THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997              TAG: 9701100546
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   50 lines

SCHWARZKOPF OFFERS HIS PRIVATE LOGS TO GULF WAR INVESTIGATORS

Retired Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf invited Senate investigators Thursday to examine his private logs for clues about chemical weapons releases during the Persian Gulf War.

Calling suggestions of a cover-up ``ridiculous,'' the former Gulf War commander told The Associated Press that he had no evidence of chemical weapons exposure during or after the conflict. The Pentagon and other agencies are investigating whether such exposure may lie behind the mystery illnesses afflicting thousands of Gulf War veterans.

``There is nothing in those logs at all about chemical contamination of my troops,'' Schwarzkopf said. He added that he told a Senate committee staff member Thursday, ``If you don't believe me, I welcome a member or members of their staff to come down to my office in Tampa, and they could look through those logs to their heart's content.''

Schwarzkopf, vacationing in Colorado, spoke by phone hours after the issue of his logs came up in a hearing of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., pressed CIA witnesses on whether they knew of the logs and would ask Schwarzkopf to release them. George Tenet, acting CIA director, said he did not know of the logs but added, ``If there's information in those logs that bears on what we're trying to do, we'll try to access it.''

The so-called executive logs were kept by an officer assigned to Schwarzkopf while he directed the coalition buildup and war against Iraq in 1990 and 1991.

The logs are distinct from official records of orders and reports handled by Schwarzkopf. They are also separate from a nuclear, biological and chemical weapons log kept by the general's staff devoted specifically to reports of chemical weapons use. An eight-day gap in that log has been one avenue of inquiry in the government investigation into gulf illnesses.

Schwarzkopf described his personal log as ``incomplete, cryptic in some cases'' and said it was a record of private conversations - particularly, sensitive discussions with foreign leaders in which he made promises that the foreign leaders asked be kept confidential.

Schwarzkopf said the committee staff said it would send a representative to review the logs. He also said he offered to testify. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

The general said his logs say nothing about chemical contamination

and said investigators are free to look.

KEYWORDS: GULF WAR SYNDROME PERSIAN GULF WAR