I told you so
OK, this is not the most mature of blog titles, but what else can I say? When the Director-General of the WHO was being chosen back in 2006, I did everything within my power to point out that Margaret Chan would be a terrible choice. I wrote post after post pointing out her unsuitability for the position. She had done a terrible job in Hong Kong during SARS, she had done a terrible job as panflu czar at the WHO, she had an obvious conflict of interest with regard to panflu because she was sponsored by China (from whence hypervirulent H5N1 originated). Unbeknownst to me at the time, the US government was strongly supporting her candidacy. With the backing of both China and the US, there was probably no way to stop her appointment. What a shame.
I expected that things would get worse at the WHO with Dr. Chan as Director-General, but as pessimisstic as I was, I never thought they would get as bad as they have.
A new low was reached today:
Conspiracy goes to court in bird flu case [hat-tip, Pixie]
Jakarta Post, March 9, 2008
A family, represented by a health legal aid lawyer, has filed a lawsuit against the United States government and the World Health Organization, following the death of a family member caused by bird flu infection.
The lawsuit, made on behalf of Sarmili, the father of Nasrudin who died in East Jakarta's Persahabatan Hospital last month, was filed Tuesday at the Central Jakarta District Court.
What great coverage this country, which has been hit hardest by the ravaging avian influenza, will get from international media, even if the accusation is only close to being reasonable. Indonesia will not only crack open an alleged grand conspiracy of a pending World War III, but also perhaps earn a respectable seat at the UN with special veto rights.
[snip]
On behalf of Sarmili, the legal aid institute has based the lawsuit on information written by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari in her book Saatnya Dunia Berubah! Tangan Tuhan di Balik Virus Flu Burung (It's Time to Change the World! Divine Hands behind Bird Flu).
In her book, the minister alleged WHO insiders underhandedly leaked the flu virus, shared voluntarily with them by the Indonesian government, to the U.S. government, who later stored the virus in a secret laboratory. The minister believed the virus strain was to be used in the superpower's manufacturing of bioweapons.
So now the US and the WHO are being sued by a family who lost a loved to H5N1 because they think the US is using Indonesian H5N1 secretly obtained from the WHO to create bioweapons. And they think that because the Health Minister of Indonesia has published a book and made speeches saying that Margaret Chan told her this. Well, no reason to blame the family. Margaret Chan has *not* denied telling Dr. Supari someone at the WHO secretly sent H5N1 samples to the US for bioweapons manufacture. Others at the WHO have denied this story, but not Margaret Chan. Still. And Supari is still on the WHO Executive Board.
Is it possible that a Director-General with a shred of integrity would not deny a story like this, personally? Is it possible that a Director-General with a shred of integrity would allow Supari to remain on the Executive Board of the WHO? For all of those who supported Margaret Chan as Director-General, this pie a' la merde is for you.
Monday, March 10, 2008
