by Michel Chossudovsky
July 26, 2009
from
GlobalResearch Website
"The flu season is upon us. Which type will
we worry about this year, and what kind of shots will we be told to
take? Remember the swine flu scare of 1976?
That was the year the U.S. government told
us all that swine flu could turn out to be a killer that could spread
across the nation, and Washington decided that every man, woman and
child in the nation should get a shot to prevent a nation-wide outbreak,
a pandemic."
(Mike Wallace, CBS, 60 Minutes, November
4, 1979)
"The federal officials and industry representatives had assembled to
discuss a disturbing new study that raised alarming questions about the
safety of a host of common childhood vaccines administered to infants
and young children.
According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom
Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing
the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in
the vaccines - thimerosal - appeared to be responsible for a dramatic
increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among
children....
"It's hard to calculate the damage to our country - and to the
international efforts to eradicate epidemic diseases - if Third World
nations come to believe that America's most heralded foreign-aid
initiative is poisoning their children. It's not difficult to predict
how this scenario will be interpreted by America's enemies abroad."
(Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vaccinations:
Deadly Immunity, June 2005)
"Vaccines are supposed to be making us healthier; however, in
twenty-five years of nursing I have never seen so many damaged, sick
kids. Something very, very wrong is happening to our children."
(Patti White, School nurse, statement to
the House Government Reform Committee, 1999, quoted in Robert F. Kennedy
Jr., Vaccinations: Deadly Immunity, June 2005)
"On the basis of... expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific
criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. I have therefore
decided to
raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from
Phase 5 to Phase 6. The world is now at the start of the 2009
influenza pandemic.
(Margaret Chan, Director-General, World
Health Organization (WHO), Press Briefing 11 June 2009)
"As many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two
years - nearly one-third of the world population."
(World Health Organization as reported by
the Western media, July 2009)
"Swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two
years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine
campaign and other measures aren't successful."
(Official Statement of the US
Administration, Associated Press, 24 July 2009).
"The U.S. expects to have 160 million doses of swine flu vaccine
available sometime in October".
(Associated Press, 23 July 2009)
"Vaccine makers could produce 4.9 billion pandemic flu shots per year in
the best-case scenario", Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health
Organization (WHO)
(quoted by Reuters, 21 July 2009)
"Wealthier countries such as the U.S. and Britain will pay just under
$10 per dose [of the H1N1 flu vaccine]... Developing countries will pay
a lower price." [circa $400 billion for Big Pharma]
(Business Week, July 2009)
War without borders, a great depression, a military adventure in the Middle
East, a massive concentration of wealth resulting from the restructuring of
the global financial system.
The unfolding economic and social dislocations are far-reaching. People's
lives are destroyed. The World is at the juncture of the most serious crisis
in modern history. Bankruptcies, mass unemployment, the collapse of social
programs, are the untold consequences.
But public opinion must remain ignorant of the causes of the global crisis.
"The worst of the recession is behind us";
"There are growing signs of economic recovery",
"The Middle East War is a 'Just War'", a humanitarian endeavor.
Coalition forces are involved in "peace-keeping," we are "fighting
terrorism with democracy"
"We must defend ourselves against terrorist attacks"
Figures on civilian deaths are manipulated.
War crimes are concealed. People are misled on the nature and history
of the
New World Order.
The real causes and consequences of this
Worldwide economic and social collapse remain unheralded. Realities are
turned up side down. The "real crisis" must be obfuscated through political
lies and media disinformation.
It is in the interest of the political powerbrokers and the dominant
financial actors to divert public attention from an understanding of the
global crisis.
How best to achieve
this goal?
By artificially creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation which serves
to weaken and disarm organized dissent directed against the established
economic and political order.
The objective is to undermine all forms of opposition and social resistance.
We are dealing with a diabolical project. The public must not only remain in
the dark. As the crisis worsens, as people become impoverished, the real
causes must be replaced by a set of fictitious relationships.
A crisis based on fake causes is heralded:
"the global war on terrorism" is central to
misleading the public's understanding of the Middle East War, which is a
battle for the control over extensive reserves of oil and natural gas.
The antiwar movement is weakened. People are
unable to think. They unequivocally endorse the "war on terrorism"
consensus. They accept the political lies. In their inner consciousness,
terrorists are threatening their livelihood.
In this framework, the occurrence of "natural disasters", "pandemics",
"environmental catastrophes" also plays a useful political role. It distorts
the real causes of the crisis.
It justifies a global public health emergency on
humanitarian grounds.
The Worldwide H1N1
swine flu pandemic
Towards a Global Public Health Emergency?
