Conspiracy Theorists will generally just go away when their arguments have been shown to be nonsense. They'll sulk and start up again somewhere else or at some other time and place with new people they can try to convince.
True Believers cannot be proven wrong, since much or most of what they say is either true or cannot be disproven. It just does not prove what the True Believer believes it proves.
They do not go away. They wear you down with the endless presentation of irrelevant evidence which proves nothing but which they believe proves their case. They cite resources and claim that if you haven't read what they have read, then you are ignorant of the facts. If you have read what they have read, they claim you are misinterpreting it.
It's all about believing. If you do not put the "facts" together the way they put the "facts" together, then you are simply wrong. And there is no way to prove that is not true.
Everything ends up with being unable to prove the negative. You cannot prove that he is wrong, and to him that is proof that he is right. End of argument.
So is Falls Church, Virginia the key to the anthrax know-how? Why don’t you consult an expert in bioweapons, a microbiologist, and ask. Because the FBI has long been aware that it wasn’t just Ali that lectured on the day of judgment and the inevitable clash between Western Civilization by night — while passing Ken Alibek at the water cooler and working on Ken’s computer system during the day. That’s also where hijackers Nawaf and Hani lived — who by some accounts were at the level of Atta.
Nawaf Al-Hazmi was one of the two hijackers who had been at the January 2000 meeting at anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat’s Malaysian condominium in January 2000.
Nawaf Hazmi and a colleague had arrived the previous year in San Diego, where they had been unsuccessful in learning to fly. Upon arriving in San Diego in 2000, met with Imam named Aulaqi — perhaps even the same day as arriving. The 911 Commission Report said that Nawaf and his fellow hijacker and “developed a close relationship with him.” One pilot at the flight school in Arabic said that Nawaf wanted to learn to jets right away, rather than start with small planes. The pilot man thought Nawaf and his colleague, Khalid al-Mihdar, were either joking or dreaming.
They were joined in San Diego by Hani Hanjour, a good friend of Nawaf’s from Saudi Arabia.
Hani had been at al-Qaeda’s al-Faruq camp when Bin Laden or Atef told him “to report to KSM, who then trained Hanjour for a few days in the use of code words.” Hani then met with Aafia Siddiqui’s future husband al-Baluchhi in United Arab Emirates. Al-Balucchi opened an account for Hani who then traveled to San Diego.
The 911 Commission Report, however, notes that “[a]lthough Aulaqi admits talking several times with Nawaf several times, he has said he does not remember what they discussed. Aulaqi in early 2001 moved to Falls Church. Several months later, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, who by then had joined them in San Diego in December 2000, also moved to Falls Church, Virginia.
On April 1, 2001, Nawaf al-Hazmi received a ticket for speeding in Oklahoma, apparently while driving cross-country from San Diego to Falls Church, Virginia. (That’s where Moussaoui was).
Nawaf Alhazmi and Hani Hanjour rented an apartment in Falls Church, Virginia, for about a month, with the assistance of a man they met at Aulaqi’s mosque. They lived at 3355 Row St., Apt. 3 in Falls Church. The hijackers attended sermons at the Dar al Hijrah mosque, where Aulaqi was now located. Ali Al-Timimi was located until he established the nearby center. Police later found the phone number of the Falls Church mosque when they searched the apartment of 9/11 planner Ramzi bin al-Shibh in Germany.
Various instructors have confirmed that Hani continued to have poor english and flying skills. Nawaf’s english and flying skills also remained poor.
On May 1, 2001, Nawaf reported to police that men tried to take his wallet outside a Fairfax, Virginia residence. Before the county officer left, al-Hazmi signed a “statement of release” indicating he did not want the incident investigated.
Hani and Nawaf then moved to Paterson, New Jersey, renting a one-bedroom apartment where they lived with some of the other hijackers.
On June 30th, his car was involved in a minor traffic accident on the east-bound George Washington Bridge.
Hani was stopped by police on August 1, 2001 for driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone in Arlington, Virginia
Hani and Nawaf moved out of the New Jersey apartment on September 1. Hani was photographed a few days later using an ATM with a fellow hijacker in Laurel, Maryland, where all five Flight 77 hijackers had purchased a 1-week membership in a local Gold’s Gym.
On September 10, 2001, Hanjour, al-Mihdhar, and al-Hazmi checked into the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia where Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, a prominent Saudi government official — who later was appointed to head the mosques at Mecca and Medina — was staying. He was the uncle of Sami al-Hussayen the webmaster of the Islamic Assembly of North America (”IANA”).
