Anthrax Mailings: Connecting the Dots [to al-Qaeda]

PHXnews.com ^ | 18 Jan. 2004 | Ross E. Getman

[flamefront]

No one had posted any of this. It is just showing up as a series of articles on PHXnews, here are some:

• Anthrax: Why Daschle and Leahy Targeted As Symbols
• Anthrax Production Documents on KSM's Laptop
• Yazid Sufaat's Role in Al Qaeda's Anthrax R&D Program
• Anthrax: Hijacker's Blackened Lesion Seen In New Light

• All originally posted here: www.anthraxandalqaeda.com/

Seems very plausible. As usual, your comments invited.

Who is Ross Getman and why does he have this insight?

[Bobby777]

does anyone recall how soon after 9/11 the anthrax mailings started showing up? ... I was so engrossed with the WTC, Pentagon and Flight 93 that I don't remember ...

the reason I ask is I'm wondering if somebody capitalized on 9/11 or whether there were additional links ...

[flamefront]

Found this:

Ross Getman, a civil civil litigator licensed in Washington DC and New York, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984. He's the author of Al Qaeda, Anthrax, and Ayman Zawahiri.

and contributes to biohazardnews.net

[flamefront]

I believe it was seven days after 9/11/02. Certainly no more than 2 weeks.

[flamefront]

The four recovered anthrax letters were postmarked on Sept. 18 and Oct. 9 in Trenton.

[flamefront]

It seems that this info has been posted by Getman on the web first in July 2003 as "Al Qaeda, Anthrax, and Ayman Zawahiri."

[weegee]

Has anyone addressed how much "weaponized" anthrax would be a realistic estimate of the quantity produced assuming a "lone nut" and not a foreign government?

Is there any likelihood that the small quantities in the 4 letters was all that would be produced? What is a believable batch size?

It might help to point the finger at an organization and not a single mad scientist.

[John H K]

There is no evidence that any letters were mailed prior to 9/18, a week after the 9/11 attacks. The earliest known letters (2) all have 9/18 postmarks. Prior to the mailing of the letters it had already been made known in the media where many of the hijackers lived in Florida.

Contrary to the claim of the article, the J Lo letter is largely considered a red herring. It seems the actual AMI letter was probably lost, as were the letters to a few other places in NYC.

Actually, it turns out the first people to have anthrax symptoms were from 9/18 letters sent to NYC, cutaneous symptoms that were unrecognized, BEFORE Stevens got sick in Florida.

And, of course, does one really think that AQ would go out of its way to kill as FEW people as possible with the letters? In envelopes with warnings that anthrax was contained in them? The same people that had killed as many people as they could in the 9/11 attacks? (And that's leaving aside the issue that dead men can't mail letters; of course some mysterious co-conspirator that didn't participate in the attacks could have mailed them.)

[flamefront]

Oops, Getman's an admitted Naderite. That alone would disqualify his credibility for many reading this forum.

Perhaps others have come across this writing earlier.

[risk]

I haven't read this yet, but the truth doesn't care about politics. If he likes Nader, that's one thing. What happened with the anthrax is another. Let's take his research on its own merits. Have you found any actual inconsistencies, logical fallacies, or propaganda content in his writing?

[flamefront]

truth doesn't care about politics

I agree, after all I am the one saying this is plausible. But since you asked, while I find it interesting, the 'greendale' speculation above appears a bit of a stretch.

[bigghurtt]

does this mean the media can stop camping out in front of my post every few months?

[HangThemHigh]

One apparent inconsistency between this and an an earlier post from the Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1004849/posts concerns the quality of the mailed anthrax (specifically the mailings to the Senators).You definitely should read the link if you are interested in this.

The earlier post quotes an Iraq expert and former Clinton adviser, Laurie Mylroie, who says that the quality of the mailed spores was extraordinary and that they refused to stay on a microscope slide when scientists tried to examine them, due to their electrical charge and fineness. Interestingly, Miss Mylroie seems to think the anthrax came from Iraq.

OTOH the report above paints the anthrax material as somewhat crude.

I have no idea which of these accounts is more accurate. Either or both writers may have their own agenda.

[risk]

Will do, thanks.

[B4Ranch]

Connecting the Dots [to al-Qaeda]

Sorry, but we need to convince the FBI to this type of thinking. They are still locked onto the guy down South.

[B4Ranch]

Steve Hatfill is who I was thinking of.