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Reader Reviews | |
Review by Paul Lappen (151003) Rating (9/10) Review
by Paul Lappen America is a signatory to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, but the first Bush Administration refused to go along with the 1997 protocol on verification of compliance. While other countries with CBW capability were expected, by the US, to allow foreign inspectors access to their facilities, the US refused to grant such access. The fear was that legitimate commercial and military secrets would be exposed. Officially, there has been a worldwide ban, since 1969, on the development of chemical and biological weapons. A loophole demanded by America allows for research on "defensive" bioweapons. There is a tiny difference between "defensive" and "offensive" bioweapons research. Over the years, the US military has tested CBW techniques on American citizens a number of times. In 1950, a cloud of bacteria was sprayed over San Francisco by the US Navy, resulting in many cases of pneumonia-like symptoms. In 1955, the Tampa Bay, Florida area experienced a huge rise in cases of whooping cough after a still-secret CIA biowar test. In 1932, the US Public Health Service started a study of untreated syphilis using 400 poor black men (who were never told of their sickness) in Tuskegee, Alabama. Another US policy has been the forced sterilization of women in the Third World. The purpose has been to protect US business interests from the threat of revolutions brought about by chronic unemployment. After the "ban" on CBW research, many researchers simply continued their work under the guise of fighting cancer. Also covered in this book is the story of a widespread epidemic in Cuba in 1981 introduced by the US. Thousands of veterans returned from Vietnam and Iraq with the growing degenerative effects inside them of Agent Orange and depleted uranium. They have spent years fighting the US Government for any recognition or recompense for their illnesses.
My only criticism of this book is that the articles reprinted
here were first published between 1982 and 1993. The editors couldn't
have found anything more recent? This is a short book, but it
says a lot. It's interesting, easy to read, more than a little
sickening and shows what the US Government really does with taxpayer's
money. It's recommended. |
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