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New lead roils anthrax probe
washington post via msnbc ^ | 3/28/02

Posted on 03/28/2002 9:10:04 PM PST by knak

Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:11 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

March 29

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Anthrax Scare; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: alhaznawi; anthrax; anthraxscarelist; christostsonas; cutaneousanthrax; ftlauderdale; haznawi; hijackers; pharmacist; pharmacy; tsonas
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To: browardchad
You are making the whole matter much, much too complex. The envelopes need be mailed only once - in Boca Raton. One envelope was dropped in the lobby letter drop. The others were dropped in street collection boxes.

Why do you think they need to be remailed in New Jersey?

You do know this sort of thing is normal - it happens all the time! Single-piece rate First-Class Mail pays the highest price per pound - it gets poor service.

But you knew that didn't you?

The terrorists thought this stuff would all be delivered Monday or Tuesday.

It wasn't!

61 posted on 03/29/2002 2:56:16 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: okie01
Do we know exactly when the terrorists made their flight reservations?

I don't know, but I don't think that's relevant.

They probably would not have made reservations
too long in advance,
in order not to arouse suspicions.

(Though it is clear now,
that the authorities were not competent enough
to check up on such coincidental bookings.)

62 posted on 03/29/2002 3:01:55 PM PST by Nogbad
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To: muawiyah
Why do you think they need to be remailed in New Jersey?

Because the letters received by Dashchle and others had New Jersey postmarks. If they had been sent from Florida they would have had Florida postmarks. The Boca Raton facility was only one post office to have been contaminated; the others included D.C. area facilities (postal worker deaths) and NYC.

I'm not following your reasoning here.

63 posted on 03/29/2002 3:04:08 PM PST by browardchad
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To: muawiyah; keri
The Ames strain refers to something that is in widespread possession.

I think you are very wrong,
however,
I defer to Keri,
if she wishes
to join this discussion.

64 posted on 03/29/2002 3:09:19 PM PST by Nogbad
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To: Nogbad
Yup. Five, in America. Six if you count Dugway's irradiated "Ames" samples.
65 posted on 03/29/2002 3:10:16 PM PST by keri
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To: right_to_defend
). If you see A4 paper in the US it's got Europe written all over it. It is beyond comprehension that the FBI didn't also realize this - therefore the FBI line of a domestic source is a total fabrication.

Many buisnesses in the States which have European offices use A4 paper for documents which will require fax transmission. That way their paper matches the receivers paper and reduction or compression is not required.

66 posted on 03/29/2002 3:11:53 PM PST by copycat
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To: browardchad
Just because a piece of mail has a New Jersey postmark, that does not mean it was mailed there.

If you have ever purchased a first day of issue envelope, it could be postmarked for anywhere in the US, but odds are it was physically present in the salt mines at Kansas City (where they do the cancellation).

What we have here is a small mailing of a handful of envelopes simply tossed into some collection boxes in Florida on a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon (when there is very little mail entered).

USPS puts large trays called "flat trays" in the bottoms of collection boxes. The collections driver pulls them out and places them in the back of his truck as he taps the boxes for mail.

If Mr. Atta dropped the envelopes in several different boxes, we have a situation where a couple of envelopes are in a large tray. The tray is stacked on top of another tray, and another tray is placed inside it - and on and on until we get a stack of trays.

These trays look like they are EMPTY.

Since empty equipment tends to pile up in South Florida, it gets shipped back North. It's stacked up on a pallet and then shrinkwrapped to hold it together for shipment. Mostly empty MTE, or empty mail transport equipment is shipped North to Washington BMC, Philadelphia BMC and the Bulk and Foreign facility in New York Metro.

From there it is sent to large mailers or post offices needing MTE.

As the empty trays are pulled off the stack to be used for new mail to be sent to the post office, any stray Single Piece Rate First Class Mail will be found by the employees (postal or private) and sent over to the dispatch area. The mail will then travel to the post office in a tray thereby bypassing the collection boxes or letter drops at the main office or in stations and branches.

The pieces postmarked in New Jersey DID NOT CONTAMINATE any collection boxes, letter drops or mailboxes anywhere in New Jersey. That means the letters arrived at the Hamilton Twp. facility in a letter tray ready for cancellation at 010.

This also means that the letters probably were in a stack of trays sent to a large private mailer in the area. Since the letters actually were postmarked, that means the mailer happened not to have handled them on his equipment. This is a sign they were identified as "nixies" or "slugs" by his employees. This information was not passed on to the post office which is why the letters were sent through the cancellation machines. This forced some of the anthrax out through the "wings" in the envelopes and led to serious contamination.

The letter carrier there got her anthrax directly from one of the flat trays. They are used by carriers to carry or tote mail from their work stations to their vehicles for delivery. It was just a case of bad luck.

There are fewer mysteries in this than you can believe. The FBI ran after myths and rumors. They should have asked USPS mail processing system analysts what might have happened and then counseled their investigation accordingly. Instead the FBI investigators believed they knew how the USPS works, and unfortunately counseled their investigation with a layman's knowledge.

