------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ANTHRAX MISSING FROM GOV'T LAB Thank you for sending me this wonderful article on the postal workers' struggle vs. the government's anthrax policy ["A Tale of Two Classes" by G. Dunkel, Dec. 13]. As you know, on Dec. 13 Bush abrogated the ABM Treaty. On that same day, the New York Times published an article, "U.S. Recently Produced Anthrax in a Highly Lethal Powder Form." That article points out that the quantity of "powdered" anthrax "is politically sensitive since some experts say producing large quantities could be seen as violating the global treaty banning germ weapons." The Times pointed out that some European countries have stated that the U.S. is violating the germ warfare treaty even before these recent disclosures, which the Bush administration denied. In addition, the Washington Post, in an article on this same day, announced that there is a "discrepancy" in the quantity of anthrax spores sent from the Utah weapons lab to the Kentucky weapons lab, meaning that some is missing. The additive to the anthrax sent to [Sen. Tom] Daschle, says the Post, was likely made in a U.S. government weapons lab. So, while locking up hundreds of Arab workers and discriminating against postal workers, the government is failing to investigate its own military for these anthrax attacks, because to do so would expose its own bioweapons program to world view. Chris Fry Long Island, N.Y. WORST CASE OF ANTHRAX? You state in your story on a possible use of anthrax by the Rhodesian government ["World's worst outbreak of anthrax: Was it germ warfare?" by Elijah Crane, Nov. 18] that this is the world's worst outbreak, with 182 confirmed dead. This is incorrect. In the 1970s anthrax being illegally manufactured by the Soviet Union escaped and killed several hundred in central Russia. Jerry Bourbon Internet Editor's reply: No, you are incorrect in saying that the 1979 accident in the USSR killed more people. Meryl Nass, a recognized U.S. authority on anthrax, wrote that 182 Africans were killed in the Rhodesian anthrax epidemic and over 10,000 infected. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal of Nov. 7, 2001: "A 1979 accident in a Soviet bioweapons plant at Sverdlovsk sickened at least 96 people and killed at least 66, Soviet authorities said. Former Soviet biological- weapons expert Ken Alibek put the death toll at 105." What is so amazing about all this is that no one in the press here (including the Wall Street Journal) is mentioning the Rhodesian outbreak, which many in Africa believed was related to biowarfare experimentation by the racist Rhodesian authorities, possibly aided by apartheid South Africa. All the victims were Black; all the infected cattle were Black-owned. The epidemic totally spared the white Rhodesians, who at that time ruled what later became Zimbabwe. WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN I read the article on Women's Liberation in Afghanistan by Minnie Bruce Pratt and was very impressed. It was well written and taught me many things I had yet to learn. Anyways, thanks for releasing that article! Tim Herrmann AMERIKAN GULAG I am anarchist prisoner from Russia in Amerikan gulag. Thanx a lot for your paper, even though I disagree with a lot in it, it's important to remain oneself in these hard times without becoming reactionary. In solidarity, fighting for my idea of better world. VolodyA! V. Mozhenkov Federal Correctional Institution Elkton Lisbon, Ohio CIA'S COUNTLESS VICTIMS Every time the puppetmasters at the Corporate Imperial Army (as I call the CIA) leave a puppet or a proxy in charge of a poor, defenseless country, each of those puppets rob, rape, torture and murder their countrymen, women and children by the tens or by even the hundreds of thousands--all so our corporate elite ain't gotta pay a fair price for a tan/brown- skinned people's resources. There's no way I know of to get an exact death toll, because each of these regimes the CIA installed have continued to cause colossal amounts of ultra-violence long after their inaugural coup d'etats. In other words, many more besides the one million Indonesians (and Indonesians are just as human as suburbians) who were the initial victims of "our man on the inside," General Suharto, were killed. And as a result, Nike Shoes, for instance, can today economically rape the region with its child labor-exploiting sweatshops. And Indonesia is just one country. The CIA has orchestrated from afar the massive ravaging of Greece in 1947, Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Congo in 1961, Brazil in 1964, Greece in 1967 (a repeat!), Chile in 1973, Grenada in 1983-- from East Timor to El Salvador, from South Korea to Nicaragua, the unholy octopus's tentacles reach far and wide. In more well-read circles, the CIA is also known as the Cocaine Import Agency. From their "Air America" days in Vietnam to Gary Sick's 1996 censored expose on the CIA/coke connection in the San Jose Mercury News, the "men in black" have long been historically (if not, as yet, legally) associated with "crack," and one can blame all the death that drug has caused on them. When you take into account every factor, you're left with the conclusion that the CIA's body count may very well be incalculable, just as they may never know how many Africans died during the slavery era. Saab Lofton Las Vegas, N.M. GOVERNMENT SECRECY I am increasingly hoping that Osama bin Laden is captured alive and not killed. This is not for his sake, but for the sake of public information. Like with Noriega, Austin and Chord (of Grenada), I am getting increasingly nervous about all the secrecy. Although it's hard for me to believe that even Bush would sacrifice over 3,000 Americans in a fully planned Reichstag fire, I do believe in the October Surprise [Ronald Reagan's successful effort in 1980 to keep Jimmy Carter from negotiating the release of U.S. hostages in Iran so the Republicans could make their captivity a campaign issue-- Ed.]. It is entirely possible that both Sept. 11 and Pearl Harbor were partially complicit situations that got out of control. Of course, once they happen, an excessive death toll would only help Bush's, or FDR's, ability to stage an information coup. That much, I can believe. At the very least, the secret history is one of incredibly warped priorities and alliances. There is much we need desperately to learn. Alan Ditmore Leicester, N.C. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
