US meddling with COVID- 19 origins tracing a repeat of Iraq War lie

At the end of May, US President Joe Biden ordered the intelligence community to “redouble” its efforts in the investigation of the origin of COVID- 19 and report back to him in 90 days.

In his statement, Biden said that the US will “keep working with likeminded partners around the world to press China.”

This echoes the former president George W. Bush administration’s “washing powder” lie, which was fabricated to legitimize the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Ignoring the international community

In 2003, then executive chairman of UNMOVIC Dr Hans Blix reported to the UN Security Council by recalling the previous inspections in Iraq and stating that it was not certain that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ( WMD).

Yet then US secretary of state Colin Powell still insisted in his remarks to the UN Security Council that Iraq possessed WMD. Powell alleged that Iraq had no willingness to cooperate and therefore would face “serious consequences.” His vial of white powder presented as evidence at the UN was later teased as “washing powder” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nevertheless, the US unilaterally launched a military invasion of Iraq without the authorization of the UN Security Council, starting the 7- yearlong Iraq War. What followed was endless turmoil and chaos, as well as “mass destruction” of the country.

In January 2021, after a four- week field study in Wuhan, a joint expert team convened by the WHO reported that the laboratory incident hypothesis is “extremely unlikely.” The experts also suggested that further study be conducted in other places and countries around the world.

Apparently, these are not the results the US government had expected. In frustration, the Biden administration gave an emergency assignment to the US intelligence community, in an attempt to overturn the WHO report.

But we must wonder, how can a group of CIA agents specialized in assassinations and espionage understand coronavirus better than the leading scientists do?

Presuming guilt

According to revelations from some media outlets, people on the Capitol Hill had been scheming a coup d’etat in Iraq even before the 9/ 11 attacks.

After 9/ 11, US officials including then vice president Dick Cheney made up the allegations that Iraq had a link with al Qaeda and possessed WMD just to start a war against Iraq.

Meanwhile, Cheney and his accomplices continued to pressure the intelligence community to collect evidence in line with this fabricated narrative.

Now it’s Biden’s turn. Under his command, the US intelligence officials are also conducting a so- called investigation based on the presumption of guilt that “the virus originated in China and the Chinese laboratory is suspicious.” It’s not hard to see their hidden intention.

Distorting the narrative

Before the Iraq War broke out, the US intelligence community was tasked with advising policymakers what it knew about Iraq’s nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons program. But according to a report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction to the White House in March 2005, these assessments were “all wrong.’’

However, rumors denied by the intelligence community itself, such as “Iraqi dissidents said the country harbored biochemical weapons,” were utilized as “evidence” to convict Iraq.

Today, knowing the fact that the US intelligence community lacks both the knowledge and sufficient information, the Biden administration still constructs its narrative based on a conspiracy that “the virus originated in China and it is either a natural origin or a lab accident.” Not to mention its repeated efforts to amplify the “lab- leak theory.” To strengthen this argument, the US government is even reported to be drawing inspiration from the dark web. ( Dark web refers to a part of the internet that is intentionally hidden and requires a specific browser to be accessed).

Foreseeably, the final investigation report the US intelligence community is supposed to submit will be a hodgepodge of spurious “evidences.”

Agitating the people

Polls showed that in early 2003, the majority of Americans still preferred a diplomatic solution to the Iraq issue to confrontation. But as the US government kept on reiterating that Iraqi possessed WMD, 64 percent of Americans finally swung to military might on the eve of the war.

With respect to the tracing of the origins of COVID- 19, the US again resorts to its “whole industry chain” to smear other countries - a strategy where disinformation is used by the so- called experts, hyped up by media outlets and regurgitated by politicians. All this is to make the “lab- leak” conspiracy into some form of a “scientific assertion” and “international consensus.”

On the same day when Biden called for further probe into the origins of the coronavirus, Facebook updated its misinformation rules, announcing that it will no longer remove posts claiming the virus is “man- made.”

It seemingly is a commitment to mere political correctness. This, in fact, is the engine start of the “whole industry chain” to manipulate public opinion.

Ganging up allies

The UN Security Council, trying to propose a resolution allowing military interference against Iraq, joined the US in the invasion.

Then British prime minister Tony Blair eventually apologized for “mistakes” made in the US- led military invasion of Iraq, but still argued that

Britain had to stand with the US as an ally.

Eighteen years later, the US has once again assembled 13 other countries, and released a statement expressing their “concern” over the WHO report.

Unsurprisingly, Great Britain followed up quick, saying its intelligence community will cooperate fully with America’s “investigation.”

With all these copycat tricks by the US, is history going to repeat itself?