While the FBI was digging up mailboxes in New Jersey, they did nothing to pursue evidence in Florida.

Others posting here recall my story has been consistent since day one. All evidence uncovered since the attack on AMI was first reported tends to support my thesis.

67 posted on 03/29/2002 4:12:46 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: copycat
Thanks Copycat. I'd almost forgotten that I have European size paper in the office for what little bit of European, Canadian, Mexican, Cuban, Bahamian, Jamaican or South American correspondence I have!

And my printer is readily set to handle it, as is my photocopy machine!

Isn't this amazing - that USAian people have European size paper laying around?

68 posted on 03/29/2002 4:15:26 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: browardchad; The Great Satan; Nogbad; aristeides; Alamo-Girl; keri
Arizmendi was originally thought to be “Middle Eastern,” but was later reported to be “a third-generation US citizen of Spanish-Basque descent.”

I forgot about that. Mohamed Atta is said to have attempted to visit a prisoner in Tarragona Prison in northeastern Spain, in July, 2001. He also is said to have met with Islamic extremists at the nearby Mediterranean resort town of Salou. This was Atta's last known trip to Europe. I don't know who the prisoner was. I wonder if there's a connection with the Basque separatist movement and/or with Arizmendi?

There is one point of confusion about this trip. The prison visit was said to be on July 21, but his itinerary shows that he returned to the U.S. on July 19, so something doesn't quite jibe here (but it could just be a minor mistake in one of the dates).

Here are some more details on Atta's whereabouts at the time. He was in Las Vegas from June 29 to July 1. I don't know where he was for the next few days, but he might have been in Washington, DC, since there's a reference to him being in Washington sometime in July. On July 7, he flew to Spain, renting a car and driving to Salou in the northeast part of the country, One report suggests that he may also have met with Iraqi intelligence agent Habib Faris Abdullah al-Mamouri in Rome in July. He would have visited the Tarragona Prison towards the end of his trip, then driven (to Madrid?) to catch his July 19(?) flight back to the U.S.

69 posted on 03/29/2002 4:23:48 PM PST by Mitchell
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To: muawiyah
Now I follow you.
70 posted on 03/29/2002 6:49:46 PM PST by browardchad
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To: aristeides
I thought that 9-11 was a significant date in the previous Gulf War? Does anybody remember?
71 posted on 03/29/2002 6:59:27 PM PST by terilyn
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To: Nogbad
Great catch on the size of the paper! And I agree with you that it was handled under laboratory conditions!
72 posted on 03/29/2002 8:28:05 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Mitchell
Thank you so much for all the information on Atta's travels. He was in a good position to negotiate for and possibly pickup an anthrax sample.
73 posted on 03/29/2002 8:30:58 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: aristeides
I believe the sentencing hearings were either the 11th or the 12th of September.
74 posted on 03/29/2002 8:33:14 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: right_to_defend
I haven't heard anything about the analysis of the paper. Perhaps it is just as significant what they are not talking about as what they are talking about.
75 posted on 03/29/2002 8:35:03 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Alamo-Girl
They should be able to trace the paper. Probably to a batch of 500,000,000 sheets produced for Wal-Mart, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, and others. Of course, being A4, this would limit things a bit. (A4 is used in the US too, nice aspect ratio for use in copying.)
76 posted on 03/29/2002 8:45:10 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Doctor Stochastic
LOL! Ok, so maybe the paper won't tell them much - but microscopic things on the paper might tell them something. I don't know - but I strongly suspect the NSA knows a lot more than they are revealing and probably for good reason.
77 posted on 03/29/2002 9:12:53 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Nogbad
Two points, the Czech Republic had reported 173 cases of anthrax. One letter containing white powder was sent to the RFEL offices in Prague. No follow-up. The only other case of anthrax. Chile.

A Czech source has been keeping tabs on a Czech Intel site in New York. He indicates that Semtex and Anthrax had been given to some of the Al-Qeada in Prague.

The source feels that Atta had gotten the anthrax in the Czech Republic. From who is the big question. Because no one is following up on the anthrax cases in the Czech Republic, a comparison between the anthrax there and the Ames strain can not be made.

The link between the anthrax case in Chile, the Czech Republic and the U.S. has to be investigated to bring more answers to the questions on the Iraq link.

78 posted on 03/29/2002 9:34:08 PM PST by duck soup
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To: Alamo-Girl
It's the FBI that does this stuff. NSA just listens. See Bamford's two books on them. Fiber analysis is commonly done. Of course, it may lead nowhere.
79 posted on 03/29/2002 9:54:30 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic
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To: Nogbad
I forgot to mention that the anthrax letter was sent from Switzerland to Chile, Atta was spotted in Switzerland during the summer buying a swiss army knife.

He had contacts there.

80 posted on 03/29/2002 9:55:56 PM PST by duck soup
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