Posted on 11/20/2004 11:46:06 AM PST by TrebleRebel
A federal judge ruled yesterday that U.S. Postal Service officials had no special responsibility to alert workers at the Brentwood postal facility to deadly anthrax contamination in the building and cannot be sued by the employees.
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U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said she found ample reason to believe that the officials showed deliberate indifference to worker safety by keeping the plant operating for four days after they privately confirmed the toxic spores had spread through the facility.
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Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said, "We can't imagine that in the end that courts will sanction government supervisors lying to workers about biological toxins infecting their workplace. Let's be clear about the consequences here: People are sick to this day and some are dead, and the courts are saying 'Tough luck.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"That was certainly a bizarre group at Detrick circa 1990.
Someone should write a book."
Not a bad idea - wouldn't require much in the way of character development:
"Assaad said he was working on the Saturday before Easter 1991 when he discovered an eight-page poem in his mailbox. The poem, which became a court exhibit, has 235 lines, many of them lewd, mocking Assaad. The poem also refers to another creation of the scientists who wrote it — a rubber camel outfitted with sexually explicit appendages. The poem reads: "In (Assaad's) honor we created this beast; it represents life lower than yeast." The camel, it notes, each week will be given "to who did the least." The poem also doubles as an ode to each of the participants who adorned the camel, who number at least six and referred to themselves as "the camel club." Two — Dr. Philip Zack and Dr. Marian Rippy — voluntarily left Fort Detrick soon after Assaad brought the poem to the attention of supervisors. Attempts to reach Zack and Rippy were unsuccessful. Supervisor approached Assaad said he approached his supervisor, Col. David Franz, with his concerns, but Franz "kicked me out of his office and slammed the door in my face, because he didn't want to talk about it. I just wanted it to stop."
THE PLAYERS
"Bizarre, disjointed and juvenile"
David R. "I'm no friggin bigot" Franz:
David R. Franz, D.V.M., Ph.D.*; *Colonel, Veterinary Corps, U.S. Army; Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
Dr.Ayaad "Person of interest-runner-up" Assaad:
U.S. government scientist and former biowarfare researcher
"Franz "kicked me out of his office and
slammed the door in my face'
-Ayaad Assaad
Dr. Philip "The Zionist" Zack:
"Lt. Col. Philip Zack, who at the time no longer worked at Fort Detrick. A surveillance camera recorded Zack being let in at 8:40 p.m. on Jan. 23, 1992, apparently by Dr. Marian Rippy, a lab pathologist and close friend of Zack's, according to a report filed by a security guard."
Dr. Marian "Zack's main squeeze" Rippy:
Colonel, Veterinary Corps, U.S. Army; Chief, Pathology Division, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702-5011
Charles "Lamenting" Brown:
Lab technician, Brown - whose inventory was limited to specimens logged into the lab during the 1991 calendar year - detailed his findings in a two-page memo to Langford, in which he lamented the loss of the items "due to their immediate and future value to the pathology division and USAMRIID."
Dr. Kulthoum "Taha" Mereish:
"was commissioned a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and began researching biological-threat agents at Fort Detrick in 1986.
She alleged in the affidavit accompanying her lawsuit that Franz exhibited "a bigotry toward foreigners" and refused to confront the "camel club." Mereish described some of Franz's comments to her as "absolutely outrageous and totally abhorrent to me." As an example, she cited Franz's alleged statement to her that she reminded him of "Dr. Taha" -- the biologist in charge of developing the Iraqi biological weapons program."
Dr. Richard "Franz is a racist" Crosland:
"Crosland, during the interview, described Franz as a racist. "Everyone knew that," Crosland said. "Trying to prove it is another issue."
Dr. Mary Beth "Antrax 005" Downs:
'told investigators that she had come to work several times in January and February of 1992 to find that someone had been in the lab at odd hours, clumsily using the sophisticated electron microscope to conduct some kind of off-the-books research. After one weekend in February, Downs discovered that someone had been in the lab using the microscope to take photos of slides, and apparently had forgotten to reset a feature on the microscope that imprints each photo with a label. After taking a few pictures of her own slides that morning, Downs was surprised to see "Antrax 005" emblazoned on her negatives. Downs also noted that an automatic counter on the camera, like an odometer on a car, had been rolled back to hide the fact that pictures had been taken over the weekend. She wrote of her findings in a memo to Langford, noting that whoever was using the microscope was "either in a big hurry or didn't know what they were doing."
