Selling the threat of bioterrorism (LA Times investigates Alibek)

On Islambouli part of a cell with KSM, see Gertz’ 2002 book about the breakdown in intelligence that led to 9/11.

KSM took over from the Al Qaeda mililtary head Atef as head of the anthrax weaponization operation. (see emails to Atef about anthrax weaponization)
It is a matter of historical record that Islamboulli was part of a cell with KSM.

See Gertz’s 2002 book. He also addresses the al Hayat letter bombs to NYC and DC newspapers and people in symbolic positions which was the key to profiling the modus operandi.

And, so the usual intelligence or true crime analyst would ask:

Where in the world is Islambouli?

Who did he visit when he came to the US to plan the next attack, as described in the December 1998 Presidential Daily Brief to President Clinton that warned of a plannned attack involving airplanes and other means. (see PDB reprinted in 9/11 Commission Report). Everyone focuses on the PDB in the summer of 2001 directed to President Bush while forgetting that there was a PDB with the same substance from December 1998 to President Clinton.

The 9/11 Commission Report contains a copy of the declassified December 1998 PDB and discusses Islambouli.

161 posted on 07/16/2007 10:40:21 AM PDT by ZacandPook

Katie Crockett in a 2006 GMU doctoral thesis, notes:

“In addition, there should be a reasonable level of restriction on the type of information that can be published.”

If microbiologists in the field suggest that information being posted might help a bioterrorist weaponize anthrax, those should be deleted. I’ll defer to the experts who can raise the point or not as they see fit.

162 posted on 07/16/2007 10:45:42 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: jpl; Shermy; Mitchell; Battle Axe

Rogue warrior—Green Team / Richard Marcinko and John Weisman (1995 anthrax novel involving Cairo fundamentalists in Afghanistan by former counterterrorist operative) .

For any GMU Center for Biodefense grad who is looking for some beach reading, go to Johnson Center Stacks (Call Number: PS3563.A6362 R64 1995) and pick up a copy of Rogue warrior—Green Team / Richard Marcinko and John Weisman. It is an action-adventure novel featuring a former U.S. Navy SEAL who fights terrorism. In this episode he leads his team against Muslim fundamentalists in Cairo, then flies to Afghanistan to foil a plot by other terrorists planning to spread anthrax in the West. By the author of Rogue Warrior II: Red Cell.

Red Cell was the name of the group of top analysts that Tenet enlisted after 9/11 to put themselves in the shoes of Ayman Zawahiri in avoiding the next attack. The name derives from “red teaming.”

Red Cell was the real life name of Marcinko’s group that tested the Navy’s defenses against a terrorist attack. If you purchase a copy, he lives in Alexandria, VA and is available to sign your copy.

Also, coincidentally, the Green Team was the name of Saif Adel’s group that went to Somalia a couple years before Marcinko’s book. A trip report Saif Adel wrote to Atef recently became available full-text. Tenet says Saif Adel, who once purported to speak for the Vanguards of Conquest (the military wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad), was involved in Al Qaeda’s CBRN planning. As Professor Fawwaz Gerges explains in his lucid Journey of a Jihadist, it was writer Islamic Assembly of North America Kamal Habib who once headed the military wing of the EIJ.

163 posted on 07/16/2007 11:35:33 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: jpl; Shermy; Mitchell; Battle Axe

Rogue warrior—Green Team / Richard Marcinko and John Weisman (1995 anthrax novel involving Cairo fundamentalists in Afghanistan by former counterterrorist operative) .

164 posted on 07/16/2007 11:35:33 AM PDT by ZacandPook

Okay guys and gals it’s time to stop with the AlQaeda Anthrax fantasy.
The fact is, the anthrax mailings were an inside job executed in the field by Steven Hatfill.

Here is a little classified info for all of you to chew on.

In 2001 the DOD was accepting bids to build an Anthrax vaccine facility at the Aberdeen proving grounds. The reason for this is because the Bioport vaccine would not pass FDA approval because Bioport could not produce a consistent product. That would have put Bioport out of business. After the mailings the FDA quietly approved the Bioport facility. So Bioport certainly could be a co conspirator in this crime. Also of interest is that one of the companies bidding on this facility was SAIC. Steven Hatfill’s employer at the time.

165 posted on 07/16/2007 9:46:30 PM PDT by teslashenchman

To: teslashenchman

Hi,

A Hatfill Theory was certainly exhaustively examined by one Amerithrax Squad. Conspicuous surveillance was not called off until late 2003, when they found “extremely virulent” (but unweaponized) anthrax at a house in Kandahar that had existed pre-2001. It was found after Hambali’s harsh interrogation in Jordan.

It was fascinating to see the Hatfill theory develop during the Summer of 2002.

There were excited whispered calls about “Did you hear about the cabin in woods?” I asked, no, “what state was it in?” “I don’t know,” was the reply. It turned out to be a cabin that Dr. Hatfill had visited in a social group with friends, that he wouldn’t have been able to find and had no special access to.

Then there was the Greendale School he lived near that didn’t exist.

Then there was the plastic box with holes characterized as a glove box when actually its design precisely fit a minnow catcher. That got some giggles back at the Task Force. The source of that pond tip was a fellow SAIC employee who then went to work as an FBI analyst. He recently issued a 460 page thesis, supervised by Ken at GMU, on the use of weaponized anthrax and other agents in Zimbabwe. The thesis is so sexy that you need a brown paper to take it out of the library. As Dr. Patrick could confirm, however, the idea doesn’t hold water. The last thing you’d want as a place to fill the envelopes is a high humidity environment. Ken would agree.

In 2002, titillating the CIA even more was that a man named Goosen who had participated in Project Coast offered samples from the project. The Rhodesia program was said to lay the groundwork for Project Coast. Goosen said that workers had not destroyed all samples as Dr. Basson had claimed. Goosen asked for $5 million in return for the samples. The year before he had approached DOD with vaccine research. A meeting was arranged with Bioport. Extensive interviews have not shown Dr. Hatfill to ever had anything to do with Project Coast, but hey, why allege murder when you can allege genocide, eh?

So while the FBI was definitely right to vigorously pursue the theory, there never came to be any evidence that supported the theory and you cite none now.

For example, while there is documentary evidence that Ayman Zawahiri planned to weaponize anthrax for use against US targets, there is no such evidence in the case of Dr. Hatfill.

While “extremely virulent” anthrax was found in Kandahar, and a hijacker coming from Kandahar had a blackened leg lesion, Dr. Hatfill merely had an anthrax simulant (which was related to his work). Tell me you don’t have BG or BT in your fridge.

It would be reasonable for the FBI to posit, however, that if it was a non-Al Qaeda, it had to be someone with access to intelligence information, because the coding used in the letter was used by the militants. For example, “School” was used by Ayman in a June 2001 letter to his supporters explaining his merger with Al Qaeda. (The sender was “Greendale School”). Green was known by the CIA and DIA to symbolize islam. Sufaat, for example, named the company covering work relating to his anthrax lab Green Laboratory. The FBI got access to Moussaoui’s email greenlab@usanet on September 19, 2001. Thus, Hatfill is a far better candidate than someone who did not have a security clearance.

Marcinko, author of Green Team, served in Somalia as a Navy Seal where CBRN player Saif Adel used Green Team as the name of his group. See memo from Adel to Atef. Marcinko describes his experience in Somalia in the Green Team book above relating to use of anthrax by the militants to create a united ummah.

On the subject of bloodhounds, Ed’s theory is that the FBI is lying to us about why the dogs were used. He argues they were not picking up a scent on the envelopes but were merely used in tracking Dr. Hatfill, and the FBI was too embarrassed to admit that they lost him en route to Louisiana. His conspiracy theory necessarily includes the DOJ and the dog trainers.

Ed has done a wonderful job of keeping the public posted about Dr. Hatfill civil suits. I commend the record to you. You’ll see that no evidence ever developed supporting the theory.

I emailed BHR in December 2001 and she commented “they know who the suspects are.” It’s not that the theory was not worth pursuing or that those who held/hold the theory are showing bad faith — it just turns out there was/is no “there there.”

Hatfill was not shown to have the means. His worked involved viruses. He was never shown to have drying expertise. The vaccine research done by Ft. Detrick was a far cry from weaponizing anthrax.

