Growing up I heard my share
of, “Don’t you dare touch that….don’t you…no!” As a parent I've probably said it twice as much. Recently I heard the grown up
version from our President, aimed at the president of Syria. A scolding
ensued after evidence of small scale sarin use was uncovered. President Obama
warned Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad of a U.S. military response if he
dared cross a “red line” by using or
moving any chemical or biological weapons. A red line for the U.S. is defined as
beginning to witness a “whole bunch” of chemical weapons being moved around or
used. Michael Eisenstadt, Director of Military and Security Studies Program at
the Washington Institute for the Near East (whew!), makes the claim that Syria probably has the biggest and most
advanced of all chemical warfare programs. So with a quizzical look on my face I
am sure, they are just now being warned of crossing a red line I did not even
know was a real term?!
Obama’s warning came on the
second of three feasting days to honor the end of Ramadan whose holiday message
is of tolerance and amity. Is this interesting political irony or purposeful
timing on the heels of a recent domestic tragedy for which the public is crying
out for justice? President Obama assured the listening citizens of contingency plans
while warning Syria and any other country with similar intentions of the U.S. stance
on the matter.
Our legislative bodies fear
these chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands. Who really is what can be
considered the “right” hands? Even our home teams fumbles. In 1985, our own
biological Guru- the CDC “misplaced” a purified sample of a hemorrhagic fever, named
the Crimean Congo strain. It was allegedly mailed with dilute samples for
research to a U.S. Army lab but only the dilute samples arrived. After an
allegedly extensive search, it was concluded that the original purified virus
had inadvertently been destroyed in a “routine” cleaning. What is routine about
cleaning hemorrhagic fever causing viruses? Through dumb luck, if you can call
it that, the virus cannot sustain itself outside a living host for more than an
hour. As in human nature, history repeats itself….March 23, 2013 a routine
inspection of a locked freezer unit
revealed a missing sample of a very virulent, highly contagious virus known as
Guanarito. This too is a hemorrhagic fever, native to central Venezuela, and
was being held in the UTMB-Houston laboratory for “research” due to the virus’
high potential for use as a biochemical weapon. Foul play was doubted and
again, routine cleaning was blamed for having destroyed the virus sample. The
U.S. government states that we are not hoarding, storing, nor do we advocate
any such activities related to biological warfare. Yet we have laboratories storing
only mere samples in the name of “defensive biological research?” President
Obama, our entire legislation as well as our nation as a hole worry about these
microscopic weapons falling into the wrong hands, but exactly how do you define
who the wrong hands belong to? Countries are standing united in support of not
crossing these ‘red lines’ and ready themselves against countries like Syria
who are making test runs amongst their own populations. My best advice is, that
as the leaders of each country stand who plan to stand shoulder to shoulder in
a line waiting for Red Rover to come over, before holding hands to form the
chain-wash them first.
