Posted on 08/15/2002 11:38:32 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Those who believe that human wisdom can bring about human salvation would do well to ponder one aspect of the relationship between human beings and the bacteria and viruses that, since before recorded history, have killed and tormented us.
That aspect is called germ warfare.
Of course, the practice is nothing new. The Romans used to catapult the bodies of disease victims into cities under siege. But only in the 20th century – and the 21st – did it become possible to design the microorganisms that, unchecked, could wreak unprecedented destruction.
We recently attended the annual meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Colorado Springs. There, Dr. Lowell Wood of the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory convinced us that the biowar threat is more significant than we described only last month.
Dr. Wood, a physicist and long time associate of Edward Teller, confirmed earlier information about Soviet efforts to weaponize smallpox – efforts that may well lead to future catastrophes.
The tale is chilling. As Ken Abilek, a defector from the Soviet Union testified to the U.S. Congress: "I developed biological weapons for the Soviet Union for nearly 20 years, until my defection in 1992." When he left the Russian biological warfare program, he had been serving as first deputy director of Biopreparat, the civilian arm of the biological weapons program. "This comprised over half of the entire program's personnel and facilities. At that time, I was responsible for approximately 32,000 employees and 40 facilities."
These facilities included Soviet factories designed to breed and produce smallpox virus, plus anthrax germs and other disease-causing biological agents. The program stockpiled "dozens of tons of smallpox and plague" according to Abilek.
Abilek also testified "After the Soviet Union became a party to the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, internal debate ensued about the fate of the existing biological weapons program. The end result was that the program was not dismantled, but further intensified." So much for treaties.
In addition, by splicing genes into a pox virus, scientists have produced a genetically-altered virus strain that masquerades as a completely different germ to make it more destructive than ever before. This fools the body's immune system into ignoring the pox virus itself; while your immune system is diverted and fights a nonexistent threat, the virus attacks your body elsewhere.
There's no way to exclude the possibility that some of these "new and improved" agents could be in the hands of terrorist organizations right now.
What to do? Sen. (and Doctor) Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in his Aug. 10 New York Times commentary agrees with our position on smallpox vaccine for the general public when he writes: "We should allow every American to make an informed choice as to whether to be vaccinated." We need to go much further in defending ourselves. For example, we must develop and place real-time systems to detect an attack while it's underway, before people start getting sick. Detection devices must be positioned at likely sites, especially where large numbers of people congregate: airports, sports stadiums, etc.
As with other defenses, germ-warfare defenses must be tested under realistic scenarios. They must also be open to independent review and must be upgraded as technology advances. The existing small stocks of available treatments for smallpox and complications of vaccination, such as vaccinia immune globulin, must be expanded. Further, we must complete human testing and start stockpiling new pan-orthopoxviridae antiviral medicines which fight all known pox viruses.
Obviously, we need intensive research into better ways of preventing and treating infections – not only with smallpox, but with dozens of other germs which could be used in attacks.
For example, the smallpox genome has been figured out. This will aid in creation of new vaccines. These new vaccines should be more effective and have fewer complications than existing vaccines.
In short, our research work needs to catch up with existing and possible threats as quickly as possible.
Why? To provide for the common defense, of course.
But more is involved. Given the rapidity with which such plagues can spread in the modern world, our self-defense also defends others around the world by stopping germ warfare attacks here, before they spread elsewhere.
No, human wisdom can't bring about human salvation. But let's be smart enough to deal with this and other man-made plagues ahead of time. And let's do it for all of us.
It has been suggested that gulf war syndrome is a microplasm infection with HIV genes spliced into its genetic structure. See www.all-natural.com/riley.html
Gulf War Syndrome Biological Warfare Conducted on U.S. Military Members, and Corporate Bio-Genocide Levied on the Planetary Population A Lecture By Captain Joyce Riley in Houston, Texas on January 15, 1996 Transcript by Leading Edge Research Group, P.O. Box 7530, Yelm, Washington 98597 With Editorial Commentary by Val Valerian World Wide Web Site: http://www.trufax.org Introduction (Applause) Thank you so very much. I am Joyce Riley, and I am here because I love my God and I love my country, and I love my fellow man. We are going to hear a story tonight that unfortunately is the saddest story, not only of the 20th century, but of America's history. You are going to hear about the destruction of the United States military. I am sorry to have to bring you this story. I wish it wasn't true. I wish that I could protect you from what you are going to hear tonight, because it has taken me a year to investigate this story. During that time, I went through the worst depression you can imagine. I finally came to the conclusion one day that - yes, our country had provided the biologicals to Saddam Hussein that were used on our troops. Our troops are sick and they are dying.
I was approached at one point in time by someone who lead me to Drs. Garth and Nancy Nicholson, who are heroes in my mind. They are both Ph.D. scientists at the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center. Their daughter was in the 101st Airborne that did deep insertions into Iraq. Many of the 101st Airborne have called me and many of them are sick. The 82nd Airborne is sick. Men and women at Fort Hood, Texas are sick. Camp Pendleton. Camp LeJeune. Fort Riley is really sick right now. These people are not allowed to talk about this in the military. They are not allowed to tell people about the Gulf War Illness. They are not allowed to admit to it. I have even visited Gulf War vets at Brook Army Medical Hospital, and they are not even allowed to talk about it. I took some Gulf War information over there and the patients had to hide it so the doctors would not see it. So, the Nicholson's daughter came back from Iraq sick. She gave the disease to the family - to Garth and Nancy, who live in Houston, and also to the family cat. The cat died. Before the cat died, they tested all of their blood. They found that they were positive for something called Mycoplasma Incognitas, which is the chief biological agent we find to be responsible for a lot of the illness of the veterans.
Mycoplasma Incognitas I will explain this to you by saying that Mycoplasma Incognitas is between the size of a bacteria and a virus. It travels through a population, and as long as your immune system is all right it will not affect you. But, according to the Nicholson's, who are both Ph.D. cellular biologists, they found that the scientists who were involved in this horrible plot inserted 40% of the HIV envelope gene into the Mycoplasma. What this means is that it doesn't give you HIV, but it gives you the symptoms. So, they found this and realized that they had a germ warfare agent on their hands. It is the first biological agent identified. There have been others.
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