Some Gulf veterans have suffered from various complaints

Lord Craig of Radley, former Marshal of the Royal Air Force, also said the ministry should apologise to those affected.

He was speaking at an independent inquiry into "Gulf war syndrome" in London.

The MoD does not recognise the syndrome as a medical condition.

Lord Craig, chief of the defence staff in 1991, told the inquiry the ministry should not move to require veterans to justify their illnesses.

He said it should instead accept that it must prove any illnesses did not arise during service in the Gulf.

Compensation call

"It is time for the MoD to accept that they have not been able to disprove that the individual's illness is not Gulf-service related and to compensate and apologise to those that have been kept waiting far too long for satisfaction," he said.

Gulf war servicemen and women were inoculated against a variety of illnesses, including anthrax.

It is time for the MoD ... to compensate and apologise to those that have been kept waiting so long Lord Craig

Some believe this left them suffering from complaints such as depression, memory loss, aching joints and tumours.

Support groups claim about 6,000 veterans have suffered unexplained poor health since the 1991 war.

The MoD says there is no single cause of the illnesses suffered by veterans and that their symptoms are too varied to be considered part of a wider syndrome.

Lord Craig told the inquiry that governments had been trying to find a common cause for the sicknesses reported since the conflict.

"This search for some Holy Grail is proving fruitless," he said.

Personnel received vaccines against biological weapons threats

Lord Bramall, chief of the defence staff from 1982 to 1985, told the inquiry the cocktail of vaccines given to Gulf war personnel may be partly to blame.

"We have a ready-made candidate in the cocktail of inoculations, vaccines and tablets given, all in good faith," he said.

"This has never been done before, nor as far as I know was it tested in advance."

Military pensions

The inquiry also heard from General Sir Peter de la Billiere, who commanded British forces during the Gulf War.

He said military pensions should be paid quickly to ill veterans.

"If you delay it much longer, a lot of people are going to be dead who should have benefited," he said.

Sir Peter said the veterans' complaints should be thoroughly and properly investigated to safeguard the welfare of personnel who had served in the Gulf, or those who would serve in the future.

Sir Peter says pensions should be paid quickly

He said he had experienced "flu-like" symptoms after he was given the inoculations, but he said it would have been "very unwise" not to have administered them.

He said he believed the process was voluntary, "although I don't think people were encouraged not to accept them".

Lord Craig had told the inquiry there may not have been enough medical staff to provide early treatment of veterans' complaints.

Sir Peter agreed, saying medical services had been at a "bare minimum" in the Gulf, although he did not think there had been a shortage.

The inquiry is being funded by an anonymous donor and is being headed by Lord Lloyd of Berwick, a former judge.