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July 2, 2002
Sam Bahour
Ramallah
Occupied:
Uninvited Guests Become Neighbors
July 1, 2002
Norman Madarasz
Brazil's
Triumph
June 28/30, 2002
Kathleen Christison
The True Story of Resolution
242 or How the US Sold Out
the Palestinians
Cockburn / St. Clair
Death,
Juries and Scalia
Tarif Abboushi
Bush's
Double Standard
on Israel
N.D. Jayaprakash
Seething
with Rage:
The Palestinian Saga
Michael Yates
Taking
the Pledge:
Teachers and the Flag
Stephen Zunes
Bush's
Speech a Setback
for Peace
Walt Brasch
The Pledge
v. The Constitution
Cockburn / St. Clair
Strikers
as Terrorists?
Tom Ridge Calls Longshoremen
June 27, 2002
Ralph Nader
Reclaiming
Our Commons
Neve Gordon
Jerusalem
Under Attack
Robert Jensen
Alternative
Futures
David Vest
Darryl Kile's
Great Day
Gary Leupp
The Loya
Jirga Joke
Rahul Mahajan
Arafat
Says US Needs New Leadership; Calls for Fair Elections
June 26, 2002
Robert Fisk
Sharon as
Bush Speechwriter
Mokhiber / Weissman
Brokerman
June 25, 2002
Dave Marsh
The RIAA,
Library of Congress and the Web Pirates
Uri Avnery
Reform
Now!
Bahour / Dahan
Bush:
Off with Arafat's Head
Walt Brasch
Bush:
the Compassionate Exerciser
June 24, 2002
Bernard Weiner
Talkin'
About the F-Word
David Bates
Portland
Gets Dicked:
Cheney Does Oregon
Jo Freeman
Will
the War on Terror Follow the Path of the Cold War?
Tom Gorman
The Only
Thing "Generous" is the Propaganda
Bezhad Yaghmaian
Caught
Between Borders
in a Borderless World
Ben Sonnenberg
Ted
Hughes' Spell
June 22/23, 2002
Douglas Valentine
Sex,
Drugs & the CIA
June 21, 2002
Norman Madarasz
Brazil
Over England:
The Gaucho's Wild Ride
John Borowski
Stossel
and Disney's Crimes Against Nature
Chris Floyd
Southern
Cross: The US Takes Aim at Brazil
David Martin
Of Lies
and Oil: an interview with Rahul Mahajan
James T. Phillips
Serbian
Reservations:
Kosovo 2002
June 20, 2002
Chris Kromm
The South
at War: a Tour of the US Military/Industrial Complex
Jacob Levich
The War
on Terror is
Not a Suicide Pact
Mark Weisbrot
What
are They Doing to Argentina?
Jeffrey St. Clair
and Alexander Cockburn
Fire
Walk With Me:
Terry Lynn Barton and the Flames of Colorado
June 19, 2002
Gary Leupp
Red Targets in Terror War
Lenni Brenner
The Road
Forward for the
Palestinian Movement
Bernard Weiner
Inside
Cheney's Diary:
Cakewalking Through Minefields
Alexander Cockburn
The
Incredible Shrinking President
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
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Five
Days That
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By Alexander
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Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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Reviews of Gore:
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July
2, 2002
Bombing the Mind
The Pentagon's
Program for Psychopharmalogical Warfare
by Edward Hammond
In The Futurological Congress (1971), Polish writer
Stanislaw Lem portrayed a future in which disobedience is controlled
with hypothetical mind-altering chemicals dubbed "benignimizers".
Lem's fictional work opens with the frightening story of a police
and military biochemical attack on protesters outside of an international
scientific convention. As the environment becomes saturated with
hallucinogenic agents, in Lem's tale the protesters (and bystanders)
descend into chaos, overcome by delusions and feelings of complacency,
self-doubt, and even love.
If the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons
Directorate (JNLWD) has its way, Lem may be remembered as a prophet.
The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives
for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique, a 49 page report obtained
last week by the Sunshine Project under US information freedom
law, has revealed a shocking Pentagon program that is researching
psychopharmacological weapons. Based on "extensive review
conducted on the medical literature and new developments in the
pharmaceutical industry", the report concludes that "the
development and use of [psychopharmacological weapons] is achievable
and desirable." These mind-altering weapons violate international
agreements on chemical and biological warfare as well as human
rights. Some of the techniques discussed in the report have already
been used by the US in the "War on Terrorism".
