The document was declassified in 1974. It was only the last of many such color-coded contingency war plans.

“Invading Canada is an old American tradition. Invading Canada successfully is not.” See more Canadian response to War Plan Red.

HT: Sam Vaknin’s Yahoo Group LinknFactoid

The extraditions stunned Colombians, who had hoped that testimony from the men, given as part of a national amnesty program, would help expose the truth about two decades of vicious murders, assaults and kidnappings. In videotaped confessions in Colombia, one had taken responsibility for more than 450 slayings.

But outrage over the extraditions reached a boiling point earlier this year, when U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton blocked public access to seven of the paramilitary leaders’ cases, erasing virtually every trace of their existence.

There is no way to know if the men have negotiated lenient sentences — or if they are even still in custody. An eighth defendant, accused in Colombia of murdering a judge, was released on his own recognizance, records show, after cousins in College Park, Md., vouched for him.

The Colombian cases are drawing new attention to the practice of sealing entire court files, triggering a broader controversy over judicial secrecy.

Though court policies discourage this degree of secrecy, a 2009 internal study showed that federal judges order it in thousands of cases a year, sometimes without justification.

Some judges not only block public access, but also remove file numbers and all other signs of a case from the record. In the D.C. district, there is no uniform procedure for sealing a case, leaving individual judges to decide how much to disclose, Chief Judge Royce Lamberth said.

The cases against the Colombian paramilitaries show the stakes of a transparency debate that might otherwise seem academic.

“More than anger, I feel powerless,” said Bela Henriquez, whose father, Julio, was kidnapped and killed on the orders of one defendant. “We don’t know what they are negotiating, what conditions they are living under. What guarantee of justice do we have?”

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public access to court cases is protected by the First Amendment because it is a crucial check on judicial power.

But some factors 2013 national security material, an ongoing government investigation, vulnerable witnesses or victims — can justify secrecy.

The cases involving the Colombians were probably sealed to protect the defendants’ safety, because they are cooperating with U.S. drug enforcement authorities, several former prosecutors said. “It’s very possible,” Lamberth said. U.S. prosecutors, defense attorneys and Judge Walton declined to comment.

An agreement involving secrecy would require authorization at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Prosecutors must obtain approval from the deputy attorney general before requesting, or agreeing to, the sealing of a criminal case.

But ultimately, sealing decisions are made by individual judges. Court policies urge judges to shield as little as possible 2013 a document, a witness’s name 2013 and for as short a time as possible. Total secrecy is supposed to be ordered only under “extraordinary circumstances,” according to legal precedent. Even in those cases, judges are supposed to unseal records eventually.

In 2006, the Associated Press reported a sharp rise in secrecy in criminal cases, prompting concern that Bush-era prosecutors and judges too often operated outside public scrutiny.

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts supplied data for the study, but its spokesman, David Sellers, now says the figures provided were flawed. He said wide variations in record-keeping among individual courts make accurate tallies impossible.

A year after the AP report, the federal judiciary strongly urged courts to mark sealed cases as “under seal” rather than completely omitting them from the record, as happened in the Colombian cases. Yet, the 2009 internal study showed that a dozen courts still weren’t complying.

That study, done by the research arm of the federal judiciary, looked at all cases that were fully sealed in 2006, giving perhaps the most complete picture of how 2014 and how often 2014 total secrecy is used.

Two percent of about 1 million cases filed that year were sealed. In many, the secrecy was justified, but researchers found dozens of instances of sealing for no legitimate reason. Approximately one of every 275 criminal cases in 2006 was fully sealed to protect cooperators or ongoing investigations.

Last month, the committee overseeing the study recommended that the judiciary’s leadership remind judges not to order complete secrecy unless “there are no other options.” The panel stopped short of suggesting that this be made mandatory.

“The number of sealed cases was so small,” said Judge Harris Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the committee’s chairman. “Judges’ decisions to seal a case are heavily dependent on the specific facts and circumstances of that case.”

The panel recommended that electronic records systems in the courts be programmed to track sealing.

In Colombia, the secret U.S. prosecutions have darkened hopes of achieving redress for thousands of atrocities tied to a network of paramilitary groups known as the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The extradition of key leaders to the United States disrupted a historic amnesty program intended to demobilize units and deliver basic information, such as the location of bodies, to victims’ relatives.

