Janet Phelan (c)copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
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FIRST, THEY CAME FOR BRADLEY MANNING
(LOS ANGELES) – While the country responds with growing alarm over torture policies first instigated against prisoners in Guantánamo, policies which now appear to be levied against Bradley Manning, another policy violation has been overlooked by the guardians of our freedom. The U.S. press has been mum, at least up until now, on the violation of the Biological Weapons Convention by none other than the United States government.
In the rush to pass protective legislation into law following the attacks of 911, the authors of the U.S. Patriot Act amended the previous legislation regarding biological weapons. Section 817 of the U.S. Patriot Act, otherwise known as the “Expansion of the Biological Weapons Statute,” has violated the Biological Weapons Convention, an international treaty which the U.S. signed in 1974.
The Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention, also known as the BWC, was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons. It was largely considered to be a result of prolonged efforts by the international community to supplement the 1925 Geneva Protocol. More