SARS: Chinese Biowar Accident?

Newsmax ^ | 5/2/03 | John LeBoutillier

[Interloper]

Did the Communist Chinese military create the SARS virus as a bioweapon – only to see a horrific accident unleash this killer on innocent citizens worldwide?

A wise man with strong connections to U.S. intelligence recently opined that the SARS outbreak may in fact not be a naturally forming virus. Instead, it may be a "Chinese biowar disaster" along the lines of the anthrax release years ago in the Soviet city of Sverdlosk.

Indeed, there are tantalizing clues that lead to Beijing's secretive military establishment:

In a Wall Street Journal article from Beijing just days ago, reporters Peter Wonacott and Susan V. Lawrence report that World Health Organization (WHO) experts on the ground in China were inspecting civilian hospitals to check the level of preparation for SARS patients. During these inspections, WHO officials were denied access to Chinese military hospitals.

The Journal story claimed: "Much of the secretiveness is focused on military-run hospitals. Those hospitals report to the medical department of the general logistics department, which reports to the Central Military Commission, chaired by former President Jiang Zemin. Military hospitals have no direct bureaucratic link to the state medical system.

"A letter addressed to the WHO and written by two staff members at Beijing's No. 309 Hospital – one of the city's military-run hospitals – said that hospital administrators Saturday ordered large numbers of SARS patients to be transferred from No. 309 to the No. 3 Armed Police Hospital before a WHO inspection visit to No. 309 Tuesday.

"The vast majority, including particularly severe cases, were transferred out, leaving just a small number of light cases here to make due for your inspection visit," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal.

"At the No. 3 Armed Police Hospital, which is in the Beijing suburb of Fengtai, a staff member said that the hospital is receiving transferred SARS patients and that all the clinics at the hospital have been closed to outside patients, but couldn't comment on details of patient transfers.

"An official at No. 309 Hospital said that the transfer of patients is an issue handled by the hospital's top executives and that he couldn't comment on it."

Underneath this apparent secrecy is the strong likelihood of a massive cover-up. Why? Because the military, under China's convoluted political system, is the 'enforcer' of the un-elected communist regime. And, despite new leadership in Beijing two months ago, former President Jiang Zemin retains control over the Military Commission.

This would be analogous to former President Clinton running the Pentagon while President Bush is in the White House. Some way to run a country, eh?

Jiang – and his old-line military supporters cushy in lifetime posts – must be desperate to keep the lid on the SARS outbreak for fear he will have the Military Commission taken away from him. Thus the cover-up: military hospitals made off-limits to WHO personnel, civilian officials afraid to talk and a riot in a small town where SARS patients were placed in yet another military hospital.

Of course, underneath this cover-up is the original crime: the possibility that SARS is the result of the People's Republic Red Army experimenting in deadly biowar weapons.

Weapons of mass destruction and a brutal regime. Sound familiar?

And yet no one ever talks about how the Red Chinese government is the cornerstone of the real Axis of Evil.

[Interloper]

I have wondered why this angle isn't getting more play among the tin foil hat crowd, maybe it is.

[Blue Scourge]

hmm, actually when I first heard about it this was the first thought that came to my mind. I honestly thought they Red Chinese may have been at fault....but I really don't think thats the case now.

[harpseal]

Perhaps SARS is a bio-engineered virus but what difference does that make to its effects and potential danger? If it was a natural mutation or and engineered one it is just as dangerous and the simple fact is without some admission by the PRC which is to put it mildly highly unlikely we will never ever be certain that this story is true.

In short this is really just a pretty big so what.

[Schnucki]

Biological warfare testing gone wrong was the first thought I had.

Does this mean I qualify for the tin-foil hat club?

[Alberta's Child]

One of the things you have to remember is that biowarfare of this sort is very ineffective when carried out by the Chinese. The problem for them is that the people of any Western nation that is targeted with biological weapons are going to be more adept at dealing with it than anyone else in the world. And China will be less capable of dealing with it than almost anyone else.

