Army..........not vaccine
Bush seeks military option on bird flu
Suggests troops should be sent in if outbreak occurs
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | October 5, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested dispatching American troops to enforce quarantines in any areas with outbreaks of the killer virus.
Bush asserted aggressive action could be needed to prevent a potentially crippling US outbreak of a bird flu strain that is sweeping through Asian poultry and causing specialists to fear it could become the next deadly pandemic. Citing concern that state and local authorities might be unable to contain such an outbreak, Bush asked Congress to give him the authority to call in the military.
The president has already indicated he wants to give the armed forces lead responsibility for conducting search-and-rescue operations and sending in supplies after massive natural disasters and terrorist attacks -- a strategy that could require a change in law and that some in the Pentagon have reacted to skeptically.
For some, the idea raised the image of soldiers cordoning off communities hit by disease.
''The president ought to have all . . . assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said during a 55-minute question-and-answer session with reporters in the Rose Garden.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an ''extraordinarily draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production.
''The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.