Connect the dots, Ed. Put yourself in the shoes of your adversary. But don’t think like a First Grader (or now a Sixth Grader) would think. Analyze the Amerithrax matter as if the country’s enemies were working to achieve the destruction of the United States and test the FBI’s theory that US-based operatives supporting Al Qaeda were responsible.
Kathryn Crocket, Ken Alibek’s assistant, brilliantly addressed these issues in her 2006 thesis.
She expresses her special thanks to Dr. Ken Alibek and Dr. Bill Patrick. As you know, Dr. Patrick consulted with the FBI and so the FBI credits his expertise. We, of course, all credit Dr.Alibek’s expertise. Katie successfully defended the thesis before an esteemed panel that included USAMRIID head and Ames strain researcher Charles Bailey.
She says that scientists who analyzed the power through viewing micrographs or actual contact are divided over the quality of the powder.
She cites Gary Matsumoto’s “Science” article in summarizing the debate.
She says the FBI has vaccillated on silica.
“Regarding the specific issue of weaponization, according to several scientists at USAMRIID who examined the material, the powder created a significant cloud when agitated meaning that the adhesion of the particles had been reduced. Reducing the adhesion of the particles meant that the powder would fly better.”
She explains that “The most common way to reduce electrostatic charge is to add a substance to the mixture, usually a silica based substance.”
On the issue of encapsulation, reports that “many experts who examined the powder stated the spores were encapsulated. Encapsulation involves coating bacteria with a polymer which is usually done to protect fragile bacteria from harsh conditions such as extreme heat and pressure that occurs at the time of detonation (if in a bomb), as well as from moisture and ultraviolet light. The process was not originally developed for biological weapons purposes but rather to improve the delivery of various drugs to target organs or systems before they were destroyed by enzymes in the circulatory system. (Alibek and Crockett, 2005) The US and Soviet Union, however, used this technique in their biological weapons programs for pathogens that were not stable in aerosol form... Since spores have hardy shells that provide the same protection as encapsulation would, there is no need to cover them with a polymer. “
She explains that one “possible explanation is that the spore was in fact encapsulated but not for protective purpose. Encapsulation also reduces the need for milling when producing a dry formulation. By reducing the need for milling, she means permits greater concentration of the biological agent. (See the patents I’ve uploaded above) If the perpetrator was knowledgeable of the use of encapsulation for this purpose, then he or she may have employed it because sophisticated equipment was not at his disposal.
My consulting military scientist who has made anthrax simulants described the patents as relating to an encapsulation technique which serves to increase the viability of a wide range of pathogens. In other words, his reaction was “wow”! To use technical jargon, his reaction was “ Ohmigosh!”
In “connecting the dots” one would want to consider whether any supporter of the militants had access to the now of this encapsulation technique. I’ve asked whether Ali Al-Timimi, the supporter of the Taliban who was working with Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor, another GMU grad student at the department did. You are uninterested in the question even though the PhD student working with Dr.Alibek and Dr. Patrick has framed it brilliantly as the pertinent question in a very lucid analysis.
We might also consider whether any has expertise in such polymerization or encapsulation relating to drug delivery.
One scientist, biochemist Magdy al-Nashar is such an expert you might consult with on the subject. Dr. al-Nashar’s Ph.D. is in pharmaceutical enzymology. His dad said his son’s work was for medicine, not bomb-making. The current research interests are devoted to key aspects of biocatalytic materials and include the chemistry of enzyme immobilization on natural and synthetic polymeric supports, biocatalysis and the design and operation of biocatalytic processes with potential for technical applications. He is an expert in functionalized polymers.
The good doctor was detained in Cairo in July 2005 in connection with having leased an apartment used by London bombers to make bombs used to attack London’s transit system, denies any connection to Al Qaeda or any knowledge of what was planned. The flat was used to store things that were then sent to Afghanistan in care of el-Hadi, Zawahiri’s chief aide. Egyptian officials released al-Nashar. His PhD at University of Leeds’s biochemistry and microbiology department was granted May 2005.
He studied in North Carolina in 2000.
Magdy al-Nashar, 33, told investigators that he knew 19 yr.-old Lindsey Germaine, a Jamaican convert to Islam who lived in Aylesbury, about 140 miles away from the other suspects. He says he helped Germaine rent the apartment thought by officials to have been used to make the bombs. Traces of chemicals linked to the bombs reportedly were found in the rented flat.
