OPINION:
Democracy depends on transparency. But as we look back at the coronavirus pandemic, Americans remain in the dark about what went on behind the scenes in the early days of the COVID-19 panic.
The latest revelations suggest the prevailing narrative of the time was more the product of intelligence agency manipulation than science — that is, if it proves true that Dr. Anthony Fauci collaborated with the CIA to conceal the virus’s origin.
Information gathered by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic points out that while serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the pandemic, the now-retired Dr. Fauci was spirited into CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to shape the outcome of the agency’s investigation into the cause of the outbreak.
Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, Ohio Republican, made the charge in a letter sent on Tuesday to Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm: “The information provided suggests that Dr. Fauci was escorted into Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Headquarters — without a record of entry — and participated in the analysis to ‘influence’ the Agency’s review.”
The letter asked the inspector general to produce documents related to Dr. Fauci’s visits to any CIA site between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2022.
This particular allegation intensifies the significance of whistleblower testimony investigators have already received alleging that the CIA offered a group of six analysts financial incentives to alter their finding of COVID-19’s likely origin from a lab leak to a natural event.
And that, indeed, was their conclusion. Apparently, following the science isn’t nearly as rewarding as following the money.
The subcommittee has also uncovered evidence suggesting Dr. Fauci was behind the drafting of an earlier scientific paper titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” as the pandemic mushroomed in January 2020. This report was used to slam the door on growing suspicion that the virus was engineered in a lab at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. Contributing scientist Kristian Andersen texted as much to his co-authors: “Our main work over the last couple of weeks has been focused on trying to disprove any type of lab theory.”
Why swap a lab coat for the cloak and dagger? Grants from Dr. Fauci’s institute funded the gain-of-function research in Wuhan that engendered viruses just like COVID-19.
Advocates of risky viral research with foreign facilities rationalize that such collaborations are necessary for developing dual-use technology that would be applicable in defending against both biological diseases and bioweapons. In doing so, however, Dr. Fauci and his cohorts may have helped unleash the sort of human catastrophe they had hoped to prevent.
On an immensely larger scale, the foolish machinations are reminiscent of the Obama-era Operation Fast and Furious scheme in which the feds allowed guns to be sold illegally in hopes of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels. The weapons were used to kill at least 150 innocent Mexicans as well as a U.S. Border Patrol agent. No cartel figures were arrested.
Understanding what happened during the COVID-19 panic is vital to avoiding similar mistakes in the future. That means Americans need to know whether Dr. Fauci’s role in the pandemic’s origin and subsequent CIA cover-up entitles to him a new label: doctor of deception.
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