Posted on 04/30/2007 1:01:00 PM PDT by SevenMinusOne
Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Maybe they didn't realize in teh fervor over what happened that the media would be so supportive and they saw it as a pillar of American society, the way that they perceived the WTC.
Maybe KSM knows something about it. Time to waterboard him again anyway.
Valerie Plame?
Furthermore, read the full article (at link) which gives reasons as to why a number of unusual AQ steps might have been taken....
Here is what George Tenet, the former CIA Director, says, in his book released today:
Another key Al-Qa’ida connection to biological weapons was Yazid Sufaat, the Jemaah Islamiya associate who hosted the first operational meeting of the 9/11 hijackers at his apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in January 2000. In fact, Sufaat had provided commercial cover for Zacarias Moussaoui’s trip to the United States. Sufaat was also the self-described “CEO” of al-Qai’da’s anthrax program. U.S. educated and with a Malaysian military background, Sufaat had impeccable extremist credentials. In 2000 he had been introduced to Ayman al-Zawahiri personally, by Hambali, as the man who was capable of leading al-Qai’da’s biological weapons program.
Al-Qa’ida spared no effort in its attempt to obtain biological weapons. In 1999, al-Zawahiri had recruited another scientist, Pakistani national Rauf Ahmad, to set up a small lab in Khandahar, Afghanistan, to house the biological weapons effort. In December 2001, a sharp WMD analyst at CIA found the initial lead on which we would pull and, ultimately, unravel the al-Qa’ida anthrax networks. We were able to identify Rauf Ahmad from letters he had written to Ayman al-Zawahiri. Later, we uncovered Sufaat’s central role in the program. We located Rauf Ahmad’s lab in Afghanistan. We identified the building in Khandahar where Sufaat claimed he isolated anthrax. We mounted operations that resulted in the arrests and detentions of anthrax operatives in several countries.
The most startling revelation from this intelligence success story was that the anthrax program had been developed in parallel to 9/11 planning. As best as we could determine, al-Zawahiri’s project had been wrapped up in the summer of 2001, when the al-Qaida deputy, along with Hambali, were briefed over a week by Sufaat on the progress he had made to isolate anthrax. The entire operation had been managed at the top of al-Qai’da with strict compartmentalization. Having completed this phase of his work, Sufaat fled Afghanistan in December 2001 and was captured by authorities trying to sneak back into Malaysia. Rauf Ahmad was detained by Pakistani authorities in December 2001. Our hope was that these and our many other actions had neutralized the anthrax threat, at least temporarily.”Another key Al-Qa’ida connection to biological weapons was Yazid Sufaat, the Jemaah Islamiya associate who hosted the first operational meeting of the 9/11 hijackers at his apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in January 2000. In fact, Sufaat had provided commercial cover for Zacarias Moussaoui’s trip to the United States. Sufaat was also the self-described “CEO” of al-Qai’da’s anthrax program. U.S. educated and with a Malaysian military background, Sufaat had impeccable extremist credentials. In 2000 he had been introduced to Ayman al-Zawahiri personally, by Hambali, as the man who was capable of leading al-Qai’da’s biological weapons program.
George Tenet, in At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA, at 278-279 (April 30, 2007)
(as uploaded at http://www.anthraxandalqaeda under “updates”, accessed today)
It was Clinton who directed the creation of the 'Gorelick Wall', the prohibition of sharing of information between the FBI and the CIA. I think it was because he didn't want the FBI investigating his China bribes.
Whole different cat.
Isolate means to separate the Bacillus anthracisis from any other bacteria that may be in the sample. I believe they had an isolated sample. He was trying to clean the individual spores from the debris that is created when the pathogen sporulates. This is an attempt at weaponization.
True weaponization would be to make sure that each spore would float into the lung area. However, if you just make it pure, you can achieve somewhat the same effect.
True weaponization would most probably require a state sponsor with extensive equipment. However, a mere purification, or cleaning, would just require great skill and minimal equipment.
I don’t know why the link to the Islamic Center of New Jersey has never been investigated. The return address on the letters listed a Greenlake school, I believe. There was an old Greenwood school on Rt. 27, a road which runs parallel to Rt. 1 in Central Jersey. The Islamic Center is almost exactly due east from that old school on Rt. 1. Whoever sent these letters must have had some connection to that mosque.
The school is now a private pre-school, and everyone has forgotten about it. But, I’m amazed that no one has investigated this mosque.
“The FBI knows what he had for dinner on September 16, 2001, just two days before the first mailing”
The anthrax was mailed prior to 9/11/01.
Please add me to your ping list.
Your link of RTE 27, RTE #1 and I-95 is not lost on me.
Will have much more to say tomorrow. A 4 hour thunderstorm
is just passing and I need to sleep. Talk more later....JJ61
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.