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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epsteinbd who wrote (3449)	10/8/2001 11:21:06 AM
From: Nick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Taleban chief is mentally unstable: Doctor Afghanistan's ruling Taleban chief, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is mentally unstable and suffers fits, a leading British daily said on Sunday. "He locks himself away for two or three days at a time and the official line is that he is having visions, but in fact he is suffering from brain seizures," the doctor who attends Omar was quoted by The Sunday Telegraph as saying. This mental instability is the real reason why Omar -- the 43-year-old cleric -- is so reclusive, the daily said, without disclosing the identity of the doctor who feared that he would be killed. Doctors believe that Omar's mood swings may be the result of a shrapnel lodged in his brain when he lost an eye in 1989 during a Russian rocket attack on his mosque. The daily said apart from the fits, the Taleban leader also suffers from serious depression, alternating with bouts of childlike behaviour where he sits in the driving seat of one of his cars, turning the steering wheel while making the noise of an engine. Only one photograph exists of Omar, the newspaper reported, adding that he is rarely seen outside the bomb-proof house built for him in Kandahar by Osama bin Laden, and most Afghans have no idea what he looks like. Except Pakistan, Omar has never travelled abroad. In fact, he has seen little of his country, only visiting Kabul twice. When he does venture out, it is in a convoy of Japanese off-road vehicles with darkened windows and gun-totting bodyguards, the newspaper said.

To: epsteinbd who wrote (3449)	10/8/2001 12:35:17 PM
From: Jill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I would no be so calm. Odds are with us for the time being--I think they are practicing. Probably released the spores in the ventilation system of the building. The Japanese cult who tried to use anthrax failed many times. So it IS hard to disperse. But I've seen no followup on the news of hemmorhagic fever in Hawaii--anybody see that? The intention is to hit on many fronts over time. Repeatedly. In addition, we waited a month to retaliate. They would not retaliate in the first 24 hours. There is a deliciousness (perverse) in threatening and watching people quake in fear for a while. I'd suspect an attempted reprisal will come, probably in the next few weeks. This is far from over.

To: epsteinbd who wrote (3449)	10/8/2001 12:52:38 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Epstein... Anthrax is notoriously difficult to spread on a widescale basis. It either requires huge quantities of it being dispersed, or the victim being exposed to a localized concentration. Anthrax normally required ingestion of at least 10,000 spores for it to overcome the bodies natural defenses and establish itself. Now physically, that about the amount that fits on the head of a pin. But considering that all quantities are dispersed, or blow off to higher altitudes where people don't breath it in (the spores are very light), the odds are that only those in the general area where it is initially dispersed will face the most risk. This is not to down-play the risk to nothingness... but one has to look at the Russian Anthrax plant that suffered a major accidental release, yet only a few hundred people were killed. And that was at a factory that produces the substance, and where the discharge was VERY LOCALIZED to the ventilation system of the building it was being produced in. Unfortuate, the Russians have kept a close lid on the actual quantity of spores that were released: nbc-med.org tv.cbc.ca I worry more about someone digging up a frozen victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19, where some 20-40 million people died. Hawk