Last week Al-Sabah, Iraq’s state newspaper, reported that terrorists from Africa had brought along with them Ebola, not to mention HIV/AIDS, to the Islamic State. In fact, two IS fighters were said to have contacted Ebola.
But the Independent reports:
Ahmed Rudaini, the [Iraq] health ministry’s spokesman dismissed the speculation.
He said the disease could not have been registered, as only the Central Laboratory of Public Health in Baghdad has the “diagnostic capabilities” to confirm cases of Ebola.
The World Health Organization added: “It is unlikely that this case can be a confirmed Ebola case as there is no laboratory facility in Mosul that could do an Ebola test.”
Before the reports were refuted, many in the West may have found themselves thinking: “Couldn’t happen to a bunch of nicer guys. Hope it wipes them all out.” But, the Islamic State is renowned for spotting an opportunity in a crisis, at least to the extent of using their own deaths, via suicide bombs, as a chance to kill exponentially more of their enemy. The International Business Times linked to an October Forbes article.
Such groups could simply use human carriers to intentionally infect themselves in West Africa, then disseminate the deadly virus via the world’s air transportation system. Or so says Capt. Al Shimkus, Ret., a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.
“The individual exposed to the Ebola Virus would be the carrier,” Shimkus told Forbes.“In the context of terrorist activity, it doesn’t take much sophistication to go to that next step to use a human being as a carrier.”
A variation on the suicide bomber.
They wouldn’t even have to “isolate” it, says Shimkus, who teaches a course in chemical and biological warfare. He says that if ISIS wanted to send half a dozen of its operatives into an Ebola outbreak region and intentionally expose themselves to the virus, they very well could. The idea is then once they had intentionally infected themselves, they would try to interact with as many people in their target city or country of choice.
It’s at this point we can’t help pointing out that biological, like chemical, weapons, once unleashed, are notoriously difficult to control. Were Ebola to spread throughout the Islamic State, asks Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge:
… will Nobel Peace Prize winning President Obama send his humanitarian non-boots-on-the-ground military advisors to help?
In other words, while the Islamic State might conceivably view an outbreak of Ebola as a chance to weaponize it, the West, instead of gloating over Islamic State’s misfortune, could seize the opportunity to extend an olive branch. The outbreak would have to be plague-like, though, for the Islamic State to consider medical aid from the West. With its ability to recruit, the Islamic State doesn’t seem too concerned about the fatalities of its own fighters.
In the interim, though, it might be a good idea for the Islamic State to discontinue executing doctors ― 12 in recent months ― for refusing to work in their field hospitals and treat their wounded. While those doctors might have also refused to treat Islamic State fighters who contracted Ebola, they would no doubt have treated citizens of its “caliphate” who were infected.