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U.S. Army To Ramp Up Anthrax Purchasing

An anonymous reader writes "New Scientist reports that the U.S. Army wants to purchase a large supply of an anthrax strain." From the article: "A series of contracts have been uncovered that relate to the US army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. They ask companies to tender for the production of bulk quantities of a non-virulent strain of anthrax, and for equipment to produce significant volumes of other biological agents ... Although the Sterne strain is not thought to be harmful to humans and is used for vaccination, the contracts have caused major concern. 'It raises a serious question over how the US is going to demonstrate its compliance with obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention if it brings these tanks online,'"

6 of 436 comments (clear)

  1. You stupid Americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I know surprisingly little about America. I know nothing about its background or origin. I do not know when America was created or what it has done besides revive an arcadian past that never existed. Nevertheless, I can tell you all that you need to know about it. The first thing I want to bring up is that its Ponzi schemes may have been conceived in idealism, but they quickly degenerated into pestilential larrikinism. So, why doesn't America reveal the truth about itself? I guess it just boils down to the question: Do pouty chiselers like America's goons actually have lives, or do they exist solely to put subhuman, featherbrained common blood-stained criminals on the federal payroll? Well, I asked the question, so I should answer it. Let me start by saying that America's belief systems will have consequences -- very serious consequences. And we ought to begin doing something about that. America somehow manages to maintain a straight face when saying that a totalitarian dictatorship is the best form of government we could possibly have. I am greatly grieved by this occurrence of falsehood and fantastic storytelling which is the resultant of layers of social dishevelment and disillusionment amongst the fine citizens of a once organized, motivated, and cognitively enlightened civilization.

    Part of the myth that America perpetuates is that governments should have the right to lie to their own subjects or to other governments. At the risk of sounding a tad redundant, let me add that if it can't stand the heat, it should get out of the kitchen. And what of it? America claims that it is a model organization. That claim is preposterous and, to use America's own language, overtly homicidal. No history can justify it. If you think about it you'll see that America's misguided, revolting cock-and-bull stories are merely a distraction. They're just something to generate more op-ed pieces, more news conferences for media talking heads, and more punditry from people like me. Meanwhile, America's forces are continuing their quiet work of advancing America's real goal, which is to generate alienation and withdrawal. It is common knowledge that a great many of us don't want America to dilute the nation's sense of common purpose and shared sacrifice. But we feel a prodigious societal pressure to smile, to be nice, and not to object to its disingenuous grievances.

    If I were to compile a list of America's forays into espionage, sabotage, and subversion, it would fill an entire page and perhaps even run over onto the following one. Such a list would surely make every sane person who has passed the age of six realize that if America bites me, I will unequivocally bite back. A colleague recently informed me that a bunch of birdbrained, brutal astrologers and others in America's amen corner are about to contaminate or cut off our cities' water supply. I have no reason to doubt that story because I admit I have a tendency to become a bit insensitive whenever I rebuke America for trying to replace discourse and open dialogue with crude perorations and blatant ugliness. While I am desirous of mending this tiny personality flaw, my dream is for tired eyes to open and see clearly, broken spirits to find new energy, and weary arms to find the strength to provide you with a holistic and thematic history of America's wanton, immature theatrics. Lest you think that I'm talking out of my hat here, I should point out that America was voted "most likely to prey on people's fear of political and economic instability" by its peers. America's trained seals probably don't realize that, because it's not mentioned in the funny papers or in the movies. Nevertheless, no one has a higher opinion of it than I, and I think it's a maladroit buffoon.

    Given the tenor of our times, if I had to choose the most empty-headed specimen from America's welter of flighty gabble, it would have to be America's claim that its objectives won't be used for political retribution. America insists that the majority of prissy nudniks are heroes, if not saints. In the

  2. oh, lovely by dwntwnboi · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    since it's illegal to use and illegal to make, we just BUY it from someone else that we make magically exempt from this law-- ya know, cuz we can.

    what do they plan to do with it? "research" ? like, perhaps, how much quicker will it kill you if we inject it into your eyeballs than if, say, we light you on fire?

    buying anthrax means that it's being made somewhere. if it's here in the US, then that plant could be a target for attack, allowing terrorists to spread large amounts of a very prrolific and highly contageous disease. if it isn't in the US, then it may be more prone to sabotage or theft.

    either way, we all get to be terrified of our mail again. oh, happy day.

    hey while you're at it, make some more nuclear weopons, and just for kicks, see how many diseases you can weoponize. ya know. cuz it's illegal-- but don't that won't eb a problem. if your company is friends with me and my daddy, you won't ever have to worry about the law. because if anyone, like, oh, i dunno, the seante or conngress have some sort of judiciary council demanding to know what's going on, you can do what donald rumsfeld did when they confronted him: tell them they can go fuck themselves. instead of imprisoning him for contempt and compelling him to disclose the information they were demanding.

    but, like anyone connected to the bush regime, when rumsfeld told them to go fuck themselves, they pretty much said, "oh, well, ok. we'll just do that then. thanks so much for your time!"

    congress: "carl rove! outing a cia operative is treason! how could you?"
    rove: "despite the fact that this very verifiable truth is the center of all attention and is beign discussed in every facet of modern media, uh, it's not true. i didn't really do that. i was just kidding. it was someone else."
    congress: "oh, well ok then. even though we know you did it, and you should be hanged for high treason, we'll let ya go. cuz ya know... your friends with the bushes. and the whole world knows that law don't apply to rich people. especially the bushes."

    every time government officials publicly get away with what could be called treason (or simply IS treason), we are the ones who get fucked. not even trying them in court or even acknowledging their crimes means that the next time, no one will even notice. at that point, what lawa or order is there?

  3. So.... by EvilCabbage · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Anybody got information on how to emigrate to Canada, eh?

  4. Re:Just goes to show... by Saven+Marek · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    But then again the US wont let other states create peacefull nuclear programs.

    Quit your mindless sheepthinking.


    A clue ffor the clueless. Safe strains of anthrax are not nuclear. Just so you know and in case you are getting mixed up between "Nuclear" and "Safe Anthrax" like you europeans do when you read anti US propaganda. Different things entirely.

    Stop the US bashing

  5. nutcases by TamMan2000 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I am not trying to bait flame here, I just want to provoke thought.

    IIRC, Bush hasn't actually asked for the disarming of all these countries. He has asked that we take them out of the hands of nutcases who will use them as a first line of attack rather than a last resort; people who find ethnic cleansing an acceptable thing (he clouded the issue a bit by labeling them terrorists, but the reason they are terrorists seems clear enough to me).

    Ya know, many rational world leaders think George Bush is a nutcase. Do you think that they should have the right to demand that we disarm?

    --
    "I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
  6. Re:Think vaccine by dave420 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    But the US has no problem using phosphor-based weapons on civilians, though. Or nuclear weapons.

    Please, don't play that "all US troops are great guys who put the rights and lives of every civilian they enounter above their own" bullcrap. There have been too many news reports of the fucked-up things the US military is capable of for that to hold any water. I'm sorry for saying it. I bet you're a good guy an' all, but please, we've seen the US's track record on ethics.