he anthrax-laced letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle both began with an ominous reference to the Sept. 11 date of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, investigators revealed yesterday.Posted on 10/18/2001 2:21:54 AM PDT by kattracks
Notes opened with '9-11-01'
he anthrax-laced letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle both began with an ominous reference to the Sept. 11 date of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, investigators revealed yesterday.
Scrawled in block letters on a single sheet of unlined paper, the letter to Brokaw — postmarked Sept. 18 — says in its entirety:
"09-11-01
This is next.
Take penacilin now.
Death to America
Death to Israel.
Allah is great."
In the letter, the word penicillin is misspelled and underlined.
The letter received by Daschle at his Senate office building in Washington on Monday was remarkably similar, saying:
"09-11-01
You can not stop us.
We have this anthrax.
You die now.
Are you afraid?
Death to America
Death to Israel.
Allah is great."
Both letters were postmarked Trenton — and the writing on both also seemed to be similar, strongly indicating they were sent by the same person.
Federal investigators said yesterday they have "substantive leads" that could help them determine where the anthrax in the letters came from, though they wouldn't discuss specifics.
Meanwhile, investigators said there is no evidence yet that New York has been exposed to as deadly a concentration of anthrax as the more potent one that appears to have swept through the Senate offices in Washington.
Less Dangerous
Investigators believe the letter sent to Brokaw contained a grade of anthrax that can be picked up by direct contact with small cuts, causing cutaneous anthrax — considered far less dangerous than inhaled anthrax. The Washington spores were produced in a more sophisticated way, allowing them to waft through the air.
"They're very different situations," said New York City Health Commissioner Neal Cohen, who is overseeing the testing of workers at NBC and ABC.
The national anthrax scare started in Florida when an editor for the supermarket tabloid company American Media died after inhaling anthrax spores. Investigators have since found anthrax on his office keyboard and in the firm's mailroom.
Brokaw's letter was opened by an NBC office worker, who dumped out the material. The letter was then shown to Brokaw's assistant, who later tested positive for cutaneous anthrax. She has taken antibiotics and is recovering, network officials say.
No other cases have been reported at the network, and at least 500 other NBC workers have tested negative for anthrax exposure.
That contrasts with Washington, where 31 Capitol staffers tested positive for anthrax exposure yesterday — and the anthrax was believed to be in a much more potent pure form.
At ABC, the 7-month-old son of a producer contracted what appears to be cutaneous anthrax after a visit to the news office Sept. 28.
But officials noted that two weeks after the infant showed signs of anthrax, no other ABC employee has reported similar symptoms.
To make sure, health officials are testing about 100 ABC employees. The results are expected in the coming days.
Well, we have one word
for you;
Klamath Falls.
So there.
My thoughts? It's intimidation from a lowly coward. Of course the individual who receives the letter will take antibiotics. That's a foregone conclusion. Remember "Better put some ice on that?" Mailing poison is as close to power as this cockroach will ever get.
How noble of them. You'd think with all the generousity being poured out from people and companies all over this country in response to this national emergency/war, that they would not JUST hold prices steady but cut the price, even a bit. As of now Chipro, as I heard reported on ABC Talk Radio news goes for $11 a pop. Seems to me like Bayer is looking to rake in the bucks big time on this crisis.
Actually there are probably several on the market now, besides Cipro, that are effective against Anthrax. My husband, who was a pharmacist previously and had worked for a pharmaceutical company, said that although Cipro is the only drug currently approved for treatment of Anthrax, it just means they are the only one that maybe applied to the FDA for this particular approval. Prior to this, Anthrax exposure was so rare, that companies making antibiotics may simply have chosen not to spend the money to submit studies to the FDA specifically regarding Anthrax. Expect to see new studies and antibiotics currently on the market to submit to the FDA for approval in Anthrax related cases. And to have those cases expedited. (Levaquin was one he mentioned)
1. The spores need to be mailed to people within cell groups so that they can use what they receive as seeds in order to produce more for a future deliver of massive amounts. The mass mailings to numerous visible locations provide cover for the other deliveries to the cell groups. This way postal workers and equipment that has trace amounts of spores will not lead them to the intended recepients.
More nutcase theory #2
Those who plan to be handling the spores or who have already handled the spores need to be treated so that they do not die. What better way to get treatment than to send it to their place of work, call 911, get tested postive, start treatment. Everyone who tests positive should be a potential suspect.
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