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Biological and Chemical Weapons In An Age of Terror

September 8th, 2007 Toasted

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A history of terrorism requires a very specific definition to avoid a never-ending summary of every violent act ever recorded. The brief, objective definition proposed by Dr. Boaz Ganor, an Israeli political scientist and deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Interdiciplinary Center Herzliya, works well for this purpose:terrorism is the intentional use of, or threat to use violence against civilians or against civilian targets, in order to attain politician aims.

This avoids subjective interpretation based on the perpetrator’s motivations, tactics, and civilian versus military status. When we discuss terrorism in the 21st century, however, we must include weapons of mass destruction, and broaden the defintion slightly to include indiscriminate targets, since many of the weapons and tactics of modern terrorism are capable of killing huge numbers of people at once.

Additionally, some forms of modern terror, such as cyberterrorism, do not fall neatly under the rubric of “violence”, at least in their initial employment, although in this increasingly computerized world, viruses and database intrusions could ultimately lead to deaths.

How real are the threats of WMD terrorism? What new or highly mutated forms of terrorist activities might lie ahead? And more to the point, how can countries hope to counter such violence, when one of the key components of “successful” terrorism is the element of suprise?

If you have ever seen photos of ordinary household germs and dust mites under an electron microscope, magnify your visceral and immediate recoil by ten-fold and you have a fair idea of how most people think about biological weapons.

Terrorism feeds on fear, and one thing people fear is fighting something likely invisible, insidious, and irreversible. Certain chemicals (and radioactive fallout) meet this description as well, but many do not. Biological pathogens, however, seem especially frightening to people perhaps because they seem, to the lay person, the easiest to disseminate and, unlike with other weapons, can be passed from one person to the next, expanding an attack well beyond the original point of deployment, using such contagious diseases as small pox, ebola, AIDS, or plauge.

Adding to this is the reality that the first responders are not members of law enforcement or the military, but members of the public health sytem: doctors, EMTS, firefighters, and other civilians.

Consider some staggering facts. According to a report issued by the World Health Organization in 1999, “Over the next hour alone, 1,500 people will die from an infectious disease- over half of them are children under five. Of the rest, most will be working-age adults-many of them breadwinners and parents.

Both are vital age groups that countries can ill afford to lose.” That adds up to 13.1 million people a year. Perhaps more frightening still, just six infections diseases account for more than 90 percent of those deaths: pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS. (WHO,p.2,1999)

Improper use of antibiotics, as well as increased virulence and human tolerance due to the natural mutation process, have led to highly resilient strains of pneumonia, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria.

Considering that accidental and naturally occurring outbreaks can cost so many millions of lives, it’s not difficult to imagine the effect deliberately mutated and weaponized strains of biological pathogens would have around the world.

Armies and individuals have employed biological weapons throughout recorded history. Many of the earliest recorded instances involve poisoning food and water supplies. During the BC 6th century, Assyrians poisoned enemey wells with rye ergot, a fungal parasite that causes hallucinations and brain damage. Solon of Athens poisoned Krissa’s water supplied with hellebore, a narcotic that can also cause heart attacks. Ancient armies routinely infected tossed rotting animals into the enemies; water supply; in the 12th century Barborassa used the bodies of his own dead soldiers.

Contaminating food and water supplies is not the only-time honored form of bioterrorism. Spreading infection and disease using conventional weapons and everyday objects has a long history as well. As far back as BC 400, archers poisoned their arrows by dipping them into decomposing bodies or in blood mixed with feces. During the Second Macedonian War, in a crude but effective precursor to missiles with biological warheads, Hannibal won the naval battle of Eurymedon by launching pots of venomous snakes onto the decks of the Pregamon ships.

In 1346, when many of the Tatar soldiers attacking the Crimean port of Kaffa were dying of bubonic plauge, their leader, DeMussis, capulated the diseased corpses into the city. When the infected Geonese defenders fled, precipitating the Black Plauge epidemics that killed enemies with wine mixed with blood of lepers.

Two hundred years later another Spaniard, Franciso Pizarro, tried to speed along his invasion of South America by distributing clothing infected with smallpox. British forces tried the same tactic in the French and Indian War.

In the early part of the Civil War, a Confederate surgeon tried to infect the Union army with clothes carrying yellow fever, while his compatriots were tossing dead animals into wells as they retreated. At this time, the U.S. Government, concerned that its Union soldiers were far less experienced in military matters thatn were their Confederate counterparts, paid German lawyer Franz Lieber to prepare a code laying out the accepted principles of warfare.

The articles in the resulting document,”Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field,” became part of General Order No. 100, issued April 24, 1863. One key article read as follows: “The use of poison in any manner, be it to poison wells, or food, or arms, is wholly excluded from modern warfare. He that uses it puts himself out of the pale of law and usages of war.”

Other countries were at work drafting similar codes. The nations participating in a conference in Brussels in August 1874 issued a declaration banning specific weapons, including poison. A 1907 addition prohibited the “employment of projectiles containing asphyxiating or deleterious gases.” These same prohibitions were upheld by later declarations, including the “Protocol for the Prohibion of the Use in Ware of Asphyxating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods fo Warfare”- the Geneva Protocol, signed June 19, 1925-which stated that “the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world.”

