Cruise Ship Terrorism?

NewsMax ^ | 12/03/02 | Christopher Ruddy

[Heartlander2]

Cruise Ship Terrorism? Terrorism can't be behind the spate of cruise ship virus outbreaks.

Nope. Impossible. That's the verdict of our officials in Washington.

"There's nothing that we've seen thus far to suggest this is any sort of bioterrorism," Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the AP. "Though it's not common that we see these outbreaks of this sort of magnitude, it's certainly not unheard of."

What's their proof?

They have none, really. Just their guess.

Last week I spoke with a very prominent Washington journalist, who suggested the cruise ship outbreaks may be a dry run by terrorists before they use more deadly viruses.

His surmise was made before another two ships, including Carnival's Fascination, returned to port carrying as many as 170 ill passengers.

The passengers on Fascination were hit with the Norwalk virus, a gastrointestinal virus that has been around for decades. But it has never seemed to target cruise ships as it has in the past several weeks.

So far, more than 1,000 passengers have been stricken by the virus while on cruise ships.

Holland America's The Amsterdam ship was struck several times with the virus. Decontamination has not seemed to work.

Disney has spent millions on its ship, the Magic, hoping to decontaminate it once and for all.

So far three ships have been hit hard (apparently others have had smaller outbreaks). All three ships were operated by different cruise lines and all sailed from different ports.

Still, the feds are firm in their conclusion. The Miami Herald reported that "CDC officials have said there is no evidence that the cruise ship outbreaks are the work of terrorists."

Still, they don't have any evidence that it isn't.

Let's not forget that this is the same CDC that that has yet to say boo about the West Nile virus, though scads of evidence points to terrorism.

Dr. Ken Alibek, former head of the Russian bioweapons program, thinks so. And so does Sen. Patrick Leahy, who recently said credible evidence points to West Nile as a test of our defenses to bioterrorism.

Sad to say, the American public is the last to know. The media won't carry any discussion of West Nile as a bioweapon. They practically censored any discussion of the snipers being Muslim terrorists. And now the cruise ship outbreaks.

Now is neither the time for censorship of important matter nor the time for hysteria. While we shouldn't jump to any conclusions about the Norwalk outbreaks, we should not immediately exclude terrorism.

How about keeping an open mind, following the evidence, asking good questions. Even if it isn't terrorism, why not use these outbreaks as a test to see what we can learn from them.

[TomB]

Absolutely terrible logic here. You can't prove a negative.

LOL Welcome to Free Republic. ;-)

I wonder how many logicians are in therapy after visiting this site.

[Cindy]

LINKS OF INTEREST:

CDC TELEBRIEFING TRANSCRIPT: "OUTBREAK OF GASTROINTESTINAL ILLNESS ABOARD CRUISE SHIPS" (112702)

USA TODAY.com: "VIRUS OUTBREAK HITS ANOTHER CRUISE SHIP" (120202)

FOX NEWS.com (AP): "DISNEY CANCELS NEXT CRUISE WITH 160 ILL" (112802)

CANADA.com - CANADA PRESS: "CRUISE SHIP AMSTERDAM RETURNS TO HOME PORT FOR CLEANING AFTER 500 SICKENED" (112102)

[PUGACHEV]

It may be related to a common food supplier, perhaps one that furnishes fresh vegetables or fruit. These ships take on massive amounts of food in the brief time that they're in port. It seems likely to me that only a few suppliers would be able to meet a cruise ship's schedule, and a "typhoid Mary" working for one of these companies might account for the outbreaks on more than one ship or cruise line.

[Aquinasfan]

I'm more concerned about a bunch of machine gun toting terrorists boarding a cruise ship. The mind reels. I hope these ships are prepared for such an attack. They're sitting ducks.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" I can't imagine Osama or Saddam targeting a cruise ship with a "FLU LIKE" virus"

I doubt it's the work of OBL,but perhaps an OBL wannabe. I guess you can count me as a tin foil hate wearer,but there are too many ships involved,too many different lines with different ports of embarkation( San Diego, Alaska and Florida's ports),too many variables for this to be happenstance,IMHO. The illness started in the summer on 2 Holland America ships and has continued to spread.If it was one ship or just one line,I would say it was a limited outbreak,due to some common area of contamination,say the company that provides dairy products having a worker who continues to spread the virus via his handling of butter,ice cream, etc.Or it might even be some foulness in a machine that produces these food products.If it was the same ship over and over,you would consider the possibility of an infected crew member or continuous cross contamination between crew and passengers. It may well be that the common denominator is a food conglomerate that has a sick worker and sells commodities to all the cruise lines. But,the food giant would also sell to schools and large institutions ,so you would expect to see larger outbreaks all throughout the US. There also seems to be a syntax dispute over exactly what the passengers are experiencing. If you read the cruise boards-it sounds like they have mostly GI symptoms,but the cruise lines refer to it as flu like, which conjurs up a sore throat,head cold,high fever and muscle aches. The cruise lines make a lot of their money on the sale of liquor and gambling. If people are sick,it hurts the bottom line-which could be part of the economic terrorism predicted by the fanatics.I cruised a few weeks after 9/11- I wouldn't allow the terrorists to ruin our vacation.I don't think this outbreak can be as easily dismissed as naturally occurring and it would not surprise me at all,if a single worker or group was responsible. If that were the case,however and they were discovered-I think they would be quietly disappeared into the justice system and the virus would magically vanish. The ramifications of a nationwide panic in the multimillion dollar cruise industry and the country in general, would be too great.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Does anybody remember the case of Leon Klinghoffer?

