Report Linking Anthrax and Hijackers Is Investigated

New York Times ^ | 3/23/02 | WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID JOHNSTON

[kattracks]

he two men identified themselves as pilots when they came to the emergency room of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last June. One had an ugly, dark lesion on his leg that he said he developed after bumping into a suitcase two months earlier. Dr. Christos Tsonas thought the injury was curious, but he cleaned it, prescribed an antibiotic for infection and sent the men away with hardly another thought.

But after Sept. 11, when federal investigators found the medicine among the possessions of one of the hijackers, Ahmed Alhaznawi, Dr. Tsonas reviewed the case and arrived at a new diagnosis. The lesion, he said in an interview this week, "was consistent with cutaneous anthrax."

Dr. Tsonas's assertion, first made to the F.B.I. in October but never disclosed, has added another layer of mystery to the investigation of last fall's deadly anthrax attacks, which has yet to focus on a specific suspect.

The possibility of a connection between the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent anthrax-laced letters has been explored by officials since the first anthrax cases emerged in October. But a recent memorandum, prepared by experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, and circulated among top government officials, has renewed a debate about the evidence.

The group, which interviewed Dr. Tsonas, concluded that the diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax, which causes skin lesions, was "the most probable and coherent interpretation of the data available." The memorandum added, "Such a conclusion of course raises the possibility that the hijackers were handling anthrax and were the perpetrators of the anthrax letter attacks."

A senior intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, had recently read the Hopkins memorandum and that the issue has been examined by both the C.I.A. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"No one is dismissing this," the official said. "We received the memo and are working with the bureau to insure that it continues to be pursued."

In their public comments, federal officials have said they are focusing largely on the possibility that the anthrax attacks were the work of a domestic perpetrator. They have hunted for suspects among scientists and others who work at laboratories that handle germs.

The disclosure about Mr. Alhaznawi, who died on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, sheds light on another front in the investigation. Senior law enforcement officials said that in addition to interviewing Dr. Tsonas in October and again in November, they thoroughly explored any connection between the hijackers and anthrax. They said the F.B.I. scoured the cars, apartments and personal effects of the hijackers for evidence of the germ, but found none.

Dr. Tsonas's comments add to a tantalizing array of circumstantial evidence. Some of the hijackers, including Mr. Alhaznawi, lived and attended flight school near American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., where the first victim of the anthrax attacks worked. Some of the hijackers also rented apartments from a real estate agent who was the wife of an editor of The Sun, a publication of American Media.

In addition, in October, a pharmacist in Delray Beach, Fla., said he had told the F.B.I. that two of the hijackers, Mohamad Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, came into the pharmacy looking for something to treat irritations on Mr. Atta's hands.

If the hijackers did have anthrax, they would probably have needed an accomplice to mail the tainted letters, bioterrorism experts knowledgeable about the case said. The four recovered anthrax letters were postmarked on Sept. 18 and Oct. 9 in Trenton. It is also possible, experts added, that if the hijackers had come into contact with anthrax, it was entirely separate from the supply used by the letter sender.

For his part, Dr. Tsonas said he believed that the hijackers probably did have anthrax.

"What were they doing looking at crop-dusters?" he asked, echoing experts' fears that the hijackers may have wanted to spread lethal germs. "There are too many coincidences."

In recent interviews, Dr. Tsonas, an emergency room doctor, said Mr. Alhaznawi came into the hospital one evening in June 2001, along with a man who federal investigators believe was another hijacker, Ziad al-Jarrah, believed to have taken over the controls of United Flight 93.

They used their own names, he added, not aliases.

"They were well-dressed foreigners," he said. "I assumed they were tourists."

The men explained that Mr. Alhaznawi had developed the ulcer after hitting his leg on a suitcase two months earlier. Dr. Tsonas recalled that Mr. Alhaznawi appeared to be in good health, and that he denied having an illness like diabetes that might predispose him to such lesions. The wound, he recalled, was a little less than an inch wide and blackish, its edges raised and red.

Dr. Tsonas said he removed the dry scab over the wound, cleansed it and prescribed Keflex, an antibiotic that is widely used to combat bacterial infections but is not specifically recommended for anthrax.

The encounter lasted perhaps 10 minutes, Dr. Tsonas said.

He took no cultures and had no thoughts of anthrax, a disease at that time was extremely rare in the United States and was unfamiliar even to most doctors.

In October, amid news reports about the first anthrax victims, Dr. Tsonas, like other doctors, threw himself into learning more about the disease. An incentive was that his hospital is relatively near American Media, so victims there might come to Holy Cross for treatment.

Dr. Tsonas said he forgot entirely about the two men until federal agents in October showed him pictures of Mr. Alhaznawi and Mr. Jarrah, and he made positive identifications.

