9/11

Study Links Rescuers’ Lung Ailment to WTC Collapse

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In the New York Times:

In the first clinical study to clearly link World Trade Center dust to serious and sometimes fatal diseases, doctors have found that the number of New York City rescue and recovery workers with a rare type of lung-scarring condition soared in the first year after the trade center collapsed.
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The nine authors of the study — including Dr. David J. Prezant, deputy chief medical officer of the Fire Department and a member of the faculty at Albert Einstein — calculated an incidence rate in the first year after the collapse of 86 per 100,000. That is more than five times higher than the 15 per 100,000 rate (an average of two to four cases per year) for Firefighter Department workers in the 15 years before the trade center collapsed.

After the initial surge in disease rates after 9/11, the number of cases of sarcoidosis and similar illnesses dropped, according to the study. But it remained somewhat higher than normal for several more years, corresponding to a rate of 22 per 100,000 (with no more than four cases each year).

In all, doctors found 26 cases of sarcoidosis in the five years after 9/11, an amount surpassing the combined total for the previous 15 years. To date, none of the stricken Fire Department employees have died. Five are on permanent disability and five others are being reviewed for disability.

Update (related story): Cancer claims 9/11 cop

Iran, Iraq, Islamofascists, War on Terror

Iran and Saudia Arabia vie to control terrorists

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The New York Post’s Peter Brooks explains that our friends the Saudis are competing with Iran to control terrorist organizations in the Middle East yet there is an up side:

* In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia backs the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Iran backs Shia Hezbollah, which has sought to topple the democratically elected government since the end of the war with Israel last summer.

* In the Palestinian territories, both Iran and Saudi Arabia are courting Hamas. While Tehran has long supported Hamas against Israel, Riyadh cut in on Hamas’ dance card in February by brokering a political agreement between Hamas and Fatah at Mecca.

* The Saudis recently stepped in to help ink a peace deal between Sudan and neighboring Chad. They won points for preserving peace within Sunni Islam – but also likely hoped to get Khartoum to stop Iran’s funding of the conversion of young Sunni Sudanese to Shiism.

But Iraq is the major flashpoint. The Iranian regime seeks two basic things there: 1) An ignominious defeat for America, leading to a U.S. withdrawal – from the region, if possible; and 2) The establishment of a Shia-dominated, pro-Iran Iraqi government.
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The Saudis, by contrast, largely back their fellow Sunnis in Iraq – with the important exception of al Qaeda and the insurgents. Above all else, they want to prevent Iraq from falling under Tehran’s sway. One big fear is that sectarian strife could flow over Iraq’s borders into Saudi Arabia – stirring up trouble with Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority.

Riyadh has been none too pleased with U.S. progress in Iraq; recently, it’s started taking matters quietly into its own hands. Covert Saudi support has been flowing to places like Anbar, where Sunni tribal forces are being “re-empowered.”

Happily, though, that support is bolstering the overall U.S. effort – for the Sunnis of Anbar have been striking back at the strong (and overwhelmingly foreign) al Qaeda presence in the province, rather than fighting Iraqi Shiites.

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