My anthrax survivor's story

MSNBC ^ | 9/13/06 | Casey Chamberlain

[TrebleRebel]

NEW YORK - Every September, like many, I feel sick and frightened around the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. But it was the weeks following September 11th that would forever change my life. You may remember hearing about Tom Brokaw’s assistant who got sick after coming in contact with a letter containing a deadly amount of anthrax. I was the person who first opened that letter, before Tom's assistant became sick. You have not heard my story. ------------------- Around September 18, 2001, I headed to work as a desk assistant at ‘NBC Nightly News.’ One of my jobs was opening Mr. Brokaw’s mail. There was one letter that looked as if it were written by a child. Something seemed unusual. I’d never seen a letter containing a granular substance.

--------------- A few days later, I went back to work, but I still felt a bit off. My glands were still swollen. A week or so after I was sick, Mr. Brokaw’s assistant became sick. Both of our symptoms were unusual. Authorities became involved.

The events over the next few months changed my life. I had carried anthrax back on my clothes and had contaminated my home. I chose to have all of my things destroyed. Every day I wonder: Who sent the letter? There have been some leads. But the case remains unsolved. They do not have the chance to remind the world that this case remains unsolved.ved 9/11. I survived anthrax. Five people died from inhaling anthrax, and others contracted both inhalation anthrax and cutaneous anthrax.

[TrebleRebel]

ping

[American Quilter]

I trust she votes Republican.

[cgk]

BTTT

[Mrs. Shawnlaw]

Anthrax vaccine readily available thru Jeffers Livestock dot com.

[TimesDomain]

Anthrax is not uncommon in many farming/ranching communisties nad is easily treatable.

the media provided the fear mongering for the terrorsits and our federal govt complied with the fear.

[jpl]

The anthrax that was used in those attacks wasn't just scooped up off a farm. It was weaponized; specifically engineered to have a far higher lethality than just ordinary anthrax found in nature. This woman is fortunate to be alive.

A large enough quantity of that type of anthrax dispensed in the proper manner can potentially kill thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.

[JOAT]

It was weaponized

If I remember correctly, wasn't it identified as a strain made in the good ol' USA?

My recollection was that they tried to mount a witch hunt against 'militias' and drained some ponds looking for a smoking gun.

It strains credulity to think something as tightly controlled as US engineered, weapons-grade Anthrax would be in the possession of anyone other than a government agency.

The spin at the time was that we exported this stuff to Saddam(?!?!) who later supplied it to domestic terror operatives here.

I'm not sure anyone actually bought that particular line of Shiite spin, but I think that was the line.

Anybody else remember that?

[robfromakron]

I found this at wnd: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51917

[GOP_1900AD]

Who sent the letter? The top suspects:
1) The Mukhabarat (or their false flag recruits)
2) Al Qaida ( " )
3) The ISI ( " )
4) The SVR ( " )
5) The ErBu ( " )

[GOP_1900AD]

The strain is one thing, where it was grown and weaponized is another thing.

[jpl]

We know for an absolute fact that that Ames strain that was used in the attacks is held in Great Britain and Canada, in addition to many government and university medical labs within the United States. We gave it them for research purposes.

What we don't know for a fact is whether or not countries such as Russia, Iraq, China, Pakistan, etc. ever managed to obtain samples of the strain through espionage. There have been unsubstantiated reports recently that strongly indicate that the old Soviet Union managed to penetrate Ft. Detrick at some time in the '80s. Furthermore, government and military security at our facilities during the Clinton '90s was a sick joke (Los Alamos, anyone?)

Frankly, I have my doubts that our government would ever openly acknowledge that a country such as Russia or Iraq managed to steal Ames even if they knew for a fact it were true.

[GOP_Proud]

But the case remains unsolved. I'm convinced it was Hatfill, but they just can't prove it.

[jpl]

I'm convinced it was Hatfill, but they just can't prove it.

I'm afraid that you've fallen for Barbara Hatch Rosenberg's personal vendetta. Don't worry, you're certainly not alone.

Hatfill had nothing whatsoever to do with the attacks. That's why he's taking the media and the government to court (and is probably going to win a substantial settlement), and not the other way around.

[Southack]

The timeline points to those connected to the 9/11 attacks.

This woman claims to have opened her anthrax letter "around" 9/18/01. NYC hadn't even started the WTC cleanup. The towers were still smoking. Streets were closed.

Airlines weren't flying the mail yet, either. But NBC already had recieved the anthrax letter.

Notice that the anthrax victim in this story refuses to nail down dates. She opened her letter "around" 9/18. She went back to work "a few days later."

...and the biggee: she doesn't say if the anthrax letter was in a pile of mail from days/weeks past (the Networks get a lot of mail) or from a delivery that day.

She calls her above news column "cathartic," yet she hasn't really told us anything. She's still sticking to the FBI story that her timeline might still support a 9/11 copycat...a domestic rather than a foreign attacker.

It doesn't. There is simply NO WAY that a domestic copycat weaponized anthrax and mailed it to NBC while streets were closed and airlines weren't flying mail between 9/11 and 9/18. Moreover, it's highly likely that her anthrax letter was at NBC some time *prior* to 9/18.

She's the one person who could at least answer/confirm that last item...yet she refuses.

[jpl]

I strongly suspect that all of the survivors directly related in some way to the anthrax attacks have been told by the government to keep their mouths shut, or at least to be as vague as possible regarding specific details.

After nearly five years, if you think about it it's actually rather amazing just how much still isn't known by the public about the worst bioterrorist attack on our soil in our history. And needless to say, in that kind of secretive environment all kinds of conspiracy theories will end up flourishing.

[muawiyah]

People were already infected and near death BEFORE it was determined they'd been hit with anthrax.

It's fairly effective as a "sneak attack" weapon.

[muawiyah]

You have a "disremember" of where the anthrax was manufactured. No one knows.

What you recall is the finding that some of it seemed to be derived from a standard sample version distributed worldwide that was developed at Ames, Iowa.

[muawiyah]

They shipped the Ames strain all over the world. No one had to "steal" it ~ it was the control standard for the development of anti-anthrax drugs and other chemicals for use in the leather and wool industries.

[muawiyah]

It can't possibly be Hatfill. He's neither Moslem nor Arabic speaking.