60 Minutes: Iraq Has Smallpox

Newsmax ^ | 10/8/01

[truthandlife]

60 Minutes reported Sunday night that Iraq has a strain of smallpox.

Smallpox is a deadly and highly contagious virus.

Only two countries were believed to have strains of the virus, the U.S. and Russia.

60 Minutes' Mike Wallace reported this evening that Saddam Hussein acquired some of the smallpox virus from a laboratory in Russia.

Russian scientists have also been helping countries like Iraq and Iran developed biological weapons.

[Physicist]

Oooookay, then why is it NOT okay to have laws against driving drunk that include blood-alcohol restrictions? That's "pre-emptive," right?

For the same reason we haven't nuked the CDC in Atlanta for carrying stocks of smallpox. Some people can hold their liquor.

I REPEAT: Saddam hasn't actually TERRORIZED us yet, so how can we "preempt" him? We haven't the right.

Of course he has. You haven't been paying attention.

[spectre]

Michael Savage had an interesting, if not frightening theory on spreading the Smallpox virus. He said all the enemy has to do is inject and infect ONE person, and put that person on an airplane. From the passengers, to whoever the infected person mingles with, the smallpox exposure would set off a domino s effect. No one would know what hit us.

We need to be immunized for our own piece of mind.

sw

[Chris_Patrick]

"If you don't recognize the development of smallpox into a weapon of war, by a rogue state intent on our destruction as demonstrated intent to "harm others", you're an even bigger idiot than I thought you were"

BUMP!

[lavaroise]

There's a low-tech solution at hand. Think about it.

I have to say I am mystified. I have heard about this animal small pox that is contagious but not deadly to humans, and that once healed from it the person is immunized from Small Pox. I have also heard about kooks talking about weird potions.

[Don Myers]

"Then we use more - a lot more."

Yes, I know we will. My point is there comes a time when you are killing yourself.

[Pistias]

The winds blow across Iraq and into India...fallout could be severe if the conditions were ideal for transmission--I assume you mean by "sterilize" to completely wipe out all human life, correct?

[Kozak]

Interesting any cow pox vaccine out there in the veterinary world? Does Fleet Farm have a web site?

[Chris_Patrick]

Exactly! I have thought of a similar scenario. Terrorists infect themselves and gain entry to our country. They then travel via airplanes around the country. They take trains, busses, and go shopping in crowded malls. Before we know it, thousands are infected. It's hard to defend against this, unless per your suggestion (a damn good one), we are on the ball and everyone is immunized.

[Pistias]

3M, avoid high-density areas, weatherstripping?

[Dukie]

Very good, Physicist. Is Cow Pox still prevalent enough to provide a sufficient amount of immunization serum ?

[Politically Correct]

There are about 40 million doses of vaccine stockpiled in the U.S. Quit freeking out.

And there is 280 million of us.
So that leaves 240 million of us with smallpox and about 80 million of us dead.
And your suggestion is to remain calm?

[OWK]

Oooookay, then why is it NOT okay to have laws against driving drunk that include blood-alcohol restrictions? That's "pre-emptive," right?

The public (being owner of the roads), IS entitled to establish the terms and conditions pursuant to access of their property. INCLUDING restrictions on operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. I have never suggested otherwise.

[MadameAxe]

The over-the-ever-shrinking-but-currently-.08 limit guy who gets in his car may be stupid (or even - gasp! - capable of driving well in his "impaired" condition) but he does not consciously intend to kill anyone.

Saddam Hussein is an evil dictator who has clearly indicated that he wants to eradicate us all, and who has been amassing pathologic agents, uncontrollable once released, that have no other use than to cause death.

Do you really not grasp the difference?

[Texas Mom]

There are about 40 million doses of vaccine stockpiled in the U.S. Quit freeking out.

True. A large majority of the citizens in this country are already vacinated of they attended public school. It's only been the past couple years they stopped requiring it to begin school.

[OWK]

I REPEAT: Saddam hasn't actually TERRORIZED us yet, so how can we "preempt" him? We haven't the right.

Apparently Mohammed Atta's meetings with Iraqi intelligence in the weeks leading up to the events of 9-11, escaped your notice.

[Think free or die]

I was worrying about Smallpox this morning, so I did a little digging around. One thing that caught my eye was a statement that Smallpox is not infectious at subclinical stages. If that's correct, then it gives us a little guidance on prevention. Stay away from sick people, especially those with light rashes, which are the precursor to the big pox blisters.

If we have any infectious disease experts, it would be good to get a bit more insight into periods of incubation and transmissibility.

[OWK]

It's one way or the other. I believe that we can enforce laws that pre-empt bad guys. Your Libertine philosophy says that you can't, not until it is provably harmful. Can't "prove" that Saddam's possession of the means for our destruction would DEFINITELY be harmful.

I'm beginning to think that others are correct.

You really are a silly little man.

[OWK]

True. A large majority of the citizens in this country are already vacinated of they attended public school. It's only been the past couple years they stopped requiring it to begin school.

Unfortunately it has been a bit more than a "couple years".

[donh]

I REPEAT: Saddam hasn't actually TERRORIZED us yet, so how can we "preempt" him? We haven't the right.

Wrong analogy from an irrelevant field of discourse. The correct analogy would be with someone who gets your wallet because he points what you foolishly presume is a loaded gun at your head. Getting what he wants using force does not require that he pull the trigger. The correct field of discourse is relations between countries, which libertarian political philosophy largely fails to address, and libertarian practical politics usually addressed with George Washington's warnings about foreign entanglement. Paving and striping Iraq, if that seems the course safety dictates (which I doubt), is prohibited by pacifist ideology, not libertarian ideology.

[sakic]

According to an article I read in the New Yorker about a year ago there are virtually no smallpox vaccinations currently available. There is a repository, at the CDC I believe, where there there is enough to create a few hundred vaccinations. I'll try and find the article and see if I can post it.

By the way, the New Yorker has had outstanding articles the past few weeks concerning the current problems. The most chilling was the one about just how inefficient and lazy our intelligence agencies have grown.