Posted on 04/17/2003 5:24:48 AM PDT by areafiftyone
B A G H D A D, Iraq, April 17 — Dangerous strains of cholera, black fever, HIV, polio, and hepatitis may have been lost during the post-war looting of Iraq's key disease control facility, ABCNEWS has learned. The U.S. military is worried they may be used as weapons.
In an exclusive report on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America, Brian Ross revealed that scientists at Baghdad's central public health laboratory are worried that an unknown number of viruses have been stolen.
They say looters took refrigerators full of the deadly viruses Friday, but they're not sure what's actually missing. "They are in containers, all of these things taken together, cholera, AIDS and black fever," one unidentified Iraqi woman told Ross.
Ross says U.S. Marines showed up at the facility today. U.S. sources are concerned that polio and hepatitis may have been stolen, in addition to other viruses that may not be reflected in the official records in Baghdad, Ross said.
The Iraqi scientists say they have no idea who took the material. They don't know whether it was swept up in the looting rampage or taken by someone who knew what they had.
There is great concern and anger from the director of the lab about the failure of the U.S. to prevent the looting.
"The Americans shouldn't just protect Ministry of Oil, they should protect all the general public health services," the lab's director told Ross.
The written sign outside now reads in Arabic, "Stay away, extremely dangerous. Lab is polluted with viruses," Ross said. There have been no reports of illnesses yet and the greatest danger may be to the looter who took it. In the wrong hands, however, it could be considered a potent weapon.
Ha. Did you hear some of the latest talking points from the DNC which Rush was talking about a few days ago? That this military which waged such a swift war and had such a complete victory--it's actually clinton's military, so we have him to thank for this...
Now I've heard everything.
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