In an abrupt change from last year's policy, the selected Bush Administration is now considering vaccinating all 280 million Americans against smallpox. Unfortunately, this vaccine is not foolproof and 1 or 2 people per million will die when they are inoculated.
Certainly, there are sound reasons for mass vaccinations, if our leaders truly believe that Saddam has created a credible smallpox weapon. Waiting until after an attack to vaccinate the population could cost thousands or millions of lives, as the decimated US health care system is simply not equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude. Naturally, if Saddam did attack us with smallpox, Iraq would be scrubbed clean off the face of the planet. I’m sure Saddam knows the US response to an attack would be to utterly destroy Iraq, so as Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs as he is, I really doubt he’d consider launching a biological first strike - even if he has a smallpox weapon - which is also doubtful.
Unfortunately, our own current crop of "beloved" leaders are even crazier and more power hungry then Saddam. Partially hamstrung by those annoying Constitutional checks and balances and the court of public opinion, their attempts at mass wealth transfer from the poor to their extremely wealthy backers must be done semi-covertly and with plausible deniably. A nice little war, where Iraq becomes a US colony, seems to just what they are looking for. Defense spending will, of course, skyrocket, to the benefit of Bush’s friends in the defense industry, and can you say OIL. Iraq has a lot of that and Bush’s oil friends would just love to get their greedy little paws on it - most likely at heavily discounted rates.
Given their ulterior motives, I just don’t trust Bush and his cronies when they claim "We have proof that Iraq is (fill-in-the-blank), but we can’t show you". I think the same thing about their plans to vaccinate all Americans against smallpox. Here, in some sort of macabre Wag the Dog scenario, I believe they are gleefully counting on hundreds of Americans dying. Waiting for the wailing husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters to appear on the news, blaming the evil Saddam for the death of their loved ones and demanding revenge - increasing the already deafening beat on the drums of war the corporate owned and Bush friendly media is playing.
