[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.

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.

[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?

[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.

[Lessismore]

After the signing of the bioweapons treaty, some US biowarfare programs would have been converted to "defensive" studies, while others would have gone completely black.

The anthrax attacks had the effect of providing:

• a psychological link between the attack on the WTC, which used conventional means in an innovative way, with "Weapons of Mass Desctruction", and
• an amplification of the threat from Al Queada, which was essentially a privately run terrorist organization, to a threat associated with state-sponsored terrorism. Motive, means, opportunity.

[Nogbad]

repinging in case anyone missed this

[VRWC_minion]

If the guy or government that created this was smart enough to produce something that our own scientists couldn't fathom maybe they are also smart enough to create the profile indicators that lead them away from the real source ? In other words why can't the bad guys have their own profilers ?

[dalebert]

I think they know who sent it and where it came from.

[mewzilla]

I can't imagine this admin leaking anything to (shudder) Newsweak. Leaking on...well now, that's another story. Are you listening, Spikey?

[marshmallow]

Conclusion: Six months later, we still haven't a clue who or what we're looking for. Just as we haven't a clue about Bin Laden's current whereabouts. When they start doing "psychological profiling" you know they're grasping at straws. Good going, guys.

When people ask me what America needs to do to protect itself, I always say pray fervently to God. The above article is proof that anyone relying on the government or trusting in human means to get us through is sadly deluded.

[Rustynailww]

it is the vtomc.

[American in Israel]

A lone wacko can come up with one new breakthrough if he is lucky, either the coating or the fine grind, but the odds of a single man coming up with two breakthroughs are miniscule. This points to a foreign weapons lab. Lets see, that is the super powers, or the Islamics, the only labs known to be working on bio weapons to the tune of millions of dollars. If this material is far above what America can make, it cost millions more than America has invested.