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Another BUSH First

Mon May 19 17:47:00 2003
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Another BUSH First

Another first for the Bush regime?
Combining biological and economic warfare

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

May 3, 2003—Evidence is mounting that the Bush administration may be engaging
in a new form of warfare: bio-economic attacks against countries that either
opposed the U.S. war on Iraq or were showing signs of surpassing the United
States in economic vitality and growth. Revelations that the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) does not occur naturally and that anthrax may
have been introduced onto an Egyptian merchant vessel bound for Canada from
Brazil has raised eyebrows among biological warfare experts.

The use of bio-economic warfare as a weapon of mass destruction was first
suggested by Dr. Edgar J. DaSilva, the Director for the Division of L! ife
Sciences of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). Da Silva stated in a 1999 article in the Electronic Journal of
Biotechnology that bio-economic warfare—"the undermining and destruction of
economic progress and stability"—can be traced to "the development and use of
biological agents against economic targets such as crops, livestock and
ecosystems." DaSilva also noted that such warfare can often be perceived by
the public as naturally-occurring because "such warfare can always be carried
out under the pretexts that such traumatic occurrences are the result of
natural circumstances that lead to outbreaks of diseases and disasters of
either endemic or epidemic proportions."

The United States, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency—through its
joint efforts with the U.S. Army's biological warfare laboratory at Fort
Detrick, Maryland—has pioneered in the field of bio-econom! ic warfare. In the
1970s, the CIA directed a bio-economic warfare campaign against Cuba. In his
book, Biological Warfare in the 21st Century, author Malcolm Dando describes
the Cuba campaign as involving the use of blue mold against the nation's
tobacco crop, cane smut against the sugar crop, African swine fever against
the livestock population, and a hemorrhagic strain of dengue fever against
the human population. These attacks were designed to destabilize Cuba's
agricultural based economy. The Cuba operations were conducted after
President Richard Nixon, in a 1969 Executive Order, banned the use of
biological warfare agents. Nixon's order and his 1972 signing of the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention with Britain and the Soviet Union
outlawing bio-weapons were systematically ignored by the CIA and Pentagon.

Almost at the same time that Western financial institutions were forecasting
a! record growth in China's gross domestic product—estimates ranged from 7.5
to 7.6 percent—the country's southern Guangdong Province experienced its
first outbreak of SARS. After the disease began spreading and Chinese
officials scurried to deal with the virus, the economic cost to mainland
China was devastating—$2.2 billion according to the Far Eastern Economic
Review. In addition, SARS cost Hong Kong $1.7 billion. For the Bush
administration, which was experiencing America's worst economic downturn in
10 years and was spending billions on the war against Iraq, the idea of a
booming Chinese economy did not sit well. In addition, China was in the
final stages of planning its first manned space launch at a time when the
United States lost its second space shuttle due to incompetence. The
contrasts between a economically vitalized China and a United States caught
in the malaise of recession, war, and ! technological failure could not have
been more stark. Then we heard about the first outbreak of SARS.

[snip]


There is definitely a right-wing element involving scientists, military,
intelligence, and government contractor personnel in the study, production,
and distribution of biological weapons, including anthrax, gas gangrene,
Dengue fever, and other pathogens. As the right-wing in the United States
calls for retaliation against countries that failed to support America's war
on Iraq, it may be more than coincidental that SARS has broken out in China
and the virus has been transmitted to Canada via the busy travel routes
existing between China, Hong Kong, and major Canadian cities like Toronto and
Vancouver due to Canada's large Asian population. Not only has China's
economy drastically suffered but Toronto, Canada's most populous city, is
facing an economic disaster. After the SARS outbreak in ! Canada, it is
discovered that an Egyptian vessel carrying bauxite from Brazil to an Alcan
aluminum plant in Saguenay, Quebec, suffered the death of its first mate from
anthrax just prior to departing Brazil for Canada. The Brazilian police have
reported that the man contracted anthrax when he opened up a suitcase
containing the bacteria. Fortunately, Canadian authorities were alerted
before the ship docked in Quebec, whose majority French-speaking population
has been just as outspoken against America's war policies as their kinfolk in
France.

Considering Dr. DaSilva's warnings about bio-economic warfare, the world
should be on guard against a deliberate policy by the right-wing elements
that populate the Bush administration to use bio-weapons to punish countries
for failure to cooperate with the United States. Considering that the CIA
and Pentagon considered buying genetically-fused bacteria and viruses! from
South African freelance bio-war scientists and Russian scientists now claim
that SARS is a similarly genetically-fused mumps and measles pathogen, an
immediate investigation of Fort Detrick's stockpiles and their points of
origin should be initiated by the Congress, which has shown an amazing lack
of oversight for all the questionable activities of the Bush administration,
including 9–11, Enron, and even the anthrax mailings that targeted two of the
Senate's top leaders.