Hatfill was not shown to have a motive to send a deadly pathogen that reasonably put recipients at risk for death. Given that as of the time of the first mailing, a man in a Biohazard suit was featured on TIME and articles had started appearing about the cropdusters, a party financially interested in vaccine production, had no financial interest that needed furthering. They were already sitting pretty.

Bioport’s contract was being challenged — by a large pharma company. SAIC would have continued to benefit from the post-911 surge in spending regardless which of the companies got the contract. Moreover, even if SAIC had a financial interest, which it didn’t, such an interest would not translate to an interest on the part of Dr. Hatfill. The FBI did think to check his financials. A defense contractor post-911 did not have to murder to get a contract, they just needed to hire a lobbyist who had recently left government. It’s the American Way.

Dr. Hatfill was not shown to have the opportunity. He has an alibi. His time cards constitute documentary evidence of how he spent his time in the preceding weeks and numerous witnesses confirm he was at the wedding, for example.

It was not shown to be his modus operandi. As I indicated, extensive interviews have confirmed he had nothing whatsoever to do with Project Coast.

So while the documentary evidence establishes that Al Qaeda had the means, motive, modus operandi and opportunity, there is no evidence suggesting Dr. Hatfill was in any way involved in the anthrax mailings. NK should have contacted Dr. Hatfill to get his side of the story and provided the opportunity that facts be corrected. I’ve written Bilal Phillips, the unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator and Ali’s mentor, as well as his supporters and friends, but not heard back. I’ve written Ken and Charles and GMU counsel, but not heard back. I had dinner just the other week with leading iANA supporters and laid all this out in person, following up by a written summary. If you figure out Ayman’s email, let me know. The Hatfill accusers should have at least contacted him and given him a chance to correct any factual errors. Admittedly, hindsight is 20/20.

Dr. Hatfill has made himself for more than one deposition and no evidence has ever come out in suport of your suggestion. But we certainly appreciate that the FBI needed to leave no stone unturned. What Van Harp was thinking in talking to Brian Ross about the theory, I don’t know. Since the leaks from that squad about that theory in 4 and 5 years ago, the FBI has been very good at avoiding unauthorized leaks.

Dr. Hatfill’s counsel, IMO, is mistaken to suggest that falsely claiming one has a PhD is akin to “puffery.” As is Ed. But that is not at all probative of the means, motive, modus operandi and opportunity of the anthrax mailings.

Moreover, studies have shown that a majority of American men in his age group have had workplace sex (in case he ever did as once alleged). Hopefully, at a party celebrating the final resolution of this long-lingering matter — whatever its ultimate resolution — we can all share stories over beers.

The most curious aspect of a Hatfill Theory is that no specific alibi relating to the nights has been shared. Did he sleep over or not? Sleeping on the couch during the day nursing a hangover from a wedding is the not the same as: “And he lay beside me all night.”

166 posted on 07/17/2007 2:58:53 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: teslashenchman

I hadn’t realized there was anyone who still credited a Hatfill Theory, given that it has been 5 years since, for example, the Washington Post in an article on August 11, 2002 outlined some of the many allegations that reportedly are provably false.

In particular, false allegations debunked a half decade ago have included:

• That he had unfettered access to the Army bioresearch lab at
Fort Detrick after his grant ended in 1999. He did not, Glasberg said.
“After he stopped working there, he had to be escorted, like
everybody,” Glasberg said. Dasey confirmed that.

• That he had been given a booster vaccine for anthrax. He did not,
Glasberg said. His last anthrax vaccination was in December
1998, and he has not received a shot since then, making him as
vulnerable as anyone else, Glasberg said.

• That he removed cabinets from Fort Detrick that could be used to
culture anthrax. The cabinets, weighing more than 350 pounds, were
moved by truck to a training site for a military exercise and then
blown up, Glasberg said.

• That the “Greendale School” listed as a return address on the
anthrax mailings is in Harare, Zimbabwe, near Hatfill’s medical school. “To
the best of our knowledge, there isn’t any Greendale School,” Glasberg
said. “There is a subdivision near Harare called Greendale, but there are
Greendales everywhere.”

• That Hatfill was disgruntled at losing his security clearance. At
Fort Detrick, Hatfill never had nor needed security clearance,
Glasberg and Dasey said. Once at Science Applications International,
he got low-level security clearance for one project. When he
was detailed to work for the CIA on another project, a CIA
lie-detector test was ambiguous when he was asked about his days in
Africa, Glasberg said. His clearance was revoked pending an appeal.

Virtually none of Hatfill’s work at Science Applications
International required a clearance, Glasberg said, but the company used its
revocation as a reason to fire Hatfill in February. He said the
company has since offered Hatfill settlement payments, which he
rejected, and more work, which he accepted.

In May, Esteban Rodriguez, a supervisor at the Defense Intelligence
Agency, wrote a letter lauding Hatfill’s “unsurpassed technical
expertise, unique resourcefulness, total dedication and consummate
professionalism” in helping the military prepare for possible
biowarfare in Afghanistan.

167 posted on 07/17/2007 4:59:45 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: teslashenchman

