The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
117.
Professor
Simon Wessely and Professor Christopher Dandeker presented the
early
findings of
the King’s Centre study to the 25 May 2005 meeting of the Service
Personnel
Board
(SPB).79
The record
of the meeting reported:
“The
initial observations suggest that for Regulars, there was no Iraqi
War
syndrome,
no increases in general mental health problems and PTSD
[Post-
Traumatic
Stress Disorder], or increases in alcohol intake. These
observations were
different
to Op GRANBY [the 1990/1991 Gulf Conflict]. For Reservists, there
have
been
increases in general mental health problems and a doubling of PTSD,
but no
increase in
alcohol intake.”
118.
Two papers
from the King’s Centre study into the physical and psychological
health
of
personnel deployed on Op TELIC were published in May
2006.
119.
The first
paper concluded that for Regular Personnel, deployment to Iraq had
not,
so far,
been associated with significantly worse health outcomes, apart
from a modest
effect on
multiple physical symptoms.80
There was,
however, evidence of a clinically and
statistically
significant effect on the health of Reservists, in relation to PTSD
symptoms,
multiple
physical symptoms, and general perceptions of health.
120.
The second
paper concluded that there had been no substantial increase
in
symptomatic
ill-health amongst members of the Regular Armed Forces who had
taken
part in the
invasion of Iraq, and there was no pattern suggestive of a new
syndrome.81
That
finding was in contrast to the situation after the 1990/1991 Gulf
Conflict, when a
substantial
increase in symptomatic ill-health had been observed.
121.
On 16 May, Mr
Tom Watson, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
for
Defence,
set the conclusions of the papers and the Government’s response in
a written
statement
to Parliament:
“… a small
but measurable number of Reservists (when compared either
with
Regulars
who did deploy or Reservists who did not deploy) are showing
some
increased
health effects as a result of deployment – particularly for common
mental
disorders
(such as anxiety, depression and stress), post traumatic stress
disorder
and
fatigue. It remains the case, though, that the reported rates of
indicators of
common
mental ill-health for both Reservists and Regulars are broadly of
the same
order as
found in the general UK population.”82
79
Minutes, 25
May 2005, Service Personnel Board meeting.
80
Hotopf et
al. The health of UK military Personnel who deployed to the 2003
Iraq war: A cohort study.
The Lancet
367:
1731-1741 (2006).
81
Horn et al.
Is there an ‘Iraq War Syndrome’? Comparison of the health of UK
Service Personnel after the
Gulf and
Iraq wars. The
Lancet 367:
1742-1746 (2006).
82
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 16 May
2006, column 43WS.
62