Germans fear Smallpox from Iraq

German News

[pfflier]

While millions of protesters were on the street , demonstrating for "No war on Iraq", an internal paper from the German Health Ministry made its way to the press, documenting that the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox viruses. Despite the official direction of the "peace-chancellor Schroeder", the German Health Ministry has started to stockpile more than 70 million small pox vaccinations. According to the German Secret Service BND

Several suicide-terrorists trained in Iraq, have already entered the Federal Republic of Germany as diplomats, businessmen or students and are ready to use biological weapons of mass destructions, like smallpox viruses, on German soil. One of the major potential targets is the US Army 5th corp, based in Heidelberg. According to the German Health Ministry, a terrorist attack using small pox viruses in Germany, would easily wipe out 50% of the German population as a side effect. These news let todays happenings appear in an odd light: While 500,000 protesters march in Berlin fully supported by the German chancellor, the German Health Ministry and the German Secret Service started to prepare for the worst case of using illegal biological weapons "Made in Iraq" against innocent citizens.

[pfflier]

When you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.

[Bogey78O]

'that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox viruses'

Viruses?

[piasa]

from the January 15, 2003 edition

Sensing vulnerability, Germany steps up terror defenses

British ricin arrests spur new focus on bioterror threat to Europeans

By William Boston | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

BERLIN – As America's European allies confront evidence of terrorist activity in their own backyards, they are increasing defensive action against what many see as a growing vulnerability to attack.
Germany is taking the threat so seriously that it has begun preparing a defense plan against a bioterror attack using agents such as ricin or smallpox. And as US troops move from Germany to the Gulf ahead of a possible war with Iraq, security around bases here has been increased.



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The German government also is warning its well-traveled citizens about increased threats against Europeans in Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

"The member states of the European Union, the US, and Australia are still affected," the German foreign ministry cautioned.

That Al Qaeda is increasingly targeting citizens of European countries became clear in a series of bombings last year, especially an attack on a synagogue that killed a number of German citizens in Tunisia, and a bloody attack on a nightclub in Bali.

German officials have been concerned about the country's increased vulnerability since a suspected terrorist went on trial in Hamburg late last year, the first trial of anyone directly linked to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

The fears surfaced again last week when German authorities arrested two Yemeni citizens at the request of the US. At least one of the men is suspected of having links to the attack on the warship USS Cole.

'Alarm plan' on smallpox

The country's leading health organization, the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, is calling for preparations for mass inoculation with smallpox vaccine. The institute's president, Reinhard Kurth, said the organization has developed an "alarm plan" to respond immediately should smallpox break out anywhere in the world. "We cannot rule out that smallpox virus is in the hands of people who shouldn't have it," Mr. Kurth said.

Officially, victory in the war on smallpox was declared in 1979 after an international campaign to wipe out the virus. Since then, only Russia and the US have officially acknowledged having stockpiled the virus. US officials believe, however, that smallpox virus may be stored in other countries such as Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

Fearing its release on an unprotected public, Germany is vaccinating doctors and has launched a program to amass 100 million smallpox vaccinations by the end of the year. "Although there is no acute threat, the state is very serious about protecting the population," said Silke Lautenschlaeger, a government minister in Hesse state, after a meeting last week of state officials on bioterror defense.

Security measures have also been stepped up around the US troops shipping out from Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany. The New York Times, citing US government sources, reported this week that Washington fears troops under transport could be targeted by terrorists.

The increased threat of attack has renewed a debate in Germany about the powers of the military. An apparently deranged man hijacked a small private plane last week and threatened to crash it into the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The Air Force scrambled fighter jets and was poised to shoot the plane down, raising concerns about whether such an action is sanctioned by law. The pilot eventually landed and was arrested.

Defense Minister Peter Struck is studying whether a rare constitutional change is necessary to grant the military greater powers to participate in domestic police operations in light of the Frankfurt incident. The proposal has met stiff opposition from within his party, the Social Democrats. After World War II, Germany imposed strict limits on the powers of the military.

