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First Round

Chicken Little Time

T

he terrorists are already plan-
ning something else in
America, but it doesn't matter
because we're all going to die from the
bird flu anyway.
That's what I learned when I took
the wrong reading material to the pool
on Sunday.
I know what you're thinking, a little
bit of knowledge in the wrong head is a
big mistake, but you didn't read the
July-August issue of Foreign Affairs.
A real threat of terrorism exists here
from European-born Islamic jihadists
using European passports who have
entered the United States visa-free.
That was the gist of "Europe's Angry
Muslims," an essay by Robert Leiken,
author of Bearers offihad? Immigration

and National Security After 9-11.
Because the 9-11 hijackers, including
the "20th hijacker" Zacarias
Moussaoui, and shoe bomber Richard
Reid, came from Europe, Leiken made
a strong case for increased border secu-

Harry Kirsbaum's e-mail address is
hkirsbaum@thejewishnews.com .

rity and the end of the State
Department's Visa Waiver Program,
which still allows Europeans to enter
the country without an interview.
This frightening essay was dwarfed
by the cover stories, "The Next
Pandemic?" a 64-page Stephen King-
esque special section on "H5N1," the
avian influenza virus.
Written in four stories, I only got
through two of them before I was
forced to put it down. The furious use
of my yellow highlighter pen was too
much for my neighbors, who told me
the condo bylaws forbid working at the
pool.
Calling it more deadly than the
1918-19 Spanish flu that killed 50 mil-
lion people in 18 months, and a total
of 100 million, this virus has been
mutating since it was discovered in
1997, wrote Laurie Garrett, a senior
fellow for Global Health at the Council
on Foreign Relations in New York. It
has killed 54 percent of the 109 people
who were reported to have contracted
it in Asia.
Michael Osterholm, director of the
Center for Infectious Disease Research

and Policy at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis, compared
it to SARS (severe acute respiratory
syndrome) that killed 10 percent of the
8,000 people it infected in five months
and spread to five countries within 24
hours.
The economic impact in Asia was
about $40 billion, and it cost $763
million to its health care system and
$419 million in tourism to the
Canadian economy, where 438 people
were infected and 43 died.
But that's a mere taste of what could
happen if the avian flu gets out, he
wrote.
For example, if a major outbreak of
H5N1 takes place in several cities in
Vietnam today, most international bor-
ders would be closed and the global
economy would eventually shut down,
because there's only enough vaccine for
14 percent of the world's population.
Tamiflu, an anti-viral medicine,
would help those lucky enough to get
their hands on it, but it's only being
produced in one Swiss pharmaceutical
plant.
According to Osterholm, this is what
could happen during the first year of
the pandemic:
"... up to 50 percent of affected pop-
ulations could become ill; as many as 5
percent could die," he states. "There

would be major
shortages in all
countries of a wide
range of commodi-
ties including food,
soap, paper, light
bulbs [and] gasoline.
"Activities that
require close human
HARRY
contact — school,
KIRS BAUM
seeing movies in
Columnist
theaters or eating at
restaurants —
would be avoided, maybe even
banned."
So far, the World Health
Organization has taken some meetings,
the U.S. Department of Health has
increased research on the problem, but
there was no discussion of the pandem-
ic threat at the recent G8 meeting in
Europe.
Even if the pandemic is one year
away, not enough serious planning is
being done, he wrote.
Gee, and the news media's fixated on
Karl Rove and Harry Potter.
The sense of doom pervaded my
thoughts for hours. I feel better today,
and I'm going to the library for some-
thing a little less strenuous next week-
end: Being and Nothingness by Jean
Paul Sartre. ❑

Letters

A Problem Choice

ax

7/21

2005

6

I am an elementary school teacher and
have been teaching fifth grade for more
than 25 years. Imagine my surprise
when I learned that the Michigan
Education Assessment Program test
would be given during the High
Holidays.
When I first learned this, I called the
State Board of Education, only to be
told that there was nothing they could
do about the MEAP schedule; and they
weren't going to change the date.
I personally administer MEAPs every
year to my class; I know that it is unac-
ceptable that either teachers or students
in some (if not most) districts will be
absent during the test because our state
failed to check a calendar.
While Jewish students can make up
the test, the camaraderie and excitement
over succeeding on the MEAP that
teachers work to instill in students the
day of the test will be lost. Then there
are Jewish teachers that will be absent if
tests are given on either Rosh Hashanah
or Yom Kippur. This, too, creates a less
than favorable situation for students.
The district in which I work "requires"
teachers to be present for MEAP testing

for a reason. If they choose the High
Holiday days to administer the MEAP,
which do I choose: My students or my
religion?
I shouldn't have to choose, and our
community should stand up and be
heard on this issue. If we don't and
aren't, what is next?

Tracey Trotsky

Farmington Hills

What's The Upshot?

After reading the flurry of letters in the
July 7 issue in response to a letter from
the prior week, "A Troubling
Appearance" (June 30, page 7) regard-
ing the appearance of David Gad-Harf,
the executive director of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, at a rally to condemn the
reported abuse of the Koran, I felt the
need to write as a current member of
the board of the Jewish Community
Council.
The appearance took place on the
steps of a Dearborn mosque alongside
Imam Hassan Qazwini. The purpose of
Mr. Gad-Harf's appearance was noble

and just — to publicly decry the
destruction of the Koran. The location
of his speech and the company he kept
on the day of the rally were, at best,
questionable.
While it is true that Mr. Gad-Harf
went to great lengths to make sure that
the rally did not include bashing Israel
or the American government — meet-
ing with numerous members of the Arab
community prior to the rally, including
Imam Qazwini — the fact that he had
to go to such lengths speaks volumes
about the forum in which he chose to
voice his objection to the desecration of
the Koran.
Bridge building requires two-way traf-
fic. I think it is time that the Detroit
Jewish community demands a quid pro
quo from the local Arab community.

Ira W. Schlussel

Huntington Woods.

Proud And Grateful

As I have just completed my second
term on the Jewish Community Council
board, I was most disturbed to read the

letter " A Troubling Appearance" (June
30, page 7) and "His View Was Stifled"
(July 14, page 6). These points of view
certainly don't represent my point of
view or any of the board members I
have spoken to as well. Our board is
made up of a broad spectrum of our
community. My experience as a board
member was nothing like the views I
read.
I was very proud to see David Gad-
Harf speak out on behalf of reported
Koran abuse at the Dearborn rally [June
10]. I hope we continue to speak out on
behalf of abuse and/or desecration of
others' religious texts, as I would hope
they would if our Torah was ever
abused. If we as Jews don't speak out for
equality, justice and fairness, who will?
David consults his executive commit-
tee, board and the Jewish Federation fre-
quently before getting involved in con-
troversial community activities. My
experience over the last seven years has
been to listen to all points of view on
every issue, often spending late evenings
until the board had come to a reasonable
understanding and consensus. At times,
a second meeting was held to further
explore issues if necessary. • We have taken

