The official U.S. government response to claims of Gulf War illness has run from skepticism to outright denial.

This week's report by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illness should put an end to doubt. Contrary to government claims, debilitating symptoms are not likely from battlefield stress and other psychological factors. The council, made up of scientists and veterans and working on marching orders from Congress, lays the blame on exposure to pesticides and the PB (pyridostigmine bromide) pills taken to thwart the effects of nerve gas.

With one in four of the 697,000 Gulf War vets reporting some level of the same symptoms, the lights should have gone on a long time ago in the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

One in four -- and yet these 172,000 veterans have had to deal with a government that simply didn't believe them.

Enough. The council concludes that Gulf War illness is real. That's bitter confirmation to the veterans who have suffered from what the report calls a "complex of multiple concurrent symptoms" that "typically includes persistent memory and concentration problems, chronic headaches, widespread pain, gastrointestinal problems, and other chronic abnormalities."

So now veterans have rigorous support for what they have contended all along -- it's not just in our heads, we're not making it up. We're sick.

The report should help clear the way for an all-out effort to find treatment and a cure. If the government drags its feet now, it'll be doing a grim impression of the tobacco industry in the face of the Surgeon General's reports.

The council, noting that research funds for Gulf War illness have declined in recent years, recommends a boost of $60 million in research toward effective treatment and cure. That's a good start.

Clearly, Gulf War illness was inflicted on our troops unintentionally. The military was trying to protect them from weapons that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was known to possess and willing to use.

Just as clearly, the United States owes Gulf War veterans whatever treatment of that illness is available now, along with serious research into finding a cure, or better treatment of the various symptoms.

Thousands of our Gulf War vets are sick. Let's help them.

BOTTOM LINE: Gulf War illness is real, and few vets who suffer the disease are getting better. It's past time for serious work on a cure.

Hardball

State not afraid to take tough stance with Exxon

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski says the state should explain why it denied Exxon permission to build an ice road to the oil and gas deposits at Point Thomson.

The answer is simple: Exxon doesn't have valid leases to Point Thomson any more. After waiting 30 years for Exxon and its partners to develop the lucrative oil and gas prospect, the state said "enough" and took back the leases.

Think about it this way: The state is the landlord at Point Thomson, and Exxon is the tenant. Exxon's lease said the company would make a bunch of valuable improvements to the property and share the resulting rental income with the state. But Exxon never followed through and the state is getting nothing from the deal.

So the state decided to evict Exxon -- as any landlord can do when a tenant violates a lease. Exxon is fighting the eviction in court, as tenants sometimes do.

Now Exxon is saying -- hey, we'll get to work on that property. Honest, we will. Here are our plans. We're serious this time. How about if you let us start by putting in a temporary driveway?

The state said no to the driveway. But it has talked to Exxon about what the company would need to do to stave off eviction.

A settlement that guarantees speedy development of Point Thomson is the best outcome for both sides. But Exxon is well-known for its hardball way of doing business around the world. For once, the state has decided it can play hardball too. It's not just rolling over and letting Exxon and its partners do what they want, when they want, with a rich deposit of oil and gas on state lands.

Is Point Thomson's gas an important piece of the supply puzzle for a North Slope gas line? Yes it is.

Will taking a hard line on Point Thomson delay progress on a gas line? Exxon and partners certainly want the state to think so. The state has done its own analysis and come to the opposite conclusion.

It's like a poker game, where it's hard to tell what is a bluff and what isn't. But one thing is clear: At Point Thomson, Exxon and partners are trying to get the state to throw away its best card -- the threat of eviction.

For once, the state is being smart enough not to play the game that way.