Posted on 03/28/2008 11:08:46 AM PDT by SargeK
WASHINGTON — The FBI has narrowed its focus to "about four" suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army’s bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland, FOX News has learned.
Among the pool of suspects are three scientists — a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist — linked to the research facility, known as USAMRIID.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’m a little confused. These anthrax attacks came just after the 9/11 terrorist attack. Are they connected or just coincidence?
That question is the live wire that no one wants to touch.
Some theories say yes, but I believe the majority opinion is no, the anthrax attacks were not the result of middle eastern terrorism.
However, you what they say about opinions...
No names named. FBI’s getting a tad bit smarter.
Wasn’t there an Amerithrax ping list? If so, I’d like to join.
Very strong pattern to the letters...and that takes planning.
The planes came on a Tuesday. The letters all have Tuesday dates on them.
Which could mean the connection was opportunism of a big national event to send out the letters.
The handwriting proves that they were not written by an American. Were any of these scientists of ME or European, or Eastern European, extraction? The handwriting was from someone who learned to write on a different continent.
I’m interested to know the motive and if it compatable with the motives of the 9/11 attacks. I think that’s the key.
Maybe the “T” for Tuesday was a tip off about what was going to happen.
Not quite as quickly afterwards as people remember. All the 9/11 hijackers were dead before the letters were mailed, of course.
Um.. wrong link?
Al Queda typically doesn’t go out of its way to minimize killing people as the Amerithrax mailer did (it seems the mailer perhaps did not realize the danger of power leaking from the envelopes) which is why I’ve always been very dubious of a connection.
Thanks.
Did Saddam weaponize anthrax?
It's unfortunate that our government works overtime to clear Saddam's name just so that Iraq won't get sued.
The whole term “weaponization” of anthrax is extremely complex and has been used/abused by the media (a great deal in the media about the Amerithax case is wrong.)
Good general reading is http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com
Be advised the author does not believe AQ or Iraq were involved; there’s quite a group of people that go into a blind fit of rage at the slightest suggestion that AQ or Iraq were not behind the attacks.
The dates are different:
“09/18/01 and 10/09/01”
but there was a missing hijacker. And possibly other cells grounded that day.
The 9-11 attacks were already a conspiracy of agents of terror. One more agent to mail the letters is not a stretch.
After the 9-11 attacks, planes were grounded for days and mail delivery was disrupted.
It made more sense to “wait” to mail them as a “stage 2” attack.
If it wasn’t the 9-11 cells activity, why hasn’t there been a subsequent attack on a national scale by similar opportunists (who literally had days to mobilize their plan and shift blame to the Islamic terrorists in September 2001)?
So, what's the roundoff error here?
Maybe they have 3.825 suspects.
Interesting. It is my understanding that the FBI is not actually the investigators on this case. All the leg work is actually being done by the U.S. Postal Inspectors.
“The American people have focused their suspects for sheer idiocy, ruining lives by innuendo, and general incompetence, to “about” four hundred people, mainly higher-ups, in the FBI. Handwriting analysis was difficult because, while agents write interview reports on the same form since 1934, and examples are everywhere, few of the reports made any sense except for covering up or minimizing errors by FBI staff. Results from the FBI labs will be forthcoming, as soon as they are told what result is to be desired.”
what do you think?
Iraq did apparently work on weaponozing anthrax.
However, anthrax doesn’t have to be weaponized to kill. All that is required at the most basic level is for someone to get their hands on a virulent strain. The so-called Ames strain that was used in the 2001 attacks is only one of several possibilities.
It is the nature of the bug to spread through aerosolization - that is it’s normal life cycle. Sure, it could be a lot more effective as a weapon with special processing techniques and additives. However, I haven’t seen any definitive evidence that this was the case here.
There is plently of open-source material in the scientific literature to culture the bug. This is why bioterrorism ought to be of acute concern, because at least at the small-scale level, it is so easy to do. In fact, I think that was the the motivation of who ever did it - to point that out. Unfortunately for all concerned, it got away from the perp and did a lot more damage than he/she/they probably intended.
That’s not to excuse the perp - but understanding the motive is, I believe, a key element in identifying the actor.
Key to that is why Daschle and Leahy, out of everyone in the US Government, were sent letters, IMHO.
USPIS is involved. So are some other agencies, I would guess.
In Washington, there are places where you can literally stand and swing a dead cat through four or more law enforcement jurisdictions. Makes things a tad complicated.
Well, maybe, but what are their last names?
The General ain't gonna be real happy with you.
The article doesn’t name names - of anybody. Which is why I am skeptical.
OTOH - I won’t name names either. I have met a few of the people likely to be in the crosshairs, if the article is to be believed.
