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 ...
Interesting idia, but then, why not target the Miami Herald or Palm Beach Post adressed to "editor" like the NYPost letter? Anyway, if disinfo, the text of the letters themselves would make the link.
And you'er assuming "AMI" was the target. Fair enough, but maybe it wasn't.
I figured the false papers were planted as the "poison pill" to tarnish what was otherwise legitmate intel - by whatever country was acting as the go between between Iraq and Niger. In other words, the French planted it.
The "CIA" is not a monolith. It's got factions - or imaginary ones created by others.
In whose interests at every stage was is to keep Saddam in power? France, Russia, Saudi, etc. Or its just politics.
Consider the Prague Atta story. Maybe its founded on a misidentification. But why were there so many efforts to debunk it with false information?
Or maybe it's just politics or resentments.
BTW, a lot to Hersh's information came from Wilson.
I don't see any big deal with the Nile Virus. As for the high speed of its spread this is not surprising since birds carry it.
"Some group has the scientific sophistication to weaponise anthrax spores,"
1. Assumptions: the group made it, rather than was given a little by a state or puchased it from the state or "black market"
"harnessing for themselves WMD-scale destructive power close to atomic weaponry, and what do they do?"
2. Well, I don't think it's close to atomic scale, and they didn't have a lot.
"Attack some tabloid which has published sexy photos of Jennifer Lopez, all because they don't like the way JLo shakes her booty?"
3. Well, they did attack a tabloid, didn't they? As for J.Lo, why not? And consider whether the sender had different objectives and interests than the hypothetical mastermind we assume would think bigger.
Also, assume this: if one wanted notoriety, along with network anchors whom else would one target?
So, does anybody have any thoughts on how to choose between these two possibilities?
I agree with this assessment. Even though the story really has ex-CIA agents (not current agents) pitted against current government officials, the general impression conveyed to the public by this kind of story is one of CIA underhandedness. It makes the CIA look bad, and that's the way it will be categorized in people's minds.
So I doubt that it's CIA disinformation. It may still be disinformation, of course -- or just plain wrong. [Maybe the French are touting it!]
It's complex. I'll have to review it.
What struck me about the Hersh report was its "first strike" dismissal of the British intelligence.
As for French theories...perhaps factions had regrets about French intelligence Niger reporting because it would necessarily implicate in some fashion French corporate interests - running the mine. Even more confusing, the Senate report mentions that the French relied on the alleged forgeries - but only "initially."
The Senate report is full of tidbits - for example, that the Niger government had a supply of previously mined uranium it was trying to unload...and that Nigerien officials suggested to the US it might not fall in rogue hands if the US bought it.
BTW, the Report makes clear that the officials Wilson spoke to weren't in power after 1999, and that the ambassador there asked him not to talk to current officials.
I wonder if Joe Wilson was involved in the forgery. If my memory is correct, the forgery was easily debunked because it contained the signature of a former Niger government official who was out of office when the document was supposedly dated. This was done intentionally so the document after being discovered and leaked to the press would be easy to debunk. Who did Joe Wilson meet with when he went to Africa? I believe it was former Niger government officials. Maybe the document was a forgery, but some of the signatures on it were not.
"If they had only a small stash of purloined or purchased powder, all the more reason for them not to waste it on some 2-bit attack. Unless it wasn't the 2-bit attack that it seems, and there was some concreet reason for it."
2-bit is your expectation.
"Senators? Or flash-in-the-pan pop-stars? Hm, that is a hard one."
Senators, yes, but that was the second wave after the first didn't work. "Flash in the Pan". You might not be familiar with J.Lo., or overly influenced by her post-9/11 Gigli debacle. J.Lo. was a huge movie star and singer, well, "music personality." And she was even bigger overseas, her albums selling more there, especially Latin America, Middle East and maybe also Europe. She was the biggest American entertainment personality in the world - if not #1 in America, though close to that.
With marriages and Gigli her star has declined.
"For geographical proximity, you can't beat American Media. Was not it almost next door to an airfield the highjackers flew at?"
Not sure how close, but Stevens lived close to it. BTW, I don't discount your thesis and find it interesting. In furtherance, how about the Gloria Irish connection? She was the estate agent married to an "editor" at the Sun or other AMI publication. Was this fact reported between 9/11 and 9/18? If so, in your frame job scenario, this could be the source of the targeting...or maybe it was known by others even if not reported in the media...
"Planted evidence not in the mailer's own handwriting would be advantageous, no?"
No rational criminal, a ransom-kidnapper, whatever, does not disguise their handwriting if they think it will lead to them (wasn't the old style to cut out individual letters from magazines?). But you assume it's not the mailer's own handwriting - why? And why would a "framer" write the sets of letters with different determination? Could a framer fake the consistencies between the two sets?
"Who else ??"
How about J.Lo.? As we learned these tabloids get all sorts of fan mail, the fans assuming it will be forwarded to the stars.
I believe the "AMI" letters were different than the others. No one remembers a text similar to the others. And there may have been two letters. Also the dispersal pattern is strange, as if the letter(s) were pre-opened and carted thereafter through the halls, not opened by the addressee or his assistant in proximity.
I think I remember that CDC (?) report might have explained something about this.
For memory's sake
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol8no10/02-0354.htm
...The index patient’s infection most likely occurred from inhalation of B. anthracis spores following a primary aerosolization, i.e., spores released into the air after opening a spore-containing letter. This scenario is consistent with co-workers’ recollections that the index patient held a letter containing powder over his computer keyboard, as well as environmental samples showing contamination at his keyboard, an incoming-mail desk near his workspace, and his mailroom mailbox. The second case-patient did not recall opening or seeing a letter containing powder, and the mechanism of spore aerosolization resulting in his infection is unclear. He was likely exposed while delivering 10,000–15,000 mail pieces daily to the workplace mailroom; both the mailroom and mail van were contaminated with B. anthracis spores. He may have inhaled spores after mail was compressed or shaken during delivery or after he (unknowingly) or a co-worker opened a spore-containing envelope. A secondary aerosolization, i.e., spores resuspended in the air after settling to a surface following an initial release, may also have resulted in his infection.
| Anthrax toll may have been higher than reported:[1 Edition] |
| Aaron Hicklin. The Herald. Glasgow (UK): Oct 5, 2002. pg. 4 |
| Text Word Count | 371 |
| Abstract (Article Summary) |
|
Dr Meryl Nass, one of the world's leading experts on anthrax, claims at least two postal workers in New York died mysteriously during the outbreak, and scores of others displayed symptoms consistent with anthrax, but which went unreported. Dr Martin Hugh-Jones, an anthrax specialist at Louisiana State University, also thinks it likely that there were other cases. "At a low enough dose breathed in, most ... |
Ping. You might be interested in #217.
Also, could any institutional recipients have just thrown away mail that looked like it came from kooks without even bothering to open it?
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.