Our good cyber-buddy Marc has done it
again. He found this report while searching the web. I'm putting it up because
in the past few days I have had conversations with other believers who have been feeling
that all of this going on with the food supply in Europe might very well have to do with
chemical warfare.
A Distinct Whiff of Terror The outbreak of foot and mouth disease was sudden and it was massive. Less than three weeks after the public became aware of it, it has already spread to France and from there, it threatens the entire Continent.
Confirmed cases of the disease have even turned up in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Germany confirmed it had also found the disease at a pig farm in Thuringia, although it later retracted the confirmation, saying further testing eliminated hoof and mouth, but the Germans never did say what they eventually did find. Germany is considering deploying armed troops along the inside of its borders for the first time since Adolf Hitler was Chancellor as part of its effort to keep the disease from infecting their herds. Both the French and the Germans are deploying special troops trained in chemical and biological warfare. The Funk and Waginall's Encyclopaedia says it all. Under the entry heading 'Biological Warfare', it says 'several major nations have worked to some degree on the development of biological agents for use in warfare. Selected or adapted from pathogens causing various diseases that attack humans, domestic animals, or vital food crops, such agents include bacteria, fungi, and viruses or the toxins they produce. The pathogens causing anthrax, botulism, plague, hoof-and-mouth disease, and stem rust in wheat are among the many that could be directed against opposing armies or the civilian economies supporting them. Genetic engineering also offers the possibility of developing new virulent strains against which an opposing force could not be prepared in advance.' [emphasis mine] It is an open secret that there are a number of nations who maintain stockpiles of biological agents, often called 'the poor man's nuclear bomb.' Chief among the nations who might consider using such weapons without warning is Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It is also suspected that Osama bin-Laden has obtained chemical and biological agents for use as terror weapons.
The outbreak in Great Britain is not isolated. As the map indicates, the infected areas are in pockets located all across the island, at least suggesting the possibility that each infection had an independent origin. In an effort to wipe out the disease entirely, the British government announced that it will slaughter some one million head of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs who may have been exposed to the disease. Over the next four weeks, all livestock located within a three kilometer (1.8 mile) radius of any infected area. The mass slaughter will be concentrated in the areas of highest infection. While all sheep, goats and pigs will be automatically slaughtered, cattle will be spared unless a veterinary exam turns up evidence of infection within a herd. The British government has already banned all movement and transportation of livestock within the country, making the random locations of spontaneous outbreaks just that much more curious. It is worthy of note that the nations [except for those in South America where the disease is endemic] who have confirmed outbreaks of hoof and mouth disease [or 'foot and mouth' in Britain -- same disease] are nations that are friendly to the United States. Great Britain has stood with the US, and flown beside US warplanes patrolling the 'no fly' area of Iraq since the Gulf War. The UK has participated, along with the US, in attacks against Iraqi radar installations, suspected missile sites and weapons depots throughout the past decade. The United Arab Emirates is one of the few Arab states in the Gulf that has always been friendly to the US. The UAE was among the Arab countries that allowed the United States to base warplanes on their soil. And Saudi Arabia was one of Saddam's targets during the Gulf War. It was learned by US intelligence that Saddam had intended to invade Saudi Arabia and seize the kingdom's oil fields once he had consolidated his holdings in Kuwait. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe. But what a coincidence that would be! It would be a simple matter for an agent of either Saddam's regime or one of Osama bin-Laden's 'sleepers' to launch a biological attack like this without the risk of detection. The only tools necessary would be a vial containing the disease and a Q-tip. In England, one could stroll down a country lane alongside a farm with nothing separating him from the livestock except a wood rail fence. It would only require one curious cow to poke its head over the fence, a quick swab with the Q-tip in the animal's nostrils, and within days, the entire area would be infected. There are at least sixteen such areas in England, none bordering each other, where hoof and mouth disease has broken out on the island.
