No, it was a bio-weapon.
Infected fleas were dispensed by infiltrating brave Special Ops volunteers, who knew their odds against survivng were virtually nil, but went in anyway.
Posted on 01/19/2009 7:07:22 AM PST by Sammy67
Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today. The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside. Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed.
Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells - and possibly Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Many insurgents may choose to surrender for treatment rather than die a horrible death. ‘This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror,’ a security source told The Sun: ‘Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease. ‘It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.’
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yes, but there has long been concern among modern public health authorities about the ability to cope with large scale outbreaks of the disease. In particular, there are fears of inadequate supplies and availability of the effective antibiotics in such an event. No one is stocking these antibiotics in the huge quantities that will be necessary in such an event, because we in the modern world have yet to see it. But it is theoretically possible, both in scenarios of biological attacks and quick natural spread of the pneumonic form of the disease in densely populated urban areas.
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Thanks BIGLOOK."This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror," a security source told The Sun: "Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease. "It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."...but of course, it's not a deadly weapon, because it sounds like a natural outbreak. Really breaks my heart though. /sarc |
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True, al-Quaida is medieval or even pre-medieval in its outlook. But to consider plague "a medieval disease" is an oversimplification. Although it did the bulk of its devastation in the 1300s, as the article states, it was never completely eradicated, even in the US. Occasional cases have always occurred, even in modern developed countries.
Please see my post # 141.
“Test Subjects?”
That’s the first thing I thought of. Don’t know if you could pull this off without rats (we’ve got plenty in this country) and fleas.
Rats is Rats.
I hope they’re not blaming the poor rats for the fleas. More than likely, the rats caught the fleas from the terrorists.
You are correct to some extent. However, you are assuming that the virus has not been modified.
The much more likely explanation is that some al-Quada operative picked up the disease fron a flea bite in Afghanistan, and it eventually went to his lungs. That "martyr" traveled to meet his buddies in North Africa, where he spread the disease around by coughing in close quarters with those comrades. So many in the North African cell got the plague that way. In other words, far more likely that "human" (note the quotation marks) travel spread it between continents than flea travel.
No, it was a bio-weapon.
Infected fleas were dispensed by infiltrating brave Special Ops volunteers, who knew their odds against survivng were virtually nil, but went in anyway.
Envision an AlQaida trainee taking along a rat on an airplane ~ obviously doesn't work ~ too much surveillance, so envision the same trainee taking along a bunch of rats in rat cages on a ship ~ maybe an oil tanker.
More likely it was a liquid natural gas tanker using Western Backwaters LNG facility. That'd get you from Karachi to Algeria.
More than likely you'd need a compliant captain to let you take a long and care for the little critters.
And I would ping you on top of your noggin! ;-')
Ground squirrels, jackrabbits, prairiedogs: God placed them here for a reason.
Target practice!
Methinks Someoneth dideth.
Thank you God.
Yeah; I doubt my very available OTC Terramycin (oxytetracycline) calf scours tablets would help much; the stuff that works is much less needed, so considerably more limited in production.
From Mayo Clinic's page on Plague:
Medications
As soon as your doctor suspects that you have plague, you'll need to be admitted to an isolation room in a hospital. There, you'll receive powerful antibiotics directly into your veins (intravenously) or your muscles (intramuscularly) for seven to 10 days. Streptomycin and gentamicin are the most effective drugs against plague. Other alternatives include intravenous doxycycline (Vibramycin) and chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin).
Yes I am. :’) The Plague is more or less always around in hot wet spots, such as riverine country in India, Bangladesh, and the Nile delta, some other spots. Probably gives some idea where the recruits (at least some of them) came from.
Nice squir-al-qaeda photo, AGR. :’)
The first seven plagues are in this week's reading, the final three in next week's.
As Rabbi Lapin has so often noted, contemporary events seem to echo the weekly Torah reading.
It’s the insecticides that stop them.
Heh, me too. This is one of those times when being a good Christian is very trying for me. I don’t want to feel compassion for the bastids....they can twist in the wind.
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