The Worldwide H1N1 swine flu pandemic serves to mislead public opinion.
The 2009 pandemic, which started in Mexico in April, is timely: it coincides
with a deepening economic depression. It takes place at a time of military
escalation.
The epidemiological data is fabricated, falsified and manipulated. According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), an epidemic of worldwide proportions
now looms and threatens the livelihood of millions of people.
A "Catastrophic Emergency" is in the making. The WHO and the US Centre for
Disease Control (CDC) are authoritative bodies. Why would they lie? The
information released by these organizations, although subject to statistical
errors, could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be falsified or
manipulated.
People believe that the public health crisis at a global level is real and
that government health officials are "working for the public good."
Press reports confirm the US government's intent to implement a mass H1N1
vaccination program in Fall-Winter of 2009. A major contract for 160 million
doses has been established with
Big Pharma, enough to inoculate more than
half the US population. Similar plans are ongoing in other Western countries
including France, Canada, the UK.
Volunteers are being recruited to test the swine flu vaccine during the
month of August, with a view to implementing a nationwide vaccination
program in the Fall.
Manipulating The Data
There is ample evidence, documented in numerous reports, that the WHO's
level 6 pandemic alert is based on fabricated evidence and a manipulation of
the figures on mortality and morbidity resulting from the N1H1 swine flu.
The data initially used to justify the WHO's Worldwide level 5 alert in
April 2009 was extremely scanty.
The WHO asserted without evidence that a
"global outbreak of the disease is imminent". It distorted Mexico's
mortality data pertaining to the swine flu pandemic.
According to the WHO Director General Dr.
Margaret Chan in her official April 29 statement:
"So far, 176 people have been killed in
Mexico".
From what? Where does she get these numbers? 159
died from influenza out of which only seven deaths, corroborated by lab
analysis, resulted from the H1N1 swine flu strain, according to the Mexican
Ministry of Health.
Similarly in New York city in April, several hundred children were
categorized as having the H1N1 influenza, yet in none of these cases, was
the diagnosis corroborated on a laboratory test.
"Dr. Frieden said. Health officials reached
their preliminary conclusion after conducting viral tests on nose or
throat swabs from the eight students, which allowed them to eliminate
other strains of flu."
Tests were conducted on school children in
Queen's, but the tests were inconclusive: among theses "hundreds of school
children", there were no reports of laboratory analysis leading to a
positive identification of the influenza virus.
In fact the reports are contradictory: according
to the reports, the Atlanta based CDCP is the,
"only lab in the country that can positively
confirm the new swine flu strain - which has been identified as H1N1."
(Michel Chossudovsky, Political Lies and
Media Disinformation regarding the Swine Flu Pandemic, Global Research,
May 2009, last quotation is from the New York Times, April 25, 2009)
Influenza is a common disease. Unless there is a
thorough lab examination, the identity if the virus cannot be established.
There are numerous cases of seasonal influenza across America, on an annual
basis.
"According to the Canadian Medical
Association Journal, the flu kills up to 2,500 Canadians and about
36,000 Americans annually. Worldwide, the number of deaths attributed to
the flu each year is between 250,000 and 500,000"
(Thomas Walkom, The Toronto Star, May 1,
2009).
What the CDCP and the WHO are doing is routinely
us re-categorizing a large number of cases of common influenza as H1N1 swine
flu.
"The increasing number of cases in many
countries with sustained community transmission is making it extremely
difficult, if not impossible, for countries to try and confirm them
through laboratory testing.
Moreover, the counting of individual cases
is now no longer essential in such countries for monitoring either the
level or nature of the risk posed by the pandemic virus or to guide
implementation of the most appropriate response measures."
(WHO, Briefing note, 2009)
The WHO admits that at a country level
laboratory testing is often absent, while emphasizing that lab confirmation
it is not required for data collection, with a view to ascertaining the
spread of the disease:
A strategy that concentrates on the
detection, laboratory confirmation and investigation of all cases,
including those with mild illness, is extremely resource-intensive. In
some countries, this strategy is absorbing most national laboratory and
response capacity, leaving little capacity for the monitoring and
investigation of severe cases and other exceptional events. ...
For all of these reasons, WHO will no longer
issue the global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all
countries. However, as part of continued efforts to document the global
spread of the H1N1 pandemic, regular updates will be provided describing
the situation in the newly affected countries.
WHO will continue to request that these
countries report the first confirmed cases and, as far as feasible,
provide weekly aggregated case numbers and descriptive epidemiology of
the early cases.
