Remember the anthrax letters and Steven Hatfill?

[hedgehog]

I could never understand anyone associated with the Rhodesian and South African white supremest governments getting a job with the US government. He claimed connection to the Selous Scouts - although this was denied by others.

Then I read "Cocktails Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" in which the author makes a casual reference to the use of anthrax as a bio-weapon by the white minority government against the black majority. Apparently, others have documented this:

From 1978-82, an epizootic of anthrax appeared in Rhodesia in the context of the Front War, where the minority European-controlled government fought a losing engagement against Maoist- and Soviet- backed African forces. Ultimately, they lost but not before South African-supported Selous Scouts engaged in biological and chemical weapons development. It is believed these activities in Rhodesia and similar incidents in Namibia were a research and development prelude to the South African Project Coast.

A documented 10,700+ human cases and an untold tens of thousands of cattle deaths were documented in Rhodesia at the time covering an estimated 200,000 km2. There were of course multiple unusual, non-routine epidemiological features documented at the time, not the least of which consideration of the prior baseline of case reporting in Rhodesia:

The transmission intensity at Beatrice Road was such that they saw all clinical forms of anthrax: cutaneous, inhalational, gastroenteric, septic, and meningitic.
Many notable anthrax experts provided their opinion of this event being a "perfectly natural" epizootic in the context of a collapsed veterinary infrastructure during the Front War. We disagree. Details to follow in an upcoming publication.

One of the strongly suspected perpetrators who worked with the Selous Scouts- a man we interviewed on several occasions- was bludgeoned to death this year by unidentified assailants.


http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2012/01/anthrax-in-rhodesia-during-the-front-war-1978-82-a-suspected-act-of-biological-warfare.html


Tin foil hat time: why did the US press ignore the Rhodesia/South Africa connections?

Did someone connected to the US government work top conceal Hatfill's role? I'm not suggesting a government policy, but rogue agents within a government agency.