Countries that ratified the protocol before WWII were Iran, Iraq, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The U.S. did not sign until 1975. The protocol was further strengthened in 1972 with the Biological Weapons Convention, but efforts to make it legally binding failed in 2001 when President George W. Bush refused to sign.

One business-oriented publication that often supported the president’s policies had this reaction: “Alongside Mr. Bush’s refusal to ratify the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, and his moves to scrap the ABM(anti-ballistic missile) treaty, this was more than an undiplomatic blunder. It seems to represent a dangerously ideological aversion to any sort of binding arms control.”

These noble agreements, however, failed to prohibit governments from continuing to research, develop, store, transport, or produce biological weapons, and implied that all that was truly outlawed was being the first to use them in a particular conflict. The result is that countries around the globe still have active biological and chemical stockpiles or, as in the case of the United States, maintain active facilities engaged in defense research.

The real terror is the use of biological and chemical weapons in a city which is the ultimate fear. The article purpose is to make a contribution to the public understanding of the threat.

Dr.Leon Newton is the author of the book, Terrorism 101: A Library Reference and Selected Annotated Bibliography. He teach Terrorism and International Affairs. http://www.outskirtspress.com/terrorism101

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America Frees Women To Fight Back

September 8th, 2007 Toasted

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In the shadow of the war in Iraq, America and her NATO allies continue to wage war against Al-Qaeda and the remaining Taliban in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan.

As with the war in Iraq, the media fails to mention any progress in the region and reports almost with giddy anticipation the possibility of the Taliban’s return to power. One of the more neglected, yet most important stories the media conveniently “forgot” in its crusade to end a war it knows nothing about, is that of the liberation of women in Afghanistan.

In 1996, the Taliban established firm control of the country and began instituting harsh laws based on fundamentalist teachings. While mainstream Muslims practice tolerance and preach peace, the Taliban twisted religious beliefs into inhuman laws not seen since before the dark ages. Children were forbidden from flying kites, alcohol and the practices of other religions were banned and the media was completely censored.

Women suffered the most under this new regime. A woman could not leave her home without male escort, and young girls were barred from pursuing education of any kind. Domestic violence and forced marriages increased, and the religious police dealt out brutal punishments to those not in accordance to the “law”.
If a woman would do something as simple as paint her nails, she would have her fingers cut off. Women were stoned to death for adultery (including if she was raped), and beaten for “offenses” like their burqa being to short. For five harsh years, life was hell as the Taliban made war on the people it swore to protect.

Since the United States invaded Afghanistan, there have been many significant changes. Women have returned to school and back into the work force all over the country. In the last Presidential election, women were an astounding forty percent of the voters.
Sports that were banned are now being played all over the country. Olympic martial arts like Judo and Karate are very popular, as well as basketball and volleyball. Only a few women have competed in the Olympics since the country was liberated, but more and more women are participating in sports.

Martial arts have long been a way for a person to build physical and mental strength. And for Middle Eastern women, the positive mental attitude built by such training counteracts the years of being treated as third-class citizens.

Women in these countries are now training to be police officers, and little girls are learning sport martial arts and self-defense. All would have been impossible under the Taliban regime.

What’s going to happen in the next stage in the war is anyone’s guess as political infighting pulls resources away from front lines. And whether or not American forces are pulled out before the job is complete, perhaps the next time an Afghani or Iraqi man raises his hand to hit a “disobedient” woman, she will toss him to the ground thanks to her new martial arts training.

There is still a lot of progress to be made both for women, and society as a whole in these countries, but at least the foundation has been laid. The freedom we have provided, and the liberty for women and children to pursue martial arts will help form a new nation that could one day become a powerful ally.

The women of Afghanistan are now learning how to protect themselves and fight off their repressors thanks to the United States.

For more information on Chris “Lt. X” Pizzo former soldier, cancer survivor, mercenary, barroom bouncer, educator, and hand-to-hand combat instructor, and his incredible FREE Accelerated Battlefield Combatives close-combat learning system, visit http://www.TopSecretTraining.com

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The New Iraq: Genocide of the Gentle

September 8th, 2007 Toasted

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Of all the physical damage that has been done to Iraq, the greatest damage has been done to the culture itself. Iraq has lost much of her cultural capital.

Cultural capital as evidenced in the arts, education, healthcare, science, social justice, education, and law enforcement are the many artifacts of any civil society. Iraq began to lose many objects of value earlier; during the U.S. embargo against Iraq when families began selling Persian carpets, jewelry, wardrobes, and family heirlooms to survive.

Many treasures eventually left the country with or without their original owners. The more abstract artifacts of civil society also began to erode during the U.S. embargo when cultural capital began to deteriorate. The arts stagnated. Healthcare conditions plummeted to alarming neglect as antibiotics, aspirin, and even vitamins became virtually inaccessible to the average person.

Science and universities suffered greatly as scientific literature was blocked from entering the country for the long period of embargo. The educational system began to suffer as the Dinar diminished in value so did the ability of teachers to feed their own families on their pay and began to demand that the parents of their students pay them a personal fee to teach their children.

