Iraq and Cuba – Fitting Pieces in the West Nile Virus Puzzle?

www.newsmax.com ^ | Aug. 9, 2002 | Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[mhking]

[Tailgunner Joe]

You don't believe in bioterrorism?

[mhking]

You don't believe in bioterrorism?

Oh, I believe it; I just don't believe that West Nile is it.

[hellinahandcart]

I believe that if the best that Iraq and Cuba can come up with between them is West Nile, we can all relax.

[hellinahandcart]

And yet, what better place for Cuba and Iraq to conduct biological terrorism against the United States than 90 miles from U.S. shores!

Except that West Nile first appeared in New York, considerably further away from Cuba than 90 miles.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Why? What do you know about it? Can you refute any points in the article?

Former State Dept. Official: Inspect Cuba

BioWeaponCuba.Com

[mhking]

Why? What do you know about it?

I know that West Nile in the US first appeared in New York state - far from the shores of Cuba - several years ago. I know that migratory birds fly all over the North American continent, and that some species cross the Atlantic in varying degrees. I know that Castro is not stupid enough to expose himself to something that he proposes to send against his enemies. I know that given all of these commonly known facts, that the conjecture in this article is simply that, conjecture.

When you put all of those things together, I would say that a 'tin-foil alert' would appropriate. That being the case, I have no desire to waste my time further with the article, refutation or not.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Better safe than sorry.

[firebrand]

A friend of mine who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, a flyover zone for the airports that serve NYC, told me a few years ago that she had seen huge clouds of parrots flying in the sky one day. After she pinched herself to make sure she hadn't somehow awoken in a Garcia Marquez novel, she came to the conclusion that they must have escaped while being imported. We never saw anything about it on the news. I now wonder about West Nile, although we'll never know. It did start in Queens, I believe, and the timing is right.

[hellinahandcart]

Why didn't they send Dengue instead of West Nile? I mean, they had the disease AND the mosquitoes right there at hand. Collect the mosquitoes, hide them in boxes of fine cigars, give them as parting gifts to visiting leftist politicians. Whammo! Dengue fever in the USA.

I want to like this doctor, I really do. He's pro-gun and anti-socialized medicine. But this article is simply too speculative and sensational.

[firebrand]

bio-parrot ping

[hellinahandcart]

I have seen parrot nests on telephone poles all over Brooklyn! Someone told me they were parrots who'd escaped people's homes, met one another, and set up housekeeping :D. It seemed like an awful lot of ramdomly-escaped parrots to me, considering the number of nests (your explanation makes a lot more sense). We've had mild winters for the past three years, too, so that explains how so many survived.

But all it would take, really, is ONE sick parrot in a smuggled load. The Spanish flu epidemic started when one sick woman stepped off a boat here.

[PhilDragoo]

Two experts, Ken Alibek, author of "Biohazard" and former deputy head of the Soviet biological warfare project, and Dr. Manuel Cereijo, professor at Florida International University, believe that this indeed could be the case.

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene West Nile Virus Information

[Bon mots]

Monk Parrots are now living and breeding quite happily all over the Northeast USA, mostly along or close to shoreline areas. They are also known as Monk Parakeets. You can find them as far north as New Haven, Connecticut.

I've heard a million stories about where the colonies got started... one of them involved PT Barnum and the parrots escaping. They live in large colonies and make a lot of noise, although they are pretty to look at. I've heard they got their start in Bridgeport, Connecticut in a seaside area called "St. Mary's By the Sea".

Getting back to the main point - mosquito borne diseases... it's not hard to imagine them arriving on aircraft. Suppose a mosquito gets squashed on a windshield of a jet... the eggs inside would survive the six hour flight from Africa and possibly be washed off by the rain into a swampy area. After all, Tiger mosquitoes came over in the residual water in used tires shipped to America for re-treading.

However, if you want to pin this one on Castro and Saddam, hey, why not?

[mgist]

There is a Cuban Radio station in Miami that has had exiled scientists on the talk show explaining how Castro is running bio-terror labs. Most have said that they provided specific information to the U.S. government and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

As far as the virus spreading within Cuba, there have been rampant diseases and problems on the island. These are never mentioned except on these Cuban talk shows. Does anyone really believe that Castro would be overly concerned about ordinary Cubans?

[PhilDragoo]

There is a Cuban Radio station in Miami that has had exiled scientists on the talk show explaining how Castro is running bio-terror labs. Most have said that they provided specific information to the U.S. government and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

I have a query out to a friend down there.

Indeed, Papa is muy simpatico. Not.

[ClearasaBell]

worse than tin foilers is people that cant outthink the enemy , that live by standards they think the rest of the world goes by.....i advise all you freepers to do some intensive homework on west nile