MAG: Mailed Anthrax 'More Sophisticated Than Any Form Previously Known'

Newsweek via MSNBC ^ | 4/7/02 | Mark Hosenball, John Barry and Daniel Klaidman

[Brian Mosely]

Last fall FBI profilers announced that the person who sent deadly anthrax-laced letters to news organizations and Capitol Hill was probably a grudge-bearing, sociopathic male laboratory nerd with knowledge of the geography of Trenton, N.J. But a new scientific analysis sent to top government officials suggests the anthrax attacker may be a scientific whiz so smart that he succeeded in making a

[Jeff F]

It was leaked in Newsweek which means the leakers wanted a wide mainstream distribution of the info. If this is later followed up with later more official reports that the strain is from Iraq, we will know that an invation will be mounted soon.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #2

Too much attention has been paid to the top-secret military bioweapon programs. They want this attention to be deflected. Whether any of employees there were involved or not we do not know. But even if they are innocent, they won't be waiting until people's interest naturally take its course and die out. They want to stop it now.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Using psychological profiles and earlier scientific analyses, the FBI had begun to focus on the possibility that the anthrax letters might have been sent out by a disgruntled scientist or technician who once worked on a U.S. government biological-weapons program. Court records indicate that over the last several years, budget cuts and layoffs at Fort Detrick, the Frederick, Md., Army base which houses the U.S. government’s main germ-weapons lab, produced a platoon of disgruntled former employees with microbiological expertise and possible grievances against the government."

Absolute complete bull-grunty. Any biological scientist with this kind of expertise would go to work IMMEDIATELY for almost any biotech company at a salary vastly exceeding whatever the government might have paid. "Disgruntled US Scientist" my rear end.

I am still convinced that the anthrax came from a foreign power's weapons lab (and why no mention of the Chinese??--they have been working on bioweapons as long or longer than the Russians) and was obtained and distributed by the same Muslim fanatics who downed the WTC towers.

[Dialup Llama]

Last fall FBI profilers announced that the person who sent deadly anthrax-laced letters to news organizations and Capitol Hill was probably a grudge-bearing, sociopathic male laboratory nerd with knowledge of the geography of Trenton, N.J.

Who for some inexplicable reason first decided to attack the newspaper owned by the husband of Mohammed Atta's former landlord. Talk about your shot in the dark! What a conincidence!

[Dialup Llama]

>Last fall FBI profilers announced that the person who sent deadly anthrax-laced letters to news organizations and Capitol Hill was probably a grudge-bearing, sociopathic male laboratory nerd with knowledge of the geography of Trenton, N.J.

Where do grude bearing nerds go to get their reputations back? Its hard enough to be a lone, angry, right wing scientist, but to put up with this on top of it all!

[Lizzy W]

U.S.S.R., could have put together such a team. They have no leads on its possible existence, however. Another possibility is that an American scientific psycho bought the anthrax from a foreign government team. But there is no evidence to back this theory, either.

How kind of Newsweek to put forth this caveat. There's no evidence that a Right Wing Republican^TM did it either, but that hasn't stopped the press from presenting it as fact.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #6

It is possible that they do not have conclusive evidence of Iraqi connection even though evidences gathered so far stronly pointed toward Iraq. Naturally, the production of this bioweapon is a top secret program. CIA/FBI may not know what is going on in Iraqi lab until you find a person who worked there or go to that place themselves. That may be what they are doing now. Try to find an employee who would defect or send a team of SpecOps to suspected sites. If this is true, the timing of war also depends on the success of this endeavor. Once this is turned out to be true, Arab solidarity can mean nothing when it comes to put pressure on America.

[Dog]

FYI!!!!!!!!!

[Dog]

IMHO....I don't think this came from Iraq.........Iran is my guess.....nothing really to go on but just a hunch.

Everybody is looking at Iraq......but I would watch Iran.....we are moving our base out of Saudi Arabia...and moving into Qatar...just across the Gulf from Iran..

[Ranger]

A couple of things have really bothered me:

1. The sites in Florida and NJ where the packages originated are in either heavy muslim populated areas or near known terrorists killed in the 9-11 attack. The coincidence factor is just too hard to believe. Further if it were a lone domestic nut who did it, why would he travel to two distant states (FL & NJ) to send packages to two other areas (NY & DC). Such a smart scientist would realize his chance of being spotted making the mail drop would go up in each case...unless of course the ones that dropped the packages off are dead.

2. The strain of anthrax seems to be described as different. The earlier ones where described as the Ames strain. This is now claimed to be a natural strain out of Texas. What is correct? Also it specifically links the Leahy indicent to Texas but the prior ones to Ames? Multiple sources of anthrax?

3. The fact that the anthrax is more finely ground and uses chemical treatments which enhance its dispersion versus US government projects over 30 years ago shouldn't be a surprise either as both grinding technologies and surface treatments have surely improved in the commercial sector since then.

Anyway I get the gut feeling that every time the press shows some intense interest in the subject, a sliver of information, perhaps misleading, is leaked by the feds. But why?

[The Great Satan]

Yep. It is beginning to look like the "bombshell" in the NYT a couple of weeks back -- the revelation that the FBI knew as far back as last October that one of the 9-11 team was treated for cutaneous anthrax -- was the start of a phasedown in the "domestic source" misdirection campaign. That story is "no longer operative," but the news must be broken to the public gently, in baby steps.

Recall that, around New Year, Dubya was asked what he expected for 2002. He predicted a year of war. Yesterday, he told us that he has decided to remove Saddam Hussein. Two weeks ago, Tony Blair's government took the unprecedented step of explicitly threatening Iraq with nuclear retaliation if Saddam should use biological or chemical weapons on "our troops" (read: "our people").

Not hard to see where this is going, is it?

[The Great Satan]

The earlier ones where described as the Ames strain. This is now claimed to be a natural strain out of Texas.

The Ames strain was originally harvested from a cow in Texas. This Washington Post story will fill you in on what happened after that: Deadly Anthrax Strain Leaves a Muddy Trail

[genefromjersey]

I have been exploring ( in a very general sort of way, and as a private individual ) the possibility the Cubans may have been responsible.

1. The Cubans have had bio capability - including very sophisticated labs- for a number of years;
2. The Cubans have a history of cooperation with Iraq, and other mideast nations;
3. The Cubans have launched a number of initiatives against the US-primarily in the area of espionage;
4. The arrest of Cuba's highest placed deep-cover spy ( a US Citizen of Puerto Rican background ) leads me to believe they have a small, but effective network set up in our indigenous Puerto Rican population;
5. Cuba ( and the former Iron Curtain countries ) are among the few places in the world that would consider penicyllin an effective antidote to anthrax-mainly because the drug has been so scarce it has not been widely used there.
6. The mis-spelling of penicyllin in the notes is somewhat consistent with the correct spelling of the drug in Spanish.

I know we have a few "Federales" who visit this site: consider this a possibility worth looking at !

[AdA$tra]

I think this and the OK City bombing both have foriegn involvement. I think ther were intentionally made to look like right wing extremests were responsible. This strategy divdes Americans across idealogical lines. In contrast, by flying planes into buildings, terrorist pulled us together with the resolve to make war.