Arrests raise concerns

German authorities have detained the men suspected of links to the USS Cole attack pending a hearing on extradition. The US is seeking their extradition, but Yemen has protested, saying they are not linked to al Qaeda. Yemen is also seeking their extradition. One of the men, Mohammed Scheik Ali Hassan Mojad, is believed to have administered finances for Osama bin Laden.

In the wake of the arrests, Germany warned its citizens against travel to Yemen. The foreign ministry also warned against traveling to Zanzibar. The island, off the East African coast, is popular with vacationing Europeans. US and European intelligence agencies have warned Al Qaeda could be planning an attack there.

German newspapers have quoted anonymous intelligence officials as saying they believe efforts to tighten security at home are restricting Al Qaeda's ability to strike in Europe. But Europeans traveling abroad are at greater risk in countries where security is laxer, they said

[Gkubly]

I see no smoking gun at this time they need to stop and allow more time for the inspectors to do their job!!!!! The nerve of them carrying Saddam's water all this time and having this information.

[KaiserofKrunch]

What do the Germans' have to fear?

1. Saddam is their BUDDY.
2. There are NO weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; despite what SIS, the Mossad, the NSA, the CIA, and others know.
3. If there were tons of VX, Sarin, etc., Saddam has already destroyed it. After all, it didn't show up in the 12,000 page document to the un (lowercase intentional).

Ive never been more ashamed to be of German ancestry, than this year. Oh well, at least I'm not french. Free Alsace!

[Riley]

Ive never been more ashamed to be of German ancestry, than this year.

I am about 25% German. I am not in the least bit ashamed. What Schweinhund Schroeder does or doesn't do is no reflection on you, or I or anyone else with German ancestry. Nor for that matter does it necessarily reflect the sentiment of every German.

Plenty of German families sent their sons off to defeat that poisonous little mustachioed thing in the forties, too.

We're Americans.

[Madcelt]

Free Alsace!

You're a naughty trouble maker aren't you. ( hee hee)

[Uncle Miltie]

"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus
"the German Secret Service has evidence, that Iraq has illegally produced small-pox virus

Smallpox kills 30% of those infected. Simulations of smallpox's effect on America bring the country to its knees in days.

[Thunder 6]

"One of the major potential targets is the US Army 5th corp, based in Heidelberg..."

You don't go after the Corps HQ or the military units (who are largely gone by now anyway)...I would be more worried about an attack on the dependent families left behind in the Kaserne Housing areas.

[Adrastus]

I'm sorry, that was small what? Chickens will come home to roost.

[tenthirteen]

The "German Foreign Ministry"?

How chilling....where have we heard this before?

[KaiserofKrunch]

Sorry, I meant to say that I have NEVER been ashamed of being of Greman stock untill this year.

You are right, there are still some decent Germans with backbone in the old country.

[Tench_Coxe]

I think we should get the UN to draft a resolution to prevent Germany from stockpiling the smallpox vaccine. After all, there has been no evidence, no smoking gun.

[elhombrelibre]

I believe the story, but I'd like to see the link!!! I'd like to send this to friends in the states who may not know the level of deceit the Schroeder government is practicing.

[longjack]

Did you see this post:

German Hypocracy (sic) ... Ping List

Some of us decided to start a ping list to help send articles (in German)about Germany to interested Freepers. An article posted this early in the A.M., U.S. time, often disappears before others can see it.

What do you think re: Ping?

Also, Did you see these articles about the same issue? I posted these. There are also other links inside the threads.

FAZ...Ganz verschwiegen

FAZ...Kommentar

longjack

[piasa]

From the UK Guardian, so consider the source :

Germany Says Smallpox Report Exaggerated

Monday February 17, 2003 4:20 AM


BERLIN (AP) - The German government said Sunday it exaggerated the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs in an internal report last year that claimed Iraq has smallpox stocks and could use them in germ warfare.