(Ibid)
At a June 2009 WHO press conference, the issue
of lab testing was raised:
Marion Falco, CNN Atlanta: My
question may be a little basic but if you are not, and so forgive me for
that, if you are not requiring testing in the countries that already
have well established numbers of cases, then how are you distinguishing
between seasonal flu and this particular flu. I mean how are you going
to separate the numbers?
Dr Fukuda, WHO, Geneva: It is not that we are recommending not
doing any testing at all. In fact when the guidance comes out, what it
will suggest is what countries are to do is tailor down their testing so
that they are not trying to test everybody but certainly keeping up
testing of some people for exactly the kinds of reasons that you bring
up.
When people get sick with an influenza-like
illness it will be important for us to know whether is it caused by the
pandemic virus or whether is caused by seasonal viruses.
What we are indicating is that if you
ratchet down the level of testing we will still be able to figure that
out and so we do not need to test everybody for that, but we will
continue to recommend some level of testing – at a lower level of people
who continue to get sick.
(See Transcript of WHO Virtual Press
Conference, Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General for Health
Security and Environment, WHO, Geneva, July 2009, emphasis added).
"Figure that out"? What the foregoing statements
by the WHO suggest is that:
-
the WHO is not collecting data on the
spread of H1N1 based on systematic lab confirmation.
-
the WHO in fact discourages national
health officials to conduct detection and laboratory confirmation,
while also pressuring the countries' public health authorities to
duly deliver to the WHO on a weekly basis the data on H1N1 cases.
-
the WHO in its reporting only refers to
"confirmed cases" It does not distinguish between confirmed and
non-confirmed case. It would appear that the "non-confirmed" cases
are categorized as confirmed cases and the numbers are then used by
the WHO to prove that the disease is spreading.
(See WHO tables:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_07_06/en/index.html)
The swine flu has the same symptoms as seasonal
influenza: fever, cough and sore throat. What is happening is that the
widespread incidence of the common flu is being used to generate the reports
delivered to the WHO pertaining to the H1N1 swine flu.
Nonetheless, in the tabulated release of country
level data, the WHO uses the term: "number of laboratory-confirmed cases",
while also admitting that the cases are, in many cases, not confirmed.
Worldwide Pandemic
The WHO establishes trends on the spread of the disease, essentially using
unconfirmed data. Based on these extrapolations, the WHO is now claiming, in
the absence of laboratory confirmation, that,
"as many as 2 billion people could become
infected over the next two years - nearly one-third of the world
population."
In turn, in the US, the Atlanta based Centers
for Disease Control (CDC)
suggests that,
"swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of
Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred
thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren't
successful."
(AP, July 24, 2009).
How did they come up with these numbers?
The CDC estimate has nothing to do with an assessment of the spread of the
H1N1 virus. It is based on a mechanical pro-rata extrapolation of trends
underlying the 1957 pandemic, which resulted in 70,000 deaths in the US.
The presumption here is that the H1N1 flu has
the "same transmission path" as the 1957 epidemic.
Creating a Crisis
where there is No Crisis
The underlying political intent is to use the WHO level six pandemic to
divert public attention from an impending and far-reaching social crisis,
which is largely the consequence of a deep-seated global economic
depression.
On the basis of ... expert assessments of
the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have
been met. I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza
pandemic alert from Phase 5 to Phase 6. The world is now at the start of
the 2009 influenza pandemic. ... Calling a pandemic is also a signal to
the international community.
This is a time where the world's countries,
rich or poor, big or small, must come together in the name of global
solidarity to make sure that no countries because of poor resources, no
countries' people should be left behind without help.
...The World Health Organization has been in
contact with donor communities, development partners, resource poor
countries, and also drug companies as well as vaccine companies.
Margaret Chan, Director-General, World
Health Organization (WHO), Press Briefing, 11 June 2009
WHO Director General Margaret
Chan
How best to tame the Nation's citizens, to rein
in people's resentment in the face of mounting unemployment?
Create a Worldwide pandemic, instill an atmosphere of anxiety and
intimidation, which demobilizes meaningful and organized public action
against the programmed enrichment of a social minority. The flu pandemic is
used to foreclose organized resistance against the government's economic
policies in support of the financial elites. It provides both a pretext and
a justification to adopt emergency procedures.
Under the existing legislation in the US,
Martial Law, implying the suspension of constitutional government, could
be invoked in the case of "A Catastrophic Emergency" including a the H1N1
swine flu pandemic.
Martial Law
Legislation inherited from the Clinton administration, not to mention the
post 9/11 Patriot Acts I and II, allow the military to intervene in judicial
and civilian law enforcement activities.
In 1996, legislation was passed which allowed
the military to intervene in the case of a national emergency.