Roxanna Altholz, the acting director of the International Human Rights law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley who represents Colombian victims of paramilitary violence, said the U.S. has broken a promise made on the day of the extraditions by Ambassador William Brownfield.

“The victims, their representatives and the prosecutors of Colombia will continue to have access in the U.S. to the legal system, to the extradited individuals, and to their assets,” Brownfield said on May 13, 2008, in Colombia.

“So far,” says Altholz, “none of those promises have been kept.”

Human rights lawyers have been unable to track the status of at least 25 other Colombian paramilitary members being prosecuted in various U.S. courts because substantial portions of their cases have been sealed.

Lamberth acknowledged that victims may feel deprived of justice when cases are sealed.

“I honestly don’t know how we balance letting victims have a say,” he said. “If there is a way to do it without endangering” the lives of those who are cooperating, “we are open to that.”

Given their brutal résumés, the whereabouts of the defendants are cause for concern, prosecutors said.

“If one of them could be living in Bethesda, for example, down the street from the Jones family with a dog and 2.5 kids, then the public has a strong interest in knowing that information,” said David Weinstein, who prosecuted drug cases as an assistant U.S. attorney in Southern Florida from 1998 to 2009.

One paramilitary leader, Hughes Manuel Rodriguez Fuentes, was released on bond in 2008. Reporters visited an address in College Park where one of Rodriguez Fuentes’ cousins lives, according to court records.

“I don’t know where he is,” said the relative. “And good luck finding him.”

Colombian Paramilitaries Extradited to U.S., Where Cases Are Sealed by Jennifer Janisch and Oriana Zill de Granados, Thirteen/WNET, and Chisun Lee, ProPublica September 12, 2010, 12:43 a.m. A version of this story appeared in the Washington Post. This article was reported as part of an upcoming Thirteen/WNET documentary series called “Women, War & Peace,” in conjunction with ProPublica.

The human cost of the wars in Iraq is tremendous. It is estimated that 100 000 Iraqi soldiers were killed during the first 100 hours of the Gulf War in 1991.  During the Iran-Iraq war 1980 – 1988, one of the biggest conflicts of the 20th century, more than a million people lost their lives.

The reason for war is not always clear. The weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq. Perhaps the cause of the wars in Iraq was the greed for oil, as also tactfully explained by Robert Newman in History of Oil. Perhaps it was Sadam Hussein’s attempt to debase the US dollar as the reserve currency for oil, as explained by William Clark and discussed on Energy Bulletin. Or retaliation for 9/11. Or all of the above.

Two sides to a war

Whatever the reasons for war, the picture is never pretty. The video, titled Collateral Murder, released by WikiLeaks, showing innocent civilians being mowed down by a US military helicopter in 2007 resulted in an international outcry. It makes one realize that bullets are cheap but lives are not.

Falling man

If you view the above video with the same distaste as the Channel 4 video documentary of the 9/11 Falling Man – video linked from the picture – and videos of beheadings (as shown on TruthTube) you’ll possibly agree that there are two sides to war. Neither are right.

There are two sides to war. Neither are right.

To err is human. To really mess things up you need a computer

On 5 October 1960 an early-warning system warned the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) of a massive Soviet nuclear missile strike approaching the United States. What happened is that a fault in a computer system had removed two zeros from the radar’s ranging components, detecting the missile attack at 4 000km (2,500 miles) away. The radar was actually detecting a reflection from the moon, located 400 000km (250,000 miles) away.

On 3 June 1980 a massive Soviet missile attack was again registered by computers. 100 nuclear-armed B-52s were immediately put on alert. A computer fault was detected in time, but three days later the same error occurred and again the bombers were put on alert. The problem was later traced to the failure of an integrated circuit in a computer, which was producing random digits representing the number of missiles detected.

On 10 January 1984, Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, recorded a message that one of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles was about to launch from its silo due to a computer malfunction. To prevent the possible launch, an armoured car was parked on top of the silo.

