Posted on 03/17/2005 11:47:50 AM PST by Gene Vidocq
The day after the latest anthrax scare, public officials focused on the role of a private Richmond laboratory and its powerful client, the U.S. Department of Defense, in a slow-moving response to what could have been a threat to hundreds of government workers.
The negative results of additional tests taken from a Pentagon mail facility and a Defense Department mailroom in Fairfax County have prompted questions about the source of the anthrax. The positive results came from a swab of a 2-foot square filter last Thursday that was tested by Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc., based in Chesterfield's Gateway Center.
For reasons that remain unclear, the Defense Department didn't know about the possible contamination until Monday morning, almost four days after the sample was taken. Federal health, state and local officials didn't know until that afternoon, at about the same time an outdated sensor at another Defense Department mailroom sounded in Fairfax County and led to a lockdown of thousands of employees.
A second test of the Pentagon filter proved positive late Monday, but since then, no signs of anthrax have been uncovered at either site, said Glenn Flood, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
"We need some assurances that high-profile facilities such as the Pentagon have the best-available systems and procedures in place so they can quickly identify potential threats," Warner said.
Rep. James P. Moran, D-8th, whose district includes the Pentagon and the Fairfax facility at the Skyline Towers, said he has written Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asking for details about the Pentagon response and why the Pentagon did not immediately notify the federal Department of Homeland Security.
"It seems that the Pentagon operates on a need-to-know basis, and they think they're the only ones who need to know," Moran said.
"Obviously, there's a lot of work that's going to go on to determine whether or not it's real or a contaminant," said Jim Pearson, director of Virginia's Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services.
"We know that there was anthrax in that sample. We just don't know where the anthrax was introduced - was it from the filter or was it something that got picked up after it was sampled?"
( excerpt)
Ya, it's Rumsfelds fault. That took a whole 3 seconds for Rep. Moron to politicize the issue.
:(|)
Just as an FYI.
Let's not forget that two of the 911 hijackers were treated in Florida for what doctors later realized was cutaneous anthrax.
And some of the 911 hijackers rented an apartment from the boss of the first man who died in Florida from anthrax.
I think Rep. Moran should be the 'canary' that gets sent in next time.
I approve of that. LOL
What the H? Why wasn't USAMRRID involved in this?
Am I missing something here?
Tom Ridge was sworn in on January 24, 2003.
Wasn't the anthrax scare much earlier than that? 2001, right?
Was Rummy expected to knock on an invisible door or travel in time?
"The Pentagon sample that tested positive in the contractor's lab was subsequently retested by the US Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Maryland. There, a polymerase chain reaction test confirmed the positive finding early yesterday morning. But subsequent culturing of samples to detect live bacteria yielded only negative findings, the Post reported today."
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/bt/anthrax/news/mar1605anthrax.html
Evidently, yes. The new anthrax scare a few days ago. 2001 doesn't have much to do with it, unless it was somehow residual contamination (unlikely).
Please learn the correct spelling of Congressman Moron's name. Thank you.
"Let's not forget that two of the 911 hijackers were treated in Florida for what doctors later realized was cutaneous anthrax."
washingtonpost.com
Memo on Florida Case Roils Anthrax Probe
Experts Debate Theory Hijacker Was Exposed
"However, upon closer inspection, the Hopkins finding raises its own questions. The hijacker, Ahmed Ibrahim A. Al Haznawi, was examined days after he entered the United States, an indication that the infection -- whatever it was -- developed before his arrival.
In addition, a Florida man who said he examined and treated Al Haznawi's calf before sending him to the hospital described the injury last September as a "gash" -- a description that appears to vary significantly with lesions associated with cutaneous anthrax."
http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/wp0328.html
That article is directly at odds with the article and panel of experts that I linked. LOL
The FBI is so incompetent that I have no comfort level in thinking they can find experts to bolster their case either.
I've long thought that there was a reason why the US didn't WANT to appoint blame on the anthrax attacks and my previous post to you gives a reason why that might be.
Who knows.
Thanks, Gene. A PCR positive sounds like a positive to me. This is fascinating (and troubling).
Last month, experts at Johns Hopkins also called Dr. Tsonas, saying they, too, were studying the evidence. The Hopkins analysis was done by Dr. Thomas Inglesby and Dr. Tara O'Toole, director of the center in Baltimore and an assistant secretary for health and safety at the federal Energy Department from 1993 to 1997.
In an interview, Dr. O'Toole said that after consulting with additional medical experts on the Alhaznawi case, she was "more persuaded than ever" that the diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax was correct.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/652000/posts
"The new anthrax scare a few days ago." Oh, ok then. Thank you. I missed the scare, darn it all!
If I were the Feds and spent nearlt $1B on the mail sniffing system, one thing I might do is intentionally 'find' anthrax via the system. Send a message that the system works so no sense trying to get al quada letters through.
(Tin foil hat off)
Ping
I'm not sure they're that smart, Swanks. (I mean HS, not USAMRRID).
And if that were the case, the Pentagon wouldn't purposely have set themselves up to look stupid.
I suspect that a routine assessment of filters is done using the lab mentioned in the article. The lab got a positive. Apparently, the sample went to USAMRRID (at least, according to Gene's info) and they did a PCR on it and got a pos. Then "other" tests (done by whom?) returned a negative. The whole thing is ludicrous and doesn't make sense.
It doesn't surprise me that the Pentagon, sadly, didn't find out about the initial pos until Monday. The outside contractors had to run the "routine" test on the filter and wait for the response. I imagine this filter check is a routine item. It is ridiculous for the state officials and that idiot, Moran, to mouth off when they were notified the same day as the Pentagon.
I wonder if there isn't more to this than we're getting -- perhaps more will be revealed in the next few days.
I am more and more concerned with the ineptness of our security systems/bureaucrats to really protect us in certain areas.
There are great people working to protect us from bioterror (USAMRRID people are great and there are a few people at CDC that have a clue), but I am frustrated with the lack of communication. Bureaucracies are terrible ways to run a government, efficiently.
It's "wife of the boss of the first man who died of anthrax, who was a real estate agent, who rented lots of apartments to people."
Do you really see a big difference between a married couple having a wife rent an apartment and the husband rent an apartment to the 9/11 hijackers?
The boss and his wife were married and jointly owned that property. The husband worked in the media office (I've forgotten the name) and the wife ran the commercial property.
The fact remains: Some of the 911 hijackers rented an apartment owned by the boss of the first guy who died of anthrax.
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