Operation Desert Storm was the U.S. military's "finest hour" since World War 

II. The victory was swift and fewer than 700 were killed or injured (Waldman, 

1996). According to the Department of Defense, nearly 700,000 U.S. service members 

served in the Persian Gulf during some point in time from August 1990 to June 

1991. Additionally, the Department of Defense claims that the majority of these 

personnel returned from the Gulf War healthy and ready for duty. However, some

of the Gulf War veterans are now suffering from disabling ailments: fatigue, 

headaches, stomach problems, rashes, memory loss, tumors and aching joints. 

Although it has been almost eight years since the end of Operation Desert Storm,

the  controversy over Gulf War syndrome continues (General Accounting Office,

1997). Desert Storm was the mythical "perfect war," and then came a new set of

illnesses that caused reporters to muddy the myth by investigating decisions,

mistakes and vulnerabilities of the military (Waldman, 1996). 

Problem 

The Principles of Information is the policy the Department of Defense

uses to make timely and accurate information available so that the public, Congress 

and the news media can assess and understand facts about national security and 

defense strategy. The use of the Principles of Information (Appendix A) is the

public affairs guideline for all public relations information. The specific problem

being addressed is the use of communicative deception strategies by the Pentagon

to deal with the problems arising from the Gulf War syndrome. 

    This paper will address the government's use of deception which goes against the

Departement of Defense's Principles of Information. The independent variable is

the use of a deception strategy instead of a disclosure strategy by the Department of

Defense.  The dependent variable is the media coverage of the Gulf War syndrome.

The problem  arose because of the cognitive dissonance of the Gulf War veterans,

the fact that they had illnesses and yet the Department of Defense said they didn't,

which motivated them to get the media involved. The American people became

involved and the government was forced to address the problem. 

    The Gulf War syndrome issue is bipolar, meaning if the coverage favored the 

government's perspective, then it presented a negative picture of the veterans and

vise versa (Kaid & Wadsworth, 1989).The operational definition for the public

perception of the military is determined by conducting a pre-test and post-test

content analysis in order to determine the number of the positive, neutral and

negative stories in the nightly news. This will allow for measurement of the

dependent variable.