| http://www.progressive.org/webex/wx021802.html
February 18, 2002 The Pentagon Mindset: Poison Them! Deep inside the sixth of eight glowing articles in its series "10 Days in September" about what wonderful crisis managers George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice are, The Washington Post on February 1 buried the following bit of information: The Pentagon was considering poisoning Afghanistan's food supply. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld prepared a briefing for Bush on September 17, Bob Woodward and Dan Balz reported. Rice, head of the National Security Council, "and Frank Miller, the senior NSC staffer for defense, went with the President to the Pentagon. Before the briefing, Miller previewed the classified slide presentation prepared for Bush and got a big surprise," Woodward and Balz reported. "One slide about special operations in Afghanistan said: Thinking Outside the Box--Poisoning Food Supply. Miller was shocked and showed it to Rice. The United States doesn't know how to do this, Miller reminded her, and we're not allowed. It would effectively be a chemical or biological attack--clearly banned by treaties that the United States had signed, including the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. "Rice took the slide to Rumsfeld. 'This slide is not going to be shown to the President of the United States,' she said. "Rumsfeld agreed. 'You're right,' he said." Why this wasn't a major story in itself is beyond me: The Secretary of Defense wanted to propose to the President that he poison Afghanistan's food supply! The Pentagon, unchastened by reports that it had intentionally destroyed Iraq's water supply ten years ago (see "The Secret Behind the Sanctions," by Thomas J. Nagy, The Progressive, September 2001), was still at its old tricks, planning at the highest levels to pull a similarly lethal and illegal stunt in Afghanistan, one that is banned by the Geneva Convention. I hope at least one courageous member of the House or Senate Armed Services Committee will ask Rumsfeld about this the next time he comes to Capitol Hill. -- Matthew Rothschild |