Although the Bush administration contends that the anthrax mailings, like the
hijacking of commercial planes and turning them into virtual cruise missiles,
were unprecedented and a surprise, history refutes such claims. In 1988, the
Foundation on Economic Trends warned that Fort Detrick and the Centers for
Disease Control in Atlanta were shipping some of the "deadliest diseases
known to man" through the U.S. postal system. One such ship! ment in 1987 from
the CDC to Fort Detrick contained the Crimea-Congo virus, a deadly pathogen
carried by ticks. The shipment was "lost" somewhere in the main Philadelphia
post office.

In 1988, Postmaster General Anthony Frank banned U.S. government bio-toxin
shipments through the mail after the U.S. Army said it would increase its
postal shipments to its new bio-war laboratory at Utah's Dugway Proving
Grounds, a facility that has the only aerosolized anthrax laboratory in the
United States. The Army also wanted to ship anthrax, botulism, Q fever,
and dengue fever through the mail, a frightening idea considering the reports
that Fort Detrick was missing several pathogenic strains after the
commencement of the anthrax mailings.

Unless Congress begins asking the tough questions, we will never know what
went missing from Fort Detrick. Could the missing "bugs" have been West Nile
virus, AI! DS, bubonic plague (there have been several recent "mysterious"
outbreaks of this disease in India, Kazakhstan, Libya, Congo, and Brazil), or
even SARS? Why can't the American people expect a full investigation of and
accounting for America's supposedly "bann ed" bio-weapons program?

The U.S. Congress, which is now in the hands of some of the most right-wing and venal ideologues in its history, will probably not want to delve into America's secret labyrinth of bio-weapons progenitors and dispensers, especially since it involves a number of their ideological soul mates. The vitriol spewing from the mouths of the congressional leadership is strictly reserved for gays, African Americans, the French, Hollywood liberals, the
drug addicted, and abortion rights advocates. As far as the right-wing
leadership is concerned, there is no questioning the military, Justice
Department, or the intelligence agencies. Those who dared are no longer in a position to do so. Senators Graham and Shelby are off of the Senate
Intelligence Committee. They have been replaced by dupes and yes-men for Langley and Detrick.

China and Canada are no! w suffering from the SARS virus. Quebec almost
received a possible deadly blow from ship-born anthrax spores. The Bush
administration is now deciding how best to punish France, Germany, Russia,
and other countries for their lack of support. Nothing, including the use of
bio-economic warfare, should be put past the Bush administration. In the
absence of an independent U.S. Congress, the world should demand that UN
inspectors be given access to all U.S. bio-weapons laboratories. There is
still no evidence that Saddam Hussein used bio-weapons but there is a lot of actual and circumstantial evidence that the United States has and continues to do so with possibly disastrous consequences for the entire world.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative reporter. He was also
the Operations Officer at N! aval Facility Coos Head, Oregon from 1980 to 1982
and assisted the FBI and NIS in the investigation as a temporary special
agent.

Read the complete article at:

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/050303Madsen/050303madsen.html

Impeach BUSH
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A Message from Ramsey Clark

Dear VoteToImpeach Member,

Your vote to impeach is important. It reminds Americans that the Constitution provides the means for removing an Imperial President and officials who commit high crimes. It informs the rest of the world that Americans recognize that the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq violated the Nuremberg Charter which ranks war of aggression first among Crimes Against Peace.

Impeachment is more important now than ever. The most serious crimes against peace and humanity and crimes of war have been committed in plain view on TV, worldwide. Iraq lies bleeding and angry with uncounted, unmentioned tens of thousands dead, slaughtered, cities in rubble, hospitals overflowing with critically injured men, women and children, but few emergency medical supplies.

President Bush, the Vice President, Secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld, Attorney General Ashcroft are celebrating as their friends in American corporations plan to reap vast profits and control oil resources, the prize for international crimes. They must be held accountable.

Nearly two hundred thousand people have already voted to impeach online. Many tens of thousands of paper ballots are being counted. Votes are pouring in. Full page ads in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and smaller papers have informed millions of the campaign.

We need your help now to press on. We need a million votes and more.

Impeachment is the nonviolent means the American people have to take back the Constitution in time to restore honor to our government and find peace with the rest of the world. Get out to vote. Contribute to the campaign.

Sincerely,

Ramsey Clark
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National Press Club Invites Ramsey Clark to be Featured Speaker at Upcoming May 12 Luncheon in Washington, D.C.

As the country prepares to enter the next election cycle, Ramsey Clark will make a national address on how "U.S. Militarism Threatens the Destiny of Humanity," at the National Press Club on May 12. Mr. Clark will also charge George W. Bush and his administration with committing high crimes and misdemeanors warranting impeachment. For those in the D.C. metropolitan area who would like to attend in person, advance reservations can be made by telephoning the Press Club at (202) 662-7501. For additional information on the luncheon event go to:
http://npc.press.org/calendar/calendarday.cfm?whatday=12&&whatyear=2003&&whatmonth=5

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