Anthrax

[GT98]

Well as all you know theres been a quite a few anthrax cases popping up in the USA as of late. Its come close to me since the Ford Plant that my father works at was shut down this past Saturday for a scare (nothing was found from what I hear, plus my old man is on vacation this week ) and I read on the the Guardain web site (though I take this with a huge grain of salt, since the paper seems to be tablodily, maybe one of our UK readers can enlighten us Yanks if this is true or not) that the strains that are being found are from Iraqi, from an exchange done over 30 years ago.

So let me ask you this...what do you think should happen if this is true...the strains came from Iraqi and they where passed on to Bin ladens boys or even Iraqi themselfs did it? Do you think Nuclear weapons are an option to be used? Maybe a NATO invation of Iraqi Via Turkey? Anyone else care to comment?

Scott

[The PIT]

The question is do we really want world war 3 becuase we are very close to it.

[Fat Tone]

The Guardian is one of our respected broadsheets, not a tabloid.

It's quite ironic that you called it the Guardain, as for many years it had a reputation for the worst typesetting in the industry, affectionately known as the Grauniad.

[Jorden]

I might not be English, but I am reading most of the Anthrax cases through English news.

Here's what I found so far

Anthrax: A widespread threat?

Anthrax: How do you stop it?

Anthrax fears shake world

And most helpful: Q&A: Anthrax infection

Btw, for foreigners coming to Holland or Belgium, we call it miltvuur here. So if you see a poster hanging somewhere warning of possible miltvuur infecties, walk around it.

Jord.

[Dr Mordrid]

For the most part Anthrax isn't that big a problem unless you really breath in a lot of microspores, and even then if they're too small they won't take. They have to be sized *just right* in a bio weapons plant, so homebrewed isn't going to happen. Even then it's treatable in most forms and cases and is NOT infectious.

What I'm far more worried about is the possibility of them using some form of hemorragic fever. That would make Anthrax look like a mild cold and is HIGHLY infectious and have a very high mortality rate.

Unfortunately there are forms that would be quite easy to obtain and use as a weapon.

Dr. Mordrid

[SwAmPy]

I wonder if all this Anthrax threat is not a decoy for something else. If you think about it, making Anthrax is very difficult and for what it causes, it's more of an inconvenince rather than it being deadly. Maybe they want everyone to concentrate on an Anthrax scare so that whatever they have planned would catch everyone off guard.

SwAmPy

[KRSESQ]

If it is proven that Iraq is deliberately producing bacterial weapons for terrorist use, we might see something similar to what Michael Crichton described in his novel "The Andromeda Strain." Directive 7-12, also called the "Cautery Directive," would involve detonating a thermonuclear weapon over the site of an infectious outbreak of extraterrestrial origin.

I can envision the U.S. government using the term "Cauterization" to justify vaporizing suspected germ labs in the middle east, to "prevent the further spread of infectious agents."

As far as physically invading Iraq, it would probably be easier to come in up the gulf and enter via Kuwait. As for actually occupying the country, I don't care to speculate on what a bloody mess that would be.

The best solution ("best" being highly relative) would probably be to let Special Forces stage an "accident" at one of the labs and let the bugs that Iraq produced do our dirty work for us. Quarantine the country and go in later with medical teams to clean up the mess and care for survivors.

Nasty business, this.

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

My guess is that any invasion of Iraq will come from multiple directions. Through Kuwait is one for sure, but my bet is that the bulk will come from Turkey....a NATO member.

I've also seen veiled reports that Turkish special forces might take part in Afghanistan.

If this ends up being true Al Quida had better research what the Turks did to the Chinese at the battle of Kumyangjang-ni during the Korean war. My father-in-law's division arrived there after the party and he says the outnumbered Turks flat out massacred a Chinese division in two days of hand-to-hand combat.

Looking it up I found out he's spot-on. The final score was 12 Turk casualties to ~1735 Chinese.

He also told me that the only safe place to be when the Turks charged was behind them. No shit.

SHEESH.....I'd launch myself into space before facing off against their elite troops.

Dr. Mordrid

[ALBPM]

That's a fact.....

Realizing the importance of the situation, the brigade and the attached units had fought with the
courage and love of duty that was expected of them. The enemy corpses lying behind the advancing
forces, cut to pieces with bayonets, killed with rifle butts and bore mute testimony to the mightiness of this attack. By virtue of these courageous and continuous attacks they have moved 10 miles forward and captured all the important fortified positions.

On 26 of January, enemy resistance at the sector was eliminated. When the brigade reached its
goal, the brave soldiers without waiting for the approach of the enemy, tried to find and destroy
them. Thus, making it an annihilation battle.

The capability and success of the soldiers are demonstrated by the enemy losses which were as high as 1,735. The brigade's casualty was only 12 dead and 30 wounded.

The Turkish Brigade and its units distinguished themselves by their exemplary deeds and heroic acts in the battle.

After the battles, Turkish Brigade has been honored with Distinguished Unit Citation from the USA Congress, and Korean Presidential Citation.