Detrick Detox, Frederick News Post, April 25, 2008
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=74188
“Detrick insiders protest Detrick knows its job when it comes to containment and security. But well-documented breaches have occurred at Detrick over the years, incidents publicized in the local and national press, underscoring the wisdom and necessity of the commissioners’ action.
FOX News reported last month that the FBI has narrowed its focus to “about four suspects,” at least three of whom are linked to USAMRIID, including a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist.
FOX talked to a bioterrorism expert who said the Detrick link points out “serious security deficiencies ... the ability of researchers to smuggle out some type of very sophisticated anthrax weapon and in some quantity.”
This revelation goes far beyond calling into question security at Detrick.”
[Then the journalist, unburdened by knowing of these shredded-banana peel type details, advances a “bioevangelist” theory]
It was more than a happy coincidence, however, for Ayman Zawahiri and Mohammed Islambouli (who led a key cell planning the attacks with KSM) that an active supporter of the Taliban and supporter of jihad was a US biodefense insider. Microbiologist Al-Timimi worked in the same building as famed Russian bioweapons scientist Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Charles Bailey, who would come to publish a lot of research with the “Ames strain” of anthrax. Al-Timimi was a current associate and former student of Bin Laden’s spiritual advisor, dissident Saudi Sheik al-Hawali. He would speak along with the blind sheik’s son at charity conferences — the blind sheik’s son served on Al Qaeda’s WMD committee. Al-Timimi’s mentor Bilal Philips was known for recruiting members of the military to jihad. The first week after 9/11, FBI agents questioned Ali Al-Timimi, a microbiology graduate student in a program jointly run by George Mason University and the American Type Culture Collection (”ATCC”). Ali, according to his lawyer, had been questioned by an FBI agent and Secret Service agent in 1994 after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He had a high security clearance for work for the Navy in he late 1990s and in 1996 for two months had worked for the White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card when he was Secretary of Transportation. As time off from his university studies permitted, Ali was an active speaker with a charity Islamic Assembly of North America.
Ed frequently for years argued that if there US-based “accomplices” helping the 911 hijackers, the USG would be talking about it. When, actually, common sense is that instead they would proceed with electronic surveillance in a highly secret investigation. No banana peel would be safe from shredding. When, for example, the 911 Commission Report discussed the Falls Church “911 imam” who knew the hijacker from Kuala Lumpur in both San Diego and Falls Church, Ed just avoided discussing possible US-based supporters. It was easier to argue that the hijackers were “dead, dead, dead” and not explore alternative hypotheses to the Amerithrax crimes. Ed had what is known as “cognitive rigidity.”
Let’s just hope the USG doesn’t lose its — well, a peel.
Let’s break down Ed’s rationale.
“From the very beginning, the facts seemed to say: It wasn’t al Qaeda!”
Okay, so we know he is reaching his conclusion early on when little was known.
A key fact he relies upon is:
“Prime among the facts were all the precautions that the terrorist took to do minimal harm. That by itself said: NOT al Qaeda!”
He is mistaken. The hadiths REQUIRE that warning be given before poison is used.
Then he argues:
“To some diehards in Camp Jingo, any suggestion that the anthrax could have been sent by Americans was ‘anti-American’.”
So he turns to an ad hominem. His best argument is to accuse this leftist of accusing him of being anti-American when actually, for example, I just accuse him of lacking critical reasoning ability and failing to follow the evidence. He takes his opinions and calls them facts, and then capitalizes the word (”FACTS”). Like it is a FACT a first-grader wrote the letters.
Then he argues:
“For a long time after the anthrax attacks, the FBI was apparently in Camp Jingo, too.”
Oops. Ed has omitted on his webpage a link to the press conference where FBI Director Mueller described the motive: “Think 9/11. Think Oklahoma City.” Mueller specifically has pointed to a hatred of US policy as the motive. He specifically has pointed to the risk of theft of biochemistry information by a university grad student. And the FBI has expressly discussed searches in Kabul and Kandahar under a theory that anthrax was stolen from some place like Ft. Detrick and brought there.
Continuing his “ad hominem” labeling approach, Ed argues:
“All the “new” evidence that al Qaeda was behind the anthrax attacks pertained to people who died on September 11th! But to those in Camp Jingo, the fact that those terrorists were all dead is merely “proof” that there must have been an unidentified accomplice.”
Here he has combined his ad hominem approach with a “straw man” argument. He is insulting a scare crow.
Ed argues:
“This supposed “unidentified accomplice” even warned the media people receiving the anthrax that they should take penicillin, and he told the Senators that the powder in the letters was anthrax. This particular terrorist sends germs through the mail along with information about how to protect yourself from the germs! Clearly this accomplice must be the ‘white sheep’ of the al Qaeda terrorist family, since he tried in numerous and various ways to avoid hurting anyone!”
Not having bothered to read anything about the raging debate about targeting innocents and the tactics that are effective in jihad — or the desire of some to use political means — Ed mistakenly dismisses an Al Qaeda theory because he does not realize that some do not fully subscribe to Ayman’s fanatical approach to tactics. Ed also forgets that the perp(s) may have only had a small amount of anthrax to use.
“And, of course, as America retaliated for the 9-11 attacks, fellow al Qaeda members were being wiped out all across the globe, yet the peace-loving al Qaeda ‘white sheep’ member apparently couldn’t bring himself to again use the anthrax weapon he had used twice previously.”
Ed here might have overlooked that the CIA and FBI has been kicking butt in Amerithrax for years and Ed is just not very good at reading the banana peels.
Atef was blown to smithereens in November 2001. Anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat was captured in December 2001 etc
A robust debate of alternative theories is a good thing. (Ed’s entire approach to debunking a Hatfill Theory is an ad hominem approach to one of its proponents, BHR). Instead, we should follow the evidence. Which for starters requires considering the evidence supporting the alternative theories (without resorting to ad hominem argument which is logically fallacious).
But it’s not too late. Ed, you should explore the hypothesis that US-based supporters of the jihadists are responsible, as should you TrebleRebel. You’ve got silica on the brain. When the undisputed finding by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that silica was detected merely is a key pointer to the access of know-how or product that occurred here (which is why the USG needed to allow the issue to be clouded/suppressed).
Ed stood ready to serve his country by so totally confusing the issue on silica. Ed, you are a True American.