A New Ally in the War On Terror

[Puppycow]

Black Death

The disease, which struck Europe in the Middle Ages killing more than 25 million people, has swept through a training camp for insurgents in Algeria.

The arrival of the plague was discovered when security forces found the body of a dead terrorist by a roadside, the Sun reports.

The victim belonged to the large al-Qaeda network AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb).
. . .
The new epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers, the Sun reports.

The group, led by wanted terror figure Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The group now fears the highly-infectious disease could have spread to other al-Qaeda training camps or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the paper said.

A source said: "The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death."

 

[Texas]

Oooops!

 

[Marquis de Carabas]

Should we start a betting pool on when the first post pops up in CT attributing this to biological warfare by the CIA?

Looks like we've already got our cover story developing:

Experts said that the group was developing chemical and biological weapons.

Dr Igor Khrupinov, a biological weapons expert at Georgia University, told The Sun: "Al-Qaeda is known to experiment with biological weapons. And this group has direct communication with other cells around the world.

"Contagious diseases, like ebola and anthrax, occur in northern Africa. It makes sense that people are trying to use them against Western governments."

Source

 

[Texas]

Should we start a betting pool on when the first post pops up in CT attributing this to biological warfare by the CIA?

Looks like we've already got our cover story developing:


Source

I'm actually surprised that someone, AlQueada or otherwise, has not tried this out yet. Infect a suicide martyr and send him onto any train, subway or sporting event and watch the result. It wouldn't even need to cause many casualties the very thought of it would shut down many cities for weeks just as the anthrax mailings did.

 

[Darat]

Insha'Allah.

 

[Texas]

Insha'Allah.

Off to GITMO with you.

 

[Puppycow]

Should we start a betting pool on when the first post pops up in CT attributing this to biological warfare by the CIA?

Of the following three possibilities, which seems most likely?
1) This was just an accidental natural occurrance
2) Western intelligence services did this to them
3) They were trying to develop this as a terror weapon and accidentally killed themselves instead

I'm starting out agnostic. None of them seem entirely inconceivable, although #2 seems unlikely to me.

 

[Darat]

Off to GITMO with you.

A year's holiday in Cuba? Sounds quite nice.

 

[Texas]

A year's holiday in Cuba? Sounds quite nice.

Only if you look good in orange.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

Off to GITMO with you.

Not anymore.

 

[Oliver]

Should we start a betting pool on when the first post pops up in CT attributing this to biological warfare by the CIA?

Looks like we've already got our cover story developing:


Source

Well, I don't know if this needs an own CT - when I read about it in a Rightwing-Blog some days ago, the entry already claimed that it was a clandestine operation by US-Intelligence.

 

[Gagglegnash]

Hi

Of the following three possibilities, which seems most likely?
1) This was just an accidental natural occurrance
2) Western intelligence services did this to them
3) They were trying to develop this as a terror weapon and accidentally killed themselves instead

I'm starting out agnostic. None of them seem entirely inconceivable, although #2 seems unlikely to me.

My bet is #3.

Pasteurella pestis is fairly easy to weaponize, the aerosol form causing pneumonic plague (which you'd think would be easy to remember!) and can be deployed with little more than a spray can.

The only problem is, a small leak or a moment's mishandling, and you don't know that almost everyone with whom you come in contact for about the next week is going to die unless they've already been immunized.

The vaccine, however, is much harder to prepare, and since you're going to use suicide bombers... errr... sprayers to deploy it anyhow, why bother.

I'd say something like, "chickens come home to roost," but I think it's more about jackasses than poultry.

 

[Darat]

At the moment I'll go with simply bad conditions at the camp.

Would it be possible to detect a strain that has been "weaponised" from a corpse?

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Al-Queada "hath been verily smitten with a plauge"?

Really?

Given the enemys habit of shouting "God is Great" prior to blowing themselves up, is anyone else amused that God has stepped in on our side?

 

[Gagglegnash]

Hi

At the moment I'll go with simply bad conditions at the camp.

Would it be possible to detect a strain that has been "weaponised" from a corpse?

After amateur (from the latin, "amator:" One who loves, but is no damn good at...) weaponization, it'd take two, maybe three corpses.

 

[Gagglegnash]

Hi

Al-Queada "hath been verily smitten with a plauge"?

Really?

Given the enemys habit of shouting "God is Great" prior to blowing themselves up, is anyone else amused that God has stepped in on our side?

Welllll... they were all shouting, "Allah will give victory to the righteous," as the US went into Iraq.

You don't hear much of that any more....

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

At the moment I'll go with simply bad conditions at the camp.

Would it be possible to detect a strain that has been "weaponised" from a corpse?

Maybe "weaponised" isn't what we should be looking for? Weaponised implies (to me at least, anyone who knows biowarfare can correct me if I'm wrong) conversion into a form that can be carried and delivered to target relatively safely.

But then, why does someone who doesn't care for his own safety need to weaponise an infectious agent? Al-Queada loves making creative use of suicide attacks. Maybe they underestimated the speed of the strain they were working with and their living bio-bomb didn't get out of the camp before he keeled over, not to mention how contagious it might have been?

 

[Darat]

Fair enough but I think we require some evidence that there is anything more to this than it being an age old disease that kills people every year.

 

[Gagglegnash]

Hi

Maybe "weaponised" isn't what we should be looking for? Weaponised implies (to me at least, anyone who knows biowarfare can correct me if I'm wrong) conversion into a form that can be carried and delivered to target relatively safely.

But then, why does someone who doesn't care for his own safety need to weaponise an infectious agent? Al-Queada loves making creative use of suicide attacks. Maybe they underestimated the speed of the strain they were working with and their living bio-bomb didn't get out of the camp before he keeled over, not to mention how contagious it might have been?

During the '60s and '70s of last century, the government and military of the C.C.C.P. were very good at the, "form that can be carried and delivered to target," part, but a bit lax in the, "relatively safely," department with almost all their stuff.

A terrorist would feel the same way. A contagious guy with an empty can of liquid death would be of much less effective than the same contagious guys with a full can.

Given the fairly short incubation period, it would be really nice, too if the delivery guys weren't looking too... ummm... plaguish before they started squirting stuff about.

All of this is predicated on my being a bloody minded, paranoid summinabich, too, I should add. It's all Your Tax Dollars At Work^® though - the US Government went out of their way and spent some totally amazing amount of money to refine this kind of thinking in me as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist.

Fair enough but I think we require some evidence that there is anything more to this than it being an age old disease that kills people every year.

I agree. A couple more corpses, or a live one or two, and we'll get some better answers.

 

[Puppycow]

Fair enough but I think we require some evidence that there is anything more to this than it being an age old disease that kills people every year.

Oh, it does, does it? Then I guess that's the default hypothesis. I didn't know that it still kills people every year (how many I wonder?)