USA Response To Biological Terrorism

Great Debates
1

Please bear with me.

I am having an extremely difficult time formulating an appropriate response to the recent discovery of intentional anthrax infection inflicted upon American citizens. This seems to me to be the height of cowardly attack and merits direct reply in kind. However, I have a really difficult time advocating the launching of biological weapons upon any group, sect or nation on this entire earth. Such replies are all too comparable to nuclear weapons in their enormity.

That said, how is one to respond to such an insidious assault? There are few ways to isolate such callow elements from the general background of a given populace. Nonetheless, to allow such an attack to go unanswered is almost more foolish that to have instigated such an assault in the first place. Make no mistake that such an attack should, nay, must be responded to. How does one do this?

Those who would lever militant action over the edge of such a dastardly precipice are deserving of only the harshest condemnation and retaliation. What shall be done against them? The response doctrine of the United States dictates that any such attack merits a reply in kind. Using any of the deadly trio of NBC (Nuclear, Biological or Chemical) weapons is both justified and called for against those who would be so cruel as to launch such an attack. How should we go about retaliating against those who would be so cowardly?

I would first and foremost advocate the use of conventional weapons against those who resort to such dastardly means. Nonetheless, what delimitation is there when such revolting measures are called into play? I attempted to bring this into consideration in my own thread “What Price Perception?” that appeared in Great Debates. I do not quite know what the correct decision is. Yet I must recognize that the United States is rapidly being driven towards the brink of initiating a level of military reply that is both hideous and yet so close to justifiable as to call into question all that has been held hallow for nearly a century.

How does one respond to biological attack? How does one combat the most unutterably disgusting degree of assault besides nuclear war upon our nation? I know that there is no simple answer to this query. Yet, we as a nation must rapidly formulate a correct and appropriate reply to such a previously incomprehensible situation.

Without taking into account my own qualms concerning massive retaliation against organizations and governments responsible for the assaults against our country, people have felt free to attack me for these questions I have raised about how, where, when and why we (as a nation) should respond to the attacks we have undergone. I wish to bring to the forefront of discussion exactly what should be the appropriate response to those who would perpetrate such a cowardly attack against America.

Please know that I in no way wish to fan the flames of bigotry. Yet I am obliged to ponder how we, as a nation, can effectively reply to the prejudice of those who would do us harm. What shall we do to delimit, deter and destroy those who would instigate such a horrific attack upon us? The revulsion we all feel for the World Trade Center atrocity may well be overshadowed by ongoing biochemical attacks being launched against us as I type this.

Do not think that I enjoy this close and careful examination of something so unsettling. There is no alternative to the frank and detailed discussion of what our reply must be to such rank and horrible aggression upon the American people. What are our alternatives?

2

Is it ‘international’ terrorism ?

I recall but a week ago Pressy Putin saying the same thing about the plane that came down between Israel and Siberia yet in the debris a pieces of a Ukrainian ground-to-air missile have since been discovered.

If it is ‘international’ terrorism then it’s certainly a new approach to everything that has passed before. According to Dick Cheney:
“I think the only responsible thing for us to do is proceed on the basis that it **could **be linked,” - well, that makes perfect sense but the use of “could” also says they don’t have the first clue about who might be responsible.

In addition, Attorney General John Ashcroft has said there was no evidence linking the four cases with terrorist actions.

Both responses seem, given the present climate, perhaps unusually cautious about presuming responsibility.

From an analytical perspective, I find the Anthrax attacks to be particularly interesting. There is something quite odd, something not quite right about it all.

  • Why go biological at this point ?

  • Why use such an ineffectual method (introducing the stuff to a ventilation system would be vastly more effective) when they’ve so recently demonstrated a desire to kill as many as possible ?

  • Who else has something to gain by upping the stakes in this particular way ?

Too much doesn’t quite make sense: The media are such an obviously inflammatory target… I believe some of the envelopes have been traced to a Malaysian (and therefore Muslim) posting origin…

Too many have something to gain from doing this and I think the entire development bears very considerable scrutiny. It wouldn’t surprise me if we never got to the bottom of this one.

3

The whole thing reeks to me of copycat opportunists: as London_Calling says, random envelopes are hardly an effective means of infecting a lot of people. What are the chances that this is the sick work of individual extremists in any one of a hundred countries, or even from within the US?