In 1985, Leon Klinghoffer and his wife Marilyn were on a cruise ship called the Achille Lauro. Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly man, was shot in his wheelchair, then thrown overboard by Palestinian terrorists.

Here's a link to the CDI Terrorism Project. It gives a timeline of terrorist attacks against America, starting in 1983.

CDI Terrorism Project

Here's another timeline going back to 1979:

www.thinkquest.org

[muggs]

And I could see crews infecting themselves over and over until the virus works its way through everyone. What's the incubation period for this virus, anyway, anyone know?

Yesterday I read the incubation period for Norwalk is 24-48 hours. Also once infected you should have immunity for about 24 months.

[Lokibob]

Ok, since I can't get you to understand, here is a report dated 1997 by the CDC.  I seems that Osama or some other terrorist has been in the business for years.

Please note that there were an estimated 181,000 cases years ago.   I say again,

 

IT IS A MEDIA MANUFACTURED PROBLEM

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/fact/norwalkv.htm

Norwalk-like Viruses

November 28, 1997
Contact: Media Relations Division
(404) 639­3286

• Norwalk viruses (and related caliciviruses) are important causes of sporadic and epidemic gastrointestinal disease in the United States. An estimated 181,000 cases occur annually.
• Viral gastroenteritis due to caliciviruses has been associated with eating contaminated oysters. Oysters can become contaminated before harvest or during preparation. Water and ice are other sources of infection.

---

 

You can speculate all day long as to the source, but it is bad hygene, and lots of people in a small area.

 

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For Gods sake, the news source is NEWSMAX!!  Worse than (or at least equal to) the National Enquirer.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

You don't understand the concept-bad hygiene as the cause- absolutely. But,suddenly and simultaneously on different ships-no way. If this were airborne-yes. This is not a media manufactured problem-it's a real situation. I've been on cruises every single year for the last 15 years and have never seen anything like this before and neither has the cruise industry seen anything as widespread as this.Why just now and not every single cruise, every single year? If the cause is a worker-the same unhygienic crew members have been working on the ships before-why now? And the National Enquirer has a track record for accuracy-check with their legal department, the days of besmirching the National Enquirer as a space alien rag are long gone. A more apt comparison to a publication with a large amount of errors would be the NYT or Newsweek.

[July 4th]

I can't imagine Osama or Saddam targeting a cruise ship with a "FLU LIKE" virus. They would use smallpox or something much bigger.

Why bother with those viruses when they can wreak havoc with something, literally, close at hand that they don't need to procure from somewhere else.

My theory: a couple of jihadis working in the kitchens think it's fun to terrorize passengers by putting their stool in the food.

[goodnesswins]

OHHHH.....YUCK. (But, I had thought of that earlier as I was reading this thread.)

[Lokibob]

"neither has the cruise industry seen anything as widespread as this"

 

You can not make a statement like that without backing it up.

 

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Here is the Cruise Industry news.  I encourage you to read all the news and official releases.  RED is the important items. 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/bargains/cruisenews.cfm#706

 

The Norwalk virus has plagued cruise lines for years, particularly during summers in the Alaska/Northwest Canada region. It is very contagious and is spread through contact with surfaces touched by the infected -- anything from a stair rail to a casino chip. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea and vomiting and it generally lasts about two days.

Typically, when cruise ships report a significant affected percentage (about 3 percent or more), they undergo an intense super-sanitation process, swabbing down surfaces with extra-strong cleaning products. But, despite efforts of Disney Magic's "cast members," not to mention intensified preventive measures taken by Holland America's Amsterdam, the illness continues to spread.

While cruise lines, particularly Holland America over the Amsterdam outbreaks, are taking a lot of heat from media and travelers over handling of information (and sensitivity towards passengers) about Norwalk Virus, the air-borne strain, highly contagious, is not limited to floating pleasure palaces. Norwalk and look-alike viruses have caused similar outbreaks in other places, from a school near Houston to a hospital in London. The virus flourishes from well populated and enclosed areas. 

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[Wild Irish Rogue]

" neither has the cruise industry seen anything as widespread as this"

You can not make a statement like that without backing it up."

How about this-Dave Forney,chief of the vessel sanitation program at the CDC-" A small number of sicknesses is routine,but,not nearly at this level."

[Political Junkie Too]

What if it's not the cruise ship, per se, but one of its ports of call? The passengers go visiting many small islands during their week-long cruises, and they could contract the viruses off ship, and then introduce it onboard to other passengers when they meet at the buffets or nightclubs or pools or whatever.

Has anyone taken a close look at the Carribbean island security where the cruise ships circulate?

-PJ

[Rockitz]

I've been thinking about this problem for a while.

Perhaps our overuse of anti-bacterial soap has finally caught up with us? Possibly a cleaning procedure which has used anti-bacterial soap (formerly cleaned with regular soap) on a surface in contact with food or water repeatedyl has finally built up a super strain of virus which survives the cleaning process? Just a thought.

[Rockitz]

repeatedyl = repeatedly