Let's look back on this one year from now -- I guarantee you that the lowest mortality rate for SARS will be found in the U.S., and the highest will be found in mainland China.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

And... it isn't a highly effective bioweapon... unless your goal is to randomly kill people throughout the globe. I do not know how it could be used as a bioweapon, at this stage. Perhaps if it had been refined more, it could have been used to target one population, compared to another. If that is the case, then vaccination for SARS would be the only way to save your own people, and target others.

[nevergore]

The concept of a fairly non-lethal super-flu as a bio-war weapon is not new...If a country such as China could release a fast moving flu that would taget another countries civilian and military populace, they could effectively temporarily diminish the target countries military effectivenes to such a point that resistance is minimal.

This would be especially effective to a island target such as Tiawan were containment is possible...

This type of "secret experimentation" is currently in process in numerous countries....Cheap, effective and readily do-able....

The problem with bio-war is that it can easily get away from your target and affect you.....

I don't believe this is the case with SARS but the slim possibility is there....

NeverGore

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Yesterday's tinfoil hatters are today's brilliant analysts.

[widowithfoursons]

Any country stupid enough to unleash a virus on its own people deserves the consequences. But this SARS scare is a media driven outbreak since so few have died from it.

[joesnuffy]

LOL...come to think about it...once upon a time Galileo, Columbus, Marconii, Magellan, Lewenhook, were all tin foil hat club members werent they........not to mention nearly half the country voted for Gore

[11B3]

So few have died from it.......That WE know about.

[ex-Texan]

No it does not mean that you are a member of the tin foil hat club. NewsMax is just reporting the latest information from China. In fact, the major news media in the United States has known about the possible bio-weapon link since mid-March. Yet they are dedicated to keeping the information off the front pages.

How do I know? Well -- besides the fact that China moved SARS patients into military hospitals back in November and December -- the bio-weapon rumors were all over the Internet in March. Deductive reasoning. The logic of 2 + 2 = 4. It is logical to conclude that the virus might be man-made and the first victims were Chinese researchers. Why else would they be quarantined in miliary hospitals under the protection of the Peoples Liberation Army?

Take a peek at some news archives and scroll down to March and early April. Feel free to flame away.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Just because SARS started in China the tin foil hat thoughts and theory could have it as a bio-chem attack from anyone. OBL?So Damn Insane? Pick a terrorist any terrorist...

[Alberta's Child]

Well -- besides the fact that China moved SARS patients into military hospitals back in November and December . . .

This could very well have been a case of the Chinese government taking precautions in the event someone else had released a biological weapon in China.

[ex-Texan]

The virus probably was released by accident.

It showed up in Hong Kong when a medical scientist went in for treatment and told the staff he was infected with a dangerous new illness that he was exposed to in China. He died shortly thereafter. OBL was not involved.

[ex-Texan]

By someone else .... Who ?

[Alberta's Child]

That's right.

If I'm the government of a country where the average male is about 5'0" and 110 pounds, has never received an inoculation of any sort, and lives to the ripe old age of 47, the last thing I'm going to do is introduce a biological agent into the population in the hopes of killing off large numbers of enemy people.

[Alberta's Child]

I wasn't speculating that someone else released a biological agent -- I was speculating that even if it occurred naturally the Chinese government may have reacted as if someone (maybe the U.S.) had released a viral agent.

[harpseal]

Clearly it was not a fully developed Chinese bioweapon otherwise the vacine would be already in stick. Perhaps it was research that went bad but as I stated previously such is really not relevant to dealing with the problem.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Whether folks like this planned it, or whether it's just a "happy coincidence", these types are no doubt cheering the epidemic on:

http://home.attbi.com/~kelsung/xtra/conspiracy/jun99.htm

http://www.vhemt.org/

In a country with a stated and brutally enforced public policy of population control, involving forced abortions and coerced sterilizations, it is not beyond question that some overenthiastic and dimwitted bureaucrats simply decided to "fulfill the quota" by thinning out the population "a bit".

If so, it would not be the most brutal or stupid state activity going on in the world. For that, you would get stiff competition from such hell holes as Zimbabwe and North Korea.