The history of nuclear weapon accidents is as old as their introduction
The US Department of Defence (DoD) first published a list of nuclear weapon accidents in 1968 which detailed 13 serious nuclear weapon accidents between 1950-1968. An updated list released in 1980 catalogued 32 accidents. At the same time, documents released by the Navy under the Freedom of Information Act cited 381 nuclear weapon incidents between 1965 and 1977.

A number of nuclear cases involve ships or submarines colliding at sea or, in some cases, submarine nuclear power units becoming unstable and the subs having to be abandoned. According to Greenpeace No Nukes there have been more than 120 submarine accidents since 1956. The most recent incident, in August 2000, was the loss of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea. The Kursk is the seventh nuclear submarine lost, five of them Russian, two American. There are 92 known cases of nuclear bombs lost at sea.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was established in 1968, yet there are more than 23,000 nuclear weapons ready for firing.

Nuclear terms:

Nuceflash: any accidental or unauthorised incident involving a possible detonation of a nuclear weapon.
Broken Arrow: the seizure, theft, loss or accidental detonation of a nuclear weapon or component other than war risk.
Bent Spear: any significant nuclear weapon incidents other than accidents or war risk detonations.
Dull Sword: a nuclear weapon incident other than “significant” incidents.
Faded Giant: any nuclear reactor or radiological accidents involving equipment used or in custody of the Navy.

When bombs started falling in Belgrade in 1999, most of the pregnant animals in the zoo aborted their young or delivered prematurely. The bombs hit out power and water supplies, leaving the sea lions and polar bears to suffer from exposure. Prince, a 300kg (660 lb) Bengal tiger was so disturbed that he began chewing off his own paws.

Nuclear bomb – man’s worst invention

Bellona

Nostradamus predicts

“The word “terrorism” first became popular during the French Revolution, when the régime de la terreur was initially viewed as a positive political system that used fear to remind citizens of the necessity of virtue, ” wrote Raymond Bonner in the New York Times. “The use of violence to “educate” people about ideological issues has continued, but it has taken on decidedly negative connotations – and has become predominantly, though not exclusively, a tactic deployed by those who do not have the powers of state at their disposal.”

The leader of the radical faction during the French Revolution, Jean-Paul Marat (1743-93), fanatically supported violence and terror. At the peak of his power he was stabbed to death by a young girl, Charlotte Corday.

During the Spanish Civil War in 1936 four rebel columns advanced on Madrid, supported by rebel sympathizers from within the city. The Fascist general Gonzalo Sierro described the sympathizers as the “fifth column.” The “fifth column” engaged in espionage and sabotage. The term still refers to any group attempting to undermine a nation from within its borders.

The face of modern terrorism

Rule by terror is as old as human history. War has never been humane. Terrorists also call their targets “terrorists.” But what is a terrorist? What is the difference between a liberation army and a terrorist group? The aim of liberation armies is to claim or reclaim rule with the wider support of the people, to liberate people. (Many groups falsely claim to be liberation armies.) Those who use terror to rule or attempt to rule against the will of people are terrorists.

Modern terrorism sprang from the unstable political and social climate of the 1960s when colonialism finally collapsed. The event that is considered the beginning of modern terrorism was the hijacking of one of Israel’s El Al passenger jets in Rome on 23 July 1968 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Almost instantly terrorist groups from around the world gained international attention.

In their early years terrorists robbed banks and kidnapped people for ransom to obtain funds. Although such methods are still used by terrorists in the Philippines, Columbia and elsewhere, modern terrorist groups are well-funded and well-organized across the world, operating as foreign fighters. They find harbor and support in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria and often use forged or stolen passports to reach their target destinations. There is thought to be more than 500 terrorist networks operating around the world.

Notorious incidents

1972 – September, 5th: A Palestinian terrorist group called Black September murder 2 Israeli athletes and kidnap 9 others at the Munich Olympics. In the shootout with German police the 5 Arab terrorists are killed. The 9 hostages were killed when one of the terrorists threw a hand grenade into their helicopter. Black September emerged from the guerrilla group al-Fatah, which was founded by Abu Jihad and Yasir Arafat in the 1959.

1974 – September, 8th: An explosion on Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 near Kefallinia, Greece caused the airplane to plunge into the Ionian Sea – 88 killed.

1977 – December, 4th: Terrorist shoot the pilots of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 737, the airliner crashes near Johor Baharu – 100 killed.

