Some Fort Detrick Labs Closed

Federal agents are combing a number of laboratory suites at Fort Detrick in Frederick for evidence of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Fort Detrick spokesman Charles Dasey says the labs have been closed since Friday at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, home to the Army's biological warfare defense program.

A law enforcement source tells The Associated Press that the activity is related to the anthrax mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 in October of 2001.

FBI agents have frequently visited Fort Detrick since the
unsolved attacks amid speculation that the deadly spores or the person who sent them may have come from Fort Detrick.

"If you can find evidence that Aztlan announced their << July >> incident prior to the 2001 anthrax attack, or that Aztlan posted the image of their letter before the 2001 Anthrax Letters had been published, then I am wrong. I do not think you will find that evidence."

To: TownCryer

From: La Voz de Aztlan La_Voz@Aztlan.Net

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:16:43 -0700

The letter was in our P.O. Box on July 9, 2001 and had a postmark of July 5, 2001.

We did not publish the letter on our website until October 9, 2001.

Re:
Bill OReilly

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 9:15 p.m. EST

Hannity, O'Reilly Hit by Anthrax Scare Letters
"In addition to the letters with an Indianapolis postmark, "one or two were from Trenton (N.J.)"

Fox News Channel personalities Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly were hit by threatening letters similar to those laden with anthrax sent to Sen. Tom Daschle and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, the New York Post reported Thursday.

"In my gut, I know it's the same person," Hannity told his nationally syndicated radio audience Thursday afternoon, explaining that he'd kept quiet about the suspicious letters because they were the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation.

The letters arrived before Sept. 11 but were addressed in the same kind of block letter handwriting used in Daschle and Brokaw missives. They apparently contained no anthrax.

Each line in the printed address clearly sloped downward to the right, the paper said. The envelopes bore a postmark from Indianapolis, where the Post Office discovered yesterday that some of its equipment is contaminated with anthrax.

Hannity said that he'd begun receiving the suspicious mail last winter and again in August.

"When I saw the Tom Daschle envelope and the Tom Brokaw envelope, I immediately was stunned," Hannity told listeners.

"It was the exact same handwriting that I had recognized. ... When I saw it I said, 'Oh my God, that's the same guy.'"

The "Hannity & Colmes" co-host revealed that in addition to the letters with an Indianapolis postmark,

"one or two were from Trenton (N.J.)," where traces of anthrax have also been reported.

Hannity said he hasn't gotten any more of the letters since the Sept. 11 attacks and hasn't been tested for anthrax exposure.

http://members.tripod.com/anthrax_hoaxes/id4.html

<< The letter was in our P.O. Box on July 9, 2001 and had a postmark of July 5, 2001.
We did not publish the letter on our website until October 9, 2001. >>

Yes I know that is what La Voz de Aztlan claims. How-ever, we have to take them at their word for this. They said nothing before the anthrax attack became known - not even a hint.

The types of things they have published make them a doubtful source. We have no way of determining that the letter wasn't forged - no articles prior to the Anthrax Letters, no confirming statement from police or FBI or other recipients of any similar letters.

May-be it is real, I do not know. May-be not.

I still think it a distraccion.

I believe that the subject under discussion was a comparison of the handwriting on the Ricin Envelope and the Aztan Letter, was it not?

And now for our Quote of the Day:

"I cannot conclude that the message 'I have just poisoned you' can constitute a 'threat,'"

Judge Walter K. Stapleton
In a dissenting opinion

“Prosecutors said she and her 27-year-old roommate sent the packets in an attempt to frame two children who had accused Zavrel's son of threatening to shoot them. The envelopes were labeled with the boys' names and return addresses.”

Of course, some - but not all - anthrax hoax letters can be attributed to sheer stupidity.

Posted on Tue, Sep. 21, 2004

Court upholds conviction in anthrax hoax

DAVID B. CARUSO

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - A federal court ruled Tuesday that a woman who mailed cornstarch to public officials during the 2001 anthrax scare was guilty of making threats, even though she never explicitly claimed the powder was poisonous.

In a split vote, a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Rosemary Zavrel, 60, of Wilkes-Barre, intended to send "a message of fear" when she mailed 17 powder-filled envelopes to state, local and federal officials, including President Bush.

The court ruled that it was irrelevant that Zavrel didn't put any threatening letters in the envelopes, or include any markings to suggest that the white powder was anthrax.
"The message does not have to be in writing to constitute a communication," Judge Julio M. Fuentes wrote for the two-judge majority. "If an individual were to send another person a letter containing a photograph of the addressee with the addressee's head cut off, few would doubt that the sender in that case intends to convey a message of fear, fright, or alarm."

The court said it had ample precedent for its decision, including a case where a man had been convicted for mailing a mutilated pig carcass to his local police chief.
Zavrel's attorney, Patrick Casey, of Scranton, declined to comment on the ruling.

Zavrel was sentenced to 30 months in prison for sending the envelopes, which were discovered shortly after she deposited them at a post office in Nanticoke. She is scheduled to be released from prison in April.

Prosecutors said she and her 27-year-old roommate sent the packets in an attempt to frame two children who had accused Zavrel's son of threatening to shoot them. The envelopes were labeled with the boys' names and return addresses.

On appeal, Casey argued that sending an envelope of cornstarch, while potentially frightening, did not rise to the level of making a threat.

One judge on the panel agreed.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Walter K. Stapleton said that while people who came into contact with the envelopes might have been terrified, "using the mails to induce fear" is not tantamount to making a threat.

Stapleton reasoned that the basic nature of a threat is that it serves as a warning that the person receiving it will be harmed in the future. Zavrel's envelopes, he said, sent no such message.

"I cannot conclude that the message 'I have just poisoned you' can constitute a 'threat,'" Stapleton said."

It's just a judgement call, folks.

If these are the same people, the first Question to ask is
Why would they stop sending anthrax, swiching instead to other agents?
Anwser 1 - They have run out of anthrax/

Answer 2 - The weaponisation method has been much less effective than they had expected, so they decided to try some different things/

There is a third and very probable answer:

Extremely sophisticated suction devices were required to fill the envelopes
without contaminating oneself and the environment.

The person(s) who sent the hoax letters
may not have been in a location where they had accesss to such equipment.

More Letters With White Powder Sent To Md. Courthouse

POSTED: 7:15 pm EDT September 28, 2004

FREDERICK, Md. -- For the second time this month, envelopes containing white powder have been sent to the Frederick County Courthouse.

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office said deputies, health workers and hazmat teams determined that neither of the two envelopes posed any danger.

The letters arrived Tuesday afternoon; one was found in State's Attorney Scott Rolle's office with a note inside. The other landed in the public defender's office.

Threatening letters were also sent to Rolle's office on Sept. 11, 2004.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and WBAL-TV 11 News for the latest

America to attack New Mexico town with Anthrax! :

World News > London, Sept 28 : Owing to the ever increasing terrorist scare in America following 9/11 and the activities that took place in its aftermath, the US government has purchased an entire town to use it as a training ground for emergency workers and anti-terrorist squads.

According to the Sun, the town of Playas in New Mexico, which lies completely deserted after its 1,000 inhabitants were asked to move out, will be targeted with anthrax attacks, suicide bombings and the poisoning of its water supply. It will be used to open a special college for training.

"It has all the characteristics of an American community - the churches, the bank, the health clinic, even the baseball diamonds," the report quoted Van Romero, the director of the college as saying. (ANI)

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.