The US government moved on Wednesday to calm a nervous nation and safeguard a postal system that has become the front line in a chilling biological warfare attack as US planes staged their fiercest strikes so far on the Taliban front line.
The ruling Taliban, who are sheltering Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in last month's suicide attacks that killed more than 5,000 people in the US, said they were arming villagers to resist future retaliatory US ground attacks and vowed to fight to the last man.
PHOTO: AP
The FBI said there was still a real chance of new attacks on the US, more than six weeks after hijackers slammed airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington. Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania after its hijackers were apparently overpowered.
Containment
Hurrying to contain the anthrax scare gripping America, the government reached a deal to stockpile the antibiotic used to treat anthrax on Wednesday but the head of the US Postal Service said there were no guarantees the mail was safe amid a spate of letters laced with the germ warfare agent. He told Americans to wash their hands after touching mail but said there was no question of shutting the service down.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the staunchest US ally, indicated there was no guarantee of a quick end to the conflict, vowing to bring bin Laden to justice for the Sept. 11 attacks, however long it takes.
In a sign of the impact of US front-line strikes, the opposition Northern Alliance took time off from its alert against Taliban bombing to indulge in the traditional sport of buzkashi, with scrums of 14 horses and their riders snatching the torn carcass of a calf across a dusty field.
Although the US holds all the military cards, the Taliban were showing their mettle as hard adversaries.
"They are proving to be tough warriors," US Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem said. "But we are prepared to take however long is required to bring the Taliban down."
With the world economy still reeling from the devastating attacks, the US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a stimulus package to inject US$100 billion into the US economy over the next year. President George W. Bush urged lawmakers to pass it to help kick start businesses hit by the attacks.
But it was the fear of anthrax, a potent germ warfare weapon contained in contaminated letters, that preoccupied Americans more than news from distant Afghanistan. Three people have died and nine others have been infected.
Although no hard evidence has emerged linking the anthrax outbreak to bin Laden, US officials were operating on the suspicion it was tied to the September attacks.
US Postmaster General John Potter warned there was no guarantee US mail was safe after traces of anthrax were found in an off-site White House mail screening center.
Tests
Preliminary tests of some 120 workers at White House mail facilities showed none had been exposed to anthrax, but spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "Everyone needs to be alert because we're a nation that's at war."
Surgeon General David Satcher, the top US health officer, said: "We've never been through a bioterrorist attack before ... I don't think yet we're beyond our capability [to cope], but I think we have to continue to strengthen that capability."
Germany's Bayer AG, maker of Cipro, the prominent antibiotic for treating anthrax, announced it had agreed to supply the US government with up to 300 million doses at the reduced rate of US$0.95 apiece. Drugmaker Pfizer said it was in talks with the government about antibiotics.
In the Washington area, two postal workers remained seriously ill in a hospital with inhalation anthrax and others were treated for suspected anthrax.
In this country of more than 280 million people, some 200 billion pieces of mail are sent every year.
Madeleine Albright, a former secretary of state, called on the Bush administration to speak with one voice to confront the nation's anthrax fears and warned against press hysteria. She said every time she turns on the television or reads a newspaper, it sounds as if "we're all going to die."
In New York, a new case emerged when a mail room employee at the New York Post, where an editorial assistant had earlier tested positive and been treated successfully, developed symptoms consistent with skin anthrax, the paper said.
Exposure
Some three dozen people have been exposed to the disease without contracting it, including 28 US Senate staff members who tested positive for exposure after an anthrax-laced letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office.
A fifth location in the US Capitol complex tested positive for the anthrax bacteria and a member of the media who worked at a Senate office building has been hospitalized, possibly for anthrax inhalation, officials said on Wednesday.
The Postal Service was giving employees masks to protect against airborne spores and was introducing gloves, he said, adding there were also plans to deploy machines at post offices across the country to irradiate the mail, thereby killing germ warfare agents.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said more attacks on the US were possible. "I must tell you that the threat level remains very high -- more attempts and possible attacks are a distinct possibility," he told US mayors.
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