Norman "I've Got A Secret" Covert:
who was the public information officer at Detrick from 1977 until 1999.
CHAPTER 32
Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
RICIN TOXIN
David R. Franz, D.V.M., Ph.D.*; *Colonel, Veterinary Corps, U.S. Army; Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
"Swingin'" Nancy K. Jaax:
D.V.M. Colonel, Veterinary Corps, U.S. Army; Chief, Pathology Division, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland 21702-5011
Assaad A. Principal Investigator, Aerobiology and Product Evaluation Department, Toxinology Division, US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md. Personal communication, December 1994.
"Assaad's too humble to take credit for this paper so Nancy and I simply had to. Didn't we?"
-Franz
"You do not need to be a Nobel laureate to put two and two together."
-Assaad
We are pretty far removed in time from the event,but,if we had a cooperative poster,with access to south Florida news bases, an " anomaly check " might be informative.
Anomalies might include: car and driver going off a bridge-car window(s) open,drownings generally,commercial and lab fires,odd-seemingly motiveless suicides.( CSI programs to the contrary,if a cause of death is drowning,gunshot to head,etc.,a medical examiner MAY screen for intoxicants,but is quite unlikely to screen for bio-toxins.)
Anomaly check for South Florida in Sept. 2001? How about these busy boys:
"This is crazy because they lived kitty-corner from me, but I have never had trouble with my neighbors," said Veda Fremou, 47, who has lived across the street from 2510 Broadway for five years.
Fremou said people would come in and out of the house last year, around September, [ - that's September 2001 - ] at all times of the night. However, Fremou said they weren't loud and she didn't necessarily suspect anything suspicious happening there. She did recall a semi-truck parked at the house sometime last year.
For anybody who didn't click on Shermy's link, you might be interested to know that it's about the DC snipers.
SEPTEMBER 2001
SEPTEMBER 3, 2001 : (SOMEONE TRANSFERS MONEY TO BINALSHIBH USING THE SAME NUMBER ATTA WOULD GIVE TOMORROW AS A CONTACT NUMBER, ALSO THE ONE AL-MARRI WOULD LATER TRY TO CALL) According to the affidavit [an affidavit accompanying an application for a search warrant for Al-Marri's home] , the number [ telephone number in the United Arab Emirates given as a contact number by Atta in his package mailed Sept 4, 2001] was also used a day earlier [September 3, 2001]by an unidentified individual for a transfer of money to Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker now in custody in Virginia. - "FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists," By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer, Mar 20, 2002
SEPTEMBER 3, 2001 : (UAE CONTACT NUMBER WAS USED TO TRANSFER MONEY TO AL-SHIBH) The UAE number used by Atta and Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri was by an unidentified individual for a transfer of money to Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker now in custody in Virginia. -court affidavit- according to a -document filed in federal court in Peoria, IL via Peoria's Journal Star - "FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists, " By Mike Robinson, AP, Published: Mar 20, 2002
SEPTEMBER 4, 2001 : (ATTA SENDS A FEDEX PACKAGE TO THE UAE AND GIVES THE SAME UAE PHONE NUMBER AL-MARRI WOULD LATER TRY TO CALL AS A CONTACT NUMBER FOR THE RECIPIENT) According to court documents, Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta sent a Federal Express package from the United States to the UAE on Sept. 4 and gave the phone number as a contact point for the recipient. - "FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists," By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer, Mar 20, 2002
SEPTEMBER 8, 2001 : (MONEY TRANSFER FROM AN ACCOUNT HELD IN THE UAE BY MOSTAFA MOHAMMED AHMAD & AN ACCOUNT HELD BY ATTA IN FLORIDA) A money transfer from an account held in the United Arab Emirates by a leading Bin Laden operative, Mostafa Mohammed Ahmad, and an account in the name of Atta at a bank in Florida
SEPTEMBER 9, 2001 : (FL : PALM BEACH COUNTY : 1606 DORAL DRIVE, FAIRWAY ISLES SUBDIVISION, IN THE TOWN OF GREENACRES : WITNESS SEES AL MASRI FAMILY PACKING UP AND LEAVING IN A HURRY) Lisa Dickerson said she watched Mohamad Almasri hustle his family into their car on Sept. 9, 2001. She said that a few days after the attacks, when news reports began focusing on possible connections between the terrorists and the nearby Lantana airport, she called a special national FBI hot line. "It was just the way he put them in," Dickerson said. "It happened so fast." ...