The Health Ministry said it drafted the statement in August to back up funding requests for the stockpiling of smallpox vaccine. But it denied that German intelligence has evidence of Iraqi smallpox stocks, contradicting the report's central assertion.

Nonetheless, opposition leaders seized on the statement's publication in a Sunday newspaper to renew charges that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government was playing down the Iraqi threat in public to avoid undermining its anti-war stand.

The internal report warned that a smallpox outbreak could kill about 25 million people - nearly a third of the population - in Germany alone, according to a copy published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

``German intelligence has documented evidence that smallpox samples are stockpiled'' in Iraq, the health officials wrote.

But Health Ministry spokesman Klaus Vater said that while the officials drew on intelligence reports, their risk assessment was hypothetical, ``drastic and imprecise.''

``The Health Ministry had no documented evidence about smallpox samples in Iraq, and it has none now,'' Vater said in a statement.

Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Otto Schily, said German intelligence has no evidence of Iraqi germ warfare stockpiles.

The revelations reignited a bitter dispute between Schroeder's government and the conservative opposition about whether Germans are being told the full truth about the threat posed by Iraq.

Since crushing Schroeder's Social Democratic party in two state elections this month, the conservatives have aligned more closely with U.S. pressure for military action. They accuse Schroeder's government of withholding intelligence on Iraq from the public - a charge the government rejects.

[piasa]

The above article was put up 5 hers ago according to google; but it was rpeceded by a report from South Aftrica, I think, which I wasn't able to load earlier as it timed out.

The above article shows Schroeder's Gov frantic backpeddling from Germany's original intel reports.

[elhombrelibre]

Yeah, put me on the list since I'm over here. But the more I read and the more I know about German complicity and duplicity the more I'm disgusted and want the US out of this place.

[piasa]

This is the earliest article- it comes out of South Africa on news24.com:

Germany exaggerated germs claim
16/02/2003 22:37 - (SA)

Tony Czuckzka

Berlin - The German government said it exaggerated the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes in an internal report last year that claimed Iraq had smallpox stocks and could use them in germ warfare.

The health ministry said it drafted the statement in August to back up funding requests for the stockpiling of smallpox vaccine.

But it denied that German intelligence has evidence of Iraqi smallpox stocks, contradicting the report's central assertion.

Nonetheless, opposition leaders seized on the statement's publication in a Sunday newspaper to renew charges that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government was playing down the Iraqi threat in public to avoid undermining its anti-war stand.

The report warned that a smallpox outbreak could kill about 25 million people - nearly a third of the population - in Germany alone, according to a copy published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"German intelligence has documented evidence that smallpox samples are stockpiled" in Iraq, the health officials wrote.

But health ministry spokesperson Klaus Vater said that while the officials drew on intelligence reports, their risk assessment was hypothetical, "drastic and imprecise."

"The health ministry had no documented evidence about smallpox samples in Iraq, and it has none now," Vater said in a statement.

Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Otto Schily, said German intelligence has no evidence of Iraqi germ warfare stockpiles.

The revelations re-ignited a bitter dispute between Schroeder's government and the conservative opposition about whether Germans are being told the full truth about the threat posed by Iraq.

Since crushing Schroeder's Social Democratic party in two state elections this month, the conservatives have aligned more closely with US pressure for military action.

They accuse Schroeder's government of withholding intelligence on Iraq from the public - a charge the government rejects.

The government "has withheld critical information for months for reasons of domestic politics and has thereby deceived the public," Friedbert Pflueger, a foreign policy spokesperson for the main opposition Christian Democrats, was quoted as saying in the Frankfurt newspaper.

The leader of the small opposition Free Democrats, Guido Westerwelle, urged the government Sunday to reveal its intelligence information on Iraqi weapons to the public.

*** (* My note.... I wouldn't be surprised if Hussein ends up using smallpox on his people to make the US look bad - he has already immunized his army anyway.)

[piasa]

fyi