But now don’t get me wrong, Tes. It’s not like a lot of learned people did not subscribe to a Hatfill Theory. Hauer. Niman. Bedlington, and many others. And someone like Bedlington is sophisticated enough to know about the importance of Qutb on the militants.
      Stan Bedlington, a retired CIA counterterrorism analyst is one
person who in the Summer of 2002 thought the “evidence is mounting.”
Although not a scientist and not demonstrating any knowledge of bloodhound evidence, he mistakenly claimed that the letters “obviously had some scent of anthrax.” (That’s not what they would have been testing for given that biological agents such as anthrax apparently do not have a distinctive smell to bloodhounds) He used to have lunch once a week in McLean with Hatfill at a bistro. A former counterterrorism analyst, he
retired from the CIA in 1994. Dr. Bedlington in 1998 in a full-length
interview argued that not only could anthrax be simply made, but could
be dispersed aerially.
       According to the Post, Bedlington was intrigued by the fact
that Hatfill lived for years near a Greendale Elementary School while
attending medical school in Zimbabwe. Greendale School was the phony
return address used in the anthrax letters.
     In the Fall of 2001, political scientist and former senior CIA
counterterrorism analyst Bedlington, said: “Frankly, when I heard the
news [of 9/11], I thought, ‘It’s got to be biochemical.” “This is
frightening enough and yet, you could take a small plane and sprinkle
anthrax over New York City and wipe out half the population.” He
wrote a very insightful Op Ed piece in the Washington Post, dated
October 28, 2001, in which he discusses the importance of piercing
Osama Bin Laden’s myth of invincibility. He evidenced the
sophistication of his knowledge by pointing to the influence of an
Egyptian writer named Qutb on the Al Qaeda leaders. But by August 2002
(in an interview with CNN’s Paula Zahn) he was talking about
anthrax-smelling bloodhounds and the fact that Dr. Hatfill lived near
a place (Greendale) used in the return address. He curiously said the
“evidence was mounting.” Indeed, he was the original source of the
silly “Greendale” point which, according to today’s Washington Post
article, he considered “jaw-dropping.” Dr . Bedlington knew Dr.
Hatfill from weekly lunches at a bistro in McClean where former work
colleagues get together to swap stories, and once had been shown,
privately, a scrapbook of mock pictures of Dr. Hatfill preparing
plague in his kitchen (Dr. Bedlington recalls the discussion as
relating to anthrax).
     There is no Greendale School in Zimbabwe — even though there are
many in the United States. No Greendale Primary School or Greendale
Elementary School. There never has been. ABC led the pack repeatedly
getting it wrong in suggesting that there was a Greendale School that
Hatfill lived nearby, in a neighborhood of Harare. ABC’s Brian Ross
has relied on a source named Pete Velis who has spent his own money
urging his biodefense insider theory with a twist. Velis argued that
the CIA was framing Hatfill. Hartford Courant followed, relying on
ABC. The posting of the City Atlas listing and the numbers of the two
Greendale schools did little to stem the false reports. If you started
counting Greendales rather than Greendale Schools, then perhaps most
people in the United States are just as closely connected to some
Greendale. Most important of all, a perp simply has zero reason to use
a name from his past. Indeed, the only reason to use the same address
on both envelopes — which helped the second letter be identified
before being received — is if something is being intentionally
communicated.
     There are 18 Greendales in the US. 6 Greendale Elementary
Schools. As well as a Greendale Elementary School in Maryland near
Andrews AFB in Prince George’s County that was closed. But the
Greendale conjecture always just an incredibly specious point to rely
on in publicly suggesting that a medical doctor was guilty of
murdering people. As Richard Spertzel, who has told the Baltimore Sun
that he has met Hatfill but does not know him well, said: “He’s being
railroaded.”
    For those who believe in Tinkerbelle (one of the dogs used) such
as the Washington Post journalists and political scientist Bedlington
, while most jurisdictions allow bloodhound evidence, courts generally
have reservations about the possibility of inaccuracy of the evidence.
The dog cannot be cross-examined. There is always the possibility that
the dog may make a mistake. Accordingly, there are strict foundational
requirements. The notion that such evidence is of slight probative
value or must be viewed with caution stems at least in part from fear
that a jury will be in awe of the animal’s apparent powers and will
give the evidence too much weight . What would have been used for the
scent pack here is the human scent, if any, on the letter on which the
perpetrator rested his hand in writing the letter. The dogs would not
have been clued to the biological agent as biological agents such as
anthrax tend not to have a distinctive scent.
    Here, at a minimum, the “trail” would have been contaminated by
the irradiation and anthrax, and would have grown stale by the passage
of time. FDA concluded that irradiation can produce small changes in
the taste, smell, and sometimes texture of foods and that consumers
should be informed of this. Jurors should too. Remember that scene
from “Miracle on 34th Street” where the official finding of the agency
of the United States’ government was deemed binding on the
prosecution? Imagine Attorney Connolly calling FDA scientists who
found irradiation caused changes in smell, no doubt amplified by the
much keener sense of a bloodhound.
    The United States Post Office explains in a FAQ that “the
materials in the mail are heated and may become chemically altered.
Paper dries out and may become dusty, discolored, and brittle.” Some
postal workers and federal agency staff have reported symptoms such as
eye, nose, throat and skin irritation, headache, nausea and occasional
nosebleeds. What does the USPS do under these circumstances? Their
solution includes “[u]sing hypoallergenic deodorizers to eliminate any
smells.” “Testing each batch of aired-out mail to ensure no detectable
amoungs of gas exist before delivery.” Alas, Tinkerbelle’s lengthy log
shows that perfume does not confuse her, but likely is silent on this
question of irradiated paper. The prosecution witness who might
testify that a bloodhound’s sense of smell is 200 times as powerful as
a human’s sense of smell would merely be helping the defense argument.
No amount of training log-keeping or experiments after the fact would
serve to permit admissibility under the court precedent. The
bloodhound evidence was always a bogus and hugely prejudical diversion
since the first sensational story (leaked by persons unknown).
   In any event, the perp would have worn gloves and only briefly
handled the letter. More broadly, there is an article that collects
cases from 40 or so states and nothing approaching the delays has ever
been found admissible. In a city landscape, the time period is much
more restrictive. The Leahy letter, written by the perp sometime prior
to the October 9, 2001 postmark, was not discovered until
mid-November, and as of November 19, 2001 a protocol was still being
developed for its opening. Thus, the 40 day period that had been
passed by the (likely glove-wearing) perp already would have resulted
in a stale trail.
    There is a separate additional issue of use of the “scent transfer
unit” here. A “scent transfer unit” such as used here looks like a
Dustbuster, modified with a small frame at the end to secure a piece
of gauze over its intake opening. The user attaches a piece of sterile
gauze to the unit, activates the unit, and holds it against the item
from which the scent is to be taken (such as where the person sat the
night before). Depending on the jurisdiction, the scent transfer unit,
which is a new technology, may be subject to the rule regarding new
scientific methodology. Under that rule, the proponent of such
evidence must establish the new scientific principle or technique is
sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the
particular field in which it belongs under the circumstances of the
case. Here, there is no such general acceptance as explained by Scott
Shane in an excellent article in the Baltimore Sun relying on experts
in the Maryland area. The purpose of the requirement is to avoid
factfinders from being misled by the `aura of infallibility’ that may
surround unproved scientific methods. This would constitute a possible
third independent grounds for excluding the evidence. Absent a
training log showing the dog performed reliably under similar
circumstances, given the time period that had passed, and in light of
the use of the scent transfer unit, there is nothing the FBI or
trainers would be able to do to save the admissibility of the
bloodhound evidence because it will be found by a court to be
unreliable.
    Both of the major police bloodhound associations howl against the
reliability of the Scent Transfer Unit used by the three blood
handlers. One of the dog handlers, Dennis Slavin, is an urban planner
and reserve officer with the South Pasadena Police Department. One of
the other dog handlers is a civilian who runs his own bloodhound
business. Shane, in his very impressive Baltimore Sun article,
explained that an FBI agent, Rex Stockham, examining the technology
for the FBI lab says: “It’s going to be criticized. I’m critical of it
myself.” The President of the Bloodhound Association, who is critical
of the technology used by these handlers, had testified 21 times, and
likely will have testified 22 if the FBI attempts to rely on the
evidence in a prosecution. Shane notes that a federal jury awarded
$1.7 million last year to a man wrongly accused of rape after police
identified him in part based on the use of Slavin’s bloodhound,
TinkerBelle. Shane’s article, essential reading, gives the further
example of their use in the sniper investigation, where “given the
scent taken from spent shell casings, followed two false trails in
Montgomery County. One led to a house, for which a search warrant was
obtained and which turned out not be relevant. The other led to a
dog-grooming parlor, the officer said.” Phew. It’s no wonder Lucy
responded to Hatfill. He is a ladies’ man, after all.
     With the investigation going to the dogs, nearly 100 law
enforcement officers gathered to watch some of their colleagues jump
in a lake near where Dr. Hatfill lived, and in late January 2003, the
FBI continued searching the forest in Frederick. Locals were amused
that some of the ponds had been dry earlier that year. While they may
seem to enjoy their dinners at Georgetown, FBI agents and surveillance
specialists do not have an easy job. The public demands that they
exhaustively pursue all leads, but then there is an uproar if they
cross some unpredictable line and step on — or run over someone’s
toe.
      Marilyn Thompson, author of The Killer Strain, reported in the
Washington Post on May 11, 2003 and again today that in its search of
the ponds, the FBI found what appears to some to be be an improvised
“glove box” and also (supposedly) wrapped vials. She described it as a
“clear box” — other reports describe it as a plastic tub. Now, why,
again, are we talking about it? There was no claim that the glove box
has been tied to Dr. Hatfill or that any vials have been. The pond is
located near Ft. Detrick. The box reportedly had a rope, later
described as more like a shoestring, attached.

