The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
97.
Following a
meeting of the Veterans Task Force on 10 April 2003, and as
major
combat
operations in Iraq continued, Dr Lewis Moonie, the Parliamentary
Under
Secretary
of State for Defence, discussed with MOD officials the value of
initiating a
long-term
study of the health of Op TELIC veterans.66
98.
In early May,
an MOD official asked Dr Moonie to agree that the UK
Government
should
support a large-scale programme of research on the physical and
psychological
health of
personnel deployed on Op TELIC.67
The cost
could not yet be precisely
estimated,
but could be around £3m.
99.
The official
commented that the UK Government had moved “far too late” to
initiate
research
programmes after the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict, leading to a loss of
trust from
veterans
and the public:
“By the
time we [the Government] responded concern was widespread and
the
idea of
a ‘Gulf War Syndrome’, for which there is still no scientific
evidence, had
taken
root.
“We
therefore need to act early this time and put in place as soon as
possible a
robust
programme of research … and respond as necessary.”
100.
Dr Moonie
agreed that recommendation.68
101.
The MOD
subsequently commissioned the King’s Centre for Military
Health
Research
(the King’s Centre) at King’s College London to undertake a
large-scale
epidemiological
study into the physical and psychological health of personnel
deployed
on Op
TELIC.69
The
“primary objectives” of the study were:
•
to assess
the physical and psychological health of personnel deployed
on
Op TELIC
in comparison with personnel not deployed on Op TELIC;
and
•
to
ascertain whether an “Iraqi War Syndrome” had emerged
following
deployment,
similar to the Gulf War Syndrome.
66
Minute
PS/USofS [MOD] to Hd GVIU, 11 April 2003, ‘Op TELIC: Studies of
Returning Service Personnel’.
67
Minute MOD
[junior official] to PS/USofS [MOD], 1 May 2003, ‘Op TELIC –
Research into Possible
Health
Effects Post-Conflict’.
68
Minute
PS/USofS [MOD] to Hd GVIU, 6 May 2003, ‘Op TELIC – Research into
Possible Health Effects
Post-Conflict’.
69
King’s
Centre for Military Health Research, 2006, The
Iraq Study 2003 – 2006: Monitoring the Physical
and
Psychological Health of Personnel Deployed on Operation TELIC 1 (Op
TELIC 1): Key Results from
Stage
1.
58