Posted on 09/27/2006 2:12:08 PM PDT by TrebleRebel
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 · Last updated 11:43 a.m. PT http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_FBI_Anthrax.html Congressman wants FBI anthrax briefing By DONNA DE LA CRUZ ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey congressman said Wednesday it should have taken the FBI days, not years, to determine the anthrax used in 2001 that killed five people was much less sophisticated than believed.
Democratic Rep. Rush Holt asked FBI Director Robert Mueller for a classified briefing about the status of the bureau's investigation into who was behind the attacks.
Several published reports this week said the FBI had acknowledged the anthrax used in the attacks was commonly available and not weapons-grade.
In his letter to Mueller, Holt said the FBI's failure to determine what kind of anthrax was used meant that "resources were diverted and countless agents wasted their time investigating a small pool of suspects, instead of the broader search we now know was needed."
The FBI has conducted 9,100 interviews and issued 6,000 subpoenas.
Holt asked Mueller to have Douglas Beecher, a scientist in the FBI's Hazardous Materials Response Unit, testify before the House Intelligence Committee.
Beecher recently wrote an article in a scientific journal saying there was "a widely circulated misconception" that the anthrax spores were made using additives and sophisticated engineering akin to military weapons production.
FBI spokesman Bill Carter said he did not know if Mueller had received Holt's letter.
The anthrax attacks, in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, killed five people across the country and sickened 17. There were five confirmed anthrax infections and two suspected cases in New Jersey but no fatalities.
ping
The plot thickens!
Wonder who did it?
"Wonder who did it?"
First you have to get through the question is the FBI telling us the truth here.
Ed Lake from anthraxinvestigation.com really comes out of this looking good, though - for years he's been saying nobody in a position to know was actually talking about "weaponized" anthrax or addititives, and that all of that was simply media idiocy that was constantly repeated till everyone believed it.
Frankly though, he strikes me as a little bit naive, in that he assumes that we're really being told the full truth of just what's going on here, when in fact there is considerable disinformation surrounding this entire subject. I imagine him as the kindly old senior citizen type who depends on the government bureaucratic apparatus and trusts it implicitly.
To me, the most interesting question surrounding this affair is: what is the real reason that it's so important on the part of the powers that be not to acknowledge any possibility that the attack could in fact have been carried out by Islamic terrorists? From the beginning, almost everything, right down to the stupid name "Amerithrax", has been directed towards this end.
Someone mentioned to me the other day that the FBI was closing in on Richard Jewel.
Holt's letter to Mueller here:
http://holt.house.gov/Mueller.FBI.Anthrax.WP.story.Letter.pdf
Woot!
That's an interesting letter.
He says he is a scientist and indicates he has been looking after this case for years.
Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored He was tryin' to create a next world war He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before But yes I think it can be very easily done We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun And have it on Highway 61.
you sayin' Rove ? hmmmmmmmmm
No, it's not an oblique angle at Rove.
It's Dylan's story plot, not some wordplay...
...he was very bored He was tryin' to create a next world war He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before But yes I think it can be very easily done...
You've been away for a while. Of course, news about the anthrax attack was almost nonexistent for the last several months, up until the anniversary.
99% of the misinformation about the anthrax attacks comes from the MEDIA.
I voted "Anybody But Bush" in the last Presidential election, and I think the current administration is top-heavy with total incompetents. But that doesn't mean I automatically believe or disbelieve anything about the anthrax attacks based upon who says it. I've spent the past 5 years collecting FACTS to challenge OPINIONS.
I point out all errors I find, regardless of who made them.
I do not assume that facts I don't like are false.
The FBI has been saying since the very beginning that the attack anthrax did not have any additives.
What is needed is an explanation from the Armed Forces Institutes of Pathology (AFIP) telling us why they said there WAS an additive in the Daschle anthrax, that the additive was silica, and that it was a "key component". They said that in their newsletter, which can be read by clicking HERE.
Congressman Holt is wasting his time by demanding explanations from the FBI when he should be demanding explanations from AFIP.
Ed
I voted "Anybody But Bush" in the last Presidential election, and I think the current administration is top-heavy with total incompetents.
I'm not in the least bit surprised, but we digress from the subject.
I know you believe the Bureau when they insist that it isn't a cold case. So, when do you think we can look forward to seeing someone doing the perp walk on television?
Oh, and if I were Congressman Holt, I have a feeling he's not going to be getting any answers that he finds satisfactory, if the Bureau even deigns to respond to his request at all. I had never heard of the guy before this, which means that in the legislative hierarchy he's pretty much a backbench nobody.
I believe the term is "cognitive dissonance". I recall reading a lot about it in Barbara Tuchman's book "The March Of Folly."
So these announcements are preparing you so that you will believe it.
Here's what I put on my web site about that yesterday:
September 27, 2006(A) - I was contacted by a couple science reporters yesterday, both looking for some sinister and hidden meaning behind Dr. Beecher's article. One of the reporters pumped me on the phone for about 15 minutes, trying to get my feelings as to why the FBI would release such information. My answer was just a guess: The media has built a wall of nonsense and misconceptions around the true facts of the anthrax attacks, and the FBI is most likely trying to break down at least some of that wall. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more such articles. The wall of nonsense and misconceptions created by the media is pretty tall and solid.
Why would the FBI want to break down such a wall? My answer is just another guess: To create a public and scientific atmosphere where facts instead of fiction can prevail.
Ed
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