1983 – September, 23rd: A bomb exploded as the Gulf Air Boeing 737 prepares to land near Abu Dhabi – 111 killed.

1983 – October 25th: Lebanese suicide bomber attacks an American Marine barracks in Beirut – 216 US Marines and hundreds of civilians killed.

1987 – November, 29th: A bomb in the cargo bay of a Korean Air Boeing 707 exploded in mid-air – 115 killed.

1988 – December, 12th: Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie, Scotland. Two terrorists, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah were eventually handed over by Libya to Scottish authorities in 1994 but are appealing their case – 270 killed, including 189 Americans.

1989 – September, 19th: An Union de Transports Ariens DC-10 exploded over the Tenere Desert, Niger. Libyan and Syrian terrorists are implicated – 170 killed.

1993 – February, 26th: Muslim extremists detonate a 550 kilogram (1,200 pound) bomb in the parking basement of the World Trade Center, New York – 6 killed and thousands injured.

1998 – August, 7th: Bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania – 257 killed and some 5,000 wounded.

1999 – July: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin issues a declaration of international war on the West and Christian states.

2001 – September, 11th: Muslim extremists on a suicide mission hijack four airliners; one airliner crashes, one is flown into the Pentagon and two are flown into the towers of the World Trade Center – more than 2,000 killed. The United States and her allies declare war on international terrorism.

Notorious terrorists

Before Osama bin Ladin could claim the title of most notorious terrorist, Carlos the Jackal was the most wanted man in the world. A Venezuelan, his real name was Ilich Ramirez Sanchez. In 1975, he kidnapped 11 oil ministers of OPEC for ransom of $20 million, was involved in Black September at the Munich Olympics in 1972, the hijacking of an Air France plane in 1976, attempted assassination of US President Ronald Reagan in 1981, and numerous other incidents. He was captured in Khartoum, Sudan on 14 August 1994 and handed over to French authorities. Osama bin Ladin was assassinated by US Navy Seals on 1 May 2011.

The terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing:
Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmed Abouhalima, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.

Why did the World Trade Center towers collapse?

Each of the WTC towers had a double-strength structure consisting of a concrete core supported by a steel structure around the outside. The towers were designed to withstand the strongest winds and bombs. However, the explosion of the 94,000 litres (24,000 gallons) of aircraft fuel created temperatures in excess of 800C (1,470F), enough to have melted the steel, it was reported. The weight of the top collapsing floors caused the floors below them to implode one by one very fast. Thousands more people could have lost their lives had the tower not had the double structure. The architects of the WTC, however, maintain that the buildings were designed to withstand such an attack, giving rise to 9/11 conspiracy theories.

“The purpose of terror is to terrorise” – Lenin (born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov 1870 – died 1924).

Sources include: Top 10 of Everything 2001 by Russell Ash, published by Dorling Kindesley 2001, New Scientist, 2001, Compton’s Encyclopaedia, published by Broderbund 1998.

The first deadly gas attack came in April 1915 when the German Army dropped chlorine gas over the Allied trenches in Ypress, Belgium, Within weeks the British retaliated with a chlorine attack. The deadly rally of chemical warfare was on. In 1918 both sides used mustard gas, which seeped through masks, burning skin and searing lungs.

The first international accord on the banning of chemical warfare was agreed upon in Geneva in 1925. Despite the Geneval Protocol the Japanese used chemical warfare against China in 1930. Chemicals were also used during the Iran-Iraq conflict (1980 – 1988), a war that claimed a million victims. Iraq continued to use chemical weapons against the Kurdish minorities in the country. In 1993 another global convention banning the production and stockpiling of chemical warfare agents was signed by more than 100 countries.

The largest chemical weapons factory is in Kazakhstan, a leftover from the Soviet era. It still is ten times larger than any other chemical weapons production plant.

Botulinum toxin (BTX)

One gram of this deadly poison can kill hundreds of thousands of people. It is one of the most feared chemical weapons in existence. Produced by the Clostridium botulinum anaerobic bacterium, it’s seven different neurotoxins attach to proteins inside human nerve cells and block the chemicals used to communicate with muscles, paralyzing breathing muscles, eventually suffocating the victim.

