Anthrax Letter Writer Profile

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[Verginius Rufus]

Cyrillic has upper-case and lower-case, but for most letters the forms are virtually the same.

I ran across something a few days ago but forget where (maybe in The Washington Times weekly edition or in National Review), which made the point that the R's in the letters do not look like they were made by a person who grew up in the United States. I'm inclined to agree--I don't think that the Latin alphabet was the one the writer used as a child.

The sentence "We have this anthrax" also does not sound like native-speaker English (instead of "We have anthrax" or "We have some anthrax").

This attempt to portray the perpetrator as some white male American-born extremist ("domestic terrorist") reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where the detective has the suspects all assembled in the living room (Nero Wolfe fashion), one of which is an elephant, and is saying, "And the murderer is...THE BUTLER! Yes, the butler...who, I'm convinced, first gored the Colonel to death before trampling him to smithereens."

[RottiBiz]

The emphasis on the ATTA ATT jumped out at me, too.

My immediate reaction was that Atta wrote those letters prior to 9/11 (to be mailed by someone else later) and left a clue so the world would know he sent them.

Remember, he sought treatment for very red hands that the pharmacist thought looked like a chemical burn. Strong Clorox solution?

[Yaelle]

I disagree. I think the numerals show that he is Western raised, from at least high school level. I agree that the 1 is funky (we just use a straight line in this country), but the European 1 does not have the "base," which he strangely included. In European handwriting, there is just the 7-appearing straight line with "roof" slanting down on the left side.

His 7 is VERY American. From anywhere else, it would have a perpendicular cross-line through it midway.

His 9 is also very American; in Europe it would curve to the left at bottom but here in the States it is straight on the bottom.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Arabic way of writing the "Arabic numerals" is quite different from that used in the West (the 7 looks kind of like a V, the 5 like an O, the 4 kind of like a backwards 3, etc.)...the writer may have had to learn a new way of writing numerals after he came to the U.S.

[NixNatAVanG InDaBurgh]

I believe that ATTA might still be alive and that these letters are exactly the same types of letters and clues that serial killers use to taunt investigators. Why would Atta leave a will where investigators were sure to find it? Why has his father insisted he has heard from him since Sept. 11? No one can prove that he entered any plane, let alone crashed it, even though evidence POINTS in that direction. GeorgeandtheDralgore linked to a map of Milwaukee. It gave me heavy goosebumps.

I have a thing about coincidences. On this map is Greendale, Mitchell Airport, Rainbow Commercial Airport, behind Mitchell airport is Pennsylvania Avenue, and not far from there is Oklahoma Avenue. There is also a university and a large Muslim population. A great place to get lost.

[gumbo]

Excellent work, Alamo-Girl!

I agree, I think this man uses a car, possibly both to pick up the anthrax (in NYC?) and to transport the anthrax letters to different mail drops or post offices.

Remember one of the men detained from North Olden Avenue in Hamilton, NJ? The one who had a car -- with Florida licence plates?

And more regarding the "Greendale School"/Franklin Park connection: Nabil Al-Marabh, described as "a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden," was just picked up in Parkdale, apparently a suburb of Toronto. Article posted here, "Toronto Cops swamped by terror leads -- 'Unbelievable activity' linked to Sept. 11 attacks."

Remember the Vassar expert, Don Foster, also believed the perpetrator may have had Canadian connections.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

FBI Website

FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Page With Pictures

Click Here To Report Suspicious Activity to the FBI

Call the FBI Toll Free at 1-866-483-5137 or your local law enforcement agency
if you see or hear anything that threatens our national security.

America's Most Wanted website

The Secretary of State designates Foreign Terrorist Organizations

The US State Department Rewards for Justice Program
was established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, Public Law 98-533.
Under the Rewards Program, cooperating individuals and their immediate family members
may be eligible for relocation to the United States or elsewhere,
and they are assured complete confidentiality.
Rewards, totaling millions of dollars, have been paid in dozens of cases.
Innocent lives have been saved and terrorists put behind bars.

[Nita Nupress]

The FBI should be recruiting you, girl! That's a very logical and well thought out analysis.

[amom]

Hi gumbo. I just found this. Wonder if it has anything good.

Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada

thought I'd share. :-)

[Gimlet]

I heard that there have been over 300 letters claiming anthrax to clinics.

[aruanan]

Notice that they didn't say that all the linguistic and orthographic indications are of someone whose native language is not English and which does not use Roman lettering. I've read of other analyses saying 'he' probably wasn't related to the 9/11 activities. I think such a conclusion is unwarranted. You also have to wonder why the person, if he's so high-tech oriented, didn't use a laser or other type of printer to write the letter and address the envelope. Then there would be NO indication of any type of personality except that he or she was someone with access to that type of equipment and knew how to use it. These types of printers can't be identified except through the ink or toner. But that wouldn't identify anyone any more than analyzing the ink of a ball point or the graphite of a pencil.

[gumbo]

Thanks, amom. That site is a good resource - I think several of us used it to find the Islamic Society of Central New Jersey (which has the same zip code as the "return address" on the Daschle letter).

There are an astonishing number of Islamic organizations both here and in Canada.

[BeAChooser]

I won't believe any theory or profile by the FBI that doesn't address the first Florida case and the FACT that the person who died was a nobody who lived close to where Atta asked about crop dusters and whose wife had some of the hijackers in close procimity. That is too much of a coincidence to be pure chance. How did the FBI suspect just happen to pick him out for attack without knowing that he was connected with the terrorists through his wife (a fact that wasn't public knowledge until AFTER the man was infected). This FBI profile is DISINFORMATION. Question: is it the first salvo of a government attempt to keep from having to identify a middle eastern country as the source of this biological attack? Is this going to be a case of "move on"?

[Ciexyz]

So if the perp is someone who 1) did NOT learn English as his first language, and 2) is also a home-grown terrorist, are we dealing with someone who lives and works here but resides within an ethnic or immigrant community and speaks that language as his first language?

[Quietly]

The FBI's take on this seems just plain stupid to me. Their analysis is juvenile. A foreigner trying to sound like an American trying to sound like a foreigner but really it's a right-wing Christian extremist.

"When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."

I'd like to know why it's white right-wing Christian extremists who are suspected more than those who are actually doing the screaming and shouting: black left-wing Muslims.

Ooops, sorry. I forgot. The shrieking anti-American Left are never terrorists, and none would ever fit this profile. Sorry, sorry, forget I said anything.

[amom]

Ahhhh lol that's what I get for getting here so late in the game. :-)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the kudos and the information!!!

[Alamo-Girl]

That would be possible, but I suspect he is a lab tech also.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for the kudos! And thank you for all the leads on Florida and Canada and Park/Dale!!! I'm chewing on the implications... Hugs!!!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the links!