I agree, pawdoggie, and above in the thread point to the December 4, 1998 Presidential Daily Brief from the CIA to President Clinton about the attack using aircraft being planned by the still-at-large Islambouli (in a cell with KSM), the brother of Sadat’s assassin.
Let’s try to connect the most recent “dots” that have surfaced regarding Amerithrax in 2007 based on the sketchy reports publicly available — avoiding any naive view that Al Qaeda did not have talented scientists available to it, in the US, UK, Pakistan and elsewhere. I have uploaded the correspondence between one such scientist and Ayman that the DIA gave me. The scientist had infiltrated Porton Down-sponsored conferences and consulted about anthrax weaponization tricks.
An exclusive September 2007 Associated Press, article quoted one hearing before the Combat Status Review Tribunal and quoted an allegation against Rahmatullah Sangaryar, who stood accused of “planning biological and poison attacks on United States and coalition forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan” and of possessing anthrax powder and a liquid poison.” The article reports that “the Afghan detainee said he was captured only with muddy clothes, possessed no anthrax and never planned such an attack.”
“Do you know of anyone who would accuse you of such an act? This is so serious,” the hearing officer said. “I am trying to understand why it is here in front of me, this allegation against you.”
Rahmatullah Sangaryar was the former military commander for Kabul.
Amerithrax Agents checked the Kabul area in May 2004 but came up empty, sources told the Washington Post. In November of that year, on additional information, agents spent weeks searching an area in the Kandahar mountains, several hundred miles outside of Kabul, but again found nothing. This information came from a Gitmo detainee — you guessed it, from Kabul military commander Rahmatullah Sangaryar. The FBI posited that the anthrax had been weaponized in the US and then brought to Afghanistan.
What do we think we know about Rahmatullah Sangaryar? Knowing that might help us trace back the connection to the source of the processing in the US. Juxtapose this information about Rahmatullah Sangaryar with the report (in a press conference by a veteran Afghan governor) about the Taliban information minister being captured with packets of anthrax for use against government officials.
* When the detainee was very young he joined the Mujahadeen to fight the Soviet Union.
* The detainee is trained in the use of hand grenades, rocket propelled grenades, the AK-47 and the Sakil machine gun.
* The detainee met with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Supreme Leader of the Taliban, on only one occasion in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
* The detainee was identified as being assigned to a 40-man team of fighters.
* The 40-man team was funded primarily by Pakistani and Syrian Non-Government Organizations with some times [sic] to al Qaida.
* The detainee was reported as being named the new Director of Hezb-E-Islami Gulbuddin [sic] cell operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan. [redacted from memo but clear on transcript]
* The detainee commanded over 500 Taliban soldiers in Kabul.
* The detainee fought the Northern Alliance and the Taliban as the Supreme Commander in Kabul.
* The detainee survived approximately 18 bullet wounds that apparently occurred during the Russian Jihad and during his time as a Taliban Commander.
* The detainee was told he would be turned over to the United States to provide information about enemies of the Afghanistan Government.
* The detainee believes he was handed over to the United States Government to provide intelligence information and not for suspicion of being a terrorist.
* The detainee collected weapons from his tribesmen and turned over six small cars, one truck, two mounted anti-aircraft weapons, 39 Kalashnikovs, two RPG-7s, four PKs, two 82 series machine guns and six handheld radios to the regional Governor.
* When the United States captured Kabul, the detainee dissolved his forces and turned over his weapons and communication equipment to the new Afghanistan Government.
In January 2007, a Taliban spokesman was captured. An Afghanistan governor says his residence contained anthrax powder packets. According to a report by the Aghan Islamic Press Agency, as monitored by the BBC. the powdered anthrax was intended for mailing to government officials. The former Taliban spokesman quietly told a camera that he was “on a mission” when he was arrested.
The fellow who reportedly had “anthrax powder packets” had been living in Peshawar. Muhammad Hanif’s real name is Abdulhaq Haji Gulroz. Is this young guy mentioned above Qari Mullah Din Muhammad Hanif, the former madrassa-trained Minister of Education who wouldn’t let the medical school use cadavers? (That was a good thing, given that the school didn’t have electricity) Is he a “Dr.” If so, what kind? The former education minister had not received a secular education and oversaw the medical school. A veterinary student in September 2001 said they had nothing in the way of facilities or equipment. It was the Agriculture Minister who had taken a keen interest in supervising the Red Cross/FAO-funded anthrax vaccine laboratory. Yazid Sufaat did his anthrax work, he says, as part of a Taliban medical brigade. A building associated with the charity WAFA housed a lab, and WAFA was a militant supporter of the Taliban. So while we await lab tests and further clarification or confirmation, this sketchy report about anthrax powder packets is certainly intriguing. But given the low level of sophistication of facilities in Afghanistan, it makes perfect sense that it was weaponized in the US and then brought to Afghanistan. The anthrax used in the anthrax attacks is known to have been weaponized in the Northeastern United States.
Hanif also claimed that Mullah Omar was living in Quetta under the Pakistan ISI’s protection. The Washington Post once focused on the ISI’s failure to cooperate with the microbiologist and food production expert Rauf Ahmad who was helping Ayman — and noted that I had publicly associated him with the documents provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency first. But no paper has yet addressed the ISI role in connection with suppressing information about the prosecution (or lack thereof) of bacteriologist Abdul Qadoos Khan, in whose home KSM was reportedly arrested. Nor has anyone addressed its suppression, in this context, of the whereabouts of Aafia Siddiqui. There is an unconfirmed suggestion that she has been moved to Guantanamo. (It was my understanding that the ISI has her and the children and that she is under house arrest). It’s perfectly understandable why the ISI would not want to cooperate — having worked closely with the Taliban for years at the urging of the US. Moreover, the political risks are very real given the unpopularity with the Pakistan public of pursuing respected professionals who are sympathetic to Al Qaeda. For example, there is a report today about a legal challenge being prepared by the nuclear proliferator Khan to his house arrest, just as Musharraf is facing an unsympathetic judiciary. But no failure on the part of the ISI to cooperate with the FBI or CIA on the subject of an attack using aerosolized anthrax should be countenanced.
... too bad this ‘conflict’ is not over, terminated the same way that we ended the war with Japan. Mecca and a few other muzzie gathering places should be a glowing slag heap today. Every mosque on US property should now be a parking lot and the former attendees should all be scrbbling for their lunch in the deserts of the M/E.