Posted on 10/15/2001 9:42:07 AM PDT by YaYa123
Stop deleting this report...it is valid!
"WASHINGTON (AP) - A letter opened in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle ``had anthrax in it,'' President Bush (news - web sites) said Monday.
Bush said the envelope was field-tested shortly after being received, and the staffers who have been exposed are being treated.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said ``there may be some possible link'' between Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and a recent flurry of anthrax-related developments.
``I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have any hard evidence,'' he said of the man suspected as the leader behind Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that killed thousands.
A spokesman for Daschle said the suspicious package was received at the majority leader's office in a Senate office building across the street from the Capitol.
Separately, one source said that when it was opened, a powdery white substance fell out. Capitol Police were summoned, the office sealed, and the workers immediately given a text for anthrax exposure. There was no immediate word on the results of those tests.
But Bush, in responding to a reporter's question, said he had just talked with Daschle. ``His office received a letter and it had anthrax in it. The letter was field-tested. And the staffers that have been exposed are being treated.''
The president made his comments after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the latest in a steady stream of foreign leaders to visit Washington in the wake of the terrorist attacks."
My theory is they are targeting "liberal" organizations to make it appear it is a McVeigh-type--all those crazy talk radio types, doncha know. That way, it sows more seeds of discord amongst our citizens. A way to create disunity.
They are not targeting liberals, per se. They are targeting our media and our government, which just happen to be neck deep in liberals.
Yes, I'd care to comment. I'll not only call you cynical, Ruthless and stupid, but several other choice explitives which would get me and my post deleted from FR. Lets just say that I don't think even Daschle or Gephardt would stoop to that level. And to suggest that they would is grossly unfair. We'd be equally upset if it had happend to a prominent Republican Senator or representative and the dems accused us of manufacturing a 'terrorist attack'. Please, don't stoop down to the lowest level of civility. We claim to be better than liberals, let us act like it.
I don't know if you are trying to stir up the muddy water, or you have an ax to grind with people whom you consider to be "right-wing extremists." In either event, none of this begun until we went to war with Islamic Terrorists. We should try to keep away from wild flights of fantasy.
Or he may become a conservative in a fit of fear for his life. Liberals are people who do not have a sense of reality about the world. When people try to kill you, reality has a way of breaking open on you.
Well, its not working on me. I don't feel any pity for them.
Asking everyone to search before they post is important.
Also, we could ask everyone to scan the "Breaking News" before posting their comments - making sure they are writing to the oldest thread.
It doesn't completely remove the problem but it might make pulling the newest threads a little less painful.
Ok, you "right-wing Christian extremists," do you have any envelopes left over to send these people?
It is hard to say. Not just anyone can develop and deliver anthrax. The media keeps saying it is easy but that is relative to other bio/chem weapons. It would still take about $100,000 and the equiptment and know-how.
I don't think the fact that the targets so far have been "liberal" is relevant. A "liberal" label depends on the direction one is going on the political spectrum. Someone to the left of Brokaw would call him conservative.
I still think the most likely suspects are the terrorists who attacked the WTC and Pentagon. They have motive and money and they have shown an interested in bio/chem technology. Not to mention, they have made specific threats against us and we are currently bombing a country that supports them. One would really have to try to find a more likely suspect given the evidence before us.
To raise the VRWC at this point, especially by the NYT, is just a feeble attempt to further a political agenda by playing on public fear.
The bottom line is that, at this point, we don't know who sent the letters but given the evidence at hand, a reasonable person could easily conclude that the Al Qaeda are the most likely suspects.
Of course it's possible. There are lots of nuts out there. But look at it this way: If you threaten a leftist weenie, he starts yelling "Stop the Bombing, Stop the Bombing." If you threaten someone on the right, they yell "Nuke 'em, Nuke 'em." If you were Osama, who would you try to intimidate? Even abroad, these people may be perceived as America's Achilles Heel.
Of course, it might also be the old "Divide and Conquer" routine.
Let the feds figure it out. Whoever is responsible is a terrorist, not matter what nationality, and needs to be caught and brought to justice.
Secondly, if these are actual attacks, then the war's over. US doctrine on bio weapons is "biological = chemical = nuclear". We would be well within our rights to vaporize Afghanistan and call it a day. In fact, we've been warning the rest of the world for years that we would nuke anyone who attacked us this way. If we fail to follow through, then the rest of the world will regard anything we say on the matter as little more than empty threats.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A letter opened Monday in the office of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle "had anthrax in it," President George W. Bush said.
The letter was field-tested twice and in both cases came up positive for anthrax , said Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols. He said the letter was sent to an Army medical research facility for further tests.
"There was an exposure when the letter was opened," Nichols said.
People who were exposed were being treated with Cipro, an antibiotic, said a Capitol physician.
The letter to Daschle was postmarked Sept. 18 from Trenton, New Jersey, said postal inspector Tony Esposito. A letter containing anthrax mailed to NBC television anchor Tom Brokaw also was postmarked Trenton.