     ”If there is anthrax in the water, I am relatively sure that the
water is safe,” the Mayor of Frederick said to the local paper. Yet no
trace of anthrax was found. The story was hugely prejudicial. Any
agent leaking the story may have handed Attorney Glasberg a Section
1983 claim under the civil rights statute, particularly after the
similarly sourced ABC and CBS stories about agents who were convinced
he was guilty. If the Department of Justice permits those leaks to
occur, it risks Section 1983 liability itself.
      “While some law-enforcement officials are taking the novel
theory seriously, others have dismissed it as fantasy. ‘It got a lot
of giggles,’ says one FBI source.” As many schoolboy knows (or at
least any schoolboy with google available to him could readily learn),
a rope or shoestring is used to retrieve a minnow trap from the bottom
of a pond. The USA Today first reported that a rope was found attached
to the plastic container. That reporter confides that her sources
insist that no gloves were in fact found as reported in the Washington
Post. The Washington Post does not repeat the assertion that gloves
and vials wrapped in plastic were found in today’ story — but, then,
no correction has issued either.
      Clawson relying on details from their own “sources,” reportedly
said it was “like a K-Mart sweater box; like a piece of Tupperware
that just happened to have a hole in it.” Then he added, “From what I
understand it doesn’t have anything to do with bioweapons.” School
children are even taught online to study the flow of water systems
using plastic sweater boxes with a hole cut in it and take it to the
pond or stream.
     The area they were searching is a quarter mile west of Fishing
Creek Road. According to the Gambrill Park webpage, a small pond,
located in the Rock Run area is popular for fishing for large mouth
bass, bluegill and channel catfish. As explained by one web thread
“Minnow trap advice,” even bluegill can be caught using a minnow trap
(not just minnows) There are many species of minnows in ponds. A
common minnow is the Golden Shiner. Minnows or shiners, mostly stocked
as food for bass. The photo in Newsweek of the diver in the wetsuit
from last December or January might best be captioned, as Brer Fox
once asked Brer Rabbit, “Did you catch minnows or a cold?”
     Some minnow and turtle traps are rectangular boxes that look even
more closely like a glove box. As the Baltimore Sun reported,
explains, what was found was NOT a commercial glove box. If the gloves
don’t fit, you must acquit Numerous traps were set to rid Maryland
ponds of the Crofton snakehead, a species ruinous to ecosystems that
someone released from an aquarium. Earlier Washington Post articles
suggested the image of someone sticking their gloved hands into the
box while underwater. Well, how does water not rush through the holes?
Did Hatfill stick his hands into the box outside the water, walk
awkwardly into the water, then submerge the box? Water would seep
through. Today’s article shifts the suggestion to being one merely
where such equipment would be discarded. But “[a] basic rule of
aquatic research,” one web poster explains, “is that you have to be
prepared to lose anything you put in the water.” The way a minnow or
turtle trap, often left behind, works is that the small fish or turtle
can swim in but can’t swim out — sort of like being named a Person of
Interest.
   A Washington Post article on May 30, 2003 characterized the false
positive as merely a conflicting lab report and the tantalizing
(albeit casually dropped) new discovery of gloves wrapped in plastic.
Can you imagine the leaker gleefully seizing the issue of the gloves
allegedly found, challenging detractors to a duel, and saying “Take
that!”
       Trying to read the handwriting on the wall, it’s difficult to
imagine what evidence the FBI thinks it has that is both relevant to
the anthrax mailings and reliable enough so as to be admissible. As to
this handwriting, Marilyn Thompson of the Washington Post says that:
“The government has many samples of Hatfill’s cursive handwriting and
printing pulled from government files and work records. These have
been analyzed and reanalyzed, and apparently bear no resemblance to
the distinctive and creepy script used on the anthrax envelopes.”
        Representative Purchase Orders filled out by Dr. Hatfill
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show substantial
differences between Hatfill’s writing and the anthrax letters.
      First, he used the European style rather than popular American
style. (In US government circles, the “European style” is known as the
“military style” of writing dates). Instead of March 30, 1996, he
rendered the date 30 March 1996. The anthrax letters, in contrast,
used the popular American style of writing.
     Second, when he wrote the month using a number rather than the
name of the month, he used a slash (”/”) rather than a dash (”-”) as
used in the anthrax letters.
     Third, he commonly used 5 digit zipcodes rather than the 9 digit
zipcodes used by the anthrax mailer.
     Fourth, he commonly used a single number in referring to the day
of the month and did not put a “0” in front of it as in the anthrax
letters.
     Fifth, Dr. Hatfill makes the number one with a single vertical
line whereas the FBI psycholinguistic profile noted that “In writing
the number one, the author chooses to use a formalized, more detailed
version. He writes it as ‘1’ instead of the simple vertical line.”
     Thus, representative Purchase Orders filled out by Hatfill
differ in these respects from the anthrax letters.
     Then there’s the question of his time cards, which show him
working 13 hours on each September 17th and September 18th. In a July
3, 2003 public exchange with the author of Killer Strain, Washington
Post’s Thompson, there was this question and answer:
“Washington, D.C.: Do SAIC employees corroborate his alibi for the
September mailing as he claims (pointing to his timesheets for 9/17
and 9/18 evidencing 13 hour days)?”
Marilyn Thompson: “Officially, SAIC has not commented on the time
records produced by Hatfill to show his whereabouts on these critical
dates. My sources who know and worked with Hatfill believe strongly
that he was on duty at SAIC during those hours. “
(She is scheduled to answer questions about the current article on
Monday, at 1 p.m.)
As Ken Alibek has said, this question of who was where when is perhaps
the most important of all. The full timesheet for September 17 and
September 18 is available on line as an appendix to a weighty article
by David Tell of the Weekly Standard.
     As it turns out, the FBI’s interest in Dr. Hatfill stemmed
significantly from his work on a mock-up of an anthrax lab for the
purpose of training Special Operations personnel. F.B.I. agents pulled
the lab over as it was being hauled to Ft. Bragg to check it again
even though they had spent two weeks examining it.
   The Pentagon was allowed to keep and use the trailer in
preparation for the war with Iraq. Training sessions were by Dr.
Hatfill sometimes and other times by Dr. Patrick. Col. Bill Darley,
spokesman for the United States Special Operations Command in Tampa,
Fla., told the New York Times: “We are not growing anthrax or
botulinum toxin. None of this equipment is functional. It looks like —
it is — the real stuff, but it’s nonfunctional.” The nonfunctional
mock-up was built on an 18-wheel trailer and outfitted with
specialized, commercially available, lab equipment.
”No way in the wildest dream could it have been used to make
anything,” William C. Patrick III is quoted as saying. Dr. Hatfill
planned the design and supervised its construction at a shop in
Frederick, about a mile from his apartment. For some training
sessions, he reportedly used the anthrax simulant called Bacillus
globigii, which would commonly be used for such purposes. It was known
as “the can.” If Dr. Hatfill needed to tell Dr. Patrick that he was
going to see how work was progressing, he might say “I’m going to the
can.”
So in the Fall of 2002, while the FBI was investigating him,
Hatfill trained Defense Intelligence Agency employees on ways to
search for biological weapons, worked with Army’s Delta Force, and sat
in on a State Department meeting on embassy security in postwar
Afghanistan. He received letters of commendation for his work from
officials at the DIA and the State Department. In Iraq, DIA and CIA
agents worked with the 75th Exploitation Task Force in the search for
biological weapons in Iraq. At the DIA’s request, he did this work
even though he had been terminated by Science Applications
International Corp. (SAIC) at the considerable frustration of FBI
agents who thought he was responsible for the anthrax mailings.
   Mr. Clawson was still speaking only vaguely about options and not
taking things lying down until late August 2003 when he filed suit in
federal district court in Washington DC against the Department of
Justice and various current and former officials. Until a January 2003
ABC report and a May 2003 CBS report, a Section 1983 civil rights
claim against the DOJ likely would lack merit based on what is
publicly known (there is a qualified immunity where the agency or
official is acting in good faith). Now it’s less clear. Leaks from
unnamed “agents” saying they think he’s guilty but can’t prove it
raise a very substantial question under the civil rights statute.
Attorney Connolly and his two colleagues also brought a statutory
invasion of privacy claim. The police report relating to the incident
where the FBI surveillance specialist, a former marine, ran over Dr.
Hatfill’s right foot made the FBI’s investigation look particularly
flat-footed.
Mr. Kristoff told Aaron Brown on CNN Newsnight: “Initially, for
several months, I did not use his name. I wanted to prod the FBI
because I thought there was an awful lot they were not doing. I wanted
to light a fire under them. And I wrote about Dr. Hatfill initially,
without using his name, using just the name ‘Mr. Z’ as a way of
raising the issue and trying to address some of the public policy
concerns but without putting him in the public eye and making —
giving him trouble.” For her part, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg
persuasively says: “I realize the FBI has gone out of its way to make
one suspect’s name public. That’s the FBI’s doing, and I presume they
had some good reason for that. If not, I think it is reprehensible to
do so.” Comments at the meeting with the Senate Staffers and FBI is
arguably best understood as absolutely privileged but would be a
matter of precedent in the controlling jurisdiction.
           As for Dr. Hatfill’s claims against the Department of
Justice, one consideration is that the FBI has an important, often
thankless and difficult, job to do. Neighbors at the apartment
building — or police officer asked to block traffic — may have
tipped reporters rather than some Special Agent with a special
relationship with a local ABC reporter. The novel draft titled
Emergence may have been obtained at the Library of Congress’ Copyright
Office where it had been deposited, rather than given to a reporter by
a Special Agent or other source.
        ”I’d like to know how a copy of that ended up in the hands of
ABC News an hour before the press conference,” Mr. Clawson says.in a
television interveiw. Perhaps the local ABC affiliate reporter used
her resourcefulness and went to the Library of Congress where it was
archived in storage as a deposited copyrighted work. To view deposited
works, you need to fill out a form at the Madison building, wait a
while, and then read it in a cubicle after they telephone and tell you
it has been retrieved from the archives. And so if that is where the
reporter got the copy, there will be a form that was signed (a person
has to represent that they will not violate the copyright and affirm
that it for the purpose of litigation).
        In the end stages of the UNABOM investigation, there were 5
suspects under 7/24 surveillance that Spring. And not one of them was
the perp. So to infer he is guilty because of the surveillance
against Hatfill in 2002 and 2003 — there reportedly are 8 DOJ employees on him
— is fallacious.
    And as for the media finding unnamed “sources” (even within the
FBI) who think he’s guilty and the seasoned Washington Post
journalists finding numerous sources to provide the basis for the pond
scum story — big whoop. That’s the nature of how the mind works. No
one wants to think they are wasting their time. Or that they’ve been
horribly unfair toward someone.
           Reasonable people can disagree on whether the DOJ can require
that someone they are actively investigating for serial murder not be
allowed to work on a federally-funded project (at LSU). Perhaps they
would be within their right — and that LSU was justified in letting
him go in any event because he had claimed to have a PhD when he in
fact did not have one. Academics have resigned or been fired for a lot
less. Incorrectly claiming a PhD is not mere puffery on a resume,
particularly with respect to earlier positions that involved access to
deadly pathogens.
        When people are intent on taking control of airliners and
flying them into nuclear reactors, maybe we should all cut the FBI
some slack under these special circumstances and all just promise to
go out and buy whatever book Dr. Hatfill chooses to write. Note that
Richard Jewell collected substantial settlements from the media
defendants but nothing from the Department of Justice.
        In August 2003, Hatfill’s spokesman Clawson determined to going back
to Michigan to join lost love. In announcing his decision several
weeks later, he emphasized his strong belief that Dr. Hatfill had
nothing to do with anthrax mailings. Four years later, It would appear that
his conviction has stood the test of time.

