Posted on 01/20/2009 4:44:31 PM PST by tobyhill
An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.
The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ok, does it scare anyone else that they actually HAVE the plague to screw up with???
Well.. that's a start.
DOES it actually SCARE folks that now we are in the hands of ZERO?
OMG!! We are probably doomed!
Yeah, that is my thought.
They HAVE it. Successful test.
Of course, we wouldn’t want to roughly interrogate anyone about it if it comes up.
Hmmmm...is this the bio weapon Black Plague thingy?
Yeah it worries me but it doesn’t sound like it makes a great weapon.
The plague itself is not problem in the 21st century. However, it is obvious that Al Qaeda has made a weaponized version of it.
If they were handling significant quantities of a biological weapon most of them would have been immunized or had preventative measures like antibiotics available one would think. Maybe they got their hands on some that super potent Cold War rooskie stuff. Or they could just be generally incompetent.
combined with another organism, modern medicine may not be able to work.
Y.Pestis, Ricin, even Antrax just haven't seemed to cut it as WMD vectors. Now, if they got ahold of some of that old Soviet smallpox virus, OK, that's the time to hit the panic button.
Sure feel better now that 0bama's in charge of protecting the country.
The only thing that slows 'em down is their general incompetence.
There’s just not enough info I’ve seen yet. I sure would like to know if this was a lab facility or just a bunch of jihadi yahoos with vials of plague to play with.
If its the latter, its a lot worse than I thought.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that they have biological weapons though. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons for GWB’s gray hair.
I wonder what else they have?
But no need to worry.
The great 0 is here, and we're going to have a newly special warm and friendly relationship with Islamic fanatics from now on. He's going to “reach out.”
Hope and change. Hope and change.
Posted yesterday and discussed by the fine folks at jihadwatch...here...
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024476.php#respond
Don’t assume that’s all that they have and don’t assume that it’s not some altered version of the Black Plague that is harder to treat.
How does a fleas-on-rats disease get weaponized? Aerosol? Infect suicide-bomber types and have them infect others?
I almost wonder if these jihadis weren’t sacrificed to send a message. Given the ease of world travel these days it would be hard to limit it to one target and if it killed many people in very many countries it would lead to some serious reprecussions for the muslim world.
It’s also possible that they sleep with plague infected rats.
We should sterilize the entire area with extremely high heat...just to be safe.
I propose that this be Obama’s opening move toward negotiation. Would be a hell of a start!!
To screw up with, or to successfully test on some insufficiently enthusiastic jihadis.
For all we know, if it was pneumonic plague, or some other contagious agent, they could have infected one (possibly willing) subject and observed the effects on the camp.
There might be dismay in AQ circles that things went awry and their bioweapons team perished, but there might equally be rejoicing at the successful test. For all we know, next week dozens of jihadis armed only with their own infection might be flying hither and thither around the civilized world, attending decadent rock concerts, taking tours of the Capitol, and the like. Even if it has only, say, a 5% mortality rate when properly treated, they could still cause more casualties and a greater strain on the economy than 9/11.
“The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the Al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century. But the intelligence official dismissed that claim.”
Probably small pox.
It certainly scares the heck out of me.
I read more about this story earlier today in the Times of India. A thread was posted here with this link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Plague_sweeps_Qaida_camp_in_Africa/articleshow/4004140.cms
Good angle.
weaponized plague. They have something like it.
Oh. No. You said it.
God help us.
“Yeah it worries me but it doesn’t sound like it makes a great weapon.”
It is a bad idea for the muslims to go down this path. These are the things that will spread geometrically in third-world conditions - and so they put their own populations at risk more than any other.
And this is if we choose not to fight back.
Sounds about right - - probably bought it from some rogue scientist
- and decided to do a sniff test.
Maybe more info will come out...it initially was played as just an outbreak, but this is the second story I’ve seen linking it to BW.
In a setting like Algeria, plague would be an excellent terror weapon. It at least can be contained, but not before a local populace has suffered.
A wide ranging attack has probably not happened yet for precisely your reason...its too dangerous to the one that lets it loose.
