US Intel Report Reveals No Incident Occurred at Wuhan Lab That Could Have Caused Pandemic, along with some observations and sarcasm

*But anonymous sources, at the State Department, told me that ‘patient zero’ had COVID-19! 🙄

Cleared by Congress, legislation later signed by US President Joe Biden in March ordered the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to declassify information regarding the potential origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The measure forced the DNI to declassify its report within 90 days.

US Intel Report Reveals No Incident Occurred at Wuhan Lab That Could Have Caused Pandemic

H/T: Unorthodox Truth

*Some observations: WCWP does not seem to prove that Ben Hu was ‘patient zero’. They link to a Daily Caller article, whose source is David Asher, who served in Trump’s State Department. He also happens to be a former Adjunct Senior Fellow at the ‘liberal’ hawkish think tank, Center for a New American Security. He’s currently a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and on the board of advisors of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (more neocon/hawkish think tanks). They also quote former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, whom happens to be a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (neocon think tank) and on the boards of directors for Illumina, Inc and Pfizer (Big Pharma). See a pattern, here?!

Related:

Ridiculous,’ says Chinese scientist accused of being pandemic’s patient zero (archived)

Hu and two of his WIV colleagues were thrown into the furious COVID-19 origin debate on 13 June when an online newsletter called Public said the three scientists developed COVID-19 in November 2019. That was prior to the outbreak becoming public when a cluster of cases at the end of December 2019 surfaced in people linked to a Wuhan marketplace. Public’s report was quickly embraced by a camp that argues COVID-19 came from a virus stored, and possibly manipulated, at WIV, rather than from infected animal hosts, perhaps being sold at the Wuhan market. A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article on 20 June that said it had “confirmed” the allegations against the three, without referring to any public evidence or named sources with direct knowledge, fueled the flames even more. Social media and other publications spread the charges—and the scientists’ names.

Lab-Leak, Gain-Of-Function, and the Media Myths Swirling Around the Wuhan Institute + Covid-19 Commission Collapses Under Weight of It’s Own Corruption

The neverending accusations and assumptions that Chinese scientists are lying, without evidence, are rooted in Orientalist tropes of the “dishonest Chinese” based on centuries of Western propaganda, which is why some equate lack of evidence for a lab leak with evidence of a coverup.

by Joshua Cho

Reading Dr. Baric’s study, one also discovers that the experiments were conducted in North Carolina, not China, with pseudoviruses that can’t cause pandemics, and that Dr. Shi had only provided the genetic sequence used in Dr. Baric’s experiments, as confirmed by an MIT Technology Review report.

Lab-Leak, Gain-Of-Function, and the Media Myths Swirling Around the Wuhan Institute

Related:

They always put the criminals in charge of their own investigations.

Covid-19 Commission Collapses Under Weight of It’s Own Corruption

“Unchallenged Orientalism”: Why Liberals Suddenly Love the Lab Leak Theory

“Unchallenged Orientalism”: Why Liberals Suddenly Love the Lab Leak Theory

It is this context in which the return of the lab leak theory should be seen. Lab leaks do happen. But there is precious little hard evidence that such is the case here. That so many of the nation’s top alternative news figures — individuals who stood against U.S. wars and against similar campaigns, such as RussiaGate — are buying into this one is remarkable. This is especially the case in light of the fact that the evidence is so weak and comes from highly discredited sources, while scientists remain highly skeptical of the theory.

The lab leak theory bears a striking resemblance to the weapons of mass destruction hoax of 2002-03, not only in the fact that one of its key players is literally the same journalist using potentially the same anonymous sources, but also in the bipartisan political and media support for the project, all while ignoring the opinions of the scientific community. That so many in alternative media who question war and U.S. intervention not only cannot see that, but are invoking the WMD story to bolster their own side, is extraordinary, and shows how badly the need is to build up a healthy media ecosystem.

Between 2001 and 2003, the public was subjected to a constant barrage of pro-war propaganda. But at least nascent alternative media offered a dissenting voice. Anti-war voices pushing the lab leak theory might one day find it is too late to stop the clock on the dangerous drive towards a second Cold War. If there is any conflict with China, it will make Iraq look like a tea party by comparison. But truth, in war, is always the first casualty.

The Last–And Only–Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out + The US is concealing its research on deadly viruses — while criticizing China’s secrecy over the Wuhan lab

The Last–And Only–Foreign Scientist in the Wuhan Lab Speaks Out

Related:

The US is concealing its research on deadly viruses — while criticizing China’s secrecy over the Wuhan lab

But the relentless focus on China-based research, and what may have gone wrong there, misses a deeper and more disturbing truth. The vast majority of virology — including the Wuhan study and other gain-of-function research conducted outside the US — is supported by American funding. The training, ethical guidelines, and standards for bioscience adhered to by top researchers worldwide are dominated by US institutions. If it becomes demonstrably true that a cutting-edge laboratory caused a pandemic, either now or in the future, America would deserve the blame, regardless of which country happens to be hosting those experiments.

The U.S. is funding dangerous experiments it doesn’t want you to know about

Near Misses at UNC Chapel Hill’s High-Security Lab Illustrate Risk of Accidents With Coronaviruses