In 1999, Clinton's Defense Authorization Act
(DAA)
extended those powers (under the 1996 legislation) by creating an,
"exception" to the Posse Comitatus Act,
which permits the military to be involved in civilian affairs
"regardless of whether there is an emergency".
(See ACLU at
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=8683&c=24 )
The issue of a pandemic or public health
emergency , however, was not explicitly outlined in the Clinton era
legislation.
The
Katrina disaster (2005) constitutes a
dividing line, a watershed leading de facto to the militarization of
emergency relief:
"The disaster that struck New Orleans and
the southern Gulf Coast has given rise to the largest military
mobilization in modern history on US soil. Nearly 65,000 US military
personnel are now deployed in disaster area, transforming the devastated
port city into a war zone."
(Bill Van Auken, Wsws.org, September
2005).
Hurricanes Katrina (August 2005) and Rita
(September 2005) contributed to justifying the role of the Military in
natural disasters. They also contributed to shaping the formulation of
presidential directives and subsequent legislation.
President Bush called for the Military to become
the "lead agency" in disaster relief:
".....The other question, of course, I
asked, was, is there a circumstance in which the Department of Defense
becomes the lead agency. Clearly, in the case of a terrorist attack,
that would be the case, but is there a natural disaster which - of a
certain size that would then enable the Defense Department to become the
lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort. That's
going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.
(Press Conference, 25 Sept 2005
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BUS20050925&articleId=1004)
Militarization of Public
Health: The Avian Flu
The 2005 bird flu crisis followed barely a month after Hurricane Rita. It
was presented to the US public as an issue of National Security.
Following the 2005 outbreak of avian flu,
president Bush confirmed that the military would be actively involved in the
case of a pandemic, with the authority to detain large numbers of people:
"I am concerned about avian flu. I'm
concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United
States and the world. ... I have thought through the scenarios of what
an avian flu outbreak could mean....
The policy decisions for a president in dealing with an avian flu
outbreak are difficult. ...
If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then
quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a
quarantine?
... One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So
that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for
Congress to have.
... But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to
vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And one
such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu outbreak.
(White House Press Conference, 4 October, 2005, emphasis added)
On the day following Bush's October 4,
2005 Press Conference, a major piece of legislation was introduced in
the US Senate. The Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act.
While the proposed legislation was never adopted, it nonetheless contributed
to building a consensus among key members of the US Senate. The
militarization of public health was subsequently embodied in the
John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007.
"Public Health Emergency" and
Martial Law
The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007. H.R.
5122
New legislation is devised.
The terms "epidemic", and "public health
emergency" are explicitly included in a key piece of legislation, signed
into law by President Bush in October 2006...
Lost in the midst of hundreds of pages, Public Law 109-364, better known as
the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122) includes a
specific section on the role of the Military in national emergencies.
Section 1076 of this legislation entitled "Use of the Armed Forces in Major
Public Emergencies" allows the President of the United States the deploy the
armed forces and the National Guard across the US, to "restore public order
and enforce the laws of the United States" in the case of "a natural
disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency":
SEC. 1076. USE OF THE ARMED FORCES IN MAJOR PUBLIC
EMERGENCIES
(a) Use of the Armed Forces Authorized-
(1) IN GENERAL- Section 333 of title
10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 333. Major public emergencies; interference
with State and Federal law
(a) Use of Armed Forces in Major
Public Emergencies- (1) The President may employ the armed
forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to,
(A) restore public order and
enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a
natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health
emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition
in any State or possession of the United States, the
President determines that,
(i) domestic violence has
occurred to such an extent that the constituted
authorities of the State or possession are incapable of
maintaining public order; and
(ii) such violence results in a condition described in
paragraph (2); or
(B) suppress, in a State, any
insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or
conspiracy if such insurrection, violation, combination, or
conspiracy results in a condition described in paragraph
(2).
(2) A condition described in this
paragraph is a condition that--
(A) so hinders the execution of
the laws of a State or possession, as applicable, and of the
United States within that State or possession, that any part
or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege,
immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and
secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that
State or possession are unable, fail, or refuse to protect
that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that
protection; or
(B) opposes or obstructs the
execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the
course of justice under those laws.
(3) In any situation covered by
paragraph (1)(B), the State shall be considered to have denied
the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.
(b) Notice to Congress - The President
shall notify Congress of the determination to exercise the authority
in subsection (a)(1)(A) as soon as practicable after the
determination and every 14 days thereafter during the duration of
the exercise of that authority.'
(See ext of HR5122
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5122&tab=summary)
These far-reaching provisions allow the Armed
Forces to override the authority of civilian federal, state and local
governments involved in disaster relief and public health. It also grants
the Military a mandate in civilian police functions.
