Bioterrorism.
 

It kind of freaks me out, but it sure seems like some signs are pointing to bioterrorism as the next attack. I don't know the details on the whole "bioterrorism experts being killed" thing, so I don't know if that's legit or paranoia, but I was reading a newspaper article about a bioterrorism expert a while back, and it mentioned that he was heading to a conference in Pakistan, and terrorists blew up the hotel "hours before his arrival".

Then there's this:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480864,00.html

Report: Al Qaeda Group Bungled Test of Unconventional Weapon
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

By Eli Lake, Washington Times

An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

"We don't know if this is biological or chemical," the official said.

The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the Al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe's population in the 14th century. But the intelligence official dismissed that claim.

Um... if this is true.. they are only... what ... 80 years too late???

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/...penicillin.jpg

Problem with bioterrorism is its extremely low rate of return.... you have to invest intense man hours into a "weapon" that generally isn't very effective in a 1st world country.

The countries most susceptible to bio-weapons are the ones most likely to want to use them on us and the ones least likely to have the means to do so....

Bioterrorism does NOT concern me.

Hell, the plague, left UNTREATED, only has a 50% mortality rate, if even that.

So only half the U.S. would die?

Admittedly, I don't know a lot about this stuff, but I guess my biggest fear about it is that you infect one area and then it spreads like wildfire. Would that not happen? It seems that we can't stop the flu.

I dunno infecting the food supply seems to be effective and easy to accomplish

I don't see any way they could do it on a large scale, it's not like all of our food is in one place.

I guess that's the peanut butter are for....

I think a chemical weapon would be more effective.
Easier to transport. Deadly efficient.
Psychological impact.. Huge.

Especially during a time when people are trying to save money and thus less likely to go to a doctor, a biological attack could be crippling, especially if someone has the means to deliver the toxins over a large area. Plus, the fact that technology is becoming more and more accessible makes it easier to procure the goods that could be used to create chemical and biological weapons.

Sarin attack in NYC Subway system. That'd be one example.

Holy Shit they are targeting Costco!!!!

That's actually not true. A lot of our food comes from centralized areas and is packaged in a few large centers which is why when there's a scare (ala the spinach, peanut butter, beef, etc scares) so much produce gets tagged as suspect and it affects such a large swath of the country.

I think something could happen in the next couple of days...

according to Colin Powell , "There will be a crisis come along on January 21 or 22, that we don't even know about, right now."

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Infect an airport and it spreads all over before you can do much about it.

I'm not afraid.

Seriously, should we fear terrorists any more than we fear auto accidents or tornadoes or earthquakes or falling off ladders or cancer or any number of other things that kill people in this world every day?

One way or another, all of us will eventually die. While I'm in no hurry for it, I'm also not going to sweat over things I can not control.