Deans send letter to Obama protesting conduct of a sham vaccination campaign in OBL hunt

[The Straight Story]

In June 1968, a clearly marked Swedish Red Cross plane flying relief supplies into the breakaway state of Biafra was shot down by Nigerian fighters.1 Before the war was over, many relief planes would be shot down and far more would crash because the Nigerian government's shoot-to-kill order forced them to fly at night. The brazen targeting of Red Cross relief flights on civilian humanitarian missions was hard to imagine. In the minds of some people, however, these attacks were justified by another clear violation of humanitarian neutrality: on at least one occasion, a plane painted with the Red Cross insignia was actually carrying weapons.2,3 That rare instance of military action masquerading as humanitarian relief completely undermined the neutrality of everyone who operated by the accepted rules of humanitarian assistance, cost the lives of both aid workers and aid recipients, and provided a blanket of impunity for the future criminal actions of the Nigerian government.

To underscore the necessity of humanitarian neutrality, 12 deans from prominent U.S. schools of public health sent a letter to President Barack Obama on January 6, 2013, protesting the conduct of a sham vaccination campaign as part of the hunt for Osama bin Laden.4 In the lead-up to the May 1, 2011, targeting of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly hired a Pakistani surgeon named Shakil Afridi to go house to house vaccinating children but also drawing back a little blood in the syringe in order to analyze the DNA of the household members. The ploy appears not to have worked in the bin Laden compound, since Afridi's team was kicked out. Nonetheless, in a 60 Minutes interview last June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that Afridi was helpful in finding bin Laden.5 In May 2012, Afridi was convicted of treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Because of these events, Pakistan expelled the foreign staff of the international aid agency Save the Children from the country in September 2012 — a move that threatened the network of health and development services that the organization had established over the past 30 years. In December, eight polio vaccination workers were killed in an apparently coordinated set of attacks (see photoProtests after the Killing of Vaccination Workers in Pakistan.), and the United Nations has suspended its polio-eradication efforts in Pakistan, where 150,000 children die of vaccine-preventable illnesses each year. After decades of a global campaign funded largely by the U.S. government and recently by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, polio has been eradicated from all but three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. It has taken many years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring us to the brink of global eradication of polio, an achievement that appears to have been made much more difficult by the CIA's actions.

The deans of the schools of public health asked the President to commit the United States to refraining from disguising military or intelligence actions as public health activities. Defending the interests of global public health workers, they wrote, “International public health work builds peace and is one of the most constructive means by which our past, present, and future public health students can pursue a life of fulfillment and service. Please do not allow that outlet of common good to be closed to them because of political and/or security interests that ignore the type of unintended negative public health impacts we are witnessing in Pakistan.”

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1300197

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I agree with the Deans

And yes, I have been shot at on board a perfectly armed ambulance with red crosses.

This is idiocy at it's best and a little hubris.

I guess this is strike two against me.

[MotherPetrie]

2. Didn't know that... absolutely outrageous. I thought I was all outraged out after the Bush

administration, but the actions of the Obama administration are frequently just as reprehensible, and this takes the current cake.

[BO 08]

3. Sorry, what part are you outraged about?

That to prove Bin Laden was in a compound the cia inoculated 200 kids and tried to keep blood from one?

That that part of the operation was leaked leading to the backlash?

That the country caught with its pants down is punishing everyone except those responsible for their shame?


Which contingencies should Obama have considered before beginning to look for Bin Laden?

Perhaps Bush's method of ignoring him was better because far less suffering of innocents occurred under Bush?

[idwiyo]

8. So, you are really into suffering, as long as it those brown people who do it?

[MotherPetrie]

25. The IOKIYAR crowd ain't got nothin' on the IOKIYO crowd

[idwiyo]

4. K&R few hundred thousands of dead kids vs HUGE

publicity event = justifiable collateral damage. Right?

[BO 08]

5. So you agreed with Bush

that OBL wasn't all that important and not worthy of his attention.

