Eric Margolis: First, the bad news, then ... the bad news - 9/11

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 04:23:22 GMT

As our world continues to spin out of control, two horrible events in the last two weeks had special resonance for me: the spreading anthrax terror, and the death of my old Afghan comrade, Abdul Haq. First, anthrax. In late 1990, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, I was in Baghdad covering the impending Gulf war. In a futile effort to prevent threatened U.S. air attacks, Saddam Hussein rounded up foreigners and held them hostage in Baghdad hotels. This brutish act - which provoked outrage around the world - was a typical example of the Muslim world's uncanny knack for negative, self-defeating public relations. Among the hostages, I discovered three British scientists who had been employed at Iraq's top secret Salman Pak chemical and biowarfare plant. Two of the Britons confided to me they had been working to develop a weaponized form of anthrax for Saddam's army.