Posted on 07/27/2003 5:29:58 PM PDT by genefromjersey
After reading " The Killer Strain ", and a lot of anthrax conspiracy-related material, one hard-to-dispute theory seems to present itself:
The anthrax-laden materials found in the envelopes came from our own military research labs.( One specimen Russian microbiologist Alibek examined had gotten soaked prior to examination, and was understandably "clumpy", but the rest was superfine, electrostatically charged,and made in accordance with the Patrick process.)
Quite some time before the attacks, there were massive layoffs at Ft. Detrick: the primary repository of this "hot" material. Administrative discipline, according to many reports, had become extremely slack, and, according to a later audit, quite a bit of potentially dangerous material "couldn't be accounted for".It is difficult to escape the conclusion some of the unaccounted-for material was used in the anthrax attacks.
Move ahead in time a bit, and we meet " The Postman ": a person who has,in some unknown fashion, gotten his hands a few grams of weapons-grade anthrax.Who knows : Maybe he traded a couple of ounces of Columbia's best-known export for it; maybe he bought it for cash on speculation. Again: who knows?
The Postman ( Forgive me, ladies if I assign a masculine gender to this unknown. Yes, I know: Some of you probably have the "stones" to do something like this, but the packaging was pretty crude ! ) may or may not have been a trained micro-biologist. He didn't have to be.All he needed to do was get the mail out.
(Actually, the crudeness of the packaging tends to confirm he lacked the skill to make the lethal stuff himself; though he probably needed access to at least a Level II Safety Cabinet.)
By now, the whole world knows a safety cabinet is a glass enclosure - (that does not in the least resemble a minnow trap )- and that it is equipped with air filtration to keep the bad stuff from escaping, and sealed glove access panels, so a researcher can manipulate materials in the cabinet-and live to talk about it.
I would guess the particular safety cabinet The Postman used was located not too far from where the "love letters" were mailed; and that The Postman was either a very adept night watchman, who was able to work without risk of discovery, or-more likely - a trusted company employee whose use of the cabinet would go unquestioned.
I'm told, if the anthrax was kept very cold, it would be fairly safe to work on it in a Level II cabinet.The Postman had his letters ready - copies actually- which had been trimmed down crudely to fit inside a small, pre-stamped postal envelope, after being folded into a small "pouch", filled with the nasty stuff, and sealed in classy fashion with transparent tape.( If you've looked at the pictures,you'll see it was a typical "guy" sealing job - the kind a lot of us do when wrapping gifts.)
So far, The Postman has not emerged as a Nobel-class scientist, has he ? He probably dreamed up this caper from a pirated copy of Bill Patrick's paper on Anthrax mail attacks, and didn't know what in Tophet he was dealing with: anthrax so fine it would leak through the pores of any envelope not specially treated.
I kind of wonder what he did once the extent of his own stupidity began to dawn on him. Did he wipe down the safety cabinet? Change the filters ? Engage in an orgy of belated house-keeping ? I don't think he would have been stupid enough to risk some unsuspecting lab worker getting dermal anthrax ( or worse ).
What do you microbiological types think ?
That, BTW, means the envelopes had been tested for porosity earlier, in a laboratory environment.
That means we don't know if this attack is over or if the post office mishandled even more anthrax letters that have yet to appear.
If you understand the postal system you would have seen multitudinous instances of mishandling of the anthrax letters.
I think Ken and I need to sit down over a case or two of beer and discuss the whole business to the full.
Huh? Are you saying that every square inch of each envelope was covered by tape, front and back?
The FBI guy made a total film image of all surfaces. Through microscopic analysis he found the serrations at each end and matched them up.
There's a touch of speculation in the public news about the tape, but what I gathered through the "newsie" report of what the FBI spokesman said about the analyst's discovery was that standard package sealing tape had been wrapped around each envelope end to end.
The leakage was at the top (from the small space in the wings), and the bottom.
You could have safely handled these envelopes when freshly prepared because there was no leakage at that time~!
Numerous commenters have forgotten about this aspect of the envelopes. It means the folks who put them together knew that the anthrax spores would leak through the paper the post office uses for it's envelopes. They would have discovered that by experimenting with those envelopes earlier.
That's why you see several of the terrorists checking out medicine for an anthrax infection several months earlier. Bet they purchased their package sealing tape at that very same drugstore as well.
That's because they have yet to interview a single individual at USPS with a comprehensive knowledge of the way the entire sytem works and why so many surprising things happened.
Clue to the clueless: Postal Inspectors typically do not have a comprehensive knowledge of the way the postal system works ~ they do, on the other hand, have a comprehensive knowledge of the way to investigate things ~ knowing a system, and knowing how to investigate a system are two different bodies of knowledge.
Would this suggest The Postman has a conscience ?
In spite of everything,I think he might.
Dugway made extensive use of sterile anthrax.Somebody explained to me the bacillus is rendered incapable of reproducing by stripping away the Y Layer (?) ( It's been over 50 years since Invertebrate Biology 101, so please bear with me if I goof on the technical details.)
This material was made up into simulated weapons-grade stuff, which could be used safely for testing protective gear,training miltary personnel in bio-warfare response, etc. It looks like, and acts like the real thing; and, after a test, you can look for those distinctive anthracis bacilli; but, for conversational purposes, I'll call it "de-caf".
I doubt there was anything like serious security accounting for de-caf.I read somewhere about Hatfill demonstrating it to a writer named Fred Reed.
Common sense suggests de-caf was kept in containers that were quite different from those the "hot stuff" was in. Common sense also suggests, if you wanted to steal a few grams of the hot stuff,you could replace it with a vial of de-caf, bearing hot stuff labels.
Could this be done ? Well, if you were to look through the old files of the Jewelers' Security Alliance, you'd see this sort of substitution is carried out under the very noses of jewelers every day: A few seconds of distraction, and a $20,000 diamond ring is replaced with a similar-looking $ 20 substitute !
Articles based on FBI descriptions of the envelopes themselves all refer to the Daschle envelope as being "heavily taped".
A brief article that didn't get much circulation in the major media pointed to tape on all the envelopes. An FBI analyst determined all of the tape came from a single roll. He matched up the serrations.
You can do a search in FR for "taped". Reference the archives. Do not use "tape". Or, you can go to www.google.com and search for "anthrax envelope tape" to get a good selection.
I just now noticed the difference between the Rosenberg stories and the government stories regarding this issue. I suspect the differences derives from the intention of the writer ~ either to slam Dr. Hatfil or to advance knowledge (but not both).
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