March 22, 2003
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Watching the reporters, donning & removing gas masks, is almost funny. As anyone trained in the possibility of chemical or biological weapons use knows, this does NOTHING to protect an individual on its own. Without being covered from head to toe by air-tight materials, whatever one is exposed to has a way to enter the body. The only thing that they are protecting by using these gas masks are their eyes & lungs.
In the case of mustard gas dispersal, the flesh blisters upon contact. It is a highly caustic agent. Anthrax doesn’t have to enter the lungs to make an individual very ill. If this bacteria enters the lungs, it just means a very high probability of death. Exposure to sarin gas also effects one through exposed skin. This is a nerve agent that can enter the bloodstream through pores in the skin, as do most other nerve agents commonly referred to as ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (WMD), developed (& initially tested) primarily in the US.
(How do you think Saddam acquired these bio/chemical agents anyway, as well as much of his armament? From the US for the most part, prior to the first Persian Gulf War, as OUR ally, OUR puppet leader!)
It actually saddens me that people believe they are safe if exposed to these agents simply by wearing those gas masks. Do you ever think about the images of Haz-Mat clean-up crews, so enveloped by their protective suits that they are barely recognizable as humans? Do you suppose they wear such suffocatingly hot & cumbersome gear when they aren’t necessary? FOOL! Hmmm… Who’s profiting from the sales of these gas masks anyway?
Here’s an interesting editorial: http://www.msnbc.com/news/888673.asp?0dm=N24JN. It has to do with what I am now choosing to call ‘The Shrub Regime.’
Hey, people… has it finally sunk in yet that this war IS about the oil? Or are you the only ones in this world not smart enough to see that, when everyone else does?
No justice for death by ‘friendly fire’ in Afghanistan last year? My sympathies, Canada. http://www.msnbc.com/news/888209.asp?0dm=N215N
War against Iraq violates UN Charter: http://www.msnbc.com/news/887480.asp
Again… to those who have lost someone dear to them in this unjustified war, I send White Light & Blessings!
I DO support the troops involved, who are under direct orders. They are people doing what they were told to, believing that they are serving their countries by doing so. I do NOT support the President & am no longer in the military, so, by the oath I swore to upon my activation into military service & my subsequent Honorable Discharge years later, I no longer have to. Those in service to our country today DO!
Comments (3)
Watching TV coverage of the war is weird. For example, the “shock and awe” tactic. I was like, “Is that supposed to be some sorry ass euphemism for ‘devastate and annihilate’???”
Thus far, the U.S. media has been extremely biased in its coverage of the war. If wearing a mask does NOTHING, then I think that’s not objective journalism, it’s sensationalism. I am sure some viewers were alarmed and, in turn, felt the threat of biological warfare has become more credible. So, more mindless people will support the war. I predict U.S. companies will be marketing $19.99 (plus S&H) gas masks pretty darn soon, replacing the beloved Taebo informericals at night. Sure, whip out your credit card if you think twenty bucks will buy you a piece of mind. Heck, I live in Boston where people drive like MANIACS, on a day-to-day basis that scares me more.
I already got an email advertising gas masks a couple days ago.
I’ve been tempted to post it, along with the text from these sites I’ve linked.
I was trained (minimally) on attacks by chemical & biological weapons while stationed aboard a ship. They didn’t tell us then that the gas mask isn’t enough. They still don’t. But understanding science & using the Internet for research to find the full information on this stuff quantifies what I’ve said. What’s most scary is that the site on mustard gas says that washing off with water will exascerbate the effects of the chemical. My ship had chem/bio showers in strategic locations throughout. Someone jumping into that to rid themselves of mustard gas residue would end up looking like they had second to first degree burns all over their bodies, because they are supposed to strip while showering!