Then, agents gave Dr. Tsonas a copy of his own notes from the emergency room visit and he read them. "I said, `Oh, my God, my written description is consistent with cutaneous anthrax,' " Dr. Tsonas recalled. "I was surprised."

He discussed the disease and its symptoms with the agents, explaining what else could possibly explain the leg wound. A spider bite was unlikely, he said. As for the hijacker's explanation — a suitcase bump — he also judged that unlikely.

"That's a little unusual for a healthy guy, but not impossible," he said.

After his meetings with F.B.I., Dr. Tsonas was contacted early this year by a senior federal medical expert, who asked him detailed questions about the tentative diagnosis.

Last month, experts at Johns Hopkins also called Dr. Tsonas, saying they, too, were studying the evidence. The Hopkins analysis was done by Dr. Thomas Inglesby and Dr. Tara O'Toole, director of the center in Baltimore and an assistant secretary for health and safety at the federal Energy Department from 1993 to 1997.

In an interview, Dr. O'Toole said that after consulting with additional medical experts on the Alhaznawi case, she was "more persuaded than ever" that the diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax was correct.

She said the Florida mystery, as well as the entire anthrax inquiry, might benefit from a wider vetting.

"This is a unique investigation that has many highly technical aspects," she said. "There's legitimate concern that the F.B.I. may not have access to the kinds of expertise that could be essential in putting all these pieces together."

John E. Collingwood, an F.B.I. spokesman, said the possibility of a connection between the hijackers and the anthrax attacks had been deeply explored.

"This was fully investigated and widely vetted among multiple agencies several months ago," Mr. Collingwood said. "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been. While we always welcome new information, nothing new has in fact developed."

[Nogbad]

ping

[Nogbad]

ping

[muawiyah]

Yes, it is disinformation. You did not see a single postal operations specialist quoted or even cited in the article.

All you have here are yet more medical personnel and FBI stakeout specialists spouting off nonsense about how the post office works in New Jersey. Frankly, if you want to get your mail handled correctly, you would talk to a postmaster and not to an FBI agent. It is the same here. The FBI is totally out of its water in this and the USPS is not speaking publicly.

The stuff was all mailed in Florida; most likely on September 8 or 9.

It ended up being erroneously transported to Philadelphia Bulk Mail Center where it was then once again transported to the Hamilton Twp. facility or to a commercial mailer in the area.

These letters did not come into the Hamilton Twp facility through normal letter mail collection operations.

In fact, except for the phoney-baloney return addresses on the pieces, none of this has any thing to do with New Jersey. 100% of the evidence concerning the movement of this mail points to Boca Raton as the point of origin.

[Nogbad]

"There was a report several months back,
that one of the 19 resided in
(not just travelled to)
a couple dozen cities across the USA
(including several places in NJ)."

Do you recall who this was?

Probably was Hani Hanjour.
He had been in the USA on and off since 1990.
The only one of the 19 who was a long time 'sleeper'.

[Mitchell]

The stuff was all mailed in Florida; most likely on September 8 or 9.
It ended up being erroneously transported to Philadelphia Bulk Mail Center where it was then once again transported to the Hamilton Twp. facility or to a commercial mailer in the area.

According to the USPS, the Philadelphia Bulk Mail Center tested negative for anthrax on 11/7/2001. Why would the envelopes have shed anthrax spores in Boca Raton and Hamilton, but not in Philadelphia, if that's really the route that they took?

[Mitchell]

Probably was Hani Hanjour. He had been in the USA on and off since 1990. The only one of the 19 who was a long time 'sleeper'.

Thanks.

[razorback-bert]

Ragtime

[muawiyah]

It has to do with the way the envelopes were "stored".

Down in Boca Raton they had been dropped in collection boxes in a wealthy neighborhood. Ordinarily these boxes receive little or no mail, but they are watched closely by retired coupon clippers who are always ready, willing and able to file a complaint.

Atta, et al, dropped the envelopes into such boxes. At that point in the cycle the tape on the envelopes was still working and the anthrax had not yet penetrated the paper. Odds are no contamination whatsoever was left behind on the collection boxes, whether on the lid, or inside. In any case, all of these collection boxes have a flat tray on the inside. Whatever mail is dropped in is collected in the flat tray. One letter drops in - it goes in the tray.

When the boxes are pulled for collection, the normal course is to pull the tray out, look to see if any mail fell behind the tray, and then put the tray into the collection vehicle. A new but empty tray is then placed into the collection box which is then closed and locked.

At the end of the route all the trays full of mail are set on the carrier apron or on the acceptance and/or dispatch platform. Given that the area where these envelopes were placed was repleat with watching wealthy and elderly people, the collection employees have learned very well how to avoid complaints and criticism.

