafting an exemption for women whose health or ability to have future children would be seriously endangered by a continued pregnancy. If such a provision is added to the bill, Clinton said, he would sign it.

Abortion foes have rejected the president’s call for an exemption vehemently, saying that the procedure is never medically necessary and that similar exemptions have been interpreted so broadly that they have permitted perfectly health women to abort perfectly healthy fetuses.

Clinton acknowledged that continuing debate on the issue has taken a political toll on him and an emotional toll on the public.

“It has hurt the American people, dealing with this,” Clinton said. “It’s a deep thing out there around the country, and it goes way beyond the traditional pro-life/pro-choice fight or disagreement. I would like to see us bring some harmony to this and put it behind us.”

Clinton’s comments came a week after an abortion rights advocate said that he and his allies had lied when they said that “partial-birth” abortions are performed rarely and exclusively on women whose pregnancies had gone medically awry.

Fielding the question about Russia’s attitude toward NATO expansion, Clinton said: “You should understand this is a tough debate and that they have reasons in their own psyche and circumstances that make it a difficult one.”

But he called on Russia not to cling to an attitude whereby a country’s greatness was defined by “their ability to influence--if not outright dominate--the people that live around them, as well as to control the political debate of people who live within their borders.”

Instead, he said, Russia should adopt thinking similar to that in the United States, where greatness is defined “in terms of the achievements of our people, our ability to protect ourselves and our ability to relate to other people.”

Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this story.