And now Obama killed a "few hundred thousand" kids because Pakistan has a red faced hissy fit?

[idwiyo]

7. Yes. OBL was not worth it. ONE innocent person is worse more to me than some arsehole

whose reputation and power could have easily been destroyed by never starting that fucking war to start with, by spending billions on improving conditions in Afganistan and Iraq instead of spending it on torture prisons, by changing the way we interact with the rest of the world, by hell of a lot of other things we could have done.

Now, show me what did YOU get for one dead OBL?

Economy in shambles, drones, torture, thouthands of American solders forced to fight an illegal war that killed hindereds of thouthands of innocent people, 2 countries brought back to Stone Age...



Now, tell me how many dead kids OBL is worth for YOU?

[BO 08]

9. Let's break that down

Everything except drones happened before Bin Laden was killed, and as my answer indicated, they were done by a man who had no intention of killing him.

And little if anything was done to 'get' Bin Laden when all that was wrought.

Do you think young impressionable Muslims had more to be angry about during the invasion of Iraq, or now during the drone strikes in the Yemen?

Your last question isn't fair.

How many less kids will die now that Obama is President using drones after killing OBL, than would be dead with Bush using Armies and OBL living?

That's a fairer question imho.

[idwiyo]

10. How many dead kids is it worse for you? None for me. Please, answer the question now.

Don't give me bulshit about who started it. If you believe that collapse of vaccination program in Pakistan was worse it, than say it. Or don't you have guts to stand for what you think is right?

Bush and Poodle started that horror. Obama should have done more to stop it.

[BO 08]

13. The United States is not responsible

For the program cancellation.

Pakistan is.

They were not forced to do it, they did it out of pique.

Such actions prove to me they aren't prepared to deal with the tribal areas, and Obama is correct to send in drones rather than armies.

That is the answer to your question.

[idwiyo]

14. How many dead kids is it worse for you? I answered your question. Now stop BS and answer mine.

[BO 08]

17. You did not.

You answered your own question again.

This was my question..

How many less kids will die now that Obama is President using drones after killing OBL, than would be dead with Bush using Armies and OBL living?

[idwiyo]

21. You asked me if I agreed with Bush about OBL and I gave you straight answer and my reasons.

You never answered my question but instead kept jumping around trying to find some way to justify collapse of the polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan.

It IS US and ultimately Obama's fault. HE is the President. And yours, and mine. All of us.

Humanitarian help was abused by military both under Bush and Obama. Obama did fuck all to stop it. He used that abuse to catch OBL.

So, how many dead kids is it worth for you?

[BrotherIvan]

6. And when you gaze long into the abyss

The abyss also gazes into you.

[progressoid]

11. That's the kind of shit we're supposed to condemn, not commit.

That is fucked up.

[struggle4progress]

12. We should be careful about assuming we know exactly what happened here.

The letter from the deans, of course, expresses an excellent and entirely principled position -- namely, that war operations ought not be conducted under humitarian cover -- and I should think there no doubt we must support that position: there is no question that the safety of humanitarian NGO workers, and their ability to undertake effective humanitarian work, depends on definite and unquestionable separation between the humanitarian workers and any war operations

I tried to find some definitive discussion of the Afridi case and did not find it. The NYT reported

... American officials have said that the doctor, Shikal Afridi, had been running a phony hepatitis B vaccination program as a ruse to obtain DNA evidence from members of Bin Laden’s family, who were thought to be holed up in the Abbottabad compound ...

Panetta Credits Pakistani Doctor in Bin Laden Raid
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: January 28, 2012


That, I suppose, is some suggestion, but frankly I almost always dislike attributions to anonymous "officials," as such statements are easily obtained from persons with a variety of motives and are almost impossible to prove or disprove

The Guardian appears to tell a reasonably explicit story, though again with little besides anonymous sources to support the story

The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an elaborate attempt to obtain DNA from the fugitive al-Qaida leader's family ... The vaccination plan was conceived after American intelligence officers tracked an al-Qaida courier, known as Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti, to what turned out to be Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound last summer. The agency monitored the compound by satellite and surveillance from a local CIA safe house in Abbottabad, but wanted confirmation that Bin Laden was there before mounting a risky operation inside another country. DNA from any of the Bin Laden children in the compound could be compared with a sample from his sister, who died in Boston in 2010, to provide evidence that the family was present ... It is not known exactly how the doctor hoped to get DNA from the vaccinations, although nurses could have been trained to withdraw some blood in the needle after administrating the drug ...

CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden's family DNA
Senior Pakistani doctor who organised vaccine programme in Abbottabad arrested by ISI for working with US agents
Saeed Shah in Abbottabad
Monday 11 July 2011 14.59 EDT


The BBC report was cast in less certain terms: it does quote Afridi himself, but unfortunately the quotes come a Fox News interview with him

... Initial reports following his arrest in May 2011 said he used a fake Hepatitis-C vaccination campaign to guide the Americans to Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. Many experts subsequently cast doubts on whether he could have been privy to specific details of the operation or the exact identity and location of the target ... Days after his conviction, Dr Afridi's brother, Jameel Afridi, told the media Dr Afridi was "a patriot, not a traitor", and that the vaccination campaign he conducted had been authorised by top health department officials of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province ...

11 September 2012 Last updated at 14:41 ET
Q&A: Bin Laden raid doctor Shakil Afridi speaks out


Relations between Pakistani and US intelligence have clearly fallen to new lows, with the deterioration of US Pakistani relations, and a pissing match between spooks is likely to be conducted with much misinformation. But since the Bush administration certainly attempted for years to undermine the neutrality of humanitarian NGOs in its military campaigns, it is plausible that a number of people remain active who have no respect for humanitarian workers and who are happy to endanger them without a second thought

Another consideration is Afridi himself: he seems to have been convicted under a very old colonial era law that permitted him no defense. As a matter of principle, that ought to concern us also

[idwiyo]

15. We likely don't know all the details but mixing up military & humanitarian definitely had a huge

Impact. THAT shouldn't have been ever allowed. It's on the level of war crimes to me because of the huge impact.

[struggle4progress]

18. In fact, due to conflicting claims, we should not assume we're sure of any details

For example, was Afridi jailed on allegations of collaboration with the CIA, as some of my links upthread indicate, or was he jailed on allegations of association with a militant group, as the following link claims?

A Pakistani doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden was imprisoned for aiding fighters and not for links to the CIA, as Pakistani officials had said, according to a court document. Last week, a court in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border jailed Shakil Afridi for 33 years. At the time, Pakistani officials told Western and domestic media the decision was based on treason charges for aiding the CIA in its hunt for the al-Qaeda chief ... However, the judgement document made available to the media on Wednesday states that Afridi was jailed because of his close ties to the banned group Lashkar-e-Islam ...

'Bin Laden doctor' jailed for 'fighter links'
Court documents reveal Shakil Afridi jailed for aiding Lashkar-e-Islam, not for helping CIA to find al-Qaeda chief.
Last Modified: 30 May 2012 17:09


On the other hand, Lashkar-e-Islam says they have nothing to do with him and would like to kill him:

PESHAWAR: ... Shakeel Afridi was on May 24 sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason under Pakistan's archaic system of tribal justice. Afridi was convicted by the court of treason under the penal code, but for alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA ... The court order said Afridi had "close links" to the group, saying the doctor's "love" for Bagh and "association with him was an open secret". But a commander in the organisation told AFP that they had nothing to do with Afridi ...

Militants deny link with Dr Shakil Afridi
By AFP
May 31, 2012 - Updated 1210 PKT


But Pakistan expelled Save the Children for its alleged relationship to Afridi:

... An official from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry and a Pakistani security official confirmed the order and said it was linked to suspicions the foreigners had been working with the spy agency. They declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. A spokesman for the Save the Children, Ghulam Qadri, denied the accusations against the organization, which operates in dozens of countries. He said officials from the Interior Ministry hadn't explained why the foreign workers had to leave ... In a May 2011 report, Pakistani investigators alleged that Save the Children's country director in Pakistan at the time had introduced doctor Shakil Afridi to the CIA in 2008 ... Afridi "has never worked for Save the Children," Qadri said ...