Namely the legislation implies the
militarization of law enforcement in the case of a national emergency.
"Catastrophic Emergency" and
"Continuity of Government"
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential
Directive NSPD 51/HSPD 20
Coinciding with the passage of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act, a
National Security Presidential Directive was issued in May 2007, (National
Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51/HSPD 20) .
NSPD 51 /HSPD 20 is a combined National Security Directive emanating from
the White House and Homeland Security. While it is formulated in relation to
the domestic "war on terrorism", it also includes provisions which allow for
Martial Law in case of a natural disaster including a flu pandemic.
The thrust and emphasis of NSPD 51, however, is different from that of
Section 1076 of HR 5122. It defines the functions of the Department of
Homeland Security in the case of a national emergency and its relationship
to the White House and the Military. It also provides the President with
sweeping powers to declare a national emergency, without Congressional
approval.
The directive establishes procedures for "Continuity of Government" (COG) in
the case of a "Catastrophic Emergency".
The latter is defined in NSPD 51/HSPD 20
(henceforth referred to as NSPD 51), as,
"any incident, regardless of location, that
results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or
disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure,
environment, economy, or government functions."
"Continuity of Government," or "COG," is defined in NSPD 51 as "a
coordinated effort within the Federal Government's executive branch to
ensure that National Essential Functions continue to be performed during
a Catastrophic Emergency."
The President shall lead the activities of the
Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to
advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the
President for Homeland Security and Counter terrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby
designated as the National Continuity Coordinator.
The National Continuity Coordinator, in
coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate
the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive
departments and agencies.
The Continuity Policy Coordination Committee (CPCC),
chaired by a Senior Director from the Homeland Security Council staff,
designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, shall be the main
day-to-day forum for such policy coordination. (National Security and
Homeland Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51/HSPD 20, emphasis added)
This Combined Directive NSPD /51 HSPD 20 grants unprecedented powers to the
Presidency and the Department of Homeland Security, overriding the
foundations of Constitutional government.
NSPD 51 allows the sitting president to declare
a "national emergency" without Congressional approval The adoption of NSPD
51 would lead to the de facto closing down of the Legislature and the
militarization of justice and law enforcement. NSPD 51 grants extraordinary
Police State powers to the White House and Homeland Security (DHS), in the
event of a "Catastrophic Emergency".
A flu pandemic or public health emergency is part of the terms of reference
of NSPD 51.
"Catastrophic Emergency" is broadly defined
in NSPD 51 as, "any incident, regardless of location, that results in
extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely
affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or
government functions".
The directive acknowledges the overriding power
of the military in the case of a national emergency: The presidential
directive,
"Shall not be construed to impair or
otherwise affect... the authority of the Secretary of Defense over the
Department of Defense, including the chain of command for military
forces from the President, to the Secretary of Defense, to the commander
of military forces, or military command and control procedures".
Since their enactment two years ago, neither the
John Warner Defense Authorization Act nor NSPD 51 have been the object of
media debate or discussion.
NSPD 51 and/or the John Warner H.R.5122 could be invoked at short notice
following the declaration of a national health emergency and a nationwide
forced vaccination program.
The hidden agenda consists in using the threat
of a pandemic and/or the plight of a natural disaster as a pretext to
establish military rule, under the facade of a "functioning democracy".
Vaccination: From H5N1
to H1N1
A
nationwide flu vaccination program has been
in the pipeline in the US since 2005.
According to the Wall Street Journal (Oct 1, 2005), the Bush
administration had asked Congress for an estimated $6-10 billion,
"to stockpile vaccines and antiviral
medications as part of its plans to prepare the U.S. for a possible flu
pandemic."
A large part of this budget, namely 3.1 billion
was used under the Bush administration to stockpile the antiviral drug
oseltamivir (Tamiflu),
of which the intellectual property rights belong to Gilead Science Inc, a
company headed by Donald Rumsfeld prior to becoming Secretary of
Defense under the Bush administration.
Consistent with its role as "lead agency", more than half of the money
earmarked by the Bush administration for the program was handed over to the
Pentagon. In other words, what we are dealing with is a process of
militarization of the civilian public health budget.
Part of the money for a public health is
controlled by the Department of Defense, under the rules of DoD procurement.
"The US Senate voted [September 3, 2005]
yesterday to provide $4 billion for antiviral drugs and other measures
to prepare for a feared influenza pandemic, but whether the measure
would clear Congress was uncertain.