According to state records, others who lived at the house in the upscale neighborhood near Jog Road and Forest Hill Boulevard were Madawi Almasri, 26, Turki Ma Almasri, 22, and Afaf I. Arif, 47. Neighbors said Almasri lived at the home with his wife, a son and daughter in their late teens or early twenties, and a younger son and daughter. -- FBI searches Saudi family's former home," By Scott McCabe and Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers Wednesday, January 22, 2003
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (USA : LEFTWING WEBSITE TRUTHOUT.ORG IS REGISTERED; WOULD PLAY ROLE IN NIGER/IRAQ URANIUM FLAP OF 2003) (* My note: I added this one for fun since it was your snippet's source, Sherm.)
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 : (AL MARRI ENTERS THE US) Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri — a 37-year-old from Qatar returned to the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, less than 24 hours before the World Trade Center attacks. Al-Marri, who arrived here on a student visa to study for a graduate degree in computer information systems at Bradley, would represent a new terrorist profile. Unlike the 19 loners who attacked Sept. 11, Al-Marri arrived in the U.S. with a wife from Saudi Arabia and five children, ranging in age from 9 months to 9 years.Al-Marri carries a passport from Qatar, an American ally in the Middle East that will serve as an operations center to run any war against Iraq. He is believed to have two elderly parents in Qatar. It is unclear how he afforded the journey to America and his education. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (9/11 ATTACKS)
SEPTEMBER 2001 : (AL-MARRI AND THE STEAMER CHEST UNDER FBI SUSPICION) Like so many other Middle Eastern men living in the US at the time, Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri became a so-called person of interest to the FBI within a week of the Sept. 11 attacks. The FBI office in Peoria had received a lead from its Indianapolis office regarding a steamer chest that Al-Marri had shipped to the US. The Peoria office also had gotten a call from a salesman at US Cellular who expressed concerns regarding Al-Marri's cell phone account. FBI agents Nicholas Zambeck and Robert Brown began a preliminary investigation and discovered that the Social Security number used by Al-Marri also was being used by two others, someone in California and someone in Illinois. They also found a discrepancy in the date of birth on his enrollment form at Bradley. Al-Marri had first said he was born Feb. 3, 1965, and on a later form listed his date of birth as Sept. 24, 1965. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
SEPTEMBER 2001 mid : (TIP ABOUT AL-MARRI AND THE STEAMER CHEST) Like so many other Middle Eastern men living in the US at the time, Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri became a so-called person of interest to the FBI within a week of the Sept. 11 attacks. The FBI office in Peoria had received a lead from its Indianapolis office regarding a steamer chest that Al-Marri had shipped to the US. The Peoria office also had gotten a call from a salesman at US Cellular who expressed concerns regarding Al-Marri's cell phone account. FBI agents Nicholas Zambeck and Robert Brown began a preliminary investigation and discovered that the Social Security number used by Al-Marri also was being used by two others, someone in California and someone in Illinois. They also found a discrepancy in the date of birth on his enrollment form at Bradley. Al-Marri had first said he was born Feb. 3, 1965, and on a later form listed his date of birth as Sept. 24, 1965. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 : (AL MARABH IS NOT AT HIS APARTMENT IN DETROIT ...) The case arose after federal agents went to a flat in southwest Detroit on Sept. 17, 2001, looking for Nabil al-Marabh, a man high on the FBI's terror-watch list. Instead, they found three men with airport badges, phony IDs and drawings the government said plotted attacks in Jordan and Turkey. ------Ashcroft seeks to quash suit : He asks judge to deny contempt charge in terror case," By David Shepardson / The Detroit News, Tuesday, September 16, 2003
SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 : (FIRST BATCH OF ANTHRAX LETTERS GOES OUT)-- "FBI anthrax probe revisits former Detrick researcher," by DAVID DISHNEAU, The Associated Press, 5/16/2004, 6:32 p.m. ET
