White House memo exposes Rove knew of problems with anthrax vaccine.
Rove memo dated 25 April 2001.
http://rawstory. com/news/ 2008/Memo_ shows_White_ House_knew_ of_0807.html
White House memo exposes Rove knew of problems with anthrax vaccine
08/07/2008 @ 10:51 am
Filed by Allen McDuffee
Rove said Gulf War Syndrome, vaccine political stumbling block
The Department of Defense continued its controversial mandatory
anthrax vaccinations program despite high ranking Bush administration
officials acknowledging there were problems with the vaccine within
months of the Bush administration taking office—well before the 9/11
attacks and the October 2001 anthrax letters.
A 2001 memorandum from former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl
Rove to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz indicates
that the White House knew of problems relating to the Gulf War
Syndrome and the military's controversial anthrax vaccine.
Obtained by RAW STORY earlier this year from a senior military
official and referenced in today's New York Daily News, Rove
wrote, "I do think we need to examine the issues of both Gulf War
Syndrome and the Anthrax vaccine and how they can be dealt with. They
are political problems for us."
RAW STORY had held off printing the memorandum (which appears below)
in an effort to validate its authenticity. Along with the memo, Rove
noted that he had attached "material on the Anthrax vaccine problem,"
which had been forwarded to him by H. Ross Perot. He titled it "GULF
WAR SYNDROME AND ANTHRAX."
"It didn't bother me that Rove referred to it as a political problem
at the time because it meant that it would be properly dealt with,
finally," the military official who leaked the memo said, speaking on
the condition of anonymity. "The political problem became a problem
to me when they dropped the ball and allowed the program to continue.
It was politics that motivated them to investigate and it was
politics that motivated them to allow the program to continue. Now
the political nature bothers me."
The Apr. 25, 2001 memo indicates how long and how far up in the
administration the anthrax vaccine—and Gulf War Syndrome—have been
considered problematic.
The Pentagon's anthrax vaccine is manufactured by a single
contractor, Emergent BioSolutions. It has been plagued with
complaints from soldiers and soldiers' advocates, who assert that the
vaccine causes myriad debilitating ailments.
The Defense Department was forced to halt mandatory injections in
2004 after a judge ruled that the FDA had not approved the vaccine
for its intended use. In 2006, the military resumed mandatory
vaccinations after FDA approval, citing letters laced with anthrax in
late 2001 as a reason.
Questions about the mailings containing anthrax have re-emerged in
the wake of a suicide by a biodefense researcher. At the time of his
death, Bruce Ivins, 62, was under federal investigation for the 2001
anthrax attacks that left five people dead and more than a dozen
sickened. In a Wednesday joint FBI and Department of Justice press
conference, while not officially closing the case, Assistant Director
in Charge Joseph Persichini of the FBI Washington Field Office
said, "Bruce Ivins was responsible for the death, sickness, and fear
brought to our country by the 2001 anthrax mailings."
The leaked memo also comes on the heels of an announcement by the
Department of Homeland Security, which has proposed giving the city
where Emergent BioSolutions is located $946,520 to protect the
company's facilities. The grant, according to an article in the
Lansing State Journal, would "purchase, install and deploy the
eligible Homeland Security equipment and manage related law
enforcement protective actions."
A New York Times article following Ivins' death highlighted a number
of tensions between public safety and biodefense research, centering
around the question: "Has the unprecedented boom in biodefense
research made the country less secure?"
Pentagon maintains vaccine is safe, requires injections
Despite repeatedly maintaining it is safe, documents obtained by Raw
Story last year showed that the Pentagon and medical military
personnel have known since at least 1998 that there are genetic
triggers between illnesses and some required immunizations. They also
revealed the military knew and did not implement routine pre-
screening which could help reduce vaccine-related illnesses.
A flyer posted by the Vaccine Healthcare Center in 2007 showed that
Walter Reed solicited servicemembers who have suffered as a result of
the vaccine, asserting that "adverse effects may include redness or
swelling where the shot was given (larger than the bottom of a soda
can) and/or more than 24 hours of headaches, muscle/joint pains,
and/or fatigue (tiredness) that interfered with your daily
activities."
Texas billionaire and onetime presidential candidate H. Ross Perot
testified to a Congressional committee in 2002 regarding issues with
the vaccine and its manufacturer.
"BioPort is a mess," Perot said, referring to the Pentagon
contractor, which has since changed its name to Emergent
BioSolutions. "BioPort should not be able to keep that contract. For
years they never met any goals or objectives.. .For years they got
bonuses that equaled or exceeded their salaries and didn't accomplish
their goals."
"The damage that was done to our Tigers in the Armed Forces is
incredible," he added. "Hundreds of pilots have left the Air Force
rather than take the shot. $6 million to train one pilot. That's a
high price to pay, right?"
Ivins had worked on producing an anthrax vaccine. Documents presented
by federal prosecutors paint a portrait of a paranoid man who
suffered delusions. Their evidence against him, however, has been
questioned. Sources who spoke to the press said that the Justice
Department was close to charging Ivins when he took his own life, but
that they still had more investigating to do. The Department asserts
that Ivins acted alone.
Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), has called for a "full-
blown accounting" of the probe, which cost taxpayers $15 million and
took seven years, according to the Washington Post. Democratic Rep.
Rush D. Holt (D-NJ), who represents the region the deadly letters
were mailed from from, says hearings should be held as to "why
investigators are so certain that Ivins acted alone."
ROVE MEMO:
http://rawstory. com/images/ other/rovememoan thrax.pdf