One report stated that Al-Nashar was arrested and held briefly while in the company of a man later associated with the massacre of 58 tourists in Luxor. Some reports suggested that it was that “He was quizzed by Egyptian security services for two weeks but released without charge.” Al-Nashar’s brother, Muhammed, confirmed that his brother had once been arrested in connection to radical Islam. After Luxor probably hundreds were rounded up.
After the London bombing, Cairo attorney Mamdouh Ismail volunteered to represent al-Nashar. The Egyptian government would later allege that Mamdouh Ismail was Zawahiri’s chief conduit to jihadists in Yemen, Egypt and Iraq, via the Al Qaeda spymaster al-Hukaymah (aka Abu Jihad al-Masri). Ismail, a former EIJ member, announced in August 1999 that EIJ was renouncing violence because the organization had been infiltrated by intelligence services. In 1999, attorney Ismail sought to co-found the Islamic Party with Cairo attorney al-Zayat. Arrested in April 2007, he has been held incommunicado in Tora prison. His reported contact, Al Qaeda spymaster al-Hukaymah, was the author on US intelligence and law enforcement activitiies to include a section on the anthrax investigation.
Family, friends, neighbors, a former roommate at NC, and al-Nashar himself assure the public he is a good person and not involved in the London bombings and was committed to his research (and looking for a wife in Egypt while on holiday). He told police: “’I pray faithfully but that does not mean that I am a religious fundamentalist or extremist. ‘I was always keen to excel in my studies and had no relationships with any group or political party. My goal was to achieve something for my country.’” His ex-wife, who lived with him in Leeds for two years, said he was not a radical who mixed with strangers. Given the economies involved in making a commercial product using a far less expensive red seaweed, his work seems to be very promising commercial potential and wide application.
“I challenge the authorities to prove my involvement in this crime or my knowledge of it. I condemn the explosions.” Some — most notably the eminent and distinguished chemist TrebleRebel — argue that the anthrax in the second batch was actually highly sophisticated, using a novel (yet relatively simple) technique never before used in a known weapons program that involved functionalized polymers — specifically, polymerized glass. According to his webpage, Al Nashar’s expertise included functionalized polymers. Thus, authorities may be exploring these coincidences quite apart from the fact the bombers could have mixed the bomb chemicals on their own and there is said to be no link with the bombings or Al Qaeda. Although 75 security officials were present at his arrest, there has been no mention of the US FBI or CIA observing his questioning. Despite the number of officers, they politely waited until he was finished with his prayers.
An American FBI cooperating witness, Mohammed Junaid Babar from Queens, explained that the London bombers were connected to the Al Qaeda #3, al-Hadi (Zawahiri’s chief aide). He said at one time they suggested a plot by which Babar could get a job in a soccer stadium as a beer vendor. A syringe would be used to inject a beer can and would be taped over to prevent it from leaking.
Access to such know-how by supporters working at universities would have been execution of the plan evidenced by the correspondence to and from Ayman Zawahiri, the head of Al Qaeda’s anthrax weaponization program. The Defense Intelligence Agency (”DIA”) promptly gave me Ayman’s correspondence under the Freedom of Information Act when I asked nice.
By an email dated April 15, 1999, Ayman explained his plan to recruit a specialist to weaponize anthrax to Atef, Al Qaeda’s military commander. Jose Padilla pulled Atef from the rubble in November 2001. Among the correspondence written by Rauf Ahmad seized in Afghanistan, there were related handwritten notes about the plan to use NGOs, technical institutes and medical labs as cover for aspects of the work, and training requirements for the various personnel at the lab in Afghanistan.
After the fall of the Taliban, coalition forces and the media began to search the facilities in Kabul of the charity UTN ( “Reconstruction of the Muslim Ummah,”) The charity was established by the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb.. In November 2001, The Economist that the “House of Anthrax” had been found. Documents found by journalists in November 2001 at a villa in Kabul occupied by UTN suggested brainstorming seminars on anthrax had been held to include diagrams suggestive of a plan to use a helium filled balloon to disperse anthrax across a wide area. The nondescricpt two-story villa occupied by the Pakistani aid group was in a quiet residential neighborhood of Kabul where a number of international charities were located. One downloaded document had the famous picture of former Secretary Cohen holding up a 5 pound bag of sugar. There were details about the U.S. military’s vaccination program downloaded from a Defense Department site on the Internet and other Defense Department documents relating to anthrax. There were 10 copies each of most of the documents. On the floor, there was what appeared to be a disassembled rocket alongside a helium canister, as well as two bags of powder. A detailed diagram scrawled in black felt tip pen on a white board shows what appears to be a balloon rising at various trajectories, alongside a fighter jet that is apparently shooting at the balloon. Beside the jet are the words, “You are dead, bang.”