I think that the US should continue on the current means of waging war on terrorism. Any retaliatory use of NBC weapons unleashes something that, potentially, cannot be controlled and cannot discriminate between a bunker and a hospital. It’d also shatter any allied coalition: I doubt even Blair would support Bush in that case.

4

If a government or an identifiable group is using nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, I am all for termination with extreme prejudice. Put it another way, destroy the military and government of those responsible. A case like Iraq using chem weapons on their own population, or usage during the Iran-Iraq war are a bit of a grey area. North Korea setting off a suitcase bomb in Dallas, then we take 'em out. The first time might cost a lot of American lives, hopefully that would deter any other nation from trying a second time.

In the current case, it would be very possible that this is some rouge lunatic, perhaps American, piggy backing on 911 with some malicious attacks. If so, these guys you want to catch alive, find out everything they know, and put 'em away for life or the death penalty.

5

Considering the crudeness of the ‘bio-attack’, especially in comparison to the patience, intelligence, and careful planning of the hijackings, I’m really hesitant to assume that there is a direct connection between the two. I suspect this is either some other group, emboldened by the success of the 9/11 attacks and hoping to curry favor with the REAL bad guys (like bin Laden), and/or some more ‘home-grown’ terrorism.

Or, as suggested in another thread, this is not meant as a serious biological attack, but rather a way to spread fear and panic. Or maybe there WAS a scheme to spread anthrax through, say, crop-dusters, but it was found to be unworkable, or the expected supply of anthrax failed to come through, so this is a case of ‘do the best you can with what you’ve got’.

The timing suggests a connection, but the targets, method of distribution, etc. doesn’t. The Microsoft letter-returned-from-Malaysia thing is very weird, if it is being reported accurately.

Anyway, I think a ‘response-in-kind’ would be an extremely poor move, as it would certainly kill innocent people. And I don’t think ANY of the countries bordering Afghanistan would be thrilled with us. I’ve never heard of a virus, bacteria, or gas that noticed when it crossed an international border.

But I swear I’m getting paranoid - this very peculiar bio-attack sure is keeping everybody angry and frightened, and likely creating more sympathy for the US’s position. And with only one actual life lost!

Never mind, I don’t think I want to go there. :frowning:

6

There have been exactly four–4 people infected. Not 4000—FOUR.
Only 1…ONE one died.

Most badasses could do better with a .22 derringer pistol.

In fact, more people probably get shot & die with .22 pistols in Los Angeles every weekend than have suffered from this feeble “assault”.

If this is the best they can do, I ain’t sweatin’.

GET A GRIP, PEOPLE!

7

L_C’s post was the last one here when I started mine, I swear! How’d you two guys sneak in ahead of me?

::grumble:: Now I feel like a copycat.

8

Yeah, let’s not go off the deep end here, folks. I just had this identical conversation with Bonzo, who finished up a Saturday morning session on his teen MB totally panic-stricken (or at least as panic-stricken as a kewl high school freshman will allow himself to be, in front of his mother), because someone had linked to this CNN article and had posted a “don’t open your mail!” warning.

So I sat him down at the computer and showed him the following little nit-picky details.

  1. The Sony Pictures envelope is still being tested. They don’t know that it was anthrax culture–it could have been talcum powder. They don’t know. So they put the guy in the hospital just in case.

  2. The NBC News envelope was tested and was not anthrax. The woman tested positive for anthrax but, therefore, she got it somewhere else.

  3. They are still testing the New York Times and Microsoft envelopes. They don’t know yet, and until they say it was anthrax, it’s silly to worry about it. It’s more likely just some idiot copycat mailing talcum powder to Bill Gates the Antichrist.

First, this means that the New York Times envelope is probably not anthrax, either. Second, this means that whoever perpetrated this one, at least, is particularly clueless–handwritten envelopes, with the same postmark? As soon as they find a suspect, all they need to do is ask it for a handwriting sample. Like I told Bonzo, “It reminds me of those bank robbers who put the note on the back of their deposit slip.”

In other words, two of these “anthrax” cases were probably not perpetrated not by a ferociously well-organized terrorist cell.

