Anthrax Terror [CIA Building Case 2001 Anthrax Attacks were Terrorism]

The Washington Times ^ | 12-26-03 | Gertz/Scarborough

[cgk]

The CIA has been quietly building a case that the anthrax attacks of 2001 were in fact the result of an international terrorist plot.

U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports tell us the information showing a terrorist link to the anthrax-filled letters sent by mail in the weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks is not conclusive. But it is persuasive.

[cgk]

ping........

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

This has been my contention all along. Financial devestation from the WTC attacks and the Post Office attacks, and Political decapitation from the hits on Washington.

[KantianBurke]

When were the letters intially mailed? Right after or before 9-11?

[lasereye]

A report last month to the U.N. Security Council by its Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission concluded that traces of anthrax recovered from a bomb in early 2003 were of the same strain Iraq declared in 1991 it had weaponized.

What bomb????

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I used to be able to spell Devastation

[cgk]

The first letters that are considered by the media to be a part of the attacks were postmarked Sept. 18th.

[DannyTN]

So when do they apologize to the Prof?

[cgk]

Very thorough (and interesting) timeline can be found here: all documented information.

Excerpts:

September 4, 2001 (approx.):

On approximately this date, a "weird love letter to Jennifer Lopez" is sent to The Sun, a tabloid with offices in Florida. "But inside the oddly-worded letter was what was described as a 'soapy, powdery substance' and in the pile of that a cheap Star of David charm." The letter was handled both by Ernesto Blanco, who contacted anthrax, and Bob Stevens, who died of anthrax. The letter was thrown away, so it's not known if it contained anthrax. [Newsweek, 10/8/01] Could the letter have been part of a pre-9/11 series of anthrax attacks reported by the New York Post (see before September 11, 2001)? The only specific target mentioned by the Post was Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. [New York Post, 11/1/01] Bob Stevens was admitted to a hospital on October 2; the period between anthrax exposure and symptoms can be up to eight weeks. The anthrax attacks targeted media outlets, sending both real and hoax letters. Could this have been part of that series? Newsweek also reports a Middle Eastern intern working at the Sun that summer left a curious farewell e-mail. [Newsweek, 10/8/01]

before September 11, 2001:

In a story seemingly unreported anywhere else, the New York Post later claims that a series of hoax anthrax letters is sent out from Indianapolis, Indiana, at some point not long before 9/11. The FBI allowed the Post to see copies of these letters, which had handwriting and other features remarkably similar to the later letters containing real anthrax. [New York Post, 11/1/01]

[cgk]

I assume that if and when they do apologize to Hatfill, it will be as insignificant as clearing Richard Jewel.

[Nick Danger]

I think we all know that Gertz gets some of the best leaks from spooks who want things to leak. The question is, why this? And why now?

There is a strong whiff of pre-emptive CYA here, as if they suspect there is more coming soon and they want to be on record as not agreeing with the FBI theory. Gulp.

[riri]

as if they suspect there is more coming soon and they want to be on record as not agreeing with the FBI theory. Gulp

I was thinking the exact same thing. Gulp is right.

[Calpernia]

Ping

[jpl]

Of course the letters were from Islamic terrorists, and they were almost certainly from a foreign country. The letters themselves spell it out about as plainly as humanly possible. Anyone who would believe otherwise is either an idiot or a virulent America-hating liberal.

[cynicalman]

NO NO NO NO NO

The first man to die when fishing, no no , he went hunting, no no, he drank from a pond, Yea thats it. He drank from a pond. And all this time I thought it was terrorists, how silly of me .

[Dog]

Thanks for the ping Cal..

[The Duke]

It seems probable that "an organization" must have been behind the anthrax mailings - because anyone who would be capable of formulating the substance would be incapable of misspelling "Penacilin".

Additionally, the fact that it's taking a government agency years to conclude that a terrorist was behind an act that, by its very nature, constituted "terrorism", is no great source of confidence in the future.

[cgk]

This might be it?:

From this article, published Dec. 3, 2003:

On another issue, UNMOVIC said advanced testing and analysis indicated a strain of anthrax found on R400 bombs Iraq declared it had unilaterally destroyed was the same strain it had earlier declared to have weaponized.

[Allan]

ping

[Allan]

ping