SEPTEMBER 19-25, 2001 : (ANTHRAX RECIEVED AT NBC) (place?) NBC received & opened anthrax letter (brown granular sandy); not recognized as dangerous.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2001 : (911 INVESTIGATION : USA : IL : AL-MARABH ARRESTED) Nabil Al-Marabh, 34, arrested September 19, 2001 in Burbank, IL
AUGUST 2000 : (BOSTON CABDRIVER AL-MARABH MOVES TO DETROIT AND ENROLLS IN A TRUCK-DRIVING COURSE) In August 2000, he moved to Detroit to enrol in a truck-driving course in Dearborn. Although he passed the course and obtained his licence, he said no one would hire him. Unable to find work, he returned to Toronto to go into the photocopy business with his uncle. But the business failed, and he returned to the United States. - "Former T.O. resident denies terror ties Nabil al-Marabh a witness in Detroit case ," AP via Canadian Press, Saturday, May 24, 2003***
To investigators, the most puzzling place Al-Marabh lived is Tampa, Florida. The FBI is investigating whether Al-Marabh took flying lessons at small southwest Florida airports or whether he may have scouted flight schools for Marwan Al-Shehhi. Al-Shehhi and his cousin Mohammed Atta were flight school students at Venice Airport south of Tampa, where both obtained their pilots licenses. The only license we found in Al-Marabh's name was to drive a Tampa taxicab. "Everything he put in there (application) was totally common," said Greg Cox, Public Transportation Commission.
The cab application may have looked normal. Al-Marabh grinned for the license photo. He signed it as he always signed official documents, with his first name only: Nabil. But the I-Team has found that almost everything else on Al-Marabh's paperwork was false. He claimed to have lived in a ramshackle house from 1994 to 1997. But the owner says that he's never seen Al-Marabh. ----"Chicago's Ties to Terrorism," By ABC7 I-Team (CHICAGO) January 31, 2002 , http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/013102_ss_tiestoterrorism.html.(* My note: Al Marabh has a HAZMAT license from Michigan)
SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 : (AL MARABH IS NOT AT HIS APARTMENT IN DETROIT ...) The case arose after federal agents went to a flat in southwest Detroit on Sept. 17, 2001, looking for Nabil al-Marabh, a man high on the FBI's terror-watch list. Instead, they found three men with airport badges, phony IDs and drawings the government said plotted attacks in Jordan and Turkey. ------Ashcroft seeks to quash suit : He asks judge to deny contempt charge in terror case," By David Shepardson / The Detroit News, Tuesday, September 16, 2003
[* My note: He was arrested 2 days later Sept 19 in Illinois]
SEPTEMBER 22, 2001 : (BAKR DETAINED IN UK EN ROUTE TO LIBYAN ISLAMIC CONFERENCE, ALSO WEAPONS SMUGGLING UNCOVERED IN FL; WEAPONS WERE FOR TRINIDAD'S JAMAAT GROUP) Trinidad & Tobago citizen Abu Bakr was detained and questioned for two hours at London's Heathrow airport while en route to an Islamic conference in Libya. Police in Florida recently uncovered a plot to smuggle 60 rifles and 10 submachine guns to the Jamaat in Trinidad. But the group's leaders said they had nothing to do with the weapons ...
SEPTEMBER 23, 2001 : (AL-MARRI USES NETWORK IP PHONE CARD TO MAKE FIRST CALL TO THE UAE NUMBER FROM PAY PHONE IN PEORIA, IL) The first of the "attempted calls" on cards traced to Al-Marri was made on a pay phone in a Peoria store through a calling card issued by Network IP. The same card was used five days later in a call from Al-Marri's cellphone and again on Oct. 24 in a call from the Al-Marri home in West Peoria, 130 miles southwest of Chicago. [* My note: This call was made to the same one Atta used in his Fedex package as a contact number] - "FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists," By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer, Mar 20, 2002
SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2001 : (USA : ARRESTS OF MOSTLY WASHINGTON STATE RESIDENTS FOR FRAUDULENTLY OBTAINING OR TRYING TO OBTAIN HAZMAT LICENSES) These individuals were arrested September 26-27, 2001 for fraudulently obtaining or attempting to obtain licenses to transport hazardous material, also referred to as "hazmat". If you have any information regarding the following individuals, you are urged to contact your local FBI office, call (866) 483-5137 or provide information at the FBI website.