Pakistan orders foreigners working for Save the Children to leave
By Reza Sayah, CNN
updated 9:39 AM EDT, Thu September 6, 2012

... Save the Children spokesman Ghulam Qadir told AFP ... strongly denied allegations that Dr Afridi was introduced to the CIA through Save the Children. "On Shakeel Afridi, our stand is very clear that there is absolutely no truth in it. There is no concrete proof to these allegations," Mr Qadir said ...

Pakistan expels NGO over bin Laden
From: AFP
September 07, 2012 9:44AM


Maybe you can sort out definitively whether Afridi is a CIA operative or a Lashkar-e-Islam operative. While you're at it, maybe you can explain why he wasn't given a regular trial and why everybody is so tight-lipped about the case. Then, perhaps, you can also clarify whether or not Fox News actually interviewed him and whether he was tortured by ISI

... His family disappeared from his home in Peshawar's Hayatabad neighbourhood within a week of his arrest and have not been accessible to the media since then. His colleagues in the health department at Khyber, where he served as the area surgeon, are tight-lipped about his activities or any thoughts he might have shared with them. And he never underwent a regular trial where he could have narrated his side of the story ...

Was 'Bin Laden doctor' Shakil Afridi an unsuspecting pawn?
By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad
24 May 2012 Last updated at 13:12 ET

... Fox News ... quoted Dr Afridi as saying that he suffered “brutal interrogation and torture” when arrested ... The news channel broadcast only the transcript of the purported exclusive, but did not indicate whether it was a video or audio interview. It also does not say how its reporter managed to enter the jail or meet Dr Afridi ...

Afridi says he was punished by ISI for supporting US
Anwar Iqbal | 11th September, 2012


"We likely don't know all the details" is a lovely understatement: this story has changed direction with every breeze

[idwiyo]

19. No, the story did not change. The story is still the same and you tried to twist what I said.

Both US and UK used Humanitarian missions like Polio vaccination program in Pakistan to hunt for OBL.

THAT is the fact. THAT is a crime. Nothing, absolutely nothing changed about it.

I am positive we don't know all of the details but it does not change the fact.

Humanitarian aid must be kept sacrosanct and never ever allowed to be abused.

Eradication of polio is something that doesn't just affect those kids in Pakistan, it can affect your child if we ever get it out of control.

[struggle4progress]

24. We can agree that humanitarian workers should not be compromised. And we can agree that

it would be grossly amoral to compromise vaccination efforts by engaging in activities that discredit vaccination campaigns

But this story is a stinking mess from start to finish. The doctor seems to have been railroaded into jail without much pretense of a trial and perhaps tortured. The Pakistanis have provided different and inconsistent stories about the doctor. Several official sources say the doctor helped find Bin Laden, but in some versions of the story at least he is quoted as denying that. That (of course) doesn't disprove the sham vaccination claim, and (of course) the claim might be true. But there is no definitive source for the claim, and since the whole story is a stinking mess, I will avoid jumping to conclusions on the basis of partial and contradictory accounts

[OnyxCollie]

16. It's SOP for administration(s)

(first Bush, now Obama) which direct their diplomats to surreptitiously collect biometric data like DNA, iris scans, fingerprints, email passwords, etc.

They'll do whatever it takes, regardless of the damage it causes.

So a children's vaccination program got fucked up, hampering the eradication of polio and exposing children to the virus?

Hmm... Sounds like a business opportunity.

[idwiyo]

20. It's horrible when reduced to 3 letter abbreviation - SOP. Horrible and so true.

[malaise]

22. So many humanitarian institutions have been used to push

imperial interests that it is no wonder they they are all viewed as agents of imperial governments. The Deans are correct

[redgreenandblue]

23. k&r