A highly credible report substantiates the existence of Gulf War syndrome .

Thousands of veterans of the 1991 war suffer from unexplained poor health. Servicemen and women from the US, UK, Canada and France who took part in the operation to drive Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait have reported one or more symptoms, including memory loss, chronic fatigue and dizziness.

...The findings are in a report by the influential Research Advisory Committee on Gulf war veterans' illness, leaked to the New York Times. Committee chief scientist Professor Beatrice Golombe said that exposure to certain substances in the Gulf may have altered some troops' body chemistry. ...The US report said the troops' problems were definitely caused by exposure to toxic chemicals rather than stress or psychiatric illness. Potential sources include Iraqi nerve gas and drugs given to the troops to protect them from chemical weapons.

The original October 14 New York Times article on the study is here. It says "an estimated 100,000 Gulf War veterans, or about one in seven, suffer war-related health problems."