RE: virus: Murky past of a US bio-warrior

From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Sat Aug 17 2002 - 11:29:37 MDT


[Blunderov]
Curiouser and curiouser...

http://www.devvy.com/anthrax_20020629.html

<snip>
A South African Connection

    "The death of Wiley may be also linked to revelations recently
uncovered in South Africa. His expertise on genetic fingerprints for
various strains may have led him to particular countries and their
bio-warfare projects.
  
    "The South African media has been abuzz with details of that
nation's former biological warfare program and its links to the CIA. The
South African bio-chemical war program was code-named Project Coast and
was centered at the Roodeplat Research Laboratories north of Pretoria.
The lab maintained links to the US biowarfare facility at Fort and
Britain's Porton Down Laboratory. The head of the South African program,
Dr. Wouter Basson, was reportedly offered a job with the CIA in the
United States after the fall of the apartheid regime. According to
former South African National Intelligence Agency deputy director
Michael Kennedy, when Basson refused the offer, the CIA allegedly
threatened to kill him. Nevertheless, the U.S. pressured the new
President Nelson Mandela to turn over the records and fruits of Basson's
work. Much of this work was reportedly transported to Fort Detrick.

    "Basson also claimed to have been involved in a project called
Operation Banana, which, using El Paso, Texas as a base with the CIA's
blessing, was designed to transport cocaine to South Africa from Peru.
The cocaine, hidden in bananas, was to be used in developing a new
incapacitating drug.

    "One of the South African's secret projects involved sending anthrax
through the mail. Among the techniques that fell into the hands of the
Americans was a method by which anthrax spores were, with deadly effect,
incorporated on to the gummed flaps of envelopes.

    "Other South African bio-chemical weapons allegedly transferred to
the CIA included, in addition to anthrax, cholera, smallpox, salmonella,
botulinum, tularemia, thallium, E.coli, racin, organophosphates,
necrotising fasciitis, hepatitis A, HIV, paratyphoid, Sarin VX nerve
gas, Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley hemorrhagic fever viruses, Dengue
fever, West Nile virus, highly potent CR tear gas, hallucinogens
Ecstasy, Mandrax, BZ, and cocaine, anti-coagulant drugs, the deadly
lethal injection drugs Scoline and Tubarine, and cyanide.

    "Many of Dr. Wiley's family and friends doubt he would have
committed suicide. The fact that he was certainly in a position to know
about the origination of various viruses and bacteria -- which could
have led to the U.S. government -- would have made him a prime target
for a government seeking to cover up its illegal work in biological
warfare.
<snap>

<Blunderov speculates> Perhaps The Mail&Guardian didn't dwell on this
possibility because Wouter Basson was recently miraculously acquitted of
many serious charges recently and is in a good position to sue?

Warm regards



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