------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 8, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
WORLD'S WORST OUTBREAK OF ANTHRAX: WAS IT GERM WARFARE? By Elijah Crane As the anthrax scare continues to dominate the news in the U.S., there is a glaring omission in the media discussion of this disease. No mention is being made of the worst epidemic of anthrax ever documented. It occurred in what was then white-ruled Rhodesia, toward the end of the struggle of the Black majority for independence. It is very likely that the outbreak was the result of germ warfare. Meryl Nass, M.D., one of the foremost experts on anthrax in the United States, analyzed the outbreak in an article in the Winter 1992-93 issue of CovertAction magazine. More recently, allegations concerning the role of South Africa's apartheid regime in providing Rhodesia with anthrax were investigated by the ANC government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The revolution for the independence of the country, now called Zimbabwe, ended in February 1980. From 1978 to December 1980, the anthrax epizootic--an epidemic that involves more than one species--raged in the African-owned Tribal Trust Lands. Some 10,738 Black people were reported infected with the disease. Of these, 182 died. The loss of thousands of cattle created a critical food shortage for the survivors. The white population of Rhodesia remained unscathed. Many more cattle than humans were infected in Zimbabwe during that period, yet it was almost entirely African-owned cattle that got sick. Just four small outbreaks, affecting only 11 animals, touched the white-owned commercial farms. In the 29 years prior to this outbreak, Zimbabwe had a low incidence of anthrax: a total of only 334 cases of human anthrax had been reported in that country. And until that time, "about 7,000 cases [were] reported in the world annually," according to "Mandell's Principles and Practice of Infectious Disease," published in 1979. Anthrax is not passed directly from person to person or animal to animal--aside from the consumption of infected meat. Epizootics are generally limited, both geographically and in time. They usually occur in areas previously infected where spores have remained in the soil. But that didn't happen in Zimbabwe. The fact that the anthrax epizootic raged across six of the eight provinces of Zimbabwe is one indication of possible biological warfare against the Black population. RHODESIA HAD THE CAPABILITY Nass explained that the Rhodesian government, and its partner, apartheid South Africa, were capable of such an act. "There is evidence that obtaining or producing spores was within the means of those countries which wanted them. Production of spores is not technically difficult. Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. produced them as long as 50 years ago. "The U.S. is known to have created and stored such weapons until they were destroyed following Nixon's 1969 ban." But, she added, "A number of biological weapons was found in a CIA freezer after all U.S. biological weapons were reported to have been destroyed, ostensibly stored by a CIA employee without higher approval. "Given the scope of foreign involvement with Rhodesia, the white government may have received the weapons from a country which had a secret program. It is also possible that Rhodesia was able to produce such materials domestically. "Many delivery systems for anthrax spores are relatively simple to produce or procure. They could have allowed for the careful demarcation between affected and unaffected areas which was exhibited by the Zimbabwe epizootic. The simplest method of dissemination would have been by air, but other methods for contaminating the soil were also possible." On the issue of transmission and infection, Nass explained: "In Zimbabwe, where 'protected villages' existed in many parts of the country (which entailed the creation of new population centers by removal of Blacks from their rural farms to regulated areas) and the movement of rural Blacks was in some areas strictly controlled, it may have been possible to accomplish airborne spraying and yet avoid populated areas." According to the Web site for PBS's Frontline, Zimbabwe's current Minister of Health, Dr. Timothy Stamp, has ordered an investigation into whether South Africa was involved in Rhodesia's anthrax outbreak. SECRET WAR BEGAN UNDER IAN SMITH Back in 1965, then-Rhodesia had declared independence from Britain in order to maintain white minority rule while other British colonies in Africa were gaining independence. The struggle for liberation in Zimbabwe began in the late 1950s and continued through 1979. As guerrilla forces gained strength in numbers and experience, the racist white regime, headed by Ian Smith, turned to a secret war in hopes of defeating the nationalist movement. The CIA played an active role. The white minority Rhodesian government created its own intelligence agency--the Central Intelligence Organization. The purpose of the CIO, headed by Ken Flower, was to break up the African Nationalist struggle. They escalated their secret war, employing psychological warfare and torture on captured freedom fighters and infiltrating the two liberation organizations, ZANU and ZAPU. Modern-day paramilitary operations in Central and South America are based on this model of warfare created by the white apartheid regime of Rhodesia, with the backing of apartheid South Africa. The paramilitary forces in Colombia utilize these same techniques against the FARC-EP and the ELN. In the peasant villages, CIO forces, with the "help" of captured guerillas, would pretend to be from either ZANU or ZAPU. These agents would then abuse the villagers in the name of the struggle, calling them "sellouts" and even executing some of the revolution's most loyal supporters. This created an atmosphere of distrust that hampered the fight for liberation. The white commercial farmers rationed out food to the peasant workers, allowing them only one day's portion at a time. This prevented them from being able to supply the liberation fighters with sustenance. They further disrupted life for the rural population by contaminating their livestock, thus destroying their livelihoods, destabilizing and limiting their food supplies. The creation of an anthrax epizootic would have benefited the white colonizers of Zimbabwe not only by demoralizing the rural supporters of the liberation struggle, but also by starving them out and impoverishing their communities. One way to ensure contamination in specific areas would be aerial spraying. The Rhodesian government began air raids on Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) training camps in Zimbabwe and Mozambique in October 1978. One month later the anthrax epizootic began. Nass wrote that clothing had been distributed to the people which was poisoned with organophosphates--nerve gas--which killed hundreds of Black guerrilla fighters as well as civilians. The anthrax epizootic of Zimbabwe has not been subjected to a careful scientific analysis including necessary testing, studies and evaluation. Part of the reason for this is that there exists no "generally accepted methodology to serve as a guide for the design of an investigation into the possible use of biological weapons," according to Nass. By their very nature, chemical and biological weaponry use is very hard to prove. The spores of anthrax are invisible to the eye unless in large quantity. All the available evidence pointed to the Rhodesian government as the culprit in spreading the anthrax epizootic to Black rural areas as an attempt to crush the revolution there. But the apartheid regime was unable to crush the determination of the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle for independence. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