But is also is this very property that has benefits: administered in minute quantities, it reduces painful muscle contractions… and drooling, sweating and wrinkles! It is used as cosmetic treatments under the brand names Botox, Dysport and Myobloc.

Clostridium spores are found in soil all over the world and can easily contaminate food or a wound infection. Theoretically, in the wrong hands a few grams can kill every human on earth.

Anthrax

Anthrax is a disease caused by a spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) that lives in soil, water, and vegetation. It is most commonly found in agricultural regions. Although it can be transmitted through the air deaths from anthrax is EXTREMELY RARE and it is fairly easily cured when treated early. Most countries have ample supplies of anti-microbial treatments readily available.

History of chemical weapons

4000 BC: Spartan Greeks use sulfur fumes against enemy soldiers.

1346: Crimean Tatars catapult plague-infected corpses into Italian trade settlement.

1500s: Spanish conquistadors use biological warfare used against Native peoples.

1763: British Gen. Jeffrey Amherst orders use of smallpox blankets against Native peoples during Pontiac’s Rebellion.

1800s: Blankets infected with smallpox deliberately given to Native Americans, causing widespread epidemics.

1907: Hague Convention outlaws chemical weapons; U.S. does not participate.

1914: World War I begins; poison gas produces 100,000 deaths, 900,000 injuries.

1920s: Britain uses chemical weapons in Iraq “as an experiment” against Kurdish rebels seeking independence; Winston Churchill “strongly” backs the use of “poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes.”

1928: Geneva Protocol prohibits gas and bacteriological warfare; most countries that ratify it prohibit only the first use of such weapons.

1935: Italy begins conquest of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), using mustard gas.

1936: Japan invades China, uses chemical weapons in war.

1939: World War II begins; neither side uses bio-chemical arms, due to fears of retaliation in kind.

1941: U.S. enters World War II; President Roosevelt pledges U.S. will not be first to use bio-chemical weapons.

1945: Japanese military discovered to have conducted biological warfare experiments on POWs, killing 3000. U.S. shields officers in charge from war crimes trials, in return for data.

1947: U.S. possesses germ warfare weapons; President Truman withdraws Geneva Protocol from Senate consideration.

1949: U.S. dismisses Soviet trials of Japanese for germ warfare as “propaganda.” Army begins secret tests of biological agents in U.S. cities.

1950: Korean War begins; North Korea and China accuse U.S. of germ warfare – charges still not proven. San Francisco disease outbreak matching Army bacteria used on city.

1951: African-Americans exposed to potentially fatal simulant in Virginia test of race-specific fungal weapons.

1956: Army manual explicitly states that bio-chemical warfare is not banned.

1959: House resolution against first use of bio-chemical weapons is defeated.

1962: Chemical weapons loaded on U.S. planes during Cuban missile crisis.

1966: Army germ warfare experiment in New York subway system.

1969: Utah chemical weapons accident kills thousands of sheep; President Nixon declares U.S. moratorium on chemical weapons production and biological weapons possession. U.N. General Assembly bans use of herbicides (plant killers) and tear gasses in warfare; U.S. one of three opposing votes. U.S. has caused tear gas fatalities in Vietnamese guerrilla tunnels.

1971: U.S. ends direct use of herbicides such as Agent Orange; had spread over Indochinese forests, and destroyed at least six percent of South Vietnamese cropland, enough to feed 600,000 people for a year.

1972: Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Cuba accuses CIA of instilling swine fever virus that leads to death of 500,000 hogs.

1974: U.S. finally ratifies 1928 Geneva Protocol.

1975: Indonesia annexes East Timor; planes spread herbicides on croplands.

1979: Washington Post reports on U.S. program against Cuban agriculture since 1962, including CIA biological warfare component.

1980: U.S. intelligence officials allege Soviet chemical use in Afghanistan, while admitting “no confirmation.” Congress approves nerve gas facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

1981: U.S. accuses Vietnam and allies of using mycotoxins (fungal poisons) in Laos and Cambodia. Some refugees report casualties; one analysis reveals “yellow rain” as bee feces. Israel bombs Iraqi nuclear reactor, leading to Iraqi decision to build chemical weapons.