Accordingly he or she stacked up all the trays collected and placed them on the platform together. Unfortunately (but, as usual) the trays were mistaken for empty equipment. Typically the collection boxes would be only lightly used anyway if this happened on a Saturday afternoon, that is September 8, 2001.

Saturday evening operations are light, and the next step for these apparantly empty trays was for them to be placed on a pallet with a number of others, get shrink wrapped, and then dispatched NORTH to a BMC or other facility which would then route them to MPCs and AOs for use.

These trays could also be routed directly to Jacksonville or Greensboro BMCs for delivery on to a major mailer, or redirect to yet another BMC. As I recall South Florida empty equipment is frequently returned directly to Philadelphia BMC (in short, on a return trip on vans pulled by tractors already contracted to make the Philadelphia to S. Florida standard mail runs.) (It can be much more complex than this, of course.)

Remember that under this scenario these envelopes are snug and secure in the bottom of flat trays with yet another flat tray inserted as a plug. They are further encased in shrink wrap. The anthrax spores have not yet penetrated the paper (although that will certainly happen within 2 weeks - we know that because it did!).

Wherever these trays go, the mailer or other user will begin working them down from the top. Since these letters were postmarked in 010, we must presume that the USPS employee or mailer employee who grabs the tray to use it sees the letter, recognizes that it is a piece of FCM and tosses it over to a tray being routed to a preferential mail operation. Remember, too, flat trays are for flats and letter trays are for letters. A letter in a flat tray is a mistake. This time the mistake was corrected.

The large commercial mailer that could have been the destination point for these letters was one of 8 in the Trenton area. Someone should check them all out for signs of anthrax contamination. Or, maybe the trays were put into service right there in Trenton. We know where the contamination is there. Did they check the trays? Probably not! That's how the folks in NY and CT got infected - by the time these trays were emptied in NJ they had been contaminated, and if they were then filled with other mail, it too would be contaminated. Notice that the very next person infected with anthrax was a letter carrier there in New Jersey. It is normal to take mail out to the carrier apron in a flat tray! It takes but seconds to demonstrate how a flat tray works as an atomiser.

So, the issue now is why the Philadelphia BMC showed no contamination? Well, the answer is none of the anthrax got loose from the envelopes as they passed through Phily BMC - they were wrapped exceedingly well, and the polywrap the USPS is not only strong, it can create an airtight surface.

Is there another objection to my scenario which has the pieces mailed in Boca Raton, the only place yet to show contamination of any mail acceptance equipment, and yet be canceled in New Jersey?

[Mitchell]

The Iraq-9/11-anthrax plot thickens. I found an interesting article in the Guardian Observer. Ziad Jarrah, mentioned as accompanying al-Haznawi to the doctor when the latter contracted cutaneous anthrax, is said to have met with an Iraqi agent in 2001, as Mohamed Atta is also widely reported to have done.

Here's the story:

Atta shared an apartment in Hamburg with Jarrah and also with Atta's cousin Marwan al-Shehri. These three were apparently operational leaders of the 9/11 plot, as they are thought to have been at the controls of three of the planes.

Anyway, as we've read many times, Atta met twice in Prague with a senior, highly decorated Iraqi agent, Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, the first time in June, 2000, and again in the early part of April, 2001. But here's what's new to me: Jarrah and al-Shehri also met with an Iraqi agent or agents some time after Atta's second meeting, this time in the United Arab Emirates.

So we now have three leaders of the 9/11 attack (based on their being at the controls of three of the hijacked airliners) connected with Iraq, and and at least one of the three (Jarrah) specifically connected with anthrax (having accompanied al-Haznawi to the doctor). [I also think that Atta is connected to the anthrax mailings, although in a more circumstantial way, because of the apparent signature A-T-T-A in highlighted letters in two of the anthrax notes.]

[The Great Satan]

Good find. None of this should surprise us in the least.

[Alamo-Girl]

Great catch!!!!

[Mitchell]

Thanks very much for taking the time to write such a detailed reply.

There's one thing I don't understand. Why does the USPS shrink-wrap stacks of empty trays?

[ConservativeLawyer]

I have a question for you:

If, as in your theory, the anthrax letters were actucally mailed from Boca Raton, but were accidentially transported to New Jersey where they were cancelled and sent on for delivery, isn't it too much of a coincidence that the terrorist thought to write a New Jersey return address on the envelope?

I'm not sure I buy it.

[The Great Satan]

My vibe on this is increasingly that the Broad wandered off the reservation and dug up the story himself. It wouldn't be the first time the New York Times has undercut the government line on l'affaire anthrax. Somebody posted that Ashcroft was still waffling about "domestic" sources on MTP today. Now, it may be that they want to do a gentle segue rather than an about face -- a graduated limited hangout, so to speak -- but this does not sound encouraging. Again, if this is just a case of a journalist getting off his butt and making some phone calls instead of re-writing government press releases, then we have no grounds for optimism that the threat has been assessed as manageable. And, truly, I don't see how the threat could become "manageable," short of gross incompetence on the part of Saddam Hussein in the design of the anthrax plot. It is rather depressing nonetheless.