168 posted on 07/17/2007 5:22:04 AM PDT by ZacandPook

Oh, Contrare. There is ample evidence of Hatfill’s involvement in the Anthrax mailings. I have physical evidence in my possession to back that up. Funny thing though, the FBI refuses to this day to investigate my evidence.
What I believe has happened in the FBI/Hatfill affair is that there are some honest agents in the FBI that realized some not so honest agents in the FBI were covering this thing up. So the honest agents started leaking info about Hatfill to the public.
The keys to this case are the deaths of Otillie Lundgren and Cathy Nguyen. They have something in common and the FBI was informed of this before Otillie died.
As for your comment about Ed Flake doing a wonderful job. Give me a break. Ed is nothing more than a Hatfill apologist at best. And his constant drivel about coatings is a total BORE!

169 posted on 07/17/2007 5:59:43 AM PDT by teslashenchman

To: teslashenchman

Evidence that Hatfill visited the location of his victims, you say, after not receiving news they had been infected is something you should have no problem in sharing with us now. Given we know that the FBI spent $250,000 just to drain the pond, we know they have “left no stone unturned.”

Perhaps SAIC timesheets contradicted your claim as to his whereabouts. Have you seen his timesheets?

Or perhaps they already know of his visit to that locale.

FBI Special Agents and Postal Inspectors on the Task Force would have no motive to cover anything up. They are just under a lot of pressure to solve the matter. It’s got to be very frustrating and boring not to cross the finish line. Given the compartmentalization that was imposed between the two squads after the leaking, it may very well be true that the divergence in opinion within the Task Force was fed by which squad the investigator was on. Some leaking was done at a high level.

The more interesting thing to make about Ed’s criticisms of BHR is that he has always had the same bioevangelist theory. In announcing his bioevangelist he linked and endorsed her webpage. He then was surprised and bummed it turned out to be some guy he had never heard of. Instead, he imagines the perp as hooked up with a former Battelle employee that the FBI ruled out 6 years ago. He has zero evidence. But his theory isn’t as nearly as intriguing as a Hatfill theory.

If you’re not going to share what you think is probative, then there’s no way of showing you it contradicts SAIC timecards or that it is redundant with what is known about his travel. Similarly, there is no way to be persuaded by it. Here, at the FR, we are all from the “show me” state. If this is the sort of evidence that causes someone to subscribe to a Hatfill theory, then it is corroborative that there is no “there there.”

Ed recognized his theory that the letters were written by a First Grader —which he borrowed from someone on a news group — was “wild speculation” (his phrase). Then lo and behold, it has been transformed into FACT.
That illustrates “cognitive rigidity” (his phrase).

170 posted on 07/17/2007 6:44:29 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: teslashenchman

Perhaps SAIC timesheets contradicted your claim as to his whereabouts. Have you seen his timesheets?

Or perhaps they already know of his visit to that locale.

171 posted on 07/17/2007 6:44:33 AM PDT by ZacandPook

To: teslashenchman

Ummm, you signed up here on Free Republic yesterday just for the sole purpose of making bullshit claims that you have physical evidence of Hatfill's guilt?

Who do you work for, the New York Times or something? Get lost, troll.

172 posted on 07/17/2007 7:51:57 AM PDT by jpl (Dear Al Gore: it's 3:00 A.M., do you know where your drug addicted son is?)

To: teslashenchman

There is ample evidence of Hatfill’s involvement in the Anthrax mailings. I have physical evidence in my possession to back that up. Funny thing though, the FBI refuses to this day to investigate my evidence.

This is just a guess, but I suspect that this "evidence" consists of you seeing hidden ghostly images in the photos of the anthrax letters, images which you feel are pictures of the culprits. I've had a number of people contacts me about their beliefs that there are hidden images in the photos of the anthrax letters. To see an example, CLICK HERE. (In reality, the "images" are most likely just compression artifacts which are caused by using a bad compression ratio when compressing .TIF images down to .JPG images and then decompressing the .JPG images again. The random compression artifacts are like ink blot tests which tell us more about thought processes of the person seeing the images than what is actually in the images.)

All the people who see these "hidden images" complain that the FBI won't take them seriously. I wonder why. One guy saw a camel with a bowl on its back and steam coming out of the bowl. He wanted the FBI to investigate the meaning of that image.

The keys to this case are the deaths of Otillie Lundgren and Cathy Nguyen. They have something in common and the FBI was informed of this

Yes, it was reported that they both used the same perfume which they purchased from Walgreens. So, evidently that must indicate some kind of connection. It can't just be the meaningless fact that a lot of older women shop at Walgreens and buy their perfumes there.

Ed is nothing more than a Hatfill apologist at best.

It's interesting that you consider me a "Hatfill apologist" because I say the facts indicate that Dr. Hatfill had nothing to do with the anthrax mailings. And ZacandPook seems to consider me a "al Qaeda apologist" because I say the facts indicate that al Qaeda had nothing to do with the anthrax mailings.

That must mean I'm also a "Saddam Hussein apologist" because I say the facts indicate that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the anthrax mailings.

And I must also be an "FBI apologist" because I say the facts indicate that they are right about there being no coatings on the spores.

I apologize if I've missed any others for whom I am an "apologist." :-)

Ed at www.anthraxinvestigation.com

173 posted on 07/17/2007 7:52:18 AM PDT by EdLake

Ed recognized his theory that the letters were written by a First Grader —which he borrowed from someone on a news group — was “wild speculation” (his phrase). Then lo and behold, it has been transformed into FACT. That illustrates “cognitive rigidity” (his phrase).

Actually, doesn't it indicate just the opposite? You did the research on this. You found a discussion on a Newsgroup back in late 2001 where I considered the idea that a child wrote the letters to be "wild speculation." Then, as the facts began piling up year after year, I started saying it was "most likely" that a child wrote the letters. And then, on September 25, 2005, I found the evidence which caused me to start saying that it was a "near certainty" that a child wrote the letters.

At no time was anything changed to a "fact." NEW FACTS changed my thinking about whether or not a child wrote the anthrax letters. That indicates just the opposite of “cognitive rigidity.”

Ed at www.anthraxinvestigation.com

174 posted on 07/17/2007 8:17:12 AM PDT by EdLake

Ed writes:

“And ZacandPook seems to consider me a “al Qaeda apologist” because I say the facts indicate that al Qaeda had nothing to do with the anthrax mailings.”

Given we have corresponded regularly for 5 years, you have no basis for saying this. What I’ve said is that you never have addressed an Al Qaeda theory, and that you avoid critical analysis by endlessly invoking your ad hominem “conspiracy theorist” and “true believer” labels. (for example, see your posts above in this thread)

You don’t know enough about Ayman or his anthrax program to comment meaningfully about Amerithrax, which is odd given that you have been told by the FBI Director that they have aggressively pursued an Al Qaeda theory.

But go ahead, give it a try.

Your key argument that the hijackers were all “dead, dead, dead” is very lame.

