How the CIA Created AIDS Essay

Introduction

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) originated from the cross-species transmission of the simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) from primates to humans (Nattrass 113). However, some people believe that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was responsible for creating the disease. Today, there exists many conspiracy theories regarding the origin of HIV. Quantitative studies conducted in South Africa and the United States (US) show that a significant minority of people are brainwashed into accepting such beliefs as true. Survey data in the United States show that the Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (AIDS), conspiracy theory primarily relates to the failure by some individuals to use a condom during sex as the reason behind spread of HIV (Nattrass). However, the conspirators fail to consider the fundamental paradigms including not taking the HIV test and failure to adhere to antiretroviral treatment. That said, the goal of this essay is to discuss some of the theories surrounding the idea that the CIA invented AIDS.

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The 'HIV as a US Bioweapon' Theory

The narrative of the HIV as a US bioweapon was a conspiracy theory developed by the Soviet KGB and the East German Ministry of State Security abbreviated as the "Stasi" (Jeppsson 519). The idea originated from the KGB in the former Soviet Union (presently Russia) and suggested that HIV was a thoughtful conspiracy coordinated in a US military laboratory. The primary aim of this fabrication was to discredit the US policies and to curb the nation's global political influence. The KGB involved the Stasi in the conspiracy to increase the effectiveness of the plan. Geographically, East German was essential in aiding the spread of the rumor to the West Germany where the US influence was widespread. The department of disinformation "HAV" within the Stasi was given the task to generate a myth and spread it to the rest of Europe through West Germany. The plot was named "Operation Infektion" and was headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Gunther Bohnsack and his partner Hubert Brehmer.

According to this theory, the CIA created the HIV virus at a military laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland (520). The argument by the Stasi was that an experiment went wrong leading to the unintentional invention of the disease. The narrative also suggested that the virus was then injected into prisoners in exchange for their freedom or shorter prison sentences. The survivors of HIV were released, after which they aided in the spread of the sickness through sexual intercourse. The Stasi wanted to make their narrative look germane and to do this they needed the help of a prominent and respected scientist. The choice fell on Dr. Jacob Segal, a retired professor of biology and his wife Lily (Boghardt 2). The Stasi presented the two with forged documents allegedly obtained from Fort Detrick making them to totally believe in the story. Segal later published a book titled AIDS: USA Home-Made Evil blaming the CIA for inventing the HIV. The scientist has since been rebuked for being a Soviet propaganda agent (Lapidos). The section below discusses some of the early events that promoted the spread of the idea that AIDS was a creation of the CIA.

The Historical Background of the Racialized Notion of the HIV as a US Bioweapon

In 2008, President Barrack Obama reproved Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was once his preacher, for giving sermons in which he accused the US government of creating the HIV to annihilate people of color from the face of the earth (Lapidos). Such misguided beliefs are believable to many Americans since the state had certainly functioned a bioweapons program at Fort Detrick in the course of World War II. The project continued even after the end of the war including the testing and manufacturing of bioweapons distribution systems involving the discharge of non-infectious mosquitoes into the Savannah, Georgia. However, in 1971, President Nixon ordered the shutting down of the programme and the destruction of all the buildup stocks of biological weapons in the US Army arsenal ("Aids: Will the True Story Ever Be Told?"). Still, the programme continued under the pretext of defensive weapons research.

Also, in 1969, Dr. Donald MacArthur, the deputy director of the Department of Defense, bear witness before a House of Representatives subcommittee on defense budgeting about the military's intentions to invent a new infectious microorganism in the future. In his testimony, MacArthur stated that the army had the plans of creating the infectious organism for $10 million within a period of five to ten years (Nattrass 118). MacArthur's testimony became the viewpoint of many stereotypes including the late Boyd 'Ed' Graves who believed the HIV was an invention of the US government. In 2001, Boyd unsuccessfully sued the state for inventing the HIV. Boyd once said, "The HIV virus is the result of a century-long hunt for contagious cancer that selectively kills. If they didn't want me to discover the true origins of Aids, they shouldn't have given it to me" (119).

The South African (SA) Typecast

The original AIDS conspiracy narrative in SA was based on the argument that it was the white supremacists in South Africa and scientists from Israel who developed the virus. That specific legend of the HIV as a biological weapon mirrors the close ties that existed between Israel and South Africa's apartheid government. The start of the new millennium saw a new development in the narrative. The story was that the spread of the disease among blacks in SA was the doing of the CIA working with Wouter Basson, the chief of the biochemical weapons program in the apartheid government (120). This belief became common especially during the 2001-2002 trial of Basson for assisting in the development of toxins and secret armaments for use against the liberation forces. Similarly, such narratives became plausible among many considering the suspicions concerning the intents of the whites in South African and the Americans. For example, the AIDS alertness campaigns organized by the apartheid regime were deficient of integrity and was seen as a plot to safeguard white dominance by plummeting the birth rate of blacks.