1984: U.N. confirms Iraq using mustard and nerve gasses against Iranian “human wave” attacks in border war; State Department issues mild condemnation, yet restores diplomatic relations with Iraq, and opposes U.N. action against Iraq. Bhopal fertilizer plant accident in India kills 2000; shows risks of chemical plants being damaged in warfare.

1985: U.S. resumes open-air testing of biological agents.

1986: U.S. resumes open-air testing of biological agents.

1987: Senate ties in three votes on resuming production of chemical weapons; Vice President Bush breaks all three ties in favor of resumption.

1988: Iraq uses chemical weapons against Kurdish minority in Halabjah; U.S. continues to maintain agricultural credits with Iraq; President Reagan blocks congressional sanctions against Iraq.

1989: Paris conference of 149 nations condemns chemical weapons, urges quick ban to emerge from Geneva treaty negotiations; U.S. revealed to plan poison gas production even after treaty signed.

1990: U.S., Soviets pledge to reduce chemical weapons stockpiles to 20 percent of current U.S. supply by 2002, and to eliminate poison gas weapons when all nations have signed future Geneva treaty. Israel admits possession of chemical weapons; Iraq threatens to use chemical weapons on Israel if it is attacked.

1991: U.S. and Coalition forces bomb at least 28 alleged bio- chemical production or storage sites in Iraq during Gulf War, including fertilizer and other civilian plants. CNN reports “green flames” from one chemical plant, and the deaths of 50 Iraqi troops from anthrax after air strike on another site. New York Times quotes Soviet chemical weapons commander that air strikes on Iraqi chemical weapons would have “little effect beyond neighboring villages,” but that strikes on biological weapons could spread disease “to adjoining countries.” Czechoslovak chemical warfare unit detects sarin nerve gas during air war. Egyptian doctor reports outbreak of “strange disease” inside Iraq. U.S. troops use explosives to destroy Iraqi chemical weapons storage bunkers after the war.

1992: Reports intensify of U.S. and Allied veterans of Gulf War developing health problems, involving a variety of symptoms, collectively called Gulf War Syndrome. U.N. sanctions intensify civilian health crisis inside Iraq, making identification of similar symptoms potentially difficult.

1993: President Clinton continues intermittent bombing and missile raids against Iraqi facilities; U.N. inspectors step up program to dismantle Iraqi weapons. U.S. signs U.N. Chemical Weapons Convention, but approval later blocked in Senate.

1995: Japanese cult launches deadly sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo subway system.

1996: Congressional hearings on Gulf War Syndrome focuses on Iraqi storage bunker destruction, rather than other possible causes, and does not call for international investigation of symptoms among Iraqis.

1997: Cuba accuses U.S. of spraying crops with biological agents . Iraq expels U.S. citizens in U.N. inspection teams, which are allowed to continue work without Americans, but choose to evacuate all inspectors. U.S. mobilizes for military action.

1998: U.S. again bombs alleged Iraqi bio-chemical weapons sites, after Iraq questions the role of American UN inspector, restricts inspector access to presidential properties ans security. U.S. launches missile attack on a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that it alleges produces nerve gas agents–a claim disputed by most of the international community.

1998-99: Series of anthrax hoaxes against U.S. targets, such as NBC, Washington Post, State Department, White House complex. post offices. Former Aryan Nations member Larry Wayne Harris carries out anthrax hoax to dramatize warning of alleged “Iraqi threat.” Three members of Republic of Texas militia group arrested for intention to use anthrax and other biological weapons against public officials. Upsurger in anthrax hoaxes against abortion clinics.

2000: “Topoff Exercise” involving federal and state authorities fails to cope with simulated chemical, biological and nuclear attacks in three widely separated metropolitan areas.

2001: U. S. withdraws from July’s first round of Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BTWC), crippling international efforts to establish global measures against biological weapons. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, anthrax spores sent by mail to multiple political and media targets around the U.S., resulting in anthrax exposures, infections and deaths. Law enforcement authorities debate whether the source of anthrax is foreign or domestic. Real anthrax attacks accompanied by enormous increase in anthrax hoaxes by “Army of God” and other groups and individuals.

History of international terrorism

Official Center for Emergency Preparedness