It has not been proven to come from one of our biowarfare labs; the jury is out on that. On the other hand, it must have come, directly or indirectly, from our scientific community (unless you think the terrorists got Ames-strain bacilli by going to Texas and finding a dead cow, or something of the sort).
Very difficult to work out the anthrax story. Certainly the govt isn't levelling with us.
Yes, on both counts.
They might be frozen before a WMD threat, (theory of our poster The Great Satan), probably from Iraq as a part of this 10 year war (as Okie01 and I say) or it might be the product of a long range terrorist conspiracy, and the govt is still trying to work it out (as our posters Ordinary American and Mitchell think). Hope I haven't misrepresented anyone's views.
For what it's worth, I do not wish to take sides on exactly when or how the anthrax samples were obtained; I don't believe there's really any evidence one way or the other yet on this issue (the two positions are very close to one another: you're asking whether the anthrax was obtained illegitimately as part of a nefarious plot, or whether it was obtained through ordinary research channels as part of a nefarious plot!). In the long run, I think it's going to be more interesting to find out what kind of processing was done after the spores were obtained; that tells us what we're up against.
On the other hand, I don't think it is very likely that the U.S. government is "still trying to work it out." I strongly suspect that some individuals at the highest level of government know who sent it, or, at the very least, that they know a lot more than they are saying.
I generally agree with G.S. on the general picture, and I think his entire scenario is plausible. Where I differ with him is that I do not think that it has yet been proven that Iraq is the culprit; there are other possibilities. Moreover, I think it's quite possible that we're up against a broader alliance which may have Iraq as one member. Let me hasten to add that I do not discount the possibility that it is just Iraq.
I do suspect that the situation may be more complicated than G.S. implies. The difference in symptomatology between the people infected with anthrax in Florida and those infected in the Northeast is quite curious.
But it is fair to say that the source of the anthrax is not known, and therefore one cannot say it is from an American. I find that the least likely option.
I would be very surprised if the anthrax mailings didn't turn out to have been a warning (or conceivably a test) sent by a foreign power or organization, as a military act.