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Cato Daily Dispatch for April 23, 2003

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Bush Administration Underestimates Iraqi Shiites
Jury Finds Gun Maker Liable in Shooting
Health Officials Expand Preparedness for Bioterrorism

Bush Administration Underestimates Iraqi Shiites

"As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq's future mount, Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites' organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country," according to The Washington Post .

"The burst of Shiite power -- as demonstrated by the hundreds of thousands who made a long-banned pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala yesterday -- has U.S. officials looking for allies in the struggle to fill the power vacuum left by the downfall of Saddam Hussein. As the administration plotted to overthrow Hussein's government, U.S. officials said this week, it failed to fully appreciate the force of Shiite aspirations and is now concerned that those sentiments could coalesce into a fundamentalist government."

In "A Democratic Iraq May Not Be Friendly to U.S.," Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy studies, writes: "The Bush administration hopes that Iraqis will replace Saddam Hussein's secular socialism with a new breed of secular liberalism. This ideal government would be committed to free enterprise, respect the rights of women, be tolerant toward ethnic and religious minorities, be favorably disposed towards Israel, and open and hospitable for American diplomats and businessmen. But what if Shi'a Muslims, who comprise over 60 percent of the total population of Iraq, elect a leader with ties to Iran--a democracy, but one in which religious mullahs dominate political life, suppress dissent, are building nuclear weapons, and fund terrorism?"

Jury Finds Gun Maker Liable in Shooting

"An Oakland jury has found a California gun maker, its designer and its main distributor partly liable in an accidental shooting that left a 7-year-old boy a quadriplegic," The New York Times reports. "The jury's verdict, on Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, is considered highly unusual because gun manufacturers have successfully argued for years that guns are legal products and that when they injure or kill someone they are performing exactly as intended.

"The jury found that Bryco Arms, the maker of the .38-caliber semiautomatic used in the shooting; Bruce Jennings, the gun's designer and the company's founder; and the company's main distributor, B. L. Jennings Inc. 35 percent liable for the injury to the boy, Brandon Maxfield, who was shot in the chin by a baby sitter in 1994."

In a Cato Institute policy analysis, "Pistol Whipped: Baseless Lawsuits, Foolish Laws," Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies Robert Levy examines the phenomenon of frivolous lawsuits against the firearms industry. Levy says that "the American public, especially voters and jurors, must be warned that our tort system is rapidly becoming a tool for extortion by a coterie of politicians and trial lawyers. Courts are the final bulwark in safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms. They may not be used as a way around the legislative process."

Health Officials Expand Preparedness for Bioterrorism

"Federal health officials, undaunted by a weak response to the first phase of the smallpox preparedness program, are pressing forward with phase two-vaccinating up to 10 million emergency 'first responders'-and expanding the program significantly by asking states to prepare not just for bioterrorism, but for all forms of terrorism, including chemical, radiological and conventional weapons," reports USA Today.

"The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing guidelines as soon as today to urge state health departments and hospitals to widen their medical detection and response activities to include chemical and nuclear events and to set up labs capable of handling and analyzing chemicals that might be used by terrorists."

In "Give Americans the Choice to Take the Smallpox Vaccine," Director of Defense Policy Studies Charles V. Peņa writes that current policy "leaves Americans with no choice in the matter--no freedom to choose what may be most effective for their own security and peace of mind. In the case of a bioterrorist attack using smallpox, Americans cannot immunize themselves beforehand with the vaccine. The government won't give its own citizens access to the vaccine, even though it's in stock."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org