175 posted on 07/17/2007 8:26:38 AM PDT by ZacandPook

What I’ve said is that you never have addressed an Al Qaeda theory

That's certainly not true. Like almost everyone, when I first learned about the anthrax letters, I assumed that al Qaeda had sent them. But then as the evidence started piling up, it became clear that al Qaeda was NOT behind the anthrax attacks. And neither was Saddam Hussein.

Instead of looking at the facts, however, back in those days (November 2001) everyone was just voicing opinions: "Al Qaeda did it!" "No, Saddam Hussein did it!" "No, it was the Bush Administration!" "No, it was the pharmaceutical companies!" Etc., etc., etc.

That's why I started my web site. I addressed the "al Qaeda theory" in early 2002. All the FACTS say that al Qaeda was not behind the attacks.

However, there's no way to convince a "True Believer" of that. A True Believer can rationalize anything to fit his beliefs. And there's no way to prove him wrong. Here's why:

The anthrax mailer used standard small pre-stamped post office envelopes to mail his warnings. The envelopes have a green eagle stamp on them. A True Believer sees the green as a color code used by al Qaeda, and sees the American eagle as bird code used by al Qaeda. He sees this a PROOF that al Qaeda sent the letters. How can anyone prove him wrong?

The senate letters were mailed to two liberal senators. There appears to be no sensible reason why al Qaeda would target those two senators before targeting President Bush, the Pentagon, and dozens of Republican senators and congressmen first. But, a True Believer can dig around and find some bill to aid Israel which was sponsored by one of those senators. A True Believer can claim that is PROOF of why those senators were targeted. And how can he be proven wrong?

The letters contained medical advice, and it is clear the sender took numerous precautions to avoid harming anyone. But a True Believer can find some obscure passage in some obscure Muslim writings somewhere which indicate that a good Muslim should warn his enemy before using unusual weapons. To the True Believer, this is PROOF that al Qaeda would send medical advice in a warning letter. How can anyone prove such a ridiculous belief to be wrong?

The FBI has stated many times that the crime was a "domestic" crime. But a True Believer can say that "domestic" means that it was a crime committed by an al Qaeda member who lives in the United States. And who can prove him wrong?

The FBI is searching the world for any sign that al Qaeda might be developing bioweapons or chemical weapons somewhere. The True Believer sees this as "proof" that the FBI is pursuing a theory that al Qaeda was behind the anthrax attacks and that is their PRIMARY theory. And who can prove him wrong?

A True Believer converts facts to beliefs as he tries to convert the heathen to his way of thinking. He relies on the fact that he cannot be proven wrong, no matter how totally ridiculous his twisted rationalizations are.

Eric Hoffer stated in his book "The True Believer" that there is no way to change a True Believer's mind. The most you can hope for is to convert him to a different belief. But why bother? I have no reason to convert anyone. I just get tired sometimes of having some True Believer endlessly try to convert me to his absurd beliefs.

Ed at www.anthraxinvestigation.com

176 posted on 07/17/2007 10:00:46 AM PDT by EdLake

Yes, it was reported that they both used the same perfume which they purchased from Walgreens.

It took a lot of digging, but I found one source. The "report" I found is from the CDC. To view it, CLICK HERE.

Here's the passage:

When she [Lundgren] was compared with the 10th case-patient [Nguyen] with inhalational anthrax in New York City, limited similarities were found: both were women >60 years of age, lived alone in clean homes, wore hats, and had a bottle of the same brand of perfume (which was sampled for the presence of B. anthracis). They had no brand of medication, physicians, hobbies, social networks, or geographic area in common.

There's another source somewhere which says they both bought their perfume at Walgreens.

Note that the CDC says the perfume was sampled for the presence of Bacillus anthracis. So, any theory that they were killed by anthrax in their perfume has no basis.

Ed at www.anthraxinvestigation.com

177 posted on 07/17/2007 10:58:20 AM PDT by EdLake

Ed writes:

Ed, this is ad hominem argument rather than analysis.

Whether “code” was used is a factual question that is susceptible to analysis — and at trial, by testimony. For example, I believe a Special Agent Kavanaugh testified in the ongoing trial, two of the defendants used “school” as part of a code and he gave his expert opinion, based on listening to many intercepted communications, as to the meaning. Defense counsel made an argument, which he will repeat upon closing, that there was not such a code. That they were talking about soccer, eating cheese, getting fresh air, etc. If defense counsel called Special Agent Kavanaugh a “true believer,” as you do, he would have been reprimanded by the judge and would have risked financial sanction if he continued.

The man from New Brunswick, NJ, who lived 6 miles from the mailbox, and was a pious imam like Al-Timimi, was indicted recently. See US Attorney’s Office in Newark press release. He had maintained (mirrored) Al Qaeda’s website that in a FAQ explained what “In The Hearts Of Green Birds” (Inside Green Birds) meant.

It was widely published among the militant islamists that martyrs go to paradise “in the hearts of green birds.” The image above of the bird is from the homepage of the designer of the stamp used in the anthrax mailings. It was designed by artist Michael Doret. The image is “a file made directly from the original art [he] created, so the color is an accurate representation of the printed envelope.” Mr. Doret advises me that the color of the eagle is a “teal” or greenish-blue.

In the very interview in which they admitted 9/11, and described the codes used for the four targets for the planes, KSM and Ramzi Binalshibh admitted to the Jenny code, the code for representing the date 9/11, and used the symbolism of the “Green Birds.” Osama Bin Laden later invoked the symbolism in his video “The 19 Martyrs”, describing a hijacker as “A man of worship who enjoined good and forbade evil. His body was on earth but his heart roamed with the green birds that perch beneath the Throne of the Most Merciful.”

Echoing the symbolism of green birds invoked by key 9-11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh a few months earlielr in his interview with al-Jazeera, in a lengthy and articulate essay

The FAQ on Al Qaeda’s website, the Azzam Publications, website explained that “In the Hearts of Green Birds” refers to what is inside. The actual Arabic word used in the Hadith is not Qalb (heart) but it is Jowf which can mean any of interior, inside, or heart (as in center). There was a video based on the hadith with the title In The Hearts of Green Birds about foreign mujahideen that had been martyred in Bosnia. The audiocasette was created in August 1996 and its 3rd edition was released in January 1997. The azzam.org website selling the “In the Hearts of Green Birds” audiocassette was shut down after 9/11 because authorities thought it might contain codes and instructions to militants.

As I said, the iman who maintained the website and lived 6 miles from the mailbox has been indicted in what appears to be an attempt to prosecute using whatever basis is possible. Many will rise up in alarm and argue selective prosecution. I don’t know the precedent relating to the defense so as to be able to judge its prospects, but I expect it’s an uphill battle. He is said to be a very nice, pious man, and from his internet posts, he always struck me as very reasonable. The charge in the indictment is income tax evasion.

In these sorts of prosecutions it seems that the government is engaged in shadow boxing. The only way to get rid of the shadows is to turn on the lights.

The website posted an exclusive interview with Ayman al-Zawahiri and stressed the importance of cash donations and gas masks and chemical-resistant suits. Ibn Khattab, the Arab Chechnyan fighter who was Bin Laden’s good friend, had told his public that azzam.com was highly recommended and that only the two charities identified by the website should be used to route donations — announcing in 2000 that Benevolence International Foundation was one of the charities that should be used. In February 2000, the Quoqaz.net website posted donation links for the two charities, one being BIF. Ibu al-Khattab, the late Arab-Afghan commander of foreign mjuahideen in Chechnya (who in March 2002 was killed by a poison letter), expressly endorsed Azzam Publications.

Azzam.org had “no bricks and mortar address, but operates a post office box in London, and bill[ed] itself as “an independent media organisation providing authentic news and information about jihad and the Foreign Mujahideen everywhere”. One posting datelined from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and was a message to Muslim youth from top terror suspect Bin Laden. A farewell message from Azzam Publications .. exhorts “Muslims all over the World (to) render as much financial, physical, medical, media and moral support to the Taliban as they can.” Azzam also urged those with computer expertise to mirror the website so as to keep it up after authorities took it down. One can access old websites as they existed on past dates through www.archives.org and its wonderful Wayback Machine — except to the extent blocked.

British and US intelligence sources suspected that some of Azzam.com’s jihad photos and graphics contain messages embedded with a technology known as steganography. The code instead perhaps was there for all to see on the stamps of the lethal missives being sent.