Daschle said his office in the Hart building a block from the Capitol had been quarantined and closed. Emergency medical vehicles were parked outside the building.
He said there were 40 people in his office at the time, but that he doesn't know how many of them may have come in contact with the letter. He said he also was gratified that the response was so quick.
"We have to be alert, we have to recognize that the risk is higher than it was a couple of weeks ago but we have to live our lives," he said.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush said "there may be some possible link" between Osama bin Laden and a recent flurry of anthrax -related developments.
"I wouldn't put it past him but we don't have any hard evidence," he said of the man suspected as the leader behind Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that killed thousands.
Within a few hours of the delivery of the letter to Daschle's office, officials in the House and Senate issued orders to all congressional offices to refrain from opening mail.
A memo from the House sergeant-at-arms said the mail would be "picked up ... for additional screening and returned to you as soon as possible."
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said precautions were being taken at the White House with regard to mail, but added she was not aware of any tainted letters being delivered there. She would not provide details on the security measures.
"Like everybody else, we are being very cautious about what we open," Rice said.
The suspicious package was received at the majority leader's office in a Senate office building across the street from the Capitol.
Separately, one source said that when it was opened, a powdery white substance fell out. Capitol Police were summoned, the office sealed, and the workers immediately given a text for anthrax exposure. There was no immediate word on the results of those tests.
But Bush, in responding to a reporter's question, said he had just talked with Daschle. "His office received a letter and it had anthrax in it. The letter was field-tested. And the staffers that have been exposed are being treated."
The president made his comments after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the latest in a steady stream of foreign leaders to visit Washington in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
The president said additional tests are being conducted on the letter. It "had been wrapped a lot," he said, and there was "powder within the confines of the envelope."
He said the powder itself had been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for additional testing.
The disclosure came after days of unsettling reports of anthrax scares in three states, including the death of one man in Florida last week.
"The key thing for the American people is to be cautious," said Bush.
It "could be" the work of just about anyone, for all we know. It is silly to speculate without any actual evidence. Do you have any actual evidence that this is the work of "right-wing extremists"?
I thought about this after seeing the news of the letter addressed to Tom Brokaw.
How does the fact that Tom Brokaw's office received an anthrax attack letter automatically translate to "right-wing extremists" in your mind?
Don't you realize that left-wing extremists hate mainstream media guys like Brokaw just as much as so-called "right-wing extremists"? After all, the mainstream media is CORPORATE CONTROLLED and is IN THE BACK POCKET OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX and has a RIGHT-WING BIAS and is ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF ISRAEL AND REFUSING TO TELL THE PALESTINIAN SIDE OF THINGS!
So as you can see, there is every bit as much reason to leap to the conclusion that left wing extremists attacked Brokaw.
Now, in addition to this news (Daschle),
What about Daschle? You mean because he is on the left side of the spectrum, that must be the reason he was attacked?
Gee now, it couldn't be the fact that he is the most prominent and visible member of Congress in the country, could it? No, it must be because of his political views. Anytime a Democrat is attacked anywhere, for any reason, it's really for his political views. Right?
apparently Schumer/Hillary letters also?
Is this an irresponsible speculation or an irresponsible threat on your part? Obviously it can't be anything other than those to things, because it has no basis whatsoever in reality.
If not, it will become a possible angle for the media.
You got that right. Doesn't mean it is logical.
I agree with you--no one knows who did it, and anything beyond that is speculation. By this time, the feds--the FBI, postal inspectors and who knows who else--have descended upon Trenton NJ.
However, I don't think it's the actual hijackers. They're dead, and even though it has taken one letter eight days to get from one side of my town to the other, it doesn't take over a month for a letter to travel from Trenton to DC--and the one to Brokaw's office was postmarked 9/18, a week after the hijackers killed themselves and 6000 or so others.
Do you have a reference for this? I would be curious. Thanks.
The terrorist attacks would provide ample cover for the kind of folks who would like to stir up a little trouble of their own(remember the "Republic of Texas"?).
You have named one group which "would like to stir up a little trouble". However, there are numerous others. Such as: animal rights extremists, Seattle-type anarchists, Black Panther type black nationalists, the "Aztlan" movement, FALN group which was pardoned by Clinton, and of course domestic Islamicist extremists, etc. I assume then that you consider all these groups as equally like candidates, at the moment. If not, why not?
The anti-Arab bias these attacks have stirred up...
What "anti-Arab bias"? And: Among whom, exactly? Could you be a little more precise than this?
Not to say Osama didn't do it, but simply to suggest that the "domestic terror" angle isn't at all far-fetched. (And who's to say Osama doesn't fund and supply them, too?)
Well, this part is a good point, at least. One wonders what gives you the impression that "right-wing extremists" have a monopoly on domestic terror, however. Ever heard of one Ted Kaczynski?
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