There were also pictures of ground missiles linked by lines to the balloon. Mathematical calculations indicated the height at which the balloon would fly, the distance from which it would be shot down and the area over which its contents would be dispersed. Beside one of the balloons is the word “polystyrene” and beside another the word “cyanide.” Loose sheets of paper containing scribbles of missiles and balloons were strewn around the house, indicating those attending the seminar had been taking notes and doing calculations.
Although people can reasonably disagree on the conclusion to be drawn of the drawing on the white board showing aerial dispersal of anthrax by balloon, the drawings should be understood in the context of Ayman’s research and reading on the subject, and the supporters of the militants who worked at universities doing cutting edge work in polymerization, as well as highly classified work for the US military in bioinformatics. One email from Ayman to Atef lists Peace or Pestilence as one of the books he had read. (The author argued that said science should combat disease, not find devious ways to spread it. That book included a description of the Japanese research on anthrax leading up to WW II and the US concern that anthrax was being dispersed by balloons being sent to the US on high hot air currents. Unit 731 experimented extensively with anthrax bombs and hot-air balloons filled with the deadly disease. In late 1944, aerosol scentists at Ft. Detrick (then known as Camp Detrick) were alarmed when news of some large balloons, as large as 150 feet around, had been sighted silently floating over populated areas. Within a few months, over 250 balloons had been discovered in nine western states. The balloons are known only to have been armed with an incendiary device and killed and injured only a very few people.
A senior CNN producer who visited many UTN and Al Qaeda houses in Afghanistan, found the documents linking UTN to Jaish e Muhammad, the Army of the Prophet Mohammad, the Pakistani militant group that had been listed as a terrorist organization by the US on October 12, 2001. Other documents linked UTN to the Pakistan-based Saudi charity WAFA Humanitarian Organization and Al Rashid Trust, two other non-governmental organizations with ties to al-Qaeda that were designated on September 23, 2001 as supporters of terrorism.
The New York Times reported on the search of the home by US personnel. A group of men armed with pistols, reportedly Americans, wearing gas masks, rubber gloves and boots, then came to remove powdered chemicals. The men had instructed the guards posted by National Alliance to not go in the home because the chemicals could be dangerous. The room that had been littered with papers was empty today and had been swept or vacuumed by the Americans. Even after the second group visited the home, and cleaned it, several bags of chemicals were still strewn in the yard. Two small plastic bags each appeared to hold two to three pounds of brown powder. On the outside of one appeared the name “Mahlobjan” and the number 436. A second bag had the numbers 999 — or 666 — along with a crescent moon, the symbol of Islam. The New York Times reported that there was also a small seal stamped on the corner of the bag, with an eagle in its center. The worker at a charity next door, “Save the Children,” said that Mehmood had been a quiet neighbor and it was impossible to tell whether the men visiting the house were aid workers or not.
Pakistani authorities had detained UTN board members amid charges that their work in Afghanistan had involved helping Al Qaeda in its attempts to acquire nuclear and biological weapons. On October 12, the U.S. government, which pushed fo their arrest the organization on its list of individuals and organizations supporting terrorism. The same day the Jaish-I-Mohammed, the Army of Mohammed, was also listed. Authorities would later claim that a bacteriologist, a political activist , had harbored KSM in his home.
Ed, as additional background reading on anthrax as a weapon, you might read Dr. Alibek’s chapter, “Anthrax: A Disease and a Weapon,” a chapter that he and his GMU National Center for Biodefense colleagues, Catherine Lobanova and Serguei Popov, contributed to “in Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century Bioterrorism and Infectious Agents.” Ken co-edited the volume.
Dr. Lobanova is an M.D. and has worked as Ken’s assistant. (Yes, the GMU faculty only wished they had so many hardworking assistants; even the brilliant medico Gregory House from the series we both like, “House,” only had 3 assistants).
Historically, Serguei was a “go-to” man for viruses in the Russian program. (See Ken’s glowing description in Biohazard of the young man who came to speak.) He is very straightforward and responsive to questions. Dr. Popov, of course, has not had occasion to participate in a forensic study of the Daschle product, but he might be able to help you understand this issue of encapsulation and why it might have been done.