A man formerly known as Paul Hall was arrested in Phoenix on a federal criminal complaint in March 2007 and agreed to be removed to District of Connecticut for further prosecution where there has been investigation of Azzam Publications website located on a server there. He is alleged to have provided classified information to the London-based Azzam Publications about a U.S. Navy battle group as it traveled from California to the Persian Gulf region in 2001. He allegedly “described a recent force protection briefing given aboard his ship, voiced enmity toward America, praised Osama bin Laden and the mujahedeen [and] praised the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole.”

Even Zarqawi invoked the imagery in a 60-minute audio message:

“The martyrs rejoince in the bounty provided by God. Their souls are inside the bodies of green birds that fly in heaven.”

In Fall 2004, the federal authorities indicted the fellow behind Azzam Publications selling “Green Birds,” Babar Ahmad, pointing, in part, to the “distribution of videotapes and compact discs depicting fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere, and the eulogizing of dead fighters, for the purpose of recruiting individuals and soliciting donations to support the mujahideen in Afghanistan and Chechnya.” Of Pakistani descent, Ahmad is a British computer specialist. He is associated with KSM, who had anthrax production documents on his laptop. Ahmad is also the cousin of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested mid-2004 in Pakistan. Khan’s computers carried detailed surveillance of five financial buildings in New York, Newark and Washington and prompted the Department of Homeland Security to elevate the threat alert level to orange.

In an affidavit, an FBI special agent and computer investigative specialist, alleged that a New Brunswick, NJ man, Mazen Mokhtar, assisted Babar in maintaining the continued operation of the Azzam sites, through the use of mirror sites, when the administrators of Azzam sites shut down the Azzam.com site down after 9/11.” The mirror sites, www.qoqaz.net and www.waaqiah.com, allegedly routed people trying to access www.azzam.com. The affidavit alleges that Mr. Mokhtar is listed as the administrative contact for the mirror sites. He also operated minna.com. A friend reports: “He said he used to run a hosting service four or five years ago that used to resell Web hosting services to people. He said he didn’t know those guys (mentioned in court papers) and he is not involved in anything like that.” An Egyptian-born imam and political activist, he is a supporter of Palestinian cause and frequent speaker before groups in Brooklyn and the Bronx. He is said to be a man of peace. He gave a couple of thoughtful presentations in the Fall of 2006 that are online on YouTube, to include to the Muslim Students Associationa at Rutgers University.

Of course, given that the symbolism used in this regard in the anthrax mailings had an origin in religious writing, there is no direct tie with the website — the tie could be with the hadith. The webmaster has said that the FBI allowed it to remain up (while it moved from server to server) for another year hoping to get leads on supporters.

Bin Laden was using “Green Birds” in the same way he used the repeated phrase “Looming Tower” to hint of what was to come with the planes attack on the World Trade Center. He would say:

“Wherever you are, death will find you,

even in the looming tower.”

In a prerecorded tape aired October 7, 2001, at the time of the anthrax mailing to the Senators, Bin Laden said “The winds of faith have come.”

178 posted on 07/17/2007 12:10:01 PM PDT by ZacandPook

Ed writes:

“The senate letters were mailed to two liberal senators. There appears to be no sensible reason why al Qaeda would target those two senators before targeting President Bush, the Pentagon, and dozens of Republican senators and congressmen first. “

Ed apparently forogt about the 747 plane that crashed into the Pentagon or the plane that was shot down over Pennsylvania.

When you uploaded your Al Qaeda argument, you argued that Leahy had NOTHING to do with foreign relations which was both wrong and ignorant, given that his webpage makes clear his very important role. He is author of the Leahy Law pursuant to which appropriations continue to flow even while dozens of Egyptian Islamic Jihad leaders are rendered to places like Cairo and other places and allegedly tortured. Most analysts would agree that this is a central motive for the attacks by the militants and is certainly a motivation keenly felt by Ayman. It is not argued as PROOF that Al Qaeda was involved, it is part of the analysis. To save yourself critical thinking, you just fail to disclose to your readers the key importance of the Leahy Law and the approproations. (Leahy chaired the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee relating to appropriations to Egypt and Israel. You just didn’t know that and avoid disclosing it through your jingoistic ad hominem labels.

The founder of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Kamal Habib and leader of the military wing (who wrote for the IANA quarterly magazine (Timimi’s group) ) told scholar Fawaz Gerges:

“The prison years also radicalized al-shabab [young men] and set them on another violent journey. The torture left deep physical and psychological scars on jihadists and fueled their thirst for vengeance. Look at my hands — still spotted with the scars from cigarette burns nineteen years later. For days on end we were brutalized — our faces bloodied, our bodies broken with electrical shocks and other devices. The torturers aimed at breaking our souls and brainwashing us. They wanted to humiliate us and force us to betray the closest members of our cells.

I spent sleepless nights listening to the screams of young men echoing from torture chambers. A degrading, dehumanizing experience. I cannot convey to you the rage felt by al-shabab who were tortured after Sadat’s assassination.”

In a videotape that circulated in the summer of 2001, Zawahiri said “In Egypt they put a lot of people in jails — some sentenced to be hanged. And in the Egyptian jails, there is a lot of killing and torture. All this happens under the supervision of America. America has a CIA station as well as an FBI office and a huge embassy in Egypt, and it closely follows what happens in that country. Therefore, America is responsible for everything that happens.”

An August 29, 2001 opinion column on Islamway, the second most read site for english speaking muslims, illustrates that the role of “Leahy Law” was known by educated islamists: There is an intolerable contradiction between America’s professed policy of opposition to state-sponsored terrorism, exemplified by the Leahy Law, and the U.S. Congress’ continuing sponsorship of Israeli violence against Palestinians.” The article cited “References: CIFP 2001. “Limitations on Assistance to Security Forces: ‘The Leahy Law’” 4/9/01 (Washington, DC: Center for International Foreign Policy) Center for International Foreign Policy Accessed 8/28/01.Hocksteader, Lee 2001. “The next day, in the same publication, there was an article describing the 21-page document released in Ottawa on August 29, 2001, in which the CSIS claimed that Canadian detainee Jaballah had contacts with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Shehata and sought to deport Jaballah.

But to more fully appreciate why Leahy — a human rights advocate and liberal democrat — might have been targeted as a symbol, it is important to know that Senator Leahy has been the head of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the panel in charge of aid to Egypt and Israel. In addition to the Senate majority leader, anthrax was mailed to the position symbolic of the 50 billion in appropriations that has been given to Israel since 1947 (and the equally substantial $2 billion annually in aid that has been keeping Mubarak in power in Egypt and the militant islamists out of power). In an audiotape received by al-Jazeera and published in October 2002, Zawahiri again pointed to the weapons bought by US appropriations: “As for America, it must expect to be treated the same way that it has committed crimes, like the destruction of the Palestinians’ homes by the Jews using US weapons and like the murder of Muhammad Al-Durra and other Palestinian children by the Jews with US weapons. Then the American people will curse Bush and his administration dead or alive due to the extremely high price they are repaid with.”

That aid goes to the core of Al Qaeda’s complaint against the United States. (The portion going to Egypt and Israel constitutes, by far, the largest portion of US foreign aid, and most of that is for military and security purposes.) Pakistan is a grudging ally in the “war against terrorism” largely due to the US Aid it now receives in exchange for that cooperation. The press in Pakistan newspapers regularly reported on protests arguing that FBI’s reported 12 agents in Pakistan in 2002 were an affront to its sovereignty. There was a tall man, an Urdu-speaking man, and a woman — all chain-smokers — who along with their colleagues were doing very important work in an unsupportive, even hostile, environment. The US agents — whether CIA or FBI or US Army -— caused quite a stir in Pakistan along with the Pakistani security and intelligence officials who accompanied them.

Within a couple weeks after September 11, a report in the Washington Post and then throughout the muslim world explained that the President sought a waiver that would allow military assistance to once-shunned nations. The militant islamists who had already been reeling from the extradition of 70 “brothers”, would now be facing much more of the same. President Bush asked Congress for authority to waive all existing restrictions on U.S. military assistance and exports for the next five years to any country where the aid would help the fight against international terrorism. The waiver would include those nations who were currently unable to receive U.S. military aid because of their sponsorship of terrorism (such as Syria and Iran) or because of their nuclear weapons programs (such as Pakistan). In mid-March 2003, Washington waived sanctions imposed in 1999 paving the way for release in economic aid to Pakistan. Billions more would be sent to Egypt, Israel and other countries involved in the “war against terrorism.”