The team, which is based at the Applied
Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University, is assessing
weaponization of a number of psychiatric and anesthetic pharmaceuticals
as well as "club drugs" (such as the "date rape
drug" GHB). According to the report, "the choice administration
route, whether application to drinking water, topical administration
to the skin, an aerosol spray inhalation route, or a drug filled
rubber bullet, among others, will depend on the environment."
The environments identified are specific military and civil situations,
including "hungry refugees that are excited over the distribution
of food", "a prison setting", an "agitated
population" and "hostage situations". At times,
the JNLWD team's report veers very close to defining dissent
as a psychological disorder.
The drugs that Lem called "benignimizers"
are called "calmatives" by the military. Some calmatives
were weaponized by the Cold War adversaries, including BZ, described
by those who have used it as "the ultimate bad trip".
Calmatives were supposed to have been deleted from military stockpiles
following the adoption of the Chemical Weapons Convention in
1993, which bans any chemical weapon that can cause death, temporary
incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans or animals.
Calmative is military, not medical, terminology.
In more familiar medical language, most of the drugs under consideration
are central nervous system depressants. Most are synthetic, some
are natural. They include opiates (morphine-type drugs) and benzodiazpines,
such as Valium (diazepam). Antidepressants are also of great
interest to the research team, which is looking for drugs like
Prozac (fluoxetine) and Zoloft (sertraline) that are faster acting.
Biochemicals and Treaties: Many of the proposed drugs can be considered
both chemical and biological weapons banned by the Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), and the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC). As a practical matter, biological and chemical
"calmatives" must be addressed together. As the agents
are explicitly intended for military use, and are intended to
incapacitate their victims, they do not fall under the CWC's
domestic riot control agent exemption. Toxic products of living
agents - such as the neurotoxin botulinum - are considered both
chemical and biological agents. Any weapons use of neurotransmitters
or substances mimicking their action is similarly covered by
both arms control treaties. The researchers have developed a
massive calmatives database and are following biomedical research
on mechanisms of drug addiction, pain relief, and other areas
of research on cognition-altering biochemicals. For example,
the JNLWD team is tracking research on cholecystokinin, a neurotransmitter
that causes panic attacks in healthy people and is linked to
psychiatric disorders.
Powerful Drugs:
The drugs have hallucinogenic and other effects, including apnea
(stopped breathing), coma, and death. One class of drugs under
consideration are fentanyls. The report's cover features a diagram
of fentanyl. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA), the biological effects of fentanyls "are indistinguishable
from those of heroin, with the exception that the fentanyls may
be hundreds of times more potent." The report says that
the drugs' profound effects may make it necessary to "check
for the occasional person who may stop breathing (many medical
reasons in the unhealthy, the elderly, and very young...",
as well as victims who "'go to sleep' in positions that
obstruct their airway".
Failed Drugs:
The report points out that pharmaceutical candidates that fail
because of excessive side-effects might be desirable for use
as weapons: "Often, an unwanted side-effect... will terminate
the development of a promising new pharmaceutical compound. However,
in the variety of situations in which non-lethal techniques are
used, there may be less need to be concerned with unattractive
side-effects... Perhaps, the ideal calmative has already been
synthesized and is awaiting renewed interest from its manufacturer."
Chemical Cocktails: As of March 2002, the team was researching a
mix of pepper spray ("OC") and an unidentified calmative
agent. Pepper spray is the most powerful chemical crowd control
agent in use, and has been associated with numerous deaths. Adding
a pharmacological "calmative" to OC would create a
hideous concoction. The report prioritizes Valium and Precedex
(dexmeditomidine) for weaponization, and it is possible that
these are the agents that could be mixed with OC. The researchers
also suggest mixing ketamine with other drugs (see below). The
chemical cocktail proposals bear a resemblance to South Africa's
apartheid-era weapons research, whose director claimed under
oath to have attempted to develop a BZ and cocaine mixture for
use on government enemies.