9

The reason why I have started this thread is because of this bit of information contained in a CNN article:

---------- excerpt----------

The letter was sent to the Reno office of Microsoft Licensing, a unit of the Redmond, Washington-based software firm, apparently from Malaysia, a spokesman for Guinn said.

“It was return mail from Malaysia containing a check, a bill and the porn. The check and bill were all right but the porn material tested positive for anthrax in the first test,” said spokesman Greg Bortolin…"

(bolding mine)
It is common knowledge that bin Laden has operatives in south-east Asia and that there have been Muslim demontrations against the US in that region. Although there is the remote possibility of some lunatic attempting to ride the coattails of 9/11 in this hideous fashion, I remain deeply concerned that there is some outside effort being made to launch a biological attack against our country. The crudeness of this operation should in no way serve to dissuade one from thinking that it was not the work of bin Laden’s network. The technological requirements of such an assault are very demanding and money alone cannot entirely facilitate the needed methodology to correctly implement such a covert attack. Fortunately, we have the ability to assay the spores’ genetic markers and determine what region of the world they are from. I am extremely eager to see the results of such testing.

I think it bears mention that the odds of so many people suddenly being exposed to what is probably the rarest form of this toxin are billions to one. It is also a known fact that documents in the possession of bin Laden’s operatives detailed the steps required to launch exactly this sort of a biological attack. This operation has all of the hallmarks of the same cowardly motivations displayed in New York and I am extremely suspicious of this event. If, by chance, this was the work of some domestic maniac, then the perpetrator should await trial on charges of a capital offense with the death penalty pending a conviction.

I would still like to discuss the complex and dire implications of how to go about retaliating against such an attack. I think it is something that needs to be considered in detail and may well prove to be necessary in light of the high probability that an attempt of this sort will be made in the future.

10

The reason why I have started this thread is because of this bit of information contained in a CNN article:

---------- excerpt----------

The letter was sent to the Reno office of Microsoft Licensing, a unit of the Redmond, Washington-based software firm, apparently from Malaysia, a spokesman for Guinn said.

“It was return mail from Malaysia containing a check, a bill and the porn. The check and bill were all right but the porn material tested positive for anthrax in the first test,” said spokesman Greg Bortolin…"

(bolding mine)
It is common knowledge that bin Laden has operatives in south-east Asia and that there have been Muslim demontrations against the US in that region. Although there is the remote possibility of some lunatic attempting to ride the coattails of 9/11 in this hideous fashion, I remain deeply concerned that there is some outside effort being made to launch a biological attack against our country. The crudeness of this operation should in no way serve to dissuade one from thinking that it was not the work of bin Laden’s network. The technological requirements of such an assault are very demanding and money alone cannot entirely facilitate the needed methodology to correctly implement such a covert attack. Fortunately, we have the ability to assay the spores’ genetic markers and determine what region of the world they are from. I am extremely eager to see the results of such testing.

I think it bears mention that the odds of so many people suddenly being exposed to what is probably the rarest form of this toxin are billions to one. It is also a known fact that documents in the possession of bin Laden’s operatives detailed the steps required to launch exactly this sort of a biological attack. The operation has all of the hallmarks of the same cowardly motivations displayed in New York and I am extremely suspicious of this event. If, by chance, this was the work of some domestic maniac, then the perpetrator should await trial on charges of a capital offense with the death penalty pending a conviction.

I would still like to discuss the complex and dire implications of how to go about retaliating against such an attack. I think it is something that needs to be considered in detail and may well prove to be necessary in light of the high probability that an attempt of this sort will be made in the future.

I am also obliged to point out that nowhere have I asserted that we should respond in kind to such an attack. Please read my OP carefully and you will see that this is the case.

11

The reason why I have started this thread is because of this bit of information contained in a CNN article:

---------- excerpt----------

The letter was sent to the Reno office of Microsoft Licensing, a unit of the Redmond, Washington-based software firm, apparently from Malaysia, a spokesman for Guinn said.

“It was return mail from Malaysia containing a check, a bill and the porn. The check and bill were all right but the porn material tested positive for anthrax in the first test,” said spokesman Greg Bortolin…"

(bolding mine)
It is common knowledge that bin Laden has operatives in south-east Asia and that there have been Muslim demontrations against the US in that region. Although there is the remote possibility of some lunatic attempting to ride the coattails of 9/11 in this hideous fashion, I remain deeply concerned that there is some outside effort being made to launch a biological attack against our country. The crudeness of this operation should in no way serve to dissuade one from thinking that it was not the work of bin Laden’s network. The technological requirements of such an assault are very demanding and money alone cannot entirely facilitate the needed methodology to correctly implement such a covert attack. Fortunately, we have the ability to assay the spores’ genetic markers and determine what region of the world they are from. I am extremely eager to see the results of such testing.