Mustafa Al-Aboody, Seattle,WA
Wather Al-Atabi, Kansas City, Mo
Ali Al-Azawi aka Ali Al-Gazawi, Seattle,WA
Haider Al-Tamimi, Seattle,WA
Mohammed Alibrahimi Ali Alubeidy Hussain Sudani, Seattle,WA
SEPTEMBER 28, 2001 : (AL MARRI'S NETWORK IP PHONE CARD USED IN A CALL FROM AL-MARRI'S CELL PHONE TO ?) The same [Network IP] card was used five days later in a call from Al-Marri's cellphone (* My note : no mention of who or what number this call was to)- "FBI Agents Say Phone Records Link Illinois Student to Sept. 11 Terrorists," By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer, Mar 20, 2002
OCTOBER 2, 2001, 4PM : (AL-MARRI INVESTIGATION : FBI VISITS) About 4 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2001, the agents visited Ali Salem Kahlah Al-Marri at his two-bedroom apartment in West Peoria. When the agents knocked on the back door, a small boy peeked through the window, then answered the door. Moments later, Al-Marri appeared dressed in a traditional kaftan. Once inside, the agents noticed the steamer chest. Al-Marri confirmed that he had shipped it from overseas. The agents looked inside and found the clothing and spices. When asked, Al-Marri said he was unaware of any problems with his Social Security number. He also said that in Qatar, when he was born, official records listed only a year of birth, not a month and specific day. After Al-Marri produced his Qatar passport for review, Zambeck gave the man his business card and the agents departed. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
OCTOBER 2, 2001 : (AL MARRI QUESTIONED BY FBI) FBI agents first questioned Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri at his West Peoria, Ill., home Oct. 2, 2001. They asked him about a steamer chest he had shipped to the United States from his homeland and about his enrollment in a master's degree program at Bradley University in Peoria. The chest had only clothes and spices in it, and there was nothing particularly troubling about his college enrollment. But over the next year, agents weaved a circumstantial web of evidence around Al-Marri. According to court papers reviewed by the Daily News, his laptop computer contained: An Arabic prayer asking God to protect Osama Bin Laden. Audio files of lectures by Bin Laden and his associates advocating martyrdom and support for the Taliban. Other lectures urging opposition to Jewish and Christian control of Palestine, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, while advising how to train in Bin Laden's Afghanistan camps. A note in Arabic proclaiming: "Neither the U.S. nor anyone living in it will dream of security/safety before we live it in Palestine and before the infidel armies leave the land of Mohammed." (* My note : reminds me of the sniper suspect, Malvo's notes) Photos of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Arab prisoners held in Kabul. Extensive evidence of credit card fraud. Links to Web sites on hazardous chemicals and how to buy them, weapons and satellite equipment. - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03 - "Mystery man in 9/11 terror case-Who is Ali Al-Marri? FBI links him to hijackers," by RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, New York Daily News 1/12/03
Now there's one I hadn't seen before.
Thanks for the ping!
Lone wolves
Solitary threats harder to hunt
By Henry Schuster
CNN
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
".....Ask Potok and the folks at the SPLC and they will tell you they believe the anthrax killer is a lone wolf -- and probably not an Islamic terrorist, despite the letters that were sent in late 2001 containing the anthrax, which seemed to signal this was an al Qaeda-style attack.
Potok and company base this belief in part on how the killer has gone quiet since the flurry of letters in late 2001 -- and that there have been no claims by international terror groups.
You might be noticing the pattern by now. Lone wolves are typically Americans with an extremist agenda, usually anti-government. They are certainly not the only domestic terrorists (we'll deal with the animal rights and eco-terrorists at a later date), but they are scary nonetheless."
***
"And the problem is, in the world of counterterrorism, lone wolves are harder to hunt."
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/02/01/schuster.column/
For anyone interested,here's something about the Russian biowarfare stockpiles. (They're still VERY much there !)
click here:http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/?action=fullnews&id=83698
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0976616300.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Haven't read it. Mr. Lincoln appears to have obtained an advance copy. Perhaps he can comment?
Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0976616300/qid=1110515842/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2205720-9800925?v=glance&s=books
I have not read it. The reviews are polarized.
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