ZGram - 10/15/2001 - 'News roundup"

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 15, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

The Anthrax scare is very much in the news.  To give this story
perspective, consider the following few paragraphs from the most recent
Sunday Herald, one of England's most prestigious, widely-read papers:

[START'

UK planned to wipe out Germany with anthrax:  Allies World War Two shame

 By George Rosie

AS THE world recoils at the horrific possibility of al-Qaeda terrorists
waging anthrax war against United States citizens, the Sunday Herald can
reveal that Britain manufactured five million anthrax cattle cakes during
the second world war and planned to drop them on Germany in 1944.

The aim of Operation Vegetarian was to wipe out the German beef and dairy
herds and then see the bacterium spread to the human population. With
people then having no access to antibiotics, this would have caused many
thousands -- perhaps even millions -- of German men, women and children to
suffer awful deaths.

The anthrax cakes were tested on Gruinard Island, off Wester Ross, which
was finally cleared of contamination in 1990. Operation Vegetarian was
planned for the summer of 1944 but, in the event, it was abandoned as the
Allies' Normandy invasion progressed successfully.

[END]

The rest of the story at http://www.sundayherald.com/19248

=====

Moving right along to the opening paragraphs of an article written by  RON
FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent

[START]

A letter opened Monday in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
``had anthrax in it,'' President Bush (news - web sites) said. The envelope
was field-tested shortly after being received, and the staffers who were
exposed were being treated, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said ``there may be some
possible link'' between Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and a recent
flurry of anthrax-related developments.

`I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have any hard evidence,'' he said
of the man suspected as the leader behind Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New
York and Washington that killed thousands.

 Within a few hours of the delivery of the letter to Daschle's office,
officials in the House and Senate issued orders to all
 congressional offices to refrain from opening mail.

[END]

More at
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011015/us/attacks_anthrax_congress_12.html

=====

A Reuters release put this on the wire:

[START]

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NBC television nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw said
Monday he might have handled hate mail containing anthrax, which has
already afflicted his assistant and possibly another NBC employee.

``I actually saw it (the letter) and I think I even picked it up at one
point and so I may have been exposed. I'm not sure but I'm confident that
cipro is going to get me through this,'' said Brokaw, shaking a bottle of
antibiotics.

Hundreds of people have been tested across America for anthrax. People in
three states have been exposed to the bacteria. The targets were NBC in New
York, a supermarket tabloid newspaper company in Florida and a Microsoft
Corp. office in Nevada.

[END]

Full story at
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011015/re/attack_anthrax_brokaw_dc_1.html

=====
[START]

US law enforcement bodies got the power to intercept email traffic last
week.  Privacy advocates warn this is a bad idea.

 The US Senate on Thursday night voted 96-1 to pass a bill that would give
law enforcement officials greater powers to intercept the internet traffic
of suspected terrorists, with fewer restrictions than before. Civil
liberties advocates condemned the vote, which saw proposed
privacy-protecting amendments excluded.

 The Uniting and Strengthening America Act, like its sister act in the
House of Representatives ( Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept
and Obstruct Terrorism Act), amends existing eavesdropping laws to take the
internet into account.

 The Acts' proponents claim current laws tie the police's hands by making
it to difficult to intercept suspect communications.

 The Acts would loosen warrant requirements, as well as allow police and
the FBI to move wiretaps between jurisdictions without having to get a new
warrant.

[END]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2097273,00.html
=====

Consider the price tag for having coddled Israel, America's arrogant
mistress, for more than half a century!

[START]

LA Times, by Richard Simon, Times Staff writer:

[START]

Title:  Defense of the Homeland Comes With Hefty Price Tag

Security: Congress is daunted by the sheer size of the task of protecting
potential targets.

WASHINGTON -- First came nuclear power plants.

Then, Congress turned its attention to dams, the electricity grid, oil
pipelines, transit lines, drinking water systems and sewage treatment
plants.

In the coming weeks, the spotlight shifts to national monuments and sports
venues.

For Congress in the post-Sept. 11 era, anything and everything that could
be a target of a terrorist attack is grist for public hand-wringing and
private worry.

But lawmakers concede that the sheer size of the task leaves them
awe-struck. More monumental than the effort to prevent a Y2K computer
meltdown at the turn of the 21st century, the new danger could pose
shearing dilemmas for lawmakers, particularly local officials who may find
themselves having to choose between school textbooks and firefighter gas
masks. (...)

Defense of the homeland could cost $1.5 trillion over the next five years,
according to one estimate circulating on Capitol
Hill.

[END]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-101501safe.story

=====
Things seem to be getting a bit uncomfortable in Israel.  Snippets of
interesting news, reported today:

 [START]

 British Prime Minister Tony Blair  said Monday that the formation of a
Palestinian state was a key aim of the Middle East peace process.

 "A viable Palestinian state, as part of a negotiated and agreed
settlement, which guarantees peace and security for Israel is the
objective," Blair told a news conference in London after meeting Palestinan
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

 [END]

 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=83019&contrassID=1&s
ubContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

 =====

 Also, this one from today's Ha'aretz:

 [START]

 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched a blistering attack Monday on the two
far-right ministers - Avigdor Lieberman and Rehavam Ze'evi - who quit the
government earlier in the day over the withdrawal of the IDF overnight from
Palestinian-controlled areas of Hebron that they occupied 10 days ago.

 "You have caused me great anguish today," Sharon said, addressing the
Knesset plenum at the opening of the winter session. "National unity is
vital for Israel's durability... You have caused me great anguish. But, by
contrast, you have given Arafat great pleasure today. For him this is a
dream," Sharon said, referring to what he says is Arafat's desire to
undermine the government.

 [END]

 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=82742&contrassID=1&s
ubContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

 =====

 Thought for the Day:

 "Notice how the Zionists cannot strut around any more - but, instead, long
for the days when the subject of a Palestinian state could only be
whispered in the corridors of Washington - as saying it publicly would
assure the person be called a bigoted anti-semite and would assure a loss
at the next election.

 "This is cause for celebration as the 'turf' has changed dramatically and
permanently. The Zionists are seething. "

 (Letter to the Zundelsite)