FBI - STILL SEARCHING FOR THE ANTHRAX MAN

Eye Spy Magazine ^ | 3/20/06 | Eye Spy

[TrebleRebel]

FBI - STILL SEARCHING FOR THE ANTHRAX MAN The fourth anniversary has come and gone since Bob Stevens, a British picture editor for American Media Inc., who had settled in Florida, became the first of five victims after coming into contact with Ames - a weapons grade strain of anthrax. At the time, the FBI were fairly convinced terrorism was involved, though the bureaus’ opinion has changed often and many officers remain openminded. The public could not have imagined that four years later, no-one has been charged with the crime of sending anthrax-laden envelopes in the post. The death of Mr Stevens sparked a huge international manhunt, and while the anthrax source has been traced, the identity of the killer dubbed the ‘anthrax man’ remains as elusive as Jack the Ripper. Eye Spy provides an update on the case.

[TrebleRebel]

I've ordered a copy in the naive hope it may contain something new.

[Armigerous]

That Fearless Band of Idiots couldn't find its ass with both hands

[cripplecreek]

To quote Jim Traficant.

"The FBI and CIA are so stupid they could throw themselves at the ground and miss"

[Fenris6]

I think it was Saddam using a proxy.

Only four countries have weaponized anthrax. If it was domestic, the FBi would have a lead by now.

[LambSlave]

This strain came from a Department of Defense lab (USAMRID), hence it WAS domestic.

[DBrow]

It could have been one or more of the 9/11 terrorists, or someone working with them.

But FBI never likes to admit to terror ops in the conus, look at WTC I, where top government officials were thinking that the truck bomb was "a transformer fire" for a day or so.

[DBrow]

Or the initial culture was stolen from there some time ago on a cotton swab.

Just because the DNA matches, it does not mean that was the source lab.

Have there been published reports of the DNA sigs of the other weaponized strains?

[Wristpin]

I suspect the Anthrax Vaccine industry. There is $Billions to be made by vaccinating every US citizen.

In 1997 the DOD let a no bid contract to Bioport for $150 million just to vaccinate the 28,000 troops rotating through the Persian Gulf. Imagine what the price tag would be to vaccinate 240 million americans?

[LambSlave]

In this case it does; yes the strain existed naturally and went to USAMRID in the 1980's, but DOD Labs ARE THE ONLY SOURCE IN THE US OF WEAPONIZED AGENT-- this is not just the organic agent, it is the means of dispensing it. There are only four countries in the world that can weaponize agents, each process is unique, highly classified, and has its own chemical fingerprint; this one has been cited in numerous sources as having come from USAMRID-- hence the screening of employees who worked there such as Dr. Stephen Hatfield.

[The_Victor]

ANTHRAX MAN

Has Marvel Comics heard of this guy?

[muawiyah]

This particular article cannot be informative. For one thing it misidentifies a "standard strain of anthrax used for testing" called Ames with the concept of "weapon".

You can certainly "weaponize" Ames, but you can also "weaponize" all other strains of anthrax.

And yes, the FBI has given up. The only folks still searching for the attackers are the USPS Postal Inspectors.

[LambSlave]

Here is a somewhat dated article that describes the challenges of weaponizing Anthrax and why the investigation shifted to the US labs; the identity and proportion of the chemical agents used to prevent clumping are how the origin of the weaponized strain is determined.

[Strategerist]

The term "weaponization" in regards to Anthrax is essentially meaningless.

Probably the best overall source of info on the case is

http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/

Even if you disagree with his opinions (I know people here generally have a brain aneurysm over even the slightest suggestion that the attacks were not perpetrated by either Iraq or Al Queda...he is very critical of the focus on Hatfill, however) it's still a good timeline (much mythology over the timeline) and basic info.

[muawiyah]

Hmmmm ~ you have the details on the chain of custody from that lab to trays of mail in a post office?

Unless you do, you cannot say the attack was "domestic" in its origin.

[IRememberElian]

Are they still hounding Dr. Stephen Hatfield? Maybe they should go back to Richard Jewell.

[muawiyah]

There's been no report whatsoever detailing the method of weaponization, or if that technique were even used by the US.

Secrets are being kept.

Personally, I think there are at least three distinct possibilities ~ one of them is that the same people who attacked the USPS back in the 1970s shortly after the abortive Bulk and Foreign Facility strike in New Jersey. Their friends are among those who target Hatfill.

