White House memo exposes Rove knew of problems with anthrax vaccine

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White House memo exposes Rove knew of problems with anthrax vaccine.

Rove memo dated 25 April 2001.

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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>http://rawstory.com/images\

/other/rovememoanthrax.pdf

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Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers & Homeopathy Online/email courses - next classes Sept 08