We're not big fans of alarmism

It's unclear who the alarmist is here, the Times or the junta. This is certainly a serious, even existential, threat for a lot of people. The lede's sure scary. W wouldn't demagogue us, would he?

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history.

A draft of the final plan, which has been years in the making and is expected to be released later this month, says that a large outbreak that began in Asia would, because of modern travel patterns, likely reach the United States within "a few months or even weeks."

If such an outbreak occurred, hospitals would become overwhelmed; riots would engulf vaccination clinics; and even power and food would be in short supply, the plan, obtained by The New York Times, says.

This sure looks like an orchestrated leak. Maybe someone's anticipating bad news.