By Michael Kilian
              Washington Bureau
              May 26, 2000

              WASHINGTON -- A final Pentagon report released
              Thursday has concluded there is "no substantiated
              evidence" of Iraqi use of chemical weapons against Iraqi
              civilians in the years since the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

              Unconfirmed charges have been circulating for years that
              Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used chemical warfare to
              suppress a Shia rebellion in southern Iraq shortly after
              the gulf conflict ended.

              Defense Secretary William Cohen cited Hussein's
              gassing of Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in the 1980s
              as partial justification for the American Operation Desert
              Fox aerial assault on Iraq in December 1998--a
              response to Hussein's ouster of UN weapons inspectors
              looking for chemical and biological warfare stockpiles.

              In another report released Thursday, the Pentagon said
              it is "unlikely" that Iraq had chemical warfare agents
              stored at its Tallil air base.

              The base was used as a launching site for chemical
              attacks against Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. It
              has been cited as a possible source of gulf war
              syndrome, the array of unexplained ailments and
              illnesses suffered by U.S. veterans of the 1991 conflict.

              U.S. and British warplanes have been flying daily
              operations over northern and southern Iraqi "no fly"
              zones, in part to protect Iraqi opposition groups and
              neighboring countries from the Iraqi military, including
              possible chemical and biological weapons attacks.

              "This investigation is closed," said Bernard Rostker, the
              Defense Department's special assistant for gulf war
              illnesses, though he invited anyone with new information
              to contact his office.

              The Pentagon began the investigation into the Shia
              incident after witnesses said they saw an Iraqi helicopter
              dropping large canisters containing a yellow chemical
              spray over the then-rebel-held city of al-Nasiriyah.

              Some recalled seeing civilians being treated by U.S.
              military medics for burns and blisters, prompting the
              Pentagon to investigate the incident as a possible
              contributing factor in gulf war syndrome. .

              Interviews were conducted with more than 100
              American doctors, medics and nurses who served in the
              area, but none reported seeing any chemical exposure,
              according to Thursday's report.

              Pentagon investigators also interviewed "hundreds" of
              military weapons specialists, including the 82nd Airborne
              Division's nuclear, biological and chemical warfare
              officer in charge of the al-Nasiriyah sector.

              He said he believes the Iraqis may have used
              conventional tear gas and white phosphorous, which can
              produce symptoms similar to those inflicted by more
              deadly chemical weapons.

              The Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense
              Intelligence Agency came to similar conclusions, the
              report said.

              "The lack of conclusive evidence, eyewitness accounts
              of reported attacks, possible victims or their medical
              records prevents a definite finding," a Pentagon
              statement said.

              "Investigators concluded that continued efforts would
              not yield additional insights."

              The Tallil air base was hit by a 2,000-pound bomb
              during the gulf war, and its facilities and munitions were
              destroyed by members of the 82nd Airborne assigned to
              the area in the aftermath of the fighting.

              A U.S. Air Force demolition technician who searched
              the Iraqi storage bunker there told investigators he saw
              no evidence of chemical or conventional weapons--only
              debris from the 2,000-pound bomb.

              In yet another finding, the Pentagon reported Thursday
              that an investigation into possible Iraqi chemical
              weapons deployment in a Kuwait minefield along the
              southern Iraq border failed to produce evidence of
              chemical exposure to Marines cutting paths through the
              minefield.