April
2002

March 2002

Vital statistics from the war:

Number of civilians killed in the attacks on America: 2,830. Number of civilians killed in bombing of Afghanistan: 3,608...
The Afghani (currency) has gone from 78,500 to the dollar to 4,762 to the dollar and the Dow Jones index is worth 11 per cent, or $386bn, more than it was on 10th September...
Wal-Mart has sold 3 million flags, ten times it's usual number, and the first women's magazine for five years has been launched in Kabul...

343 firefighters died on 9/11, nearly 2000 have sought counselling and 350 are still on stress related leave...
...94,000 jobs have disappeared from New York City, 380,000 New Yorkers who lost their medical insurance as a direct result of the attacks have enrolled on a government-backed emergency health programme and 32,900 have applied for food stamps...
...1.2 million refugees left their homes in Afghanistan but only 4000 have gone back...
... More American servicemen have been killed in accidents than in combat...
American planes have dropped into Afghanistan 328,000 blankets, 3.4 million pounds of wheat, 2.5 million daily rations and ten thousand tonnes of bombs.

Good to know you're in safe hands - after months of deliberation, emergency planners in Whitehall have come up with a list of equipment for fire authorities to acquire for decontaminating civilians in the event of a chemical or biological attack. The eight-item list is headed by a plastic bucket and 'high density' sponges, for mopping victims. Household bleach and detergent , next on the list, are the agents to nullify the threat. Other items of important equipment are pop-up pools (larger versions of garden paddling pools) to collect contaminated liquid; scissors, surgical masks and a measuring container…

... More than 4000 FBI agents are investigating the attacks. The FBI has a couple of suspects for the Anthrax mailings - both of them former government scientists familiar with secret US military research. Even so, the FBI are not rushing to indict anyone for fear of bringing state secrets to light. A US journalist has claimed that the mailings were an (unauthorised) experiment by the CIA to test the effects of sending Anthrax through the post - scary but it would explain why media figures and Democrat politicians were targeted and why the Anthrax seems to be from a similar source but prepared for mailing in different ways...

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