The Senate attached the measure to a $440 billion defense-spending bill
for 2006, according to the Associated Press (AP). But the House included
no flu money in its version of the defense bill, and a key senator said
he would try to keep the funds out of the House-Senate compromise
version. The Senate is expected to vote on the overall bill next week.
Almost $3.1 billion of the money would be used to stockpile the
antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and the rest would go for global
flu surveillance, development of vaccines, and state and local
preparedness, according to a Reuters report. The government currently
has enough oseltamivir to treat a few million people, with a goal of
acquiring enough to treat 20 million"
(CIDRAP,
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/sep3005avian.html)
The threat of the H5N1 bird flu pandemic in 2005
resulted in multibillion dollar earnings for the pharmaceutical and biotech
industry.
In this regard, a number of major pharmaceutical
companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, California based Chiron
Corp, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc, Novavax and Wave Biotech, Swiss
pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding, had already positioned themselves.
In 2005, a Maryland-based biotechnology company MedImmune which produces "an
inhaled flu vaccine" had positioned itself to develop a vaccine against the
H5N1 avian flu.
Although it had no expertise in the avian flu
virus, one of the major actors in the vaccine business, on contract to the
Pentagon, was Bioport, a company part owned by the
Carlyle
Group, closely linked to the Bush Cabinet with Bush Senior on its
board of directors.
Vaccination under a
Public Health Emergency
Multibillion Financial Bonanza for the BioTech
Conglomerates
The 2005 bird flu hoax was in many regards a dress rehearsal. The 2009 H1N1
pandemic is a much larger multibillion dollar operation.
A select number of biotech and pharmaceutical
companies have been involved in negotiations behind closed doors with
the WHO and the US Administration. Key agencies are the Atlanta based Center
for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which have
close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
The conflicts of interest of these agencies is
brought to light in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s detailed study entitled
Vaccinations: Deadly Immunity, June 2005:
"The story of how government health agencies
colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public
is a chilling case study of institutional arrogance, power and greed. I
was drawn into the controversy only reluctantly.
As an attorney and
environmentalist who has spent years working on issues of mercury
toxicity, I frequently met mothers of autistic children who were
absolutely convinced that their kids had been injured by vaccines. ...
"The elementary grades are overwhelmed with
children who have symptoms of neurological or immune-system damage,"
Patti White, a school nurse, told the House Government Reform Committee
in 1999.
"Vaccines are supposed to be making us healthier; however, in
twenty-five years of nursing I have never seen so many damaged, sick
kids. Something very, very wrong is happening to our children."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Vaccinations:
Deadly Immunity, June 2005.
The WHO is planning for the production of 4.9
billion dose, enough to inoculate a large share of the World's population.
Big Pharma including,
-
Baxter
-
GlaxoSmithKline
-
Novartis
-
Sanofi-Aventis
-
AstraZeneca,
...have signed procurement contracts with some
50 governments. (Reuters, July 16, 2009).
For these companies, compulsory vaccination
is a highly lucrative undertaking:
"The WHO has refused to release the Minutes
of a key meeting of an advisory vaccine group "packed with executives
from Baxter, Novartis and Sanofi" that recommended compulsory
vaccinations in the USA, Europe and other countries against the
artificial H1N1 "swine flu" virus this autumn.
In an email this morning, a WHO spokesperson claimed there are no
Minutes of the meeting that took place on July 7th in which guidelines
on the need for worldwide vaccinations that WH0 adopted this Monday were
formulated and in which Baxter and other Pharma executives participated.
Under the International Health Regulations, WHO guidelines have a
binding character on all of WHO's 194 signatory countries in the event
of a pandemic emergency of the kind anticipated this autumn when the
second more lethal wave of the H1N1 virus "which is bioengineered to
resemble the Spanish flu virus" emerges.
In short: WHO has the authority to force everyone in those 194 countries
to take a vaccine this fall at gunpoint, impose quarantines and restrict
travel."
(Jane
Burgermeister, WHO moves forward in secrecy to accomplish
forced vaccination and population agenda, Global Research, July 2009).
On May 19th, the WHO Director General and senior
officials met behind closed doors with the representatives of some 30
pharmaceutical companies.
"In a perfect world the planet's leading
pharmaceutical companies could produce 4.9 billion H1N1 swine flu
vaccinations over the course of the next year. This is the World Health
Organization's latest assessment.
WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan met
with 30 pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday and briefed reporters on a
WHO plan to secure vaccinations for poor countries who lack sufficient
infrastructure to fight a possible pandemic."
(Digital Journal, 19 May 2009)
According to recent report in Business Week,
"Wealthier countries such as the U.S. and
Britain will pay just under $10 per dose, the same price for the
seasonal flu vaccine. Developing countries will pay a lower price."
