Posted on 07/04/2004 6:08:42 AM PDT by TrebleRebel
Distinct signature found in ’01 anthrax Discovery raises hope that source can be traced By Scott Shane Sun National Staff Originally published July 4, 2004 In a possible break for the FBI's investigation of the anthrax letters of 2001, scientists have discovered that the mailed anthrax was a mix of two slightly different samples, giving the bacteria a distinct signature that might make it easier to match with a source, according to two non-government experts who have been told of the finding. The discovery that bacteria taken from the letters all grew in the double pattern was made at least a year ago, and it is not known whether the FBI's hunt for a matching sample has succeeded.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
The duct tape announcement was made about Feb. 10, 2003.
As for the Swedish angle, it was reported in Feb 2003, but the stories said the contact was a year earlier. Also the Finns were contacted. They thought it was propaganda. What ever it was, it was weird.
Re: Nguyen, as I say, "follow the anomalies".
You're right about her. Very unusual indeed.
Looks like someone is about to have a REAL BAD DAY....
:-)
TOW2 kicks Ass.
Perhaps we got a match from a former Iraqi biowar facility.
"Prevailling FBI opinion"
Funny, I don't feel reassured...
I don't know. When people who are trying very hard to hide their identity leave behind a clear trail of circumstantial evidence that would have been easy to plant, I figure there's a good chance that it's intentional misdirection.
Whether that suggests the Pakistanis, or the Chinese, or an internal source, or somebody else, is another matter. But, as things stand, I'm not inclined to swallow the Iraq story.
well, I think it's a good possibility it's linked to the Iraq situation, though might not have been Iraq.
but I'm openminded to most any source. But the only "appearances" I gather here that can be arguably deflective are the texts of the letters.
As for the FBI, investigative agencies often try to fit the facts into supposition and prejudices. Governments disguise and discount inconvenient intelligence.
BTW, I'm still waiting for the KSM statements on anthrax. The govt. has released parts of other information from his interviews (like the alleged earlier timing of the attacks), nothing about this, yes or no.
who is the "other guy". we caught Zubayda and Bin AlSheeb.
this whole anthrax story is locked down tighter then a drum; I've never seen a story with less media coverage, no leaks, and no questions being asked.
How about the election? With this delay, no Richard Jewell-like revelations until after it.
I stand corrected about KSM
______________________________________
Al Qaeda Near Biological, Chemical Arms Production
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2003; Page A01
Al Qaeda leaders, long known to covet biological and chemical weapons, have reached at least the threshold of production and may already have manufactured some of them, according to a newly obtained cache of documentary evidence and interrogations recently conducted by the U.S. government.
Three people with access to written reports said the emerging picture depicts the al Qaeda biochemical weapons program as considerably more advanced than U.S. analysts knew. The picture continues to sharpen daily, one official said, because translation and analysis of the documents continues, and because the operative captured with them began divulging meaningful information about production plans only this week. Authorized government spokesmen declined to discuss the subject, saying it is classified.
Leaders at the top of al Qaeda's hierarchy, the evidence shows, completed plans and obtained the materials required to manufacture two biological toxins -- botulinum and salmonella -- and the chemical poison cyanide. They are also close to a feasible production plan for anthrax, a far more lethal weapon, which kills 90 percent of untreated victims if spread by inhalation and as many as 75 percent of those treated when the first symptoms become evident. Among the documents seized was a direction to purchase bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax disease.
Most of the new information comes from handwritten documents and computer hard drives seized during the March 1 capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, regarded by some government analysts as al Qaeda's most important operational planner. Known inside al Qaeda as "the Brain," Mohammed has acknowledged being the principal author of the Sept. 11, 2001, plot. Significantly, one official noted, Mohammed was arrested at a Rawalpindi, Pakistan, home owned by Abdul Quddoos Khan, a bacteriologist with access to production materials and facilities who has since disappeared.
Because of Mohammed's central role in operations, one senior official said, his apparent connection to biochemical weapons is a "very scary" sign that al Qaeda's efforts reach well beyond the hypothetical. At first analysts were unsure of Mohammed's direct involvement because the documents were not written in his hand and were seized in a house that does not belong to him. But digitally scanned images of the same documents have been extracted from one of Mohammed's computer hard drives. Confronted with that evidence, a second U.S. expert said, Mohammed has begun to talk about the production program in the past two or three days.
What the documents and debriefings show, the first official said, is that "he was involved in anthrax production, and [knew] quite a bit about it."
...etc....
Very interesting.
I think I mentioned before, these fellows may have been up to no good, but for national purposes, like spies or Chinese coming here as students to acquire tech secrets for the homeland. That is, there's other reasons than AQ for skullduggery to occur.
It's interesting to go back and read older articles about the reasons Iraq was targeted:
http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/fbitheorydoubted.html
Bush administration officials have acknowledged that the anthrax attacks were an important motivator in the U.S. decision to confront Iraq........
That's why we need to find out what the FBI knows about the anthrax. If a war in which 1,000 Americans were killed was launched because of a product made in the USA we need to know. If it was made in the Soviet Union or elsewhere, we need to know that too.
The question is - why don't we know?
If the weapon (silica, polymerized glass and all) came from a US lab then it had to have been a sanctioned operation. There is no way such a weapon could be removed from a secure lab with double-keyed doors (ie. at least 2 different parties from different divisions performing the opening), 24 hour video surveillance and with samples kept in bonded containers,without permission. That's how tight security is on BW's - that is, if a new weapon was illegaly made inisde the US in the first place.
So we have 2 choices - both bad. The first choice is that the US government murdered her own citizens and attempted to murder elected members of congress in order to set up a pretext for war with Iraq.
The second choice is that a foreign government attacked the US with bioweapons and the US government is covering that up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.