SPIRIT OF '76
How much coincidence is too much coincidence? That is up to
individual readers to decide for themselves. My job, in trying to
arouse more curiosity as to the origins of emerging diseases,
is to try to point out more clearly, exactly how much coincidence
exists.
I find that pouring over chronologies of events sometimes reveals
interesting patterns, as well as giving you a feeling for the spirit
of a time- an intangible factor that can be nearly as important.
What was the spirit of '76? This was when the CIA director was being
fired, immediately after revealing to Congress the secret history of
extensive, unauthorized biowarfare research by the CIA. George
Bush, one of the few people that Nixon trusted always to play ball
as Nixon wanted, took the fired director's place. George went to
bat to defend the CIA's interests and secrecy, dozens of times.
In 1976, Felix Rodriguez quit the CIA as he was sent to prison for
his role in Watergate. In 1976, Robert Gallo was isolating T-cell
growth factor, allowing T-cells to be cultured in vitro.
In 1976, the first recorded Ebola outbreak in Africa, ever, took place.
In 1976, the first case of Legionnaire's disease, ever, was recorded
in Philadelphia.
In February of 1976, the CDC investigated and confirmed a swine-type
influenza outbreak at Fort Dix. Fear of an epidemic similar to the
1918 flu epidemic led to a recommendation that all Americans be
inoculated. The National Influenza Immunization Program was
officially started by October of 1976. Over 40 million people were
inoculated in the short time that the NIIP was in effect.
By December 1976 the NIIP was suspended following reports from
more than 10 states of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an uncommon
neurological disorder.
The Spirit of '76- shady politics + weird diseases + questionable
vaccines. The spirit actually permeated several decades.
In 1975, the first case of Lyme disease, ever, was recorded in
Connecticut.
In 1979, the vaccine trials on gay men were underway in New
York, soon to be followed by an AIDS epidemic.
In 1979, there was also a peculiar outbreak in Sverdlovsk, Russia.
The Russian government blamed this on innocent causes- bad
hygiene, etc.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980, Russia consistently denied its
biowarfare program, having signed a treaty in 1972 that forbade
such research.
In 1992, Yeltsin finally confirmed that the Sverdlovsk tragedy
was a bioweapons leak from a secret military lab. "No more
lies", he said.
Defectors have also told debriefers in London and Washington
of deadly microbes used for political assassinations of 6 or 7
individuals since 1978.
Is it obvious what lies behind any one of these events? No.
Is it obvious that with everything taken together, there was
a suspicious climate in these times? Quite. Yet, even this
simple realization seems to be denied with an excess of
vehemence, by many people. Why?
Perhaps it is refusal to face unsettling realities, or perhaps
it is stupidity, or perhaps it is intentional lies of the same
kind that Russia told, for the same kinds of reasons.
CORRELATION VERSUS CAUSATION
Correlation does not equate to causation, but it can be cause for
suspicion.
If a man takes out an insurance policy on his wife
a week before she is murdered, that is cause to take a second
look. If the amount of money in the policy is extremely large,
the cause for suspicion increases in proportion to the amount.
If the husband also was heard remarking that he loathed his
wife and wished that he could be rid of her, it is another
strike.
Picture the man ridiculing the police investigators: "Don't you
know the FIRST THING about science? You really ought to
take Philosophy 101. Correlation and coincidence prove nothing.
You sound like crazy conspiracy theorists, to me. Maybe aliens from
a UFO murdered my wife."
Hopefully, the police and the jury would slam the man's ass in prison,
with extra gusto.
When you have a government that cozies with religious extremists who
say that gays are abominations and enemies of God, that is comparable
to a man who says that he loathes his wife. When the government
talks about developing new viruses refractory to the immune system,
it is comparable to a man buying a gun similar to that which was used
to kill his wife, shortly afterward.
We are dealing with governments with a proven track record of lying,
as a matter of routine. Both the U.S. and Russia promised to stop biowar
research in a 1972 treaty. Neither did.
When you are dealing with governments that lie, one of your only methods
of judging truth is to assess how much coincidence is too much coincidence.
It is not a matter of gullibility or being suspiciously minded. It is the
unfortunate fact of your situation, that you are left with these imperfect
means. You have few other options, and you must use them, because the
stakes are too high, to do otherwise.
Tom Keske
Boston, Mass.