I think it bears mention that the odds of so many people suddenly being exposed to what is probably the rarest form of this toxin are billions to one. It is also a known fact that documents in the possession of bin Laden’s operatives detailed the steps required to launch exactly this sort of a biological attack. The operation has all of the hallmarks of the same cowardly motivations displayed in New York and I am extremely suspicious of this event. If, by chance, this was the work of some domestic maniac, then the perpetrator should await trial on charges of a capital offense with the death penalty pending a conviction.

I would still like to discuss the complex and dire implications of how to go about retaliating against such an attack. I think it is something that needs to be considered in detail and may well prove to be necessary in light of the high probability that an attempt of this sort will be made in the future.

I am also obliged to point out that nowhere have I asserted that we should respond in kind to such an attack. Please read my OP carefully and you will see that this is the case.

12

The reason why I have started this thread is because of this bit of information contained in a CNN article:

---------- excerpt----------

The letter was sent to the Reno office of Microsoft Licensing, a unit of the Redmond, Washington-based software firm, apparently from Malaysia, a spokesman for Guinn said.

“It was return mail from Malaysia containing a check, a bill and the porn. The check and bill were all right but the porn material tested positive for anthrax in the first test,” said spokesman Greg Bortolin…"

(bolding mine)
It is common knowledge that bin Laden has operatives in south-east Asia and that there have been Muslim demontrations against the US in that region. Although there is the remote possibility of some lunatic attempting to ride the coattails of 9/11 in this hideous fashion, I remain deeply concerned that there is some outside effort being made to launch a biological attack against our country. The crudeness of this operation should in no way serve to dissuade one from thinking that it was not the work of bin Laden’s network. The technological requirements of such an assault are very demanding and money alone cannot entirely facilitate the needed methodology to correctly implement such a covert attack. Fortunately, we have the ability to assay the spores’ genetic markers and determine what region of the world they are from. I am extremely eager to see the results of such testing.

I think it bears mention that the odds of so many people suddenly being exposed to what is probably the rarest form of this toxin are billions to one. It is also a known fact that documents in the possession of bin Laden’s operatives detailed the steps required to launch exactly this sort of a biological attack. The operation has all of the hallmarks of the same cowardly motivations displayed in New York and I am extremely suspicious of this event. If, by chance, this was the work of some domestic maniac, then the perpetrator should await trial on charges of a capital offense with the death penalty pending a conviction.

I would still like to discuss the complex and dire implications of how to go about retaliating against such an attack. I think it is something that needs to be considered in detail and may well prove to be necessary in light of the high probability that an attempt of this sort will be made in the future.

I am also obliged to point out that nowhere have I asserted that we should respond in kind to such an attack. Please read my OP carefully and you will see that this is the case.

13

Sorry for the triple post, the servers were just bogged down so much that it was impossible to tell that there was any completion of submission.

Mods, please delete the repeat posts.

14

Sorry for the quadruple post but I kept getting “this page has expired” notices when I attempted to post the above reply.

Mods, please delete three of them if you would be so kind.

15

Gah! This is ridiculous!

16

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding what you are saying here, Zenster, but I think you might be operating from inaccurate information. It is not the type of anthrax that is rare, it is the manner of infection. The same spores cause all three types of disease - cutaneous, inhalation, and gastrointestinal - the difference is in the way the spores enter the body. Most cases of anthrax are cutaneous because they are acquired through a break in the skin during the handling of a deceased infected animal or animal product. Inhalation is rare because it requires that a sufficient quantity of spores be airborne within the range and volume of air you can inhale. This circumstance just doesn’t occur very often naturally.

Anthrax spores do not form until the bacteria are exposed to air. Diseased animals commonly ‘bleed out’ upon death, thus exposing the bacteria to air and allowing the formation of spores. These spores are very hardy and may survive on/in the ground for hundreds of years, until they have the opportunity to infect another animal. Think of the spore as an ‘egg’ that hatches when placed in the ‘incubator’ of a living host. Anthrax bacteria that does not form a spore is not infectious, so is not contagious in person-to-person contact.

