Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says evidence suggests coronavirus was not manmade or released from l

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

The Pentagon's top uniformed official on Tuesday maintained that available evidence indicates the virus that has caused a global pandemic was natural and not manmade or released purposely from a Chinese lab.

"The weight of evidence -- nothing's conclusive -- the weight of evidence is that it was natural and not manmade," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley said of the coronavirus.

"The second issue is, was it accidentally released, did it release naturally into the environment or was it intentional? We don't have conclusive evidence in any of that, but the weight of evidence is that it was probably not intentional," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

Milley added that "various agencies both civilian and U.S. government are looking at" the location of where the virus originated from. But Milley since last month has maintained that while the U.S. intelligence community was taking "a hard look" at the theory, it's inconclusive, and "the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural [origin]."

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/496241-joint-chiefs-of-staff-chairman-says-evidence-suggests-coronavirus-was-not

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And Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, has dismissed theories the virus was man-made or released accidentally from a Chinese lab. He said available research indicated the virus evolved naturally.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. This wil! not dissuade all the CT propellerheads abd propagandists

Ultimately, rump will back down, however, because China has his shriveled nads in a vise and won't hesitate to turn the screw if he persists with the crazy talk.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

2. Yup. Time for a new acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. File under: First job vacancies of the week.

n/t

[Thekaspervote]

4. So can we stop posting stories to the contrary now?

[Igel]

11. Most of the stories aren't to the contrary.

They don't say "manmade", nor "intentionally released". The JCS chair doesn't contradict most of the current reports.

It's unclear that the claim about Fauci is accurate, since it's obviously really easy to confuse man-made and nature, accidental and intentional, when it suits us.

[AntiFascist]

13. There are plenty of shades of gray to this....

The Chinese CDC lab in Wuhan was only a few hundreds of meters from the wet market, where they were studying coronaviruses in bats, and next to the hospital where the first cases were treated. It had a lower level of security than the WIV lab since coronaviruses are generally not considered that dangerous. There are reports of video evidence of researchers taking samples from infectious bats without wearing sufficient protective equipment.

[cstanleytech]

5. Only a complete and utter moron would think it was intentional..........oh wait that would be Trump.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Thank goodness DNI & Joint Chiefs willing to contradict Mango Mussolini. . . . nt

[totodeinhere]

7. The idea that the Chinese government released this virus intentionally is absurd.

Look at how many Chinese citizens have died and the country is still at risk for even more infections and more deaths. Not to mention all of the deaths around the world.

[lastlib]

8. man, I hope he doesn't have a window office on the fourth floor.......

becuz he about to be tossed over the side of something!

[riversedge]

9. #Trump needs to STOP #LYING to the American people-and to his #MAGA fans!!

[Ford_Prefect]

10. The "OOPS" Heard 'Round The World...

[CloudWatcher]

12. Astonishingly bad headline

"Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says evidence suggests coronavirus was not man-made or released from lab"

Did the headline writer even read the article? He said:

"The second issue is, was it accidentally released, did it release naturally into the environment or was it intentional? We don’t have conclusive evidence in any of that, but the weight of evidence is that it was probably not intentional,”

Accidental release from a lab was specifically not ruled out. And the count of waffle words exceeds the count of words asserting any knowledge at all.

I have no reason to believe it was released accidentally from a lab in Wuhan or elsewhere, but this headline is absurd.