It would be pure speculation and extremely unfair to people I believe are dedicated and patriotic scientists and researchers. I will maintain that opinion of them until I see convincing evidence to the contrary.
Look what happened when the FBI did it to Richard Jewell. I won’t go there.
Jewell wasn’t IDed as a suspect after 6 1/2 years of investigation.
This would have taken advance knowlege of the WTC and Pentagon attacks to have been sent out on the same day. It would have taken at least months of planning to coordinate this closely. There would almost have had to have been some connection. I just wish Americans would wake up to the fact that 94% of the population of the world and therefore 94% of the evil in the world is from outside the US, when they harp on America being only 6% of the world population to promulgate their convoluted explanations of everything.
It’s called a courier. Doesn’t know. Doesn’t care. Pay me.
The second set of letters were mailed after Stevens died. Would have been a bit hard to get an unsuspecting courier to do that.
No letters were sent out the same day. The first letters were sent out 9/18 (Btw, the letters were sent out AFTER the newsmedia had fully reported on who the hijackers were, where they had spent time in the US - including Florida, etc.)
The other issue is that if the 9/11 hijackers are responsible, why take the risk of having the anthrax mailings a week after the attacks? Gives time for whoever is supposed to make the mailing (unsuspecting courier or not) to be tracked down through their connections to the hijackers. And of course an “unspecting courier” would have seen all the news about 9/11 and possibly recognized the person handing him the envelopes.
There’s no conceivable reason for them not to drop the letters in a mailbox at Logan or Dulles or whatever on their way to board the planes, instead.
Not necessarily. The only thing in evidence is the postmark, not the date they were dropped in the mail. Nor do we know when the letters were prepared for mailing
What do I think?
Strike one: Fox News.
Strike two: “Nearly identical” “”Nearly”” What’s “nearly” and in whose view and experience? Does this mean it’s just very pure, or “weaponized” - whatever that means. Why isn’t it “identical?”
Foul Ball: If such an e-mail existed, it is so damning, why pursue Hatfill who is an MD? Why are there “four” not just one suspect?
Strike three: Suspicious timing, redaction of the name could lead those, like judges, who haven’t followed the case closely to think it’s Hatfill.
Who knows? There’s been so much garbage posing as significant info flung out there. Whatever, I suppose it’s something Hatfill’s legal team will want to see.
I’m taking as my opinion that suggested by Senator Leahy - the investigation should have been run differetly from the future.
AL TIMIMI
If the deputy commander of USAMRIID was involved in this in any way, not only will the conspiracy theorists have a field day, they will probably be right.
“I’m taking as my opinion that suggested by Senator Leahy - the investigation should have been run differetly from the future.”
I meant “...from the beginning”
That was a strange slip!
By the way, “handwriting” samples? Seems to me the writer was origninally a non-latin alphabet language speaker, or trying to hide his handwriting.
Perhaps. But you're applying standard, western logic to analyze the strategy/tactics of unknown individuals who may operate under quite different reasoning processes.
I hold no strong opinion on who the likely culprits might be. But I rule out none, either, based solely on what "makes sense" to me.
Thanks so much for the ping on the other locked thread Battle Axe.
Thought you’d find this interesting MS, and you too Grammy.
He’s already serving life plus 70 yrs on other charges.
I’m not saying it was AQ, but why, if it were them or ally, must the letters have been mailed by the hijackers themselves? They got other members, plenty.
He’s involved in a bogus charity called “Help the Needy.”
"Then he said he had to look at a lot of samples that the FBI had prepared ... to duplicate the letter material," the e-mail reads. "Then the bombshell. He said that the best duplication of the material was the stuff made by [name redacted]. He said that it was almost exactly the same … his knees got shaky and he sputtered, 'But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!'"
This is a poorly written paragraph, but taken literally, it says to me that the FBI had material made to replicate that which was in the envelopes involved in the attacks. Made by whom? It would seem obvious that this comparison material would have had to have been by the scientists at Ft. Detrick. It would have to be made and studied within the confines of a BSL IV lab. Ergo, when one scientist says “…the best duplication of the material was the stuff made by [name redacted]” it is meaningless. It says only that one of them came closest to replicating the attack material – at the request of the FBI itself.
I don’t know what significance to attach to the quote about what they told the General. Maybe it only means that “I’ve been made a liar, because here we are making spore powder for the FBI investigation, after we told the General we don’t do that here.” Of course, if spore powder had to be made in the course of the investigation, where else COULD it be made?
I think the whole article may be B.S.
Could be “procedural crime” so they can get yet another unsolved mystery off the books.
This is beginning to smell like it's an extention of the conspiracy theory that pointed the finger at Dr. Hatfill.
It's all based upon what ONE "law enforcement source" told Fox News. No confirmations.
But it should be very interesting to see how this all plays out.
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