U.S. weaponizing of Ebola, other viruses fears
Evidence has surfaced in a U.S. embassy Berlin cable to the U.S. State and Defense Departments that German authorities hesitated to send hemorrhagic fever cultures to the suspected biological warfare laboratory at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland because the Germans feared the Army might "weaponize" the cultures.
The cable, classified as "Sensitive," is dated December 15, 2009 and states:
"German MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Deputy Head of Division for Export Control Markus Klinger provided the following non-paper to Econoff [Embassy Economics Officer], seeking additional assurances related to a proposed export of extremely dangerous pathogens to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. The Army's end use certificate provided to Germany is lacking an official seal. Klinger's deputy, Nancy Reck, noted that Germany had made two follow-up requests to the Army seeking assurances and clarifications related to this proposed export. The GOG [Government of Germany] seeks assurances from the USG [US Government] or US Army that the end use certificate and the information contained therein are legitimate and accurate."
The "non-paper" reference is to an "aide-memoire," what is known in the diplomatic world as a note without an author, source, or title that is used to prepare for negotiations. The following "non-paper," which was originally written in German, was translated by the embassy and sent to Washington:
"For Official Use Only
Against the background of our partnership in the area of non-proliferation and our excellent cooperation in the matters of export controls, we would like to bring the following issue to the attention of your government.
A German firm has applied for the approval of the export of 184 genetic elements with nucleic acid sequences of viruses for the production of recombinant viruses. The viruses will be used in optical imaging to identify host factors required for viral replication. The recipient in the USA is, according to the enclosed end use certificate, the Department of the Army 'US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)' Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Specifications in English about the goods, the recipient and end use can be seen from the end use certificate. The goods are controlled by the Australia Group and are subject to compulsory export approval (List position C1C353A). This matter concerns the complete genome of viruses such as the Zaire Ebola virus, the Lake Victoria Marburg virus, the Machupo virus and the Lassa virus, which are absolutely among the most dangerous pathogens in the world. The delivery would place the recipient in the position of being able to create replicating recombinant infectious species of these viruses.
Because of the particular criticality of these goods, the German federal government practices an exceptionally restrictive approval policy for such exports. An approval here can only be issued if an improper end use in association with the development or production of biologic weapons approaches can be foreclosed with a probability approaching certainty. The enclosed end use certificate is on the letterhead of the U.S. Army. The required official seal is missing, however. A decision about the export has not yet been made. Given the foregoing, we would appreciate confirmation that the end use certificate really is from the Department of the Army and of the accuracy of the data contained therein. We look forward to the continuation of our excellent cooperation in matters of non-proliferation and export controls."
The German government specifically stated that the ability of Fort Detrick to "create replicating recombinant infectious species" of dangerous hemorrhagic viruses could violate international controls on the export of dangerous weapons of mass destruction that are enforced by the Australia Group of signatories to biological, chemical, and nuclear export treaties.
The Germans are in a position to be well aware of past U.S. involvement in biological warfare operations, especially in Zaire, where, in 1976, the first major outbreak of the Zaire Ebola virus, referenced by the Germans in their aide-memoire, occurred near the Ebola River in northern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).
In 1976, while the CIA was experimenting with Ebola and HIV in Zaire as part of its illegal covert war against the Marxist government of Angola,Orbital Transport und Raketen AG (OTRAG), or Orbital Transport and Rockets, Inc., a West German corporation closely linked to West Germany'sBundesnachrichtendienst (BND) intelligence service, established a huge base in Zaire.
NASA and former Nazi rocket scientists Werner von Braun, Kurt Heinrich Debus, and Richard Gompertz, all executives with OTRAG, helped set up a massive 100,000 square miles "rocket base" in Shaba (Katanga) in Zaire. OTRAG's chairman Lutz Thilo Kayer, was associated with the German Nazi rocket and uranium acquisition programs as a young man and later became a technical adviser on NASA's Apollo program. Katanga is also rich in uranium deposits and Kayser's role as an adviser to the West German Research and Technology Ministry may have been a clue to the existence of West Germany's rumored secret nuclear weapons acquisition program.
OTRAG's Zaire base was shut down in 1979 and it was relocated, courtesy of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, to the Libyan desert in 1981. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was so concerned about the OTRAG base's offensive capabilities he pressured French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing to weigh in with Mobutu to force the base's ouster from Zaire.
Katanga was also a longtime base of operations for CIA, West German, Belgian, Rhodesian, South African, Portuguese, French, and British intelligence and mercenary operatives, dating back to the Belgian Congo's transition to independence in 1960.
The CIA's use of Zaire/Congo as a Petri dish for lethal hemorrhagic viruses originated with the above war criminals. German Jewish immigrant and later National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger [left] and Hungarian Jewish immigrant Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA's "Dr. Death" [right].
The authorization for the CIA to use the OTRAG zone as a base of operations for the war in Angola came from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the operations were carried out by CIA director George Bush, whose father, Prescott Bush, helped finance the Nazi German rocket program during World War II through his work for Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) and the Union Banking Corporation. The elder Bush's work helped German industrialist Fritz Thyssen obtain critical supplied for the secret German rocket program at Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea.
The agreement between OTRAG and Zaire granted the firm practical complete jurisdiction over the 750,000 Zairian inhabitants of the region and authorized OTRAG to establish airports, telecommunications networks, and factories in the region.
There were suspicions in Zaire and elsewhere at the time that the huge West German rocket base was also being used by the CIA and its Fort Detrick partners to test weaponized Ebola, HIV, and the Reston Ebola-like Marburg virus on suspecting Zairians. After the outbreak of Ebola in the Bumba zone of Zaire, where a number of infected Zairains descended upon the Yambuku Mission Hospital, Zaire's CIA-financed dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, ordered the Bumba "hot zone" sealed off by his army, which had orders to "shoot to kill" anyone trying to leave the area.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control's Special Pathogens Branch, now the Viral Special Pathogens Branch (VSPB), along with USAMRIID and the British bio-war facility at Porton Down, England, were all involved in examining cultures from the Ebola outbreak in Zaire. There is little doubt that West German intelligence, which oversaw the operations at the OTRAG base, would have also known the details of the 1976 Ebola outbreak in Zaire, hence, the German government's present concern about Ebola samples sent by them to Fort Detrick being weaponized. The CIA's longtime Technical Services Director, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who came up with various ways to infect CIA targets like Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, Cuba's Fidel Castro, and Iraqi leader General Abdel Karim Kassem with lethal toxins, admitted to a congressional hearing that as early as 1960 hedisposed in the Congo River a large quantity of viruses to contaminate anyone who used the river for drinking water.
Suspicions abound that Fort Detrick [left] helped hatch Ebola in Zaire from the West German OTRAG rocket base [right] in Zaire
It is interesting to compare Mobutu's military operations against Ebola victims to that of Barack Obama, who had ordered the dispatch of U.S. troops to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to help the governments of those countries militarily seal off the Ebola hot zones. Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma appears to be taking a page from the playbook of Mobutu. Two Sierra Leoneans were shot dead by Sierra Leone army personnel after health workers in the diamond mining town of Koidu tried to take a blood sample from a 90-year old Sierra Leonean woman. Riots broke out in the town over the attempted drawing of blood. The armed forces of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea are now being advised on crowd control measures by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and National Guard civil affairs personnel.