Torture:
Precedex is sedative approved for use in the US on patients hospitalized
in intensive care units. The report draws attention to an "interesting
phenomenon" related to Precedex use - the drug increases
patients' reaction to electrical shock. The researchers suggest
sensitizing people by using Precedex on them, followed by use
of electromagnetic weapons to "address effects on the few
individuals where an average dose of the pharmacological agent
did not have the desired effect." Obviously, such a technique
might be considered torture, and certainly could be used to torture.
To add to hypnotic and delusional properties, the researchers
suggest that psychopharmaceutical agents could be designed to
have physical effects including headache and nausea, adding to
their torture potential.
The researchers suggest that transdermal
patches and transmucosal (through mucous membranes) formulations
of Buspar (buspirone) under development by Bristol-Myers Squibb
and TheraTech, Inc. "may be effective in a prison setting
where there may have been a recent anxiety-provoking incident
or confrontation."
Use in the War on Terrorism: Of course, uncooperative or rioting prisoners
would be extraordinarily unlikely to accept being drugged with
a transdermal patch or most conventional means. Any such application
of a "calmative" would likely be on individuals in
shackles or a straightjacket. The US has admitted that it forcibly
sedates Al-Qaida "detainees" held at the US base in
Guantanamo, Cuba. Former JNLWD commander and retired Col. Andy
Mazzara, who directs the Penn State team, says has he sent a
"Science Advisor" to the US Navy to assist the War
on Terrorism.
Modes of Delivery: A number of weaponization modes are discussed
in the report. These include aerosol sprays, microencapsulation,
and insidious methods such as introduction into potable water
supplies and psychoactive chewing gum. JNLWD is investing in
the development of microencapsulation technology, which involves
creating granules of a minute quantity of agent coated with a
hardened shell. Distributed on the ground, the shell breaks under
foot and the agent is released. A new mortar round being developed
could deliver thousands of the minute granules per round. The
team concludes that new delivery methods under development by
the pharmaceutical industry will be of great weapons value. These
include new transdermal, transmucosal, and aerosol delivery methods.
The report cites the relevance of a lollipop containing fentanyl
used to treat children in severe pain, and notes that "the
development of new pain-relieving opiate drugs capable of being
administered via several routes is at the forefront of drug discovery",
concluding that new weapons could be developed from this pharmaceutical
research.
Dart Guns:
The researchers express specific interest shooting humans with
guns loaded with carfentanil darts. Carfentanil is a veterinary
narcotic used to tranquilize large, dangerous animals such as
bears and tigers. Anyone who has watched wildlife shows on television
is familiar with the procedure. In the US, carfentanil is not
approved for any use on human beings. It is an abused drug and
a controlled substance. Under US law, first time offenders convicted
of unlicensed possession of carfentanil can be punished by up
to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Club Drugs:
Most of the JNLWD team's weapon candidates are controlled substances
in most countries. Some are widely used legitimate pharmaceuticals
that are also drugs of abuse, such as Valium and opiates. The
Pentagon team advocates more research into the weapons potential
of convulsants (which provoke seizures) and "club drugs",
the generally illegal substances used by some at "rave"
and dance clubs. Among those in the military spotlight are ketamine
("Special K"), GHB (Gamma-hydroxybutrate, "liquid
ecstasy"), and rohypnol ("Roofies"). The latter
two in particular are called "date rape drugs" because
of incidences of their use on victims of sexual and other crimes.
Most are DEA Schedule I or II narcotics that provoke hallucinations
and can carry a sentence of life imprisonment. For example, according
to the DEA, "Use of ketamine as a general anesthetic for
humans has been limited due to adverse effects including delirium
and hallucinations... Low doses produce vertigo, ataxia, slurred
speech, slow reaction time, and euphoria. Intermediate doses
produce disorganized thinking, altered body image, and a feeling
of unreality with vivid visual hallucinations. High doses produce
analgesia, amnesia, and coma."
Edward Hammond is director of The
Sunshine Project, based in Austin, Texas. He can be reached
at: hammond@sunshine-project.org
Additional information, on relationships
between these
weapons and protection human rights, medical ethics, and drug
research is forthcoming. A summary of the report is available
on the Sunshine Project
website.
Today's
Feature
Sam Bahour
Ramallah
Occupied:
Uninvited Guests Become Neighbors
Dave Marsh
John Entwistle's
Heaven and Hell
Norman Madarasz
Brazil's
Triumph
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