Let's Gas The Peaceniks!
Did the U.S. government utilize biological weapons materials against war protesters in Washington, D.C. last weekend? Well then, how do you explain this:
WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Small amounts of a bacteria that causes "rabbit fever" were found on Washington's National Mall last weekend as thousands of protesters marched against the Iraq War, U.S. health authorities said on Saturday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said several government environmental air monitors in the Mall area detected low levels of Francisella tularensis bacteria that cause Tularemia, commonly known as rabbit fever, on Sept. 24-25.
I wonder why the CDC waited until Friday to release this information--a full five days after the protest. Oh, by the way, the disease is airborne.
The CDC also said the bacteria can be used as a weapon if made into an aerosol that could be inhaled. "The bacteria that cause Tularemia occur widely in nature and could be isolated and grown in quantity in a laboratory, although manufacturing an effective aerosol weapon would require considerable sophistication," the CDC said.
The Washington Post said the germ that causes tularemia is considered a biohazard because it is highly infectious and was tested in the 1960s by the United States as a biological weapon.
Don't tell me that it was a random fluke of nature that Tularemia just happened to be floating through the air that Saturday afternoon. About 200,000 critics of the current regime descending on the nation's capital to protest the regime provided a perfect opportunity to test out the latest in biological weaponry. Sounds to me like the Anthrax attacks all over again, except this time the government screwed up and no one died.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the government released the toxins, but it sounds too fishy for my skeptical ears.
Do we blame that Wascaly Wabbit Wumsfeld?
Posted by: Blogenfreude | October 03, 2005 at 06:23 AM
Took a couple of days to sink in, eh Agi?
Posted by: Red State Blues | October 03, 2005 at 11:46 AM
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the government released the toxins" We'll say it and further, it's just the beginning. M
Posted by: mandt | October 03, 2005 at 04:19 PM
I'm glad I'm up here in lower Manhattan, where it's SAFE.
Posted by: Blogenfreude | October 03, 2005 at 04:26 PM
I've seen pictures of some of those protesters and there's no telling what diseases they were carrying when they showed up.
Posted by: Tank | October 04, 2005 at 01:46 AM
Tank, it is not a disease, it is an airborne bacteria. It is not passed from person to person, but if inhaled and not treated can be fatal. The CDC can only surmise that it was dry that day and all the folks may have kicked it up in the dust where it lay. Right. If this were true it would happen all over the place at outdoor concerts.
Posted by: karena | October 04, 2005 at 06:55 AM
That's pretty goddamn frightening.
Posted by: HelenWheels | October 04, 2005 at 05:22 PM