(Business Week, July 2009)
The WHO suggests that the 4.9 billion doses will
not suffice and that a second inoculation will be required.
4,9 billion doses at about ten dollars ($10.00) a shot and somewhat less in
the developing countries, represents a windfall profit bonanza for Big
Pharma of more than 40 billion dollars in a single year.
And the WHO claims that one dose per person may
not suffice...
Dangerous Life
Threatening Vaccine: Who owns the Patent?
While the production has been entrusted to a select number of companies, it
would appear that the intellectual property rights belong to Illinois based
pharmaceutical giant Baxter.
Baxter is central in the
negotiations between the US Administration and the World Health Organization
(WHO). Moreover,
"a
full year before any reported case of the current alleged H1N1"
Baxter had filed for a patent for the H1N1
vaccine:
Baxter Vaccine Patent Application US
2009/0060950 A1.
(See William Engdahl, Now legal immunity
for swine flu vaccine makers, Global Research, July 2009).
Their application states:
“the composition or vaccine comprises
more than one antigen... such as influenza A and influenza B in
particular selected from of one or more of the human H1N1, H2N2,
H3N2, H5N1, H7N7, H1N2, H9N2, H7N2, H7N3, H10N7 subtypes, of the pig
flu H1N1, H1N2, H3N1 and H3N2 subtypes, of the dog or horse flu
H7N7, H3N8 subtypes or of the avian H5N1, H7N2, H1N7, H7N3, H13N6,
H5N9, H11N6, H3N8, H9N2, H5N2, H4N8, H10N7, H2N2, H8N4, H14N5, H6N5,
H12N5 subtypes."
The application further states,
“Suitable adjuvants can be selected from
mineral gels, aluminium hydroxide, surface active substances,
lysolecithin, pluronic polyols, polyanions or oil emulsions such as
water in oil or oil in water, or a combination thereof. Of course the
selection of the adjuvant depends on the intended use. E.g. toxicity may
depend on the destined subject organism and can vary from no toxicity to
high toxicity."
With no legal liability, could it be that Baxter
is preparing to sell hundreds of millions of doses containing highly toxic
aluminium hydroxide as adjuvant? (Ibid)
The Los Angeles Times has reassured the US public with an article
entitled:
What are the odds that H1N1 will kill you?
One might also ask, what are the odds that
the H1N1 vaccine will kill you?
National Emergency Centers
Establishment Act: H.R. 645
There are no indications that the Obama Administration is planning in the
foreseeable future a Public Health Emergency which would require the
imposition of martial law.
What we have emphasized in this article is the
existence of various provisions (legislation and presidential directives)
which would allow the President of the United States to instigate Martial
Law in the case of a Public Health Emergency.
If Martial Law were to be adopted in the context
of a Public Health Emergency, what we would be dealing with is the "forced
vaccination" of targeted population groups as well as the possible
establishment of facilities for the internment of people who have been
quarantined.
In this regard, it is worth noting that in January 2009, a piece of
legislation entitled the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act (HR
645) was introduced in the US Congress. The bill calls for the
establishment of six national emergency centers in major regions in the US
to be located on existing military installations, which could be used to
quarantine people in the case of a public health emergency or forced
vaccination program.
The bill goes far beyond previous legislation (including H.R 5122). The
stated purpose of the,
"national emergency centers" is to provide
"temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals
and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster."
In actuality, what we are dealing with are FEMA
internment camps.
HR 645 states that the camps can be used to,
"meet other appropriate needs, as determined
by the Secretary of Homeland Security."
(Michel Chossudovsky, Preparing for Civil
Unrest in America Legislation to Establish Internment Camps on US
Military Bases, Global Research, March 2009)
There has been virtually no press coverage of HR
645, which is currently being discussed by several congressional committees.
There are no indications that the bill is on its way to being adopted.
These "civilian facilities" on US military bases are to be established in
cooperation with the US Military.
Once a person is arrested and interned in a FEMA camp located on a military
base, that person would in all likelihood, under a public health emergency,
fall under the de facto jurisdiction of the Military: civilian justice and
law enforcement including habeas corpus would no longer apply.
HR 645 could be used, were it to be adopted, in the case of public health
emergency. It obviously bears a direct relationship to the economic crisis
and the likelihood of mass protests across America. It constitutes a further
move to militarize civilian law enforcement, repealing the
Posse Comitatus Act.
In the words of Rep. Ron Paul:
"...the fusion centers, militarized police,
surveillance cameras and a domestic military command is not enough...