I just worry how long before the Muslims don’t even care about that.
Well according to islamic ways of thought, they most likely deserved it. At least I don’t have to feel pity for them - ‘allah’ (pig-Obama be upon him) decreed it.
Plus, the use of the weapon would be deniable, with the outbreak being blamed on naturally occurring plague vectors. (Unlike anthrax, smallpox etc). If scores of flea-infested rodents were injected with Y. Pestis and released in dozens of locations around the target city, the result would be horrible to see.
Plus, the use of the weapon would be deniable, with the outbreak being blamed on naturally occurring plague vectors. (Unlike anthrax, smallpox etc). If scores of flea-infested rodents were injected with Y. Pestis and released in dozens of locations around the target city, the result would be horrible to see.
I hate to say it but anyone have any predictions about when the next hit will be? It’s gotta be soon now that Baby Killer Obama is now ‘in charge’.
Yes. If you aerosolize plague, you inhale it and develop pneumonic plague, and that has a much higher death rate than bubonic plague, which develops from entering the bloodstream.
Aren't there about a billion and a half muslims in the world? What's the mortality rate for plague, less than 50%?
I don't think it's going to worry them.
I read a book that has lengthy excerpts on the web. Google "The Demon in the Freezer". Weaponized Variola Major is scary, evil stuff. Hope it's all dead now.
Just the beginning...The fact they have this crap at all is scary. You have do have to ask...What’s the next step?
They don’t care. They have a couple billion muslims, if they die, they can die for furthering Allah’s cause. If they die it’s the will of Allah they die. Nothing they can do would stop it. Besides they know that they won’t kill all muslims, and it will create so many problems in the developed countries.
Even our cities can be hit with such weapons. Imagine restaurants, buses, trains, malls, airports, etc. being hit. We Americans travel more than most countries I have been to. A single person comes in contact with dozens of people every day over a 20 mile area. Imagine just a single week what the spread could be. I have an aunt who work with the Air Force labs performing testing on micro-critters. She likes living where she does in a remote area.
Not a great weapon, but one that would cause widespread panic in NYC if it was employed in the subway system.
40 dead! Haven’t they run out of virgins yet?
Headline:
New York Times reveals CIA was source of plague
Anonymous Source: We Used Plague On Civilians
Anonymous source in CIA tells of U.S. biological attack on Algerian civilians . . . .
Them Nytimen are easy to read -- it's what they write that's hard to believe.
As long as they don’t torture any of these poor misunderstood terrorists, that’s all we care about.
Pray for America, Our Troops and Hussain’s Salvation
my vote is for muzzies to be generally incompetent. The competent ones end up in jobs and have vocations. The losers end up like our democrat party. Getting just enough of an education to be dangerous.
In other words, they know the engineering but can't "create" great engineering projects... but they know enough to knock something down.
They know enough microbiology to incubate and aerosolize Yersinia pestis or some variant of the plague but are so stupid that they think face masks or simple technique will prevent their deaths.
frickin' ignorant hateful little maggots. They need to get a weaponized virus to spread throughout their populace. Like a polio or influenza strain that is rapidly fatal and easily transmissible
Thanks!
Aerosol is right. There is bubonic plague (transmitted by rats) and pneumonic plague (transmitted through the air). Pneumonic plague is almost 100% fatal without treatment. An infected person has pneumonia and infects others with droplets spread by coughing. An epidemic can be created with an aerosol bomb exploded at the right altitude. If the organism is bioengineered to be resistant to antibiotics, you have a potent weapon.
There are two problems: (1) as with any bioweapon, you risk killing some of your own side; and (2) constructing a bomb that explodes at the right altitude, creates aerosol droplets of the right size, and doesn't kill the organism is a problem.
ready, fire, aim...
Ok, now that crap has me TERRIFIED!!
They are worried that it has spread to other “terrorists cells”?? That could mean in a market, on a plane, wherever!
They have addressed if this is VIRAL or BACTERIAL. Do they know yet?
An outbreak of disease is one reason I have become determined to stock up on several months supply of food.
At least maybe we can hole up and eat for a while until it dies down. God willing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
