MetaFilter posts tagged with BiologicalWeapons

Weapons of mass obfuscation...

327.ca — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 09:13:23 -0800

Remember when US forces "found the weapons of mass destruction?" That announcement was made by President Bush on May 29, 2003 -- one day after this CIA Intelligence assessment was published. In the weeks following, reports emerged that disputed the CIA's findings. Now, three years later, the Washington Post says that the US Intelligence authorities already had "powerful evidence" that Bush's biological weapons claim was simply untrue.

Soft target attacks

spock — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:26:39 -0800

What's next — Soft Target Attacks : Aerosol mists of biohazards in public places, like shopping malls. Or the National Mall in Washington DC on Sept. 24th of this year (see also: Salon story). Coincidentally (?) the University of New Mexico and Cerus Receive $23 Million to Develop Tularemia Vaccine (the agent detected on Sept. 24th). More terrorism scare released now to distract from the Plame indictments soon to come?

Where did those chemical and biological weapons come from?

peebo — Wed, 26 Mar 2003 15:13:55 -0800

Where did those chemical and biological weapons come from?
”According to the December declaration, treated with much derision from the Bush administration, U.S. and Western companies played a key role in building Hussein's war machine. The 1,200-page document contains a list of Western corporations and countries -- as well as individuals -- that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades.”

I’ve always been surprised that this type of report doesn’t get more attention. During the UN hearings I half expected the Administration to level with the world and simply say: ”We know they have the stuff because we sold it to them.”

Speaking of gassing one's own people

letterneversent — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 17:04:51 -0800

Speaking of gassing one's own people: US Government admits it tested nerve gas (sarin and VX) on its own sailors (Project SHAD). This is in addition to the testing of LSD on civilians (MK Ultra), syphilis on 399 black Alabama men (Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment), radioactivity on American GI's (Operation Crossroads), and the secret testing of germ warfare tactics on American cities. It's really no surprise the US government rejected an international ban on biological weapons, and yet we personalize this imminent war with Iraq and claim the justification as the forced disarming of dangerous 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'? I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.

US Soldiers At Risk from Chem Attacks

owillis — Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:19:41 -0800

If Saddam Hussein were to use chemical/biological weapons in an Iraq conflict, how safe would soldiers in the field be? The Department of the Defense says "no problem", but some of the men on the ground seem to believe otherwise. The gear the soldiers will use to protect themselves and their water supply appears to be old, prone to failure while the training received in the usage of these tools looks inadequate. It could be the return of "Gulf War Syndrome" (PDF).

nicwolff — Fri, 05 Jul 2002 17:26:31 -0800

Buffy the Terrorism Slayer (PDF link) The Center For Strategic & International Studies, which appears to be, like, a bunch of grown-up ex-senators and accused war criminals and former top spooks and such, released this white paper late last September.

Any structured intellectual approach to describing this situation — and planning for it — is so uncertain that a valid structure can only be developed as an exercise in complexity or "chaos" theory. I, however, would like you to think about the biological threat in more mundane terms. I am going to suggest that you think about biological warfare in terms of a TV show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," that you think about the world of biological weapons in terms of the "Buffy Paradigm," and that you think about many of the problems in the proposed solutions as part of the "Buffy Syndrome."

I am one vindicated overgrown Buffy fan. (Via Need To Know.)

snowgoon — Tue, 21 May 2002 08:17:50 -0800

Mystery Illness such a mystery? Help needed! (old news, new information?) OK, I'm going to try and do this without naming names... The British troops in Afghanistan have been struck down by a mystery illness recently, with an investigation finding that the illness was just a "winter vomiting" bug.
I've heard different. The source may have been an Al Qaeda terrorist who had been captured. The 'mystery illness' may have been caught when the British or US government used biological warfare to make it easier to find and capture members of Al Qaeda. Can anyone help verify this? I should stress I only have word of mouth from a friend of a friend. All very speculative, but I've not been able to find anything else on this... yet...

Stuart_R — Mon, 06 May 2002 17:52:24 -0800

Beyond the Axis of Evil - The United States has added Cuba, Libya and Syria to its "axis of evil" - nations it claims are deliberately seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons. The Under Secretary of State also warned that the US would take action.

gimonca — Thu, 14 Mar 2002 09:37:45 -0800

Too many neighbors? Bioweapons can help solve that problem. Recently declassified documents say that one of Australia's leading scientists suggested just that in 1947.

Yelling At Nothing — Sat, 12 Jan 2002 20:40:50 -0800

More ammo for the "U.S. brought it on themselves" crowd, courtesy of the New York Times.

"One report obtained by Dr. Zilinskas from the government is "Development of `N' for Offensive Use in Biological Warfare." `N' was the code letter for Bacillus anthracis, the germ that causes anthrax. Another is "The Stability of Botulinum Toxin in Common Beverages." The germ-derived substance is the most poisonous known to science."

Seems that the United States has been selling instructions for the creation of bio-weapons.

donkeyschlong — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 00:48:03 -0800

Oh, the ~~irony~~ inevitability: "The United States is putting at risk a key United Nations conference on deadly biological weapons which gets under way in Geneva on Monday."

sherman — Sun, 14 Oct 2001 15:28:54 -0800

It's not about anthrax, but this piece (by Hot Zone author Richard Preston) from the New Yorker a couple of years ago discusses smallpox, the reasons why we keep samples around instead of getting rid of it, how effective it would be if used as a biological weapon, how prepared we are, etc. etc. Also contains an interesting bit mentioning other threats of anthrax (and this was '99).

dfowler — Wed, 06 Jun 2001 07:09:02 -0800

The Trial of Unit 731 "is the forgotten war-crimes prosecution of the 20th century." In 1949, Soviet courts tried a unit of the Japanese Imperial Army for wartime biological weapons experimentation on human subjects.

This article contains some gruesome descriptions.