[The Great Satan]

Thank you. I think muawiyah means well, but he is totally off base. It's a distraction. When it comes to the anthrax, there are too many distractions, too many red herrings.

[Mitchell]

My vibe on this is increasingly that Broad wandered off the reservation and dug up the story himself. It wouldn't be the first time the New York Times has undercut the government line on l'affaire anthrax. Somebody posted that Ashcroft was still waffling about "domestic" sources on MTP today. Now, it may be that they want to do a gentle segue rather than an about face -- a graduated limited hangout, so to speak -- but this does not sound encouraging. Again, if this is just a case of a journalist getting off his butt and making some phone calls instead of re-writing government press releases, then we have no grounds for optimism that the threat has been assessed as manageable. And, truly, I don't see how the threat could become "manageable," short of gross incompetence on the part of Saddam Hussein in the design of the anthrax plot. It is rather depressing nonetheless.

I don't think this is just an enterprising reporter. This was leaked, although probably not from the FBI.

First of all, this isn't an isolated report bringing up Iraq. There was the New Yorker article and the reverberations from that. At the same time, John Doe #2 and the Iraqi connection to the Oklahoma City bombing are suddenly brought up again and considered credible by the media. And there's this new anthrax-9/11 connection, with the implicit link to Iraq. This is all against the backdrop of Vice-President Cheney drumming up support for an attack on Iraq, virtually in public.

Secondly, it's hard to see how reporter's legwork would yield this story. Consider: a memo was written at the Johns Hopkins bioterrorism group which was circulated among top government officials. And then the newspaper report came out.

The most likely explanation is that one of these "top government officials" decided that it was time to get this out there, that the public had to be prepared for war with Iraq, and that they had to start deflating the Rosenberg thing. [It's almost true that anything that's widely circulated among top government officials gets leaked. The reports may not be believed -- witness some of the leaks about Vince Foster -- but they'll be leaked. After all, if lots of people know something, anyone can leak with impunity, since the source can't be easily determined.]

Alternatively, maybe the government officials did nothing, and the people at Johns Hopkins were dismayed that the memo had apparently not been taken seriously. So possibly someone at Johns Hopkins leaked it, just to bring it out and force the government to pay attention to it.

In any case, waiting for the threat to become "manageable" is wishful thinking. (This seems to have been Clinton's policy.) The fact is that the longer we wait, the more unmanageable the threat becomes. I'm sure the decision has been made that we just have to take whatever Saddam Hussein throws at us, because if we wait 10 years, it will be much worse. If we do it now, we will win. although it may be painful. In 10 years, it will be much more painful, and we may not even be able to win by that time. In other words, it's a war that will have to be fought sooner or later, and it's greatly to our advantage to do it sooner.

[The Great Satan]

Where I would take issue with you is that I do not believe that there are warring factions within the government trying to get control over public perceptions, and competing with each other to get their spin out. IMO, everything is coming from the top. I cannot imagine Bush tolerating infighting on a matter of this gravity. I also believe that, if you watch very carefully, all official actions and statements fit into a coordinated plan. Since that plan involves a certain degree of misdirection and secrecy, and probably some outright lying, it has sometimes been undercut by indpendent journalistic inquiry. However, most "connected," elite media journalists got to be that way by keeping their heads down, so the problem is limited. The misdirection has also carefully exploited built-in media biases, e.g. towards seeing camo-clad, Bible-thumping militiamen and venal defense contractors and rogue CIA men under every bed, to contain this problem, so far with considerable success.

[The Great Satan]

Apologies for the more-than-usually fractured prose -- I'm ready for bed. G'night.

[bvw]

From converstations with my brother, I gather that at the Trenton Post Office they were unable to mesh up the types of trays and where the trays came from with the carriers and handlers who came down with anthrax. So I'm considering your theory, but there are four things weighted toward a drop in the Trenton area:

1. The return addresses are central Jersey.
2. The actual anthrax in Trenton.
3. The report --Great Satan has posted it before -- of the men arrested who were seen holding a clear plastic bag with envelopes in it.
4. Other reports of Arab/Paki terrorists in the Central Jersey area.

[bvw]

I do not believe that there are warring factions within the government trying to get control over public perceptions, and competing with each other to get their spin out. IMO, everything is coming from the top.

"Warring" is too strong a word in present context, but, yes there are intra and inter agency turf battles, and battles between state and federal officials, and alliances etc. etc.