Abdullah Al Madani: A different kind of war rages in Asia.

(From Gulf News)

While Washington and London continue their military actions in the Gulf to overthrow the Iraqi regime, Asia is facing a totally different kind of war. In Asia's war, the fighters are scientists rather than soldiers and the battlefields are medical laboratories rather than deserts, where the goal is to eliminate a lethal respiratory disease described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), commonly known as a form of 'pneumonia'.

Taking into consideration the vast difference between the two wars, what they have in common is the horror and fear felt by the masses, let alone the travel advisories issues for avoiding travel at this time to the two war zones (Middle East and East Asia).

In fact, Asia is currently experiencing the same climate of fear and concern that prevailed a few years ago following the disclosure of the so called bird flu or H5N1, which resulted in the biggest mass slaughter of birds (specifically poultry).

The said operation, in its savagery and number of victims, has been without match except for the war launched by the Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung in the 1960s against sparrows in his country.

In both cases, China was accused for being the principal source of the disease, and its government of failing to take the necessary preventative measures whether in terms of the epidemic's origin…