What would they have us do?

An "independent" panel has criticized the Bush Administration for what the panel sees as a lack of effort on the part of the United States to make the country safer from a biological/chemica/nuclear attack: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080909/WMD.Report/. In particular, the panel cites to the growing rift between the U.S. and Russia. Well, what exactly SHOULD we do? Would the panel members have us ignore the Russian invasion of Georgia? Should we just look past Russian efforts to aid the Iranians as they attempt to develop nuclear weapons? I understand that international politics sometimes calls for us to deal with those who are not our friends, but that doesn't mean that we have to kowtow to them, either.

Or, does it?

Hardly a reassuring thought

I blogged a few days ago about how I didn't necessarily believe the FBI when it asserted that a single scientist, Dr. Bruce Ivins (who committed suicide), successfully developed and the engaged in the anthrax attacks in 2001. A military official writing in today's Wall Street Journal ominously asks, "What if the FBI was right?": http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121850430521931913.html?mod=djemEditorialPage. It does make for a very scary scenario, because it means that a terrorist outfit would not need a team of scientists to develop and launch a chemical/biological weapon. Now, one single fruitcake with an agenda would apparently be sufficient.

Sleep well tonight, my friends..........

Mystery not solved

Even though Dr. Bruce Ivins, the lead suspect in the still-unsolved Anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001, has committed suicide, there is a compelling argument made by Richard Spertzel, a chemical/biological warfare specialist, that the FBI had the wrong man: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789293570011775.html?mod=djemEditorialPage. I've always wondered about these attacks, and never understood why the public forgot about them so quickly. What was done once can be done again. If Spretzel is right, it took a lot more than one rogue scientist to pull this off, no matter how brilliant he may have been. The question is, who was that? It would behoove our government to find out, before thousands (or more) are killed in a much larger-scale attack.

The forgotten terrorist attacks

Everyone--including me--talks about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but it seems as though no one recalls the anthrax attacks that followed in October of that year: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121478249006714421.html?mod=djemEditorialPage. Five people died, 22 more were made ill and the government had to spend millions of dollars cleaning up the contaminated offices. No one was ever arrested or no suspect was ever named.

Doesn't it strike anyone else as odd that this story completely vanished? It's as though this never happened. The one "person of interest", a former government scientist by the name of Stephen Hatfill, successfully sued the government for slandering him, so the trail on this case is ice cold.

Why isn't anyone else concerned not only that this happened but that we have no clue who did it?

Move along, nothing to see here............

Let's see, a man in a Las Vegas hotel room is now in a coma because the deadly poison Ricin was found in his room, and the article makes NO mention of his name, ethnicity, etc.? Are you kidding me? The article can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_re_us/motel_hazardous_material.

I could very easily be proven wrong (and want very much for that to be the case), but why do I have a feeling that the powerful forces of political correctness are at work here?

The Summer of Love, this ain't

You want to know what's coming this summer, or if not this summer then soon after? Here is what's in the cards in the Middle East: http://www.upi.com/International_Intelligence/Analysis/2007/07/09/commentary_israel_and_hezbollah_round_2/7836/. Israel is in an existential war. Right now that war is in a cold phase, but that cannot last forever.

So, the questions I have are:

1) Will Israel finish the job this time?
2) Will the world stop Israel from doing what it must?
3) Will Iran officially get involved, especially if their Hezbollah and Syrian proxies appear headed for defeat?
4) Will the U.S. intervene if Israel appears to be headed for defeat?
5) Will Israel use nuclear weapons if it appears that it is being defeated?
6) Will the Olmert government survive the war?
6) Will the Saudis and Egyptians get involved?
7) Will Hamas open a second (third?) front from Gaza?
8) Will the "Boycott Israel" movement gain or lose energy once the fighting begins?
9) What will Russia and China do?
10) Will al Qaeda or its affiliates take advantage of the situation to launch terrorist attacks in the West, and what form would those attacks take?
11) Will Pakistan get involved in any Middle East conflict?

I don't have the answers to these questions. If any of my readers do, I would welcome them...............

Chemical/Biological Warfare

Remember those still-unsolved anthrax poisonings after the 9/11 attacks? Here is an excellent article on the threat they represent.

http://www.tnr.com/PDF/spine_anthraxletters.pdf