White House memo exposes Rove knew of problems with anthrax vaccine

[Guest guest]

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 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 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 ph 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 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. 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/rovememoanthrax.pdf