Even though we know that detention facilities are already in place, they
now want to legalize the construction of FEMA camps on military
installations using the ever popular excuse that the facilities are for
the purposes of a national emergency.
With the phony debt-based economy getting
worse and worse by the day, the possibility of civil unrest is becoming
a greater threat to the establishment. One need only look at Iceland,
Greece and other nations for what might happen in the United States
next."
(Daily Paul, September 2008, emphasis
added)
The proposed internment camps should be seen in
relation to the broader process of militarization of civilian institutions.
The construction of internment camps predates the introduction of HR 645
(Establishment of Emergency Centers) in January 2009.
"Military Civil Support": The
Role of US Northern Command in the Case of a Flu Pandemic
US Northern Command has a mandate to support and oversee civilian
institutions in the case of a National Emergency.
"In addition to defending the nation, U.S.
Northern Command provides defense support of civil authorities in
accordance with U.S. laws and as directed by the President or Secretary
of Defense. Military assistance is always in support of a lead federal
agency, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Military civil support includes domestic disaster relief operations that
occur during fires, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. Support also
includes counter-drug operations and consequence management assistance,
such as would occur after a terrorist event employing a weapon of mass
destruction.
Generally, an emergency must exceed the management capabilities of
local, state and federal agencies before U.S. Northern Command becomes
involved. In providing civil support, the command operates through
subordinate Joint Task Forces."
The Katrina and Rita hurricane
disasters played a key role in shaping the role of US Northern Command
in "military civil support" activities.
The emergency procedures were closely
coordinated by US Northern Command out of the Peterson Air Force Base,
together with Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA.
During Hurricane Rita (September 2005), US Northern Command Headquarters was
directly in control of the movement of military personnel and hardware in
the Gulf of Mexico, in some cases overriding, as in the case of Katrina, the
actions of civilian bodies. The entire operation was under the jurisdiction
of the military rather than FEMA. (Michel Chossudovsky,
US Northern Command and Hurricane Rita,
Global Research, September 24, 2005)
Northern Command would, as part of its mandate in the case of a national
emergency, oversee a number of civilian functions.
In the words of President
Bush at the height of the Rita hurricane,
"the Government and the US military needed
broader authority to help handle major domestic crises such as
hurricanes."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
subsequently classified Hurricane Rita as an "incident of national
significance," which justified the activation of a so-called "National
Response Plan" (NRP).
For further details,
consult the complete document.
Within the broader framework of "Disaster Relief", Northern Command has, in
the course of the last two years, defined a mandate in the eventuality of a
public health emergency or a flu pandemic. The emphasis is on the
militarization of public health whereby NORTHCOM would oversee the
activities of civilian institutions involved in health related services.
According Brig. Gen. Robert Felderman, deputy director of
USNORTHCOM’s Plans, Policy and Strategy Directorate:
“USNORTHCOM is the global synchronizer – the
global coordinator – for pandemic influenza across the combatant
commands”
(See Gail Braymen, USNORTHCOM contributes
pandemic flu contingency planning expertise to trilateral workshop,
USNORTHCOM, April 14, 2008. See also USNORTHCOM. Pandemic Influenza Chain
Training (U))
“Also, the United States in 1918 had the
Spanish influenza. We were the ones who had the largest response to [a
pandemic] in more recent history. So I discussed what we did then, what
we expect to have happen now and the numbers that we would expect in a
pandemic influenza.”
The potential number of fatalities in the United
States in a modern pandemic influenza could reach nearly two million,
according to Felderman.
Not only would the nation’s economy suffer, but
the Department of Defense would still have to be ready and able to protect
and defend the country and provide support of civil authorities in disaster
situations.
While virtually every aspect of society would be
affected,
“the implications for Northern Command will
be very significant.”
“[A pandemic would have] a huge economic
impact, in addition to the defense-of-our-nation impact,” Felderman
said.
The United States isn’t alone in preparing for
such a potential catastrophe. (Gail Braymen, op cit)
Also of relevance, was the repatriation of combat units from the war theater
to assist US Northern Command in the case of a national emergency including
a flu pandemic. In the last months of the Bush administration, the
Department of Defense ordered the recall of the 3rd Infantry's 1st Brigade
Combat Team from Iraq.
The
BCT combat unit was attached to US Army
North, the Army's component of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).
The 1st BCT and other combat units would be
called upon to perform specific military functions in the case of a national
emergency or natural disaster including a public health emergency:
"The Army Times reports that the 3rd
Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is returning from Iraq to defend the
Homeland, as "an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade
emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks."
The BCT unit has been attached to US Army North,
the Army's component of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). See Gina
Cavallaro,
Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1,
Army Times, September 8, 2008.