In late September 2001, the Washington Post quoted Leahy: “We all want to be helpful, and I will listen to what they have in mind.” The article noted that he was chairman of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, which were considering the legislation. “But we also want to be convinced that what is being proposed is sound, measured and necessary and not merely impulsive,” said Leahy. “Moral leadership in defense of democracy and human rights is vital to what we stand for in the world. Acts of terrorism are violations of human rights. Now is the time to show what sets us apart from those who attack us,” he said.

The options being considered in response to the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington included potential cooperation with virtually every Middle Eastern and South and Central Asian nation near Afghanistan. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists” would be the only test for foreign aid. The “Leahy Law” plays a key role in the secret “rendering” of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Al Qaeda) operatives to countries like Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria where they are allegedly tortured. Richard Clarke, counterterrorism czar during the Clinton Administration, has quoted Vice-President Gore saying: “Of course it’s a violation of international law, that’s why it’s a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass.” Although humanitarian in its intent, the Leahy Law permits continued appropriations to military and security units who conduct torture in the event of “extraordinary circumstances.”

In an interview broadcast on al-Jazeera television on October 7, 2001 (October 6 in the US) — about when the second letter saying “Death to America’” and “Death to Israel” was mailed — Ayman Zawahiri echoed a familiar refrain sounded by Bin Laden: “O people of the U.S., can you ask yourselves a question: Why all this enmity for the United States and Israel? *** Your government supports the corrupt governments in our countries.”

A month after 9/11, late at night , a charter flight from Cairo touched down at the Baku airport. An Egyptian, arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities on suspicions of having played a part in the September 11 attack was brought on board. His name was kept secret. That same night the plane set off in the opposite direction. Much of the Amerithrax story has happened at night with no witnesses, with the rendering of University of Karachi microbiology student Saeed Mohammed merely one example. Zawahiri claims that there is a US intelligence bureau inside the headquarters of the Egyptian State Security Investigation Department that receives daily reports on the number of detainees and those detainees that are released. At the time Ayman Zawahiri was getting his biological weapons program in full swing, his own brother Mohammed was picked up in the United Arab Emirates. He was secretly rendered to Egyptian security forces and sentenced to death rendered in the Albanian returnees case.

Throughout 2001, the Egyptian islamists were wracked by extraditions and renditions. CIA Director Tenet once publicly testified that there had been 70 renditions prior to 9/11. At the same time a Canadian judge was finding that Mahmoud Mahjoub was a member of the Vanguards of Conquest and would be denied bail, Bosnian authorities announced on October 6, 2001 they had handed over three Egyptians to Cairo who had been arrested in July. In Uruguay, a court authorized the extradition to Egypt of a man wanted in Egypt for his alleged role in the 1997 Luxor attack. Ahmed Agiza, the leader of the Vanguards of Conquest (which can be viewed as an offshoot of Jihad), was handed over by Sweden in December 2001. Mr. Michael Scheuer the former chief, Bin Laden Unit, defended the extraordinary rendition program he had launched at the request of President Clinton and his advisors before Congress in April 2007.

The commentators like Ed who suggest that Al Qaeda would have had no motivation to send weaponized anthrax to Senators Daschle and Leahy as symbolic targets — because they are liberal — are mistaken and uninformed. The main goal of Dr. Zawahiri is to topple President Mubarak. He views the US Aid as the chief obstacle and is indifferent to this country’s labels of conservative and liberal.

179 posted on 07/17/2007 12:26:19 PM PDT by ZacandPook

Ed writes:

“The letters contained medical advice, and it is clear the sender took numerous precautions to avoid harming anyone. But a True Believer can find some obscure passage in some obscure Muslim writings somewhere which indicate that a good Muslim should warn his enemy before using unusual weapons. ..”

The Koran and hadiths, which Ed calls “obscure publications,” provide extensive guidance on the honorable conduct of warfare. One of the leading non-muslim expert on the subject was Princeton’s Bernard Lewis. For years, Princeton University Middle Eastern history Professor Emeritus Bernard Lewis’ writing on the clash between islam and the west would be translated by the Muslim brotherhood and handed out as pamphlets outside of mosques. After the 1998 “Crusaders” statement by Bin Laden and Zawahiri, Lewis wrote an article “License to Kill, Usama Bin Ladin’s Declaration of Jihad,” in Foreign Affairs: “Obviously, the West must defend itself by whatever means will be effective. But in devising strategies to fight the terrorists, it would surely be useful to understand the forces that drive them.” After 9/11, Lewis, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, admonished the Pentagon Defence Policy Board to consider how much worse the devastation could have been on Sept. 11 if the terrorists had used a weapon of mass destruction —such as Iraq was said to possess. In a September 27, 2001, in an Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal, the 87 year-old historian explained the use of biochemical weapons by Al Qaeda: “the laws of jihad categorically preclude wanton and indiscriminate slaughter. The warriors in the holy war are urged not to harm noncombatants, women and children, ‘unless they attack you first.’ Even such questions as missile and chemical warfare are addressed, the first in relation to mangonels and catapults, the other to the use of poison-tipped arrows and poisoning enemy water supplies. Here the jurists differ— some permit, some restrict, some forbid these forms of warfare. A point on which they insist is the need for a clear declaration of war before beginning hostilities, and for proper warning before resuming hostilities after a truce.

As Ali Al Timimi once explained: “Modern warfare did not exist during those times when they wrote those classical books of fiqh.” The old principles therefore must be relied upon to guide the issue in new times.

Spokesman al-Kuwaiti was giving a plain warning in the Fall 2001 letter claimed — not disclosed until 2006 — that the green light had been given for US -bio attack (1) from folks that were US-based, (2) above suspicion, and (3) with access to US government and intelligence information. “The Truth about the New Crusade: A Ruling on the Killing of Women and Children of the Non-Believers,” by Ramzi bin al-Shibh, argues that “the sanctity of women, children, and the elderly is not absolute” and concludes that “in killing Americans who are ordinarily off limits, Muslims should not exceed four million noncombatants, or render more than ten million of them homeless.” Spokesman Abu Ghaith used the same figure in June 2002 in arguing in favor of the moral right to use biological or chemical weapons.

A book commemorating the September 11 “raid” was published by Majallat al-Ansar and consisted of four essays. It addresses the importance that any attack comply with the laws of Sharia.

While purporting not to want to get entangled in a discussion of the legal technicalities, the author then addressed at length why the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was justified under the laws of sharia.

Vince Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counter-terrorist operations, discussed the requirement of warning under the laws of jihad on NPR in connection with the Al Qaeda audiotape by Bin Laden that aired shortly before the November 2004 election. In the case of anthrax, Ayman Zawahiri likely considers that the warning required under the laws of jihad has been given.

Zawahiri is the grandson of and quite proud of the well-known “Pious Ambassador,” who was President of Cairo University. Dr. Zawahiri is reserving himself a spot in a bad place by reason of his botched analysis of the hadiths and teachings of Mohammed governing warfare (no women, children, noncombatants etc.) The same principles prohibit attacking livestock, crops or wells. Judging by the interpretive texts, it would seem that Al Qaeda and the anthrax mailer has violated the Quran and hadiths by killing noncombatant women and children, and even the aged. It cannot be persuasively argued that those noncombatant women and children and the aged attacked the jihadists first. An infant visiting ABC was infected by the anthrax. Before the military tribunal, KSM says the koran forbids killing children. He noted that warfare is guided by the koran and hadiths. Thus, the harshest judgment may await true believers in another world.

The head of Egyptian Islamic Group, who approved of Sadat’s assassination and was released after a quarter-century in prison, said of 9/11 after a revision of the hadiths on violence and now is likely to be led by a leading Egyptian Islamic Jihad thinker (resulting in a release of up to 5,000 EIJ members):

“The killing of businessmen is forbidden by Islamic law and the World Trade Center was all businessmen. The killing of women and children and old people is forbidden by Islamic law and many of those were killed in the building. The killing of Muslims is prohibited by Islamic law and there were more than 600 Muslim men and women in the Trade Center among those killed.

These are innocent and intelligent spirits and Bin Laden and those with him will have to account for them...and God knows.”

So, Ed, understand that the islamic jurisprudence governing the conduct of warfare is taken very seriously by these pious folks. To properly profile a crime, you need to stand in the shoes of the adversary.

180 posted on 07/17/2007 12:40:48 PM PDT by ZacandPook

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