Author Adam Ashforth, who spent many years in living Soweto once said, "Having never buried anyone from a disease named AIDS they doubted the reality of the condition" (121). Even so, this narrative involving the apartheid government and the CIA inventing AIDS resurfaced during the Basson trial when the defendant admitted that he had cooperated with the British and US officials in exchange of facts regarding biochemical weaponries used by the African countries supported by the Soviets. Other notable personalities who played a role in endorsing AIDS conspiracy theories in SA include President Thabo Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang. The former advocated for the AIDS denialists movement and gave allegations that the CIA in collaboration with esteemed pharmaceutical firms, were involved a plot to indorse the idea that HIV was the single causative agent of the disease and that only the poisonous ARVs could treat the disease. Thabo Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang even promoted the idea of the use unconventional medical treatments including the consumption of beetroot and garlic.

Eclectic Borrowing Across the Atlantic

That said, Tshabalala-Msimang caused a heated debate when he distributed excerpts from a book by William Cooper titled Behold a Pale Horse. In the book, Cooper, a prominent AIDS conspiracy theorist, claims that the invention of AIDS was part of a supranational conspiracy theory involving the CIA, Israeli scientists, Freemasons, and the extraterrestrials. He argued that the US armed forces and the CIA had created the disease and inoculated into the inhabitants of Africa during the 70s through a smallpox vaccination campaign. Cooper also claimed that the same was done on the African American and gay population in the US through a Hepatitis-B vaccination programme. Cooper believed that it was only the free-thinkers who were capable of decoding the conspiracy. Cooper also believed that he was personally being targeted by President Clinton and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as part of the conspiracy. Cooper died in 2001 after being shot by the police in a raging gun battle. Before being gunned down, Cooper had previously shot a law an officer who tried to arrest him after failing to show up in court to answer charges of tax evasion.

Additionally, other politically incompatible links regarding the AIDS conspiracy theory include the ideas of Leonard Horowitz, a white right-wing advocate for the unconventional treatments of AIDS. Some believers in the theory of the 'HIV as a US bioweapon' such has Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Farrakhan have acknowledged the works of Horowitz (Nattrass 123). Both Wright and Farrakhan are staunch promoters of the idea of the HIV as a US bioweapon. The three characters share commonalities regarding social issues like anti-Semitism and racial segregation. Nattrass further highlights that the idea that AIDS conspiracy theories surpass the political boundaries is evident through a study conducted by Douglas Hofstadter. He noted that this paranoia of AIDS being used as a bioweapon was prevalent among the right-wing as well as the fascist movements (Heller). Hofstadter also mentions the Soviet Union as a victim of such pointless paranoia.

Conclusion

This paper attempted to discuss some of the conspiracy theories regarding the notion that the CIA invented AIDS. The introduction part of the essay asserts that the disease resulted from the inter-species transfer of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) from simians to human beings. However, the paper pinpoints that there are various theories developed over time linking the CIA with inventing the virus. For instance, the KGB, working with the East German East German Ministry of State Security (Stasi), developed a well-coordinated conspiracy theory suggesting that the CIA created the HIV. The primary goal of this conspiracy was to discredit the US. This narrative argued that the CIA invented the disease at a military laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland. This essay further highlights that this theory was acceptable to many because the US government had undeniably created a bioweapons program during and after the WWII. Apart from that, another factor that aided in the spread of this lie was the aspect of eclectic borrowing such as the ideological connections between Cooper and Tshabalala-Msimang, who shared the idea of "HIV" as a US bioweapon.' The borrowing of the narrative across the Atlantic lead to the prevalence of the conspiracy in countries like South Africa among other contries.

Works Cited

"Aids: Will the True Story Ever Be Told?" The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 8 Mar. 2002, www.independent.co.uk/news/science/aids-will-the-true-story-ever-be-told-9167257.html.

Boghardt, Thomas. "Soviet Bloc Intelligence and Its AIDS Disinformation Campaign." Studies in intelligence 53.4 (2009): 1-24.

Heller, Jacob. "Rumors and Realities: Making Sense of HIV/AIDS Conspiracy Narratives and Contemporary Legends." American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, Jan. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4265931/.

Jeppsson, Anders. "How East Germany Fabricated the Myth of HIV Being Man-Made." Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC) 16.6 (2017): 519-522.

Lapidos, Juliet. "AIDS Conspiracy Theories: a Field Guide." Slate Magazine, Slate.com, 19 Mar. 2008,www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/03/the_aids_conspiracy_handbook.html.

Nattrass, Nicoli. "Understanding the origins and prevalence of AIDS conspiracy beliefs in the United States and South Africa." Sociology of health & illness 35.1 (2013): 113-129.