Posted on 06/01/2005 2:44:00 AM PDT by naturalman1975
AN envelope found at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra today has tested positive for a biological agent.
The embassy has been shut down and its 22 staff will remain in isolation for at least 48 hours after the envelope tested positive for an as-yet unidentified biological agent.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer condemned whoever had sent the package and said the incident would not help Corby's case.
"Further analysis of the powder has tested positive as a biological agent so further testing will need to be carried out to find out what that substance actually is," Mr Downer told Parliament.
"As such there is a possibility that the Indonesian embassy will need to be shut down for quite some period of time and the 22 staff will remain in isolation for the next 48 hours."
Fire, ambulance and police officers raced to the embassy after staff discovered the package about 10.30am (AEST) today.
Staff were ordered to stay inside while a sample was taken away for testing, an Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman said.
An embassy staff member later said by phone that staff had not been told of the initial test results revealing the presence of a biological agent.
Nor had they been told staff would be kept at the embassy for 48 hours, the worker said.
Mr Downer pleaded with the Australian public to stop attacking Indonesia over Corby's 20-year jail sentence for drug trafficking, handed down in Denpasar last week.
Talkback radio has been swamped by angry callers and some aid agencies have reported calls from donors to the Boxing Day tsunami asking for their money back.
Others have called for a boycott of travel to the archipelago.
"I know a lot of people in Australia are upset by the Corby verdict," Mr Downer said as he revealed the incident at the embassy.
But denigrating Australia's northern neighbour would not help, he said.
"To continually attack Indonesia and denigrate its institutions and leaders will build up a good deal of anti-Australian sentiment in Indonesia and it will make it very difficult to conclude (prisoner transfer) agreements of this kind, particularly through public institutions like the Indonesian parliament."
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley slammed the people who had sent the package to the embassy.
"This is a disgraceful act, to be condemned by all Australians," he said.
"It's very necessary, I think, to learn from this, that people should view the circumstances now surrounding the particular case which may have generated this with a bit of calm, dispassion and commonsense.
"There is no doubt at all that this is a very serious thing to have happened.
"There should be absolutely no doubt in the public mind that the house is of a combined and united view that this sort of outrageous behaviour must not be encouraged, an atmosphere which encourages it must not be sustained," he said.
The incident followed death threats made last month to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, and the sending of bullets to the Indonesian consulate in Perth in April.
Both incidents were linked to the Corby case.
Mr Downer had earlier told Parliament that a team from the Attorney-General's department would meet their Indonesian counterparts soon to negotiate the agreement.
He hoped the agreement would be finalised within 12 to 18 months, but stressed it may not apply to Corby, who is appealing against her sentence.
If this is what it looks like, Australian law enforcement will have to get the people responsible.
Terrorism is Terrorism.
I wonder what is the biological agent and how did someone get hold of it?
Some additional info:
"Mr Howard said the package contained a quantity of the bacillus bacteria, and that more tests were being conducted.
Most bacillus-type bacteria are harmless to humans, but one type - anthracis - causes anthrax in humans and animals.
MrHoward said it was the fist time a biological agent had been used in this way in Australia."
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=11702
Doesn't "bacillus" merely mean "bacteria" and then it depends what type of bacteria it is. Also, most bacteria aren't harmless, they may not all be deadly, but they make people sick.
The way peeps get their panties up, this might be roo-droppings on fire in a paper bag on the front porch for all we know.
The Genus Bacillus
© 2005 Kenneth Todar University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology
Introduction
In 1872, Ferdinand Cohn, a student of Robert Koch, recognized and named the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The organism was made to represent a large and diverse genus of Bacteria, Bacillus, and was placed in the family Bacillaceae. The family's distinguishing feature is the production of endospores, which are highly refractile resting structures formed within the bacterial cells. Since this time, members of the genus Bacillus are characterized as Gram-positive, rod-shaped, aerobic or facultative, endospore-forming bacteria.
The ubiquity of Bacillus species in nature, the unusual resistance of their endospores to chemical and physical agents, the developmental cycle of endospore formation, the production of antibiotics, the toxicity of their spores and protein crystals for many insects, and the pathogen Bacillus anthracis, have attracted ongoing interest in the genus since Koch's time.
http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Bacillus.html
It's apparently a bacillus.
As for where it came from - well, we do have occasional anthrax outbreaks in sheep and cattle in some parts of the country. Somebody might have got some from that.
Well, at least the sender did not desecrate a Koran! /sarcasm
Okay, help me understand this.
AQ has blown up Indonesia targets in the past.
Biological agent arrives at the Indonesian embassy (in Australia) but they assume it's domestic terrorism against the Indonesians and not an AQ based attack against Indonesia.
Are they completely dismissing foreign terrorism, like AQ?
Yes they are.
Probably 95% chance of a false alarm.
Of course, given that the Indonesian courts gave the mastermind of the Bali bombing 2 1/2 years, I'm guessing that the Aussies may not feel the need to throw the book at anyone.
No, nothing is being dismissed at this time, but a domestic source does seem most likely. There have been a couple of threats made against Indonesian interests in recent days and these have been local.
They will look further than just a local source - but that is the most likely scenario.
Good point. Well the anthrax in America was obviously a frame up by a disgruntled scientist because among other things the date at the top was in Western order 09-11-01. "This is next. Take Penacilin now. Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great." The American scientist who did this even intentionally mispelled penicillin.
"Of course, given that the Indonesian courts gave the mastermind of the Bali bombing 2 1/2 years, I'm guessing that the Aussies may not feel the need to throw the book at anyone."
Yet they were going to give the women who tried to smuggly marijuana the death penalty. Really disgusting these people.
I agree. Stupid.
Inside the embassy?
Sounds like someone forgot their lessons in safety while mixing up some WMD.
This IS Indonesia's embassy, after all!
Insanity!!! Now, we're expected to respect the unrespectable and complement the ignorant..
Semper Fi
ping!
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