China should not be allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olympics while refusing to allow inquiries into the coronavirus origin and not answering for the "deaths of millions of people around the world," according to a former director of National intelligence.
John Ratcliffe, who directed NI during the Trump administration, wrote a Fox News opinion column in which he said the Chinese Communist Party is perpetrating "a massive cover up of the virus's origins and the circumstances surrounding its initial outbreak."
Therefore, the International Olympic Committee should not let Beijing host the Olympics.
"The 2022 Winter Games should go on. We should not punish hard-working athletes who have dedicated their lives to preparing for this moment," Radcliffe wrote.
"But the world — and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — should not allow Beijing to enjoy the benefits of hosting a massive global event while rejecting transparency and refusing to allow inquiries into, much less answering for, the deaths of millions of people around the world."
Radcliffe, who represented Texas' Fourth Congressional District in the U.S. House 2015-20, said, as NI director, he had access to all of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence related to the pandemic.
"My informed opinion is that the lab leak theory isn’t just a 'possibility,' at the very least it is more like a probability, if not very close to a certainty," he wrote, also citing the World Health Organization's (WHO) desire to investigate the theory that the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.
"This was remarkable not only because of China's continued belligerence, but also because the WHO was once complicit, caving to the CCP's initial pressure to dismiss the lab leak theory and downplay the CCP’s coverup. But now the facts are too hard for even the WHO — and hopefully the IOC — to ignore."
Radcliffe said everything he had seen pointed to the pandemic's origin being a leak out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"Quite simply, the lab leak theory is the only one supported by science, intelligence and common sense," he said.
The former director wrote that a scientific consensus said the outbreak began in Wuhan, despite the fact coronaviruses do not occur there naturally.
"The nearest bat caves where the virus conceivable could have originated are in Yunnan province, which is as far from Wuhan as New York City is from Atlanta," he said.
"If the bats had flown (their range is only about 30 miles) or been transported that far, there would presumably have been cases popping up along the route, which did not happen. Meanwhile, Wuhan scientists were openly studying bat coronaviruses in their lab."
Instead of helping to dispel the notion coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan lab, the Chinese have stonewalled "legitimate investigations" and engaged in a "worldwide propaganda campaign to divert blame from themselves."
Radcliffe called on President Joe Biden to declassify and publicly release additional intelligence because it is vital to the national and global interest.
"World leaders owe it to the billions of people harmed by this virus — and to the families of those who lost their lives — to get to the bottom of its origins, for the sake of justice and to ensure this never happens again," Radcliffe wrote.
"That effort should start with the United States government sharing what it knows. From there, it should continue by the International Olympic Committee denying the CCP the ability to burnish its global image despite its crimes."
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