Another Test for Qaddafi: Who Infected the Children?

[DuctapeFatwa]

These victims of what is known as the Benghazi epidemic, which spread H.I.V., the human immunodeficiency virus, to more than 400 children here in 1997-98, are the most visible face of one of the most difficult political problems Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is facing as leader of Libya.
Blame has not yet been assigned, although a number of doctors and nurses, foreign and Libyan, have been charged with negligence. Some of them - only the foreigners - are in jail, facing the death penalty.

While Colonel Qaddafi's recent decision to rid his country of programs to develop nuclear and other unconventional weapons may usher in a new era between Libya and the West, a number of European nations also expect him to make a strong gesture on human rights in Benghazi.

"This is something terrible, a catastrophe, an odious crime," Colonel Qaddafi said. "We have found a doctor and a group of nurses who possessed the H.I.V. virus and who were asked to experiment" on the "effect of viruses of this type, AIDS, on the children in question."

"Who charged them with this odious task? Some said it was the C.I.A. Others said it was Mossad." The trial, he added, would be an international event, "like the Lockerbie trial."

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=29784

[sistersofmercy]

1. Very sorry for those children, what a tragedy.

It does seem like an extremely high number of infected individuals to merely be attributed to neglectful practices by the hospital staff. I have not heard of any other hospitals with such a record which makes me suspicious. What do you think DF?

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. The US has declined to comment on any CIA involvement

http://www.bta.bg/site/libya/en/11positions.htm

[beanball]

6. Only Muslims

are called loons,mad men,crazy,nuts, well folks we have loons,and nut in America and other places around the world,but those descriptions are never used when we describe white tyrants.

[DuctapeFatwa]

8. Goebbels was very good at what he did.

His modern day students in Washington are applying his proven techniques very effectively.

[JasonDeter]

3. The muslim nations should rise up and invade Libya

and drag that lunatic qaddafi to the Hague to be tried and then put in a small cell to rot the rest of his pathetic life.

edit to spell Libya correctly.

[sistersofmercy]

4. So let me get this straight...

You had to edit to spell Libya correctly and you are advocating sending Qaddafi to the Hague?

[JasonDeter]

7. And one has to do with the other because.....?

I'm guessing you disagree with me because....?
And tell me do you support that murder of Americans from Libya?
Do you think it would be awesome if the Arab nations rose up against these corrupt despots instead of letting them get away with murder?
Or is it just spelling errors you have issues with?

[JasonDeter]

11. I thoght so. Your problem with my post is simply spelling errors! LOL!

[sistersofmercy]

13. No my problem with your post is gross generalization

[JasonDeter]

14. No it would be a great answer to most of that regions problems.

.

[sistersofmercy]

12. And which Arabic countries do you suggest should rise up?

Saudi? Egypt? Oh do tell!

[pinto]

5. Bulgarian and other former Soviet republics (especially Romania)

had a history of re-using needles and poor needle sterilization, both pre and post Soviet block days. There were cluster cases of AIDS with correspondingly high incidence of hepatitis B in orphanages. Made a big splash in AIDS groups at the time.

here's a couple of info links:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=37311#B3

In early March 1990, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was invited to provide epidemiological assistance to establish a national AIDS surveillance system <2>. In its first report of AIDS cases, the Romanian Ministry of Health reported that 77% of cases were from only five of Romania s 41 districts. Constanta county which includes Constanta, a major port on the Black Sea, had 426 cases; Bucharest, the capital of Romania, had 189 cases; Giurgiu, located on the Danube River where virtually all traffic to Bulgaria from Bucharest passes through, had 119 cases; Bacau, in Moldavia, had 87 cases; and, Galati, also a port on the River Danube, had 74 cases. The majority of the cases (94%) were in children less than 13 years of age. Contaminated blood products and indiscriminate injections with contaminated needles and syringes were the main sources of infection <3>. Only a small percentage (4%) of the pediatric cases resulted from vertical infection.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8286071

By reviewing sterilization records and interviewing local health-care workers, we determined that needles and syringes were often re-used without proper disinfection in the orphanage. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide strong epidemiologic evidence that indiscriminate injections with contaminated needles and syringes were responsible for HIV transmission in this population.


It is possible that health care workers from this region carried these practices to Libya. That is one possible explanation for a cluster of cases.

ed for spell

[cantwealljustgetalong]

9. this text has been snipped w/o identification and is misleading...

...

These victims of what is known as the Benghazi epidemic, which spread H.I.V., the human immunodeficiency virus, to more than 400 children here in 1997-98, are the most visible face of one of the most difficult political problems Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is facing as leader of Libya.
Blame has not yet been assigned, although a number of doctors and nurses, foreign and Libyan, have been charged with negligence. Some of them - only the foreigners - are in jail, facing the death penalty.

While Colonel Qaddafi's recent decision to rid his country of programs to develop nuclear and other unconventional weapons may usher in a new era between Libya and the West, a number of European nations also expect him to make a strong gesture on human rights in Benghazi.

"This is a test case for us, and we are at a crucial moment," said a European ambassador who has been working to free seven medical workers, six Bulgarians and a Palestinian, who were arrested in 1999. European governments and rights organizations assert that the epidemic was caused by gross negligence by Libya's Health Ministry.
But the Libyans said the seven took part in a conspiracy by the Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad, Israel's spy agency, to spread H.I.V. to Libya and undermine the state.

The detainees said they were tortured and sexually abused. Libyan officials at first denied the accusations, but later arrested senior army officers who conducted the interrogations and charged them with torture, which diplomats here say is routine in the prison system. (As part of their defense, the Libyan officers assert they, too, were tortured into confessing.)

At an AIDS conference in Nigeria in April 2001, the Libyan leader referred to the case publicly for the first time and said the foreign medical workers would be tried in the same manner as Libyan intelligence officers implicated in the operation that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

"This is something terrible, a catastrophe, an odious crime," Colonel Qaddafi said. "We have found a doctor and a group of nurses who possessed the H.I.V. virus and who were asked to experiment" on the "effect of viruses of this type, AIDS, on the children in question."

"Who charged them with this odious task? Some said it was the C.I.A. Others said it was Mossad." The trial, he added, would be an international event, "like the Lockerbie trial."
After nearly a dozen delays, the AIDS trial began last summer.

European governments and rights groups say the Libyan Health Ministry failed to screen blood products adequately, and allowed poor sterilization practices by the staff of Al Fateh Children's Hospital.

Yet when the outbreak was detected, the Libyan administrators accused the foreign staff of conspiracy to murder, in an act of "scapegoating," as one European ambassador called it.

...

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. I posted 4 paragraphs, as the rules state

I have not had good luck finding differences in what I posted and the source text, either in my four paragraphs or your eight.