Law enforcement took an ugly turn during that time when those charged to enforce the law began breaking the law themselves in order to benefit their own families. Finally, the strain of the U.S, embargo began to break down the elements of social justice in that consideration for the old, the poor, and the weak became less and less evident in the increasingly desperate daily lives of Iraqi’s.

When those who followed the situation attentively thought the Iraqi peoples had been brought to the peak of suffering through the US embargo, the US invasion ripped out the remainder of civil society and in that void, Iraq has come to its darkest hour.

This is a true story. That is to say it is the collective story of so many stories gathered into one story. All names have been left out to veil these human beings from further suffering:

A woman is a well-known doctor inside of Iraq. She begins to wonder each day if one of her own patients will kill her. Each day her husband fears her demise whenever there is an explosion inside of Baghdad. Still they continue to care for their children, work, and live in daily terror.

One day she receives the long since dreaded death threat. They know that these threats are very real and that within 24 hours, this threat will most certainly be carried out upon them. Within 30 minutes they have gathered their two children, and left their home in which they have all worldly manifestations of the meaningful life they have made for one another and so many precious symbols of memories, hopes, and dreams.

They leave their home with nothing as they do not know if the death threat will be carried out by a neighbor, a coworker, or a patient. They must not alert any human being of their attempted departure. They arrive at a family member’s home to prepare to flee to the Jordanian border. They leave this home within one hour and must say nothing to other loved ones of their flight.

They leave many loved ones including an elderly widow behind. Yet to gather their loved ones from their households would likely alert their stealthy murderers and put so many more family members at acute risk. So this secret they must keep and travel through the desert by themselves. They make it into Jordan before they are caught but they cannot readily leave such sorrow and suffering behind them ….

Of all the damage that has been done to Iraq; through the U.S. invasion and occupation, the greatest damage has been done to the culture itself. Cultural capital is foundational to all artifacts of civil society such as the arts, education, healthcare, science, and social justice. Cultural capital itself is not a concrete thing and yet it is manifested in so many things; such as excellent education, quality health care, and the law & order of every advanced civil society.

Upon the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. citizenry was informed that Iraq’s museums were plundered and that Iraq consequently lost much of her cultural capital. How sad that the centerpiece of Iraqi cultural capital was presented as if encased in these particular objects of value. In fact, Iraq began to loose objects of value during the U.S. embargo, when families began selling their Persian carpets, jewelry wardrobes, and family heirlooms just to live.

Many of these items eventually left the country of Iraq with or without their original owners. The loss of these material objects is particularly tragic in that these objects belonged to the daily lives and history of living people. Iraq; however, has many more layers of cultural capital than those found in material objects. The cultural capital prior to the U.S. destruction there was rich and varied. Now it is virtually gone. Any family or person that is seen as contributing to society in a meaningful way is eliminated, driven into hiding, or forced to flee the country.

The gentle person, the rational minded, and the intellectual are eliminated, forced into hiding, or must flee. Any respected educator, caring doctor, or social servant is considered dangerous since such people are the dissidents of a civil society that has now been completely dismantled. This brief paragraph matter-of-factly conveys such immense damage to Iraq that has brought on indescribable human suffering. It is critical that the U.S. citizenry know that Iraq has now been almost completely pillaged of her most precious treasures; that is her human cultural capital

This is a true story and yet it does not fit with the notion of civil war. That is because the central issue of violence in Iraq does not rise out of civil war. Instead it rises out of a loss of civil society. American citizens have been bombarded with information about civil war. American citizens have not been told nearly so much about the systematic raping of Iraqi civil society. Iraq lays now in utter ruin and there is virtually nothing left of her now but her broken presence.

Are we a citizenry that has had meaningful participation in what our government has decided to do to Iraq? This could only be so if we were truly free to give input into U.S. policy in Iraq. Were we truly free to provide input into the U.S. policy in Iraq? Since true freedom requires citizens to be fully aware and learned about the choices before them, this could only be so if we were thoroughly educated by our government about policy we already carried out on Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion there. In all the rhetoric about Operation Iraqi Freedom, were we so free that we had no meaningful voice in a matter that we were intentionally or unwittingly misinformed of and consequently uneducated about?

This is a true story. That is to say it is the collective story of so many stories gathered into one story. Let it not be told in vain. Rather let it bring you to contemplate on the extent to which our citizenry has been honored by its own leadership as worthy of learnedness and as having participatory potential for the sake of truly being free to inform international policy in a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.

Of all the physical damage that has been done to Iraq, the greatest damage has been done to the culture itself. Iraq has lost much of her cultural capital.

Judi Lynn Lake resides in South Carolina, with her husband and 7 year old daughter. She successfully runs her own Advertising/PR Firm. Contact Judi at http://www.judilake.com. To learn more about Dr. Amaal V.E. Tokars’ mission at http://www.seducedbyfear.com

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A history of terrorism requires a very specific definition to avoid a never-ending summary of every violent act ever recorded. The brief, objective definition proposed by Dr. Boaz Ganor, an Israeli political scientist and deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Interdiciplinary Center Herzliya, works well for this purpos...

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