Another is that the Atta gang did it, and there are reports of some of them having anthrax infections.

Another is that the group associated with the Blind Sheikh (in jail for his part in the first WTC attack) did it ~ and that includes a former postal employee who worked in Staten Island.

[LambSlave]

Read link I posted above, it has been publically announced that they were not strains used foreign governments based on the anti-caking agents. Now think for a moment-- If it were US labs what would you see? No report in the news because that would almost certainly be classified for a number of reasons, but the FBI would know for sure and we would see a focus on USAMRID. They did, screening every scientist who had custody or knowledge of the process. Read between the lines.

[Battle Axe]

The strain, genotype 62, was isolated at College Station Texas in 1981 and was sent to Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, who then sent it on to USAMRIID.

Chances are real good that they (Ames Diagnostic Lab) kept a copy. There was a collection of anthrax...much like a coin collection, one of every kind, at the Iowa State Veterinary School. One of the profs worked half time in each place.

In the fall semester of 1990, when I was a student there, the woman sitting across the table from me came in late to class. She made a big deal about why she was late. She had stopped to get the mail and had opened the package that she found in her mailbox. The dry ice fell out and shattered. She thought it contained seeds. (You don't ship seeds with dry ice.) It also contained a note in a language she did not recognize.

When she suddenly realized that the package was not intended for her, she then looked at the label. She was horrified to see that it did NOT have her name on it.

So I said to her, How did it get in your box?

It had her address correct but the name of a Pakistani. So since she could not put the thing back together she felt compelled to hand deliver it to the Pakistani. She thought he would be mad at her for opening his mail. But she said he was glad to get it as he was expecting it.

I thought that it was crazy to send anything with dry ice to a residence.

ONE WEEK LATER, this same woman showed me a dreadful sore on her inner forearm. She said her husband had the same thing on his face!!!! Since I was the only entomologist she knew, and the physician had told her it was a bug or spiders bite, she wanted me to see it. I have a vivid memory of the sore.

While the WTC was still smoldering, the anthrax letters were mailed. When I heard on the radio that this same university, Iowa State at Ames, had destroyed their entire collection of anthrax only 5 days after the first guy died, I had a bright light come on in my head.

I know I know something about this. For 9 months I read everything I could find. Who had destroyed this collection? What does an anthrax sore look like.

Finally, I put it all together. The sores I saw were very similar to the pictures of anthrax sores on the CDC website. But there was one difference. The ones I saw dripped profusely. I even have a book where the woman dripped onto one of the pages.

So what did I see? What can I remember about these incidents from now 15 years ago?

I think what I saw was the aftermath of the theft of the anthrax.

This woman lived at 161E and there was a Pak with the name that I remember her saying living at 116E. He was from Faisalabad, Pakistan. At the vet school was another Pak also from Faisalabad. (Where we caught KSM)

I say that (and this is 3 weeks after Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdered in NY) the Pak in the vet school lifted it and mailed it to his friend. But crime doesn't pay and all criminals are nervous. The second most common thing to mess up is transposition of numbers.

Now for the discrepancy. The literature prior to 9-11 states that anthrax does not drip. Yet if you read GERMS by Judith Miller (you don't have to like her to read the book), you will find a quote by Margano on page 315-6. He was one one the postal employees that got it. He said his sore drip, drip, drip like a faucet.

That is exactly what I saw. Then if you look at the forensic information, you will see that the stuff that was mailed was a mixture of genotype 62 and genotype 62 with a 929 basepair inversion on the plasmid.

I think that this inversion is what caused the dripping.

I have tried to get the FBI interested. I have presented this to 4 different offices, the CIA, local police, the CDC, etc etc.

Finally, on June 20, 2004, I wrote a letter to the Postal Inspectors in Detroit at the request of an out of town policeman who came to the store. (and yes, I tell everyone I meet.)

FOURTEEN MONTHS LATER, on August 25, 2005, I got a call from the Postal Inspection service attached to Amerithrax. Then on November 18, 2005 three Postal Inspectors came to my place of business and asked me some questions. I think they are working on it.

I'll not hear until it is all over. My book is somewhere in Wash. DC., not yet tested to my knowledge.

There is a lot more but my computer wants to disconnect.

Battle Axe

[muawiyah]

Tell you what, if the US government knows all of the characteristics of weaponized anthrax held by other governments, it's not going to reveal them. Otherwise, the spy who secured that information is going to have his or her cover blown.

That's why you don't hear about it.