The Pentagon has a pandora's box. The public outcry, long ago in the Sixties, closed it. The key was supposedly thrown away, never to be seen again. But now the hubris of our military leaders has found it, and lord help us all.
The Pentagon wants to resume open-air testing of bio-weapons.
You read that right, bio-weapons.
In the open air.
Before you freak out, the source is questionable, but the Pentagon report is not.
Pentagon Appears Poised to Resume Open-air Testing of Bio-weapons
By Sherwood Ross
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/...
The Pentagon has denied President Bush issued a directive for it to resume open-air testing of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents that were halted by President Richard Nixon in 1969. Yet, the Pentagon’s stated preparations make it appear it is poised to do just that.
Spokesperson Chris Isleib did not respond to a request for comment on a passage from the Defense Department’s annual report sent to Congress last April that suggests the Pentagon is gearing up to resume the tests.
Continued from above:
The Pentagon’s annual report apparently calls for both the developmental and operational "field testing of (CBW) full systems," not just simulations.
The Pentagon’s report to Congress contains the following passage: "More than thirty years have passed since outdoor live-agent chemical tests were banned in the United States, and the last outdoor test with live chemical agent was performed, so much of the infrastructure for the field testing of chemical detectors no longer exists or is seriously outdated. The currently budgeted improvements in the T&E infrastructure will greatly enhance both the developmental and operational field testing of full systems, with better simulated representation of threats and characterization of system response." "T&E" is an acronym for testing and evaluation.
Now, a couple of issues:
- You do not build a new infrastructure unless you plan to use it.
- The 1972 treaty against germ warfare forbids developing weapons that spread disease.
- In February, 2003, the U.S. granted itself a patent on an illegal, long-range biological-weapons grenade, evidently for offensive purposes.
- The major source for the article is Prof. Francis Boyle, a University of Illinois Professor of International Law who authored the implementing legislation for the U.S. Biological Weapons Convention signed into law by President George Bush Sr. He is also the famous "9-11 Truth" professor. I'll leave you to decide his current credibility.
Moving on before discussion:
The Associated Press has reported the U.S. Army is replacing its Military Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick "with a new laboratory that would be a component of a biodefense campus operated by several agencies." The Army told AP the laboratory is intended to continue research solely for defense against biological threats.
Undercutting the argument U.S. research is for "defensive" purposes is the fact government scientists have been creating new strains of pathogens for which there is no known cure. Richard Novick, a professor of microbiology at New York University, has stated, "I cannot envision any imaginable justification for changing the antigenicity of anthrax as a defensive measure." Changing a pathogen’s antigenicity means altering its basic structure so that existing vaccines will prove ineffective against it.
The release of a new strain pathogen into the open air is a horrific idea, especially one with no known cure. This should go without saying.
Other issues:
- Rutgers University molecular biologist Richard Ebright found that the Number of National Institute of Health grants to research infectious diseases with biowarfare potential shot up from 33 in the 1995-2000 period to 497 by 2006.
- Ebright has stated the government’s tenfold expansion of Biosafety Level-4 laboratories, such as those at Fort Detrick, raises the risk of accidents and the diversion of dangerous organisms. "If a worker in one of these facilities removes a single viral particle or a single cell, which cannot be detected or prevented, that single particle or cell can form the basis of an outbreak."
- Boyle has previously charged the Pentagon with "gearing up to fight and ‘win’ biological warfare" pursuant to two Bush national strategy directives adopted in 2002 "without public knowledge and review."
At the end of the day, we are not responsible enough to do open air testing. We sure are not responsible enough to release biological weapons into the open air for which we have no cure. I do not care what the computer models say about the range of effect, because chaos will determine that at least one cell or viral particle might/will go cowboy. A single cell or viral particle can start an outbreak from which there might be no point of return.
We, remember this is our Pentagon, are not responsible enough because:
- We had a Bent Arrow nuclear warhead incident already this year.
- We cannot keep our national infrastructure from collapsing as demonstrated in Minnesota.
- We do not have the logistics ready if something goes horribly wrong, as shown by the Hurricane Katrina response.
- We have no idea what we are doing when we play God.
While I am a little leary of the sources, this issue of open air biological warfare testing needs to be addressed immediately and fully by Congress over-sight. If this is just hype, this story will be killed by the end of the day by logic and reason.
But if the Pentagon is going forward with open air testing, our Congressional representatives must stop them in their tracks.
We cannot fight Frankensteins who do not fear our torches, and Frankensteins we cannot even see.
If you see your congress member below, please contact them concerning this issue:
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committe
Carl Levin (Michigan)
Chairman
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark L. Pryor (Arkansas)
Jim Webb (Virginia)
Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
REPUBLICANS
John McCain (Arizona)
Ranking Member
John W. Warner (Virginia)
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Susan M. Collins (Maine)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina)
Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina)
John Cornyn (Texas)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Mel Martinez (Florida)
Bob Corker (Tennessee)
U.S. House of Representatives, House Armed Services Committee
Ike Skelton, Missouri, Chairman
Duncan Hunter, California, Ranking Member
John Spratt, South Carolina
Jim Saxton, New Jersey
Solomon P. Ortiz, Texas
John M. McHugh, New York
Gene Taylor, Mississippi
Terry Everett, Alabama
Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii
Roscoe G. Bartlett, Maryland
Silvestre Reyes, Texas
Buck McKeon, California
Vic Snyder, Arkansas
Mac Thornberry, Texas
Adam Smith, Washington
Walter B. Jones, North Carolina
Loretta Sanchez, California
Robin Hayes, North Carolina
Mike McIntyre, North Carolina
W. Todd Akin, Missouri
Ellen O. Tauscher, California
J. Randy Forbes, Virginia
Robert A. Brady, Pennsylvania
Jeff Miller, Florida
Robert Andrews, New Jersey
Joe Wilson, South Carolina
Susan A. Davis, California
Frank A. LoBiondo, New Jersey
Rick Larsen, Washington
Tom Cole, Oklahoma
Jim Cooper, Tennessee
Rob Bishop, Utah
Jim Marshall, Georgia
Michael Turner, Ohio
Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Guam
John Kline, Minnesota
Mark Udall, Colorado
Candice S. Miller, Michigan
Dan Boren, Oklahoma
Phil Gingrey, Georgia
Brad Ellsworth, Indiana
Mike Rogers, Alabama
Nancy Boyda, Kansas
Trent Franks, Arizona
Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania
Bill Shuster, Pennsylvania
Hank Johnson, Georgia
Thelma Drake, Virginia
Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington
Joe Courtney, Connecticut
Michael Conaway, Texas
David Loebsack, Iowa
Geoff Davis, Kentucky
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York
Doug Lamborn, Colorado
Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania
Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona
Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts
Elijah Cummings, Maryland
Kendrick Meek, Florida
Kathy Castor, Florida
Thank you for your time.