Unless the CDC is lying to us, the strain of anthrax found in these cases is the same old garden-variety anthrax found everywhere - that is, it is not some bio-engineered drug-resistant nightmare developed and cultivated in a weapons laboratory. It is sensitive to penicillin, which is certainly not a characteristic of any ‘designed’ disease!

Anthrax is pretty easy to cultivate with minimal knowledge and equipment - you don’t need a state-of-the-art multi-million dollar laboratory. The fact that many of the suspicious packages contained an unidentified ‘white powder’ with no trace of anthrax spores indicates, to me, that either the perpetrators are pretty incompetent or that only a very small amount was available and was used to create fear, which was then exacerbated by mailing out quantities of talcum powder, flour, or some other innocuous substance.

I’m not saying that bin Laden’s followers are not responsible, but that there are other possibilities that we should investigate - otherwise, if it is someone else they will get off scot-free and be able to do it again.

The Microsoft letter is extremely weird - from here:

There are a hell of a lot of unanswered questions here - who was it mailed to, and why? When was it sent, and how long did it take to go there and back? What are the postmarks - did it actually go all the way to Malaysia and back? And by what route? What do they mean by pornography? What kind of pornography? What is the source - a personal photo, something printed off an internet site, something cut from a magazine? Why was it returned - was it undeliverable, or did someone pay postage to have it returned in the original envelope? Why a ‘stain’ - and was it just on the piece of pornography or was the entire envelope stained? The whole thing is very, very peculiar.

Anyway, as a bio-attack, it’s pretty pathetic - I think the main purpose of this is to create panic and fear among US citizens. Now anyone who feels like it can disrupt businesses and government installations or get their school shut down by dribbling flour through a hole in their pocket, so it’s pretty successful in that respect.

I don’t see any reason for making changes in our current response, as it does not change our goal, which is to destroy bin Laden and his terrorist network. Surely we are doing that to the best of our ability now? I really don’t see what else we can do, besides what we are already doing.

I think this just has to be chalked up to ‘the fortunes of war’. US citizens are just not used to it because we have never been attacked on our own turf before. We’re extremely vulnerable to this sort of attack, but I don’t see that we can do much to change that, either. We’ll just have to bear up under it as best we can - surely we have as much fortitude as the Londoners during WWII?

What do you have in mind, Zenster?

17

exposure to anthrax at NBC.

18

Are you talking about this? This article says 5 more people in FL, from the American Media offices. Or are you talking about a different report?

19

US doctrine also dictates a measured response. That is to say, we don’t respond to some half-assed Anthrax attack that killed one person and forced several others to take antibiotics for 60 days by unleashing Ebola variants in our enemies cities.

20

Thank you for your clarification, coosa. The mathematics of this situation stand undiminished. The inhalatory mode of anthrax infection remains one of the most improbable and least likely methods of exposure. All of this still points towards an intentional method of infection and represents a terrorist attack of some sort, be it foreign or domestic.

Regardless of origin, the sponsor of this felony must face relentless prosecution in addition to the most severe penalties imaginable. I hope the courts view this as a premeditated and unmitigated act. They should ascribe penalties comensurate with a planned and determined criminal effort. I remain concerned that this may have been a terrorist effort if only because, regardless of origin, the intended results were the same. Wholesale public panic and additional economic harm were predictable outcomes of this act and the perpetrator[s] must face charges equivalent to such a crime against the state.

Again, msmith, in no way am I recommending a biological counterattack against those responsible. I only maintain that if this action is an external effort, it should command the harshest retaliation imaginable. Please reread the OP before you attempt to accuse me of advocating biological warfare. In addition, if this was a form of domestic terrorism it is time for the gloves to come off with swift and brutal reprisal awaiting those responsible.

Any comparison of this poorly planned attempt with a .22 Derringer is completely invalid. This is more the case of a misfiring machine gun. If a terrorist bomb detonates incorrectly, there should be no allowance for any mitigation of the crime’s intent. Someone intended great and greivous harm to be done. To broadcast toxic bacteria in such a fashion is attempted mass murder and nothing else.