It should be noted that hoof and mouth disease is also called anthrax since they are related pathogens. In the United States, it has always been referred to as livestock anthrax. I find it interesting that the mainstream media and government spokespersons the world over are specifically avoiding the use of the word. Certain strains of anthrax are fatal to humans, other strains are fatal to livestock. But anthrax and hoof and mouth disease are as related as would be two different strains of the flu. One kind of flu makes you sick, whereas another strain, like the famous 1918 Flu epidemic killed millions world-wide. So far, the United States hasn't found any instances of infection among our own herds. In fact, the US hasn't had a confirmed case of hoof and mouth disease since the California anthrax outbreak of 1929. Hoof and mouth disease can occur naturally, but when it does, it is usually isolated. In the 1929 outbreak in California, it was quickly controlled. That's because the outbreak was localized. It isn't like hoof and mouth anthrax is rare. It just is rare in Europe. Across South America, it's common. An outbreak of hoof and mouth disease has also been identified in Argentina, but it is different in scope and variety than the outbreaks in England and the Middle East. But Argentina is a natural breeding ground for hoof and mouth disease, unlike Great Britain and the Middle East. The disease there is largely controlled by vaccine, but its ever present. Last year was the first year in the last forty where the global community gave Argentine beef a clean bill of health. Ecuador has been battling the disease for thirty years and is still considered an infected area. And South America is hardly a strategic target. The US is taking extraordinary measures to prevent the natural spreading of the disease into this country. Customs agents are routinely confiscating and disinfecting the shoes of any travellers who are entering the country from Europe. Hides, wool and other products are being turned away at the border unless it can be proved they are of US origin. Preventative measures like that should probably work -- provided the European outbreak occurred naturally. But if it is the result of a deliberate act of terror, it is hard to imagine how it can be prevented on our shores, anymore than it could have been prevented in England. The same terrorist, carrying the same anthrax laced Q-tip could just as easily stroll down a country lane in, say, Connecticut, pat a friendly American cow on the head when it peeks over the fence, and with the other hand, quickly swab that cow's nostrils, and the next epidemic would be off and running. Why attack livestock instead of people? Terror is the name of the game. What is more terrifying than an attack against the food chain? It is hard to imagine an easier way to spread terror across the length and breadth of the world's most powerful country than to simply infect it's national herd with a deadly disease. Despite what we might think, it's got to be hard to recruit people to serve as suicide bombers. It seems likely that it would be equally hard to recruit people willing to expose themselves to a chemical or biological agent just so they can get at America. Especially if there is an alternative way that poses no risk to anybody except some cows and the people who might eat them.
One lesson the United States taught Saddam is a lesson we may ourselves soon learn the hard way. Economic warfare is much more effective against a determined, well-armed enemy. A hungry enemy is a demoralized enemy. And what better way to demoralize a nation of beef-eaters than to take away their beef? Even if America's cattle aren't hit directly, a Europe devoid of beef will provide a rich market for exporters. Prices for clean beef on the Continent will go as high as the market will stand. If a US exporter can get, say, forty dollars a pound for beef in the UK, it is unlikely that same exporter will continue to offer beef to Americans for two dollars a pound out of patriotism. What will it mean to our economy when a Big Mac costs $50.00? If you work at McDonalds' or drive the truck that supplies McDonalds, or grow the wheat that is used in the flour that goes in the hamburger bun, or sell the gas for the trucks that carry the buns and meat, or work at a beef processing plant, or .. . . I think you get the idea. Now toss in Burger King, Steak and Ale, Sirloin Stockade, and your own favorite restaurant, and then do the math. The point is, we don't know if the epidemic is the result of a terror attack, or if Saddam has finally figured out how to make good on his threats to get even with the West, or if it is nothing more insidious than any other natural epidemic. If it's just a coincidence, I'm unconvinced. No doubt I'll be castigated by those who will call me an alarmist. So be it. I'm alarmed. If the object of a terror attack is to terrify, it's working on me. Even if nobody did anything except bluster threats and wait for something to happen. And that's why they call it terrorism. |
