Sergey Snegov: Biological terrorism in U.S.A. Act of humiliation again

The whole world is seized with powder mania. They are looking for powder everywhere: in US and in Europe. There were 20 envelopes containing white powder found in Australia. The substance was sent for testing. An envelope with “anthrax” inside it arrived to a worker of the Israeli newspaper Maariv. People were evacuated from the premises.

The incident with the white power that happened in Cyprus is of special interest. Some people paid attention to the white powder, which was scattered on the paths in the park near the Parliament building. What powder can be scattered on the paths near the parliament? Correct – the anthrax powder. The Cypriotes left the territory of the park in panic, and the powder was sent for testing. It turned out only today that it was nothing but chalk powder. Athletes have had a race recently in the park, and the chalk powder was used to single out their race tracks.

In the meantime, the panic in the U.S.A. continues. The amount of the people hospitalized with suspected anthrax diagnosis reportedly reached 13. It became known yesterday that Tom Daschle, the Senate Majority leader, received a “bacteriological” letter. The letter was opened by one of his attendants, and now this person is undergoing a medical examination. An ABC producer’s son of 7 months of age was taken to the hospital today in New York. The ABC premises are currently being examined.

The official data have not been changed yet – there are eight infected people: two of them have fallen ill with anthrax, and the others have the anthrax virus. The first patient – The Sun photographer from Florida died 2 weeks ago; the second patient from the same company is being treated.

There are no doubts that the U.S.A. has suffered from the bacteriological terrorism. However, it is not clear who could carry such an action out. The scientists of the whole world repeat over and over again that terrorists like Bin Laden do not have the requisite conditions and labs for performing a biological attack. The American authorities are not hasty to accuse someone of that.

It seems that there is one and the same terrorist group operating in America, as the terror attack of September 11 and the biological attack are similar: they both planted the seeds of panic. Maybe this group consists of special service agents of some country, or maybe they are terrorist-guerrillas having the support of the state?

The biological attack looks more like a warning than a real attack. Anthrax is a horrid disease of course, but it is not transmitted from one human being to another. One can catch anthrax only if you touch the dangerous envelopes, so an epidemic situation is out of the question. Terrorists could choose other contagious diseases like the plague or smallpox, wishing to cause real damage to America.

Six months ago, the special services of America, as well as healthcare industry and civil defense, carried out a military exercise to find out the defense capacity in case of a biological attack. The exercise showed that the country was absolutely not protected. Pursuant to the results of the exercise that lasted for 2 weeks, it became known that the American population would die out if a dangerous contagious disease were used for the assault. However, so far, the United States of America continues to bomb Afghanistan.

AP photo: Postal worker Rosheel Sharma of the Auckland, New Zeland Mail Center, checks overseas letters Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2001