Analysis of Anthrax Letters and Envelopes [Atta Did It?]

InstaPundit.com ^ | June 19, 2002 | Glenn Reynolds

[NativeNewYorker]

I wanted to post this, but lacked the time.

Thanks.

BTTT

[aculeus]

That first UNQUOTE should read QUOTE.

Sorry.

[FR_addict]

This is exactly what I think. They decided to blame some home grown terrorist organization, but this scenario is much more likely.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

As Henry Gibson used to say on Laugh In..."Very interesting"

[KirklandJunction]

Might as well nail Atta for Jon Benet and abortion clinic bombings......our FBI does seem to have a number of uncleared cases.

[steve50]

How did Atta get his hands on the quality of stuff that was sent to Daschle?

[shezza]

This particular scenario has been the one I believed since day one. The proximity to Atta & Co. to the American Media offices, the New Jersey connection of both a high concentration of "radical Islamists" and posting of the letters, the symptoms displayed by both Atta and al-Shehri (flu-like symptoms of AS, chemical burning on Atta's hands--like bleach used as disinfectant)...all WAY too coincidental. Plus the timing. Al Qaeda is still Suspect Number One in my book, regardless of the FBI's protestations that it was a disgruntled federal employee in Maryland or some other such story.

Sun-Sentinel
October 15,2001
FBI questions Delray pharmacist about purchases by hijackers
The FBI has questioned a Delray Beach pharmacist who may have provided antibiotics and skin ointments to suspected hijackers Mohammed Atta and his nephew, Marwan Al-Shehhi.

In the weeks before the Sept. 11 attack, Atta and another man walked into Huber Drug on Atlantic Avenue, searching the aisles with confused looks, pharmacist Gregg Chatterton said.

He remembers them clearly, he said, because most of his customers are elderly, so those men stood out.

After reporters interviewed him about the demand for the antibiotic Cipro to treat anthrax infections, Chatterton said, he began to wonder if the customer with the irritated hands was one of the suspected terrorists. His mind raced: Could the man's hands have turned red after mixing a batch of anthrax and trying to decontaminate himself?

"I looked real closely, and I said, `Wow. Oh God, I recognize that guy. Then I pointed at the guy with the glasses, Al-Shehhi -- they were in here together," Chatterton said on Sunday.

Joann Chappell, the store's pharmacy technician, also recognized Atta and al-Shehhi, plus two suspects, brothers Waleed M. al-Shehri and Wail al-Shehri.

She recalled the brothers walking up and down the aisles and stopping to talk.

[ravingnutter]

They have suspected this since Nov '01, guess this is just a confirmation. Reports indicated that Atta met with Iraqi agents and received anthrax. Those were at first debunked and then confirmed again as true. There were also eyewitness reports of Atta showing up at a pharmacy with red hands. Seems logical.

[ravingnutter]

Thanks for posting that...I did not have time to look up the articles.

[eno_]

Atta got mil-spec anthrax - obviously enough - from a military organization. The most likely source is the Iraqi he met in Prague. There have been no other explanations offered regarding what he was doing in Prague, and Iraq is known to have militarized anthrax. As the post sez: Sometimes things are exactly what they seem to be. The alternatives are all much more complicated and involve improbable coincidences.

[antidisestablishment]

Occam's razor produces clean-shaven terrorists.

[Mike-o-Matic]

   As Henry Gibson used to say on Laugh In..."Very interesting"

Wasn't that actually Arte Johnson? Or are the little voices lying to me again? Tough to remember, I was a toddler at the time.

[Semper Paratus]

Wasn't that actually Arte Johnson?

His funniest laugh-in routine was the dirty old men who would make a suggestive remark to Emily Latilda (Gilda Rander) and get wacked by her pocketbook.

[John H K]

They have suspected this since Nov '01, guess this is just a confirmation

ROFLMAO....once again on FR, anything that supports one's preconceived belief is treated totally without suspicion.

Why should I believe this is ACTUALLY from an FBI document? Anonymously sent to a blogger? Geez, well, it MUST be real.

[epluribus_2]

I believe we (US & W) are withholding this info until the war plans are ready - have since september. They did not want a war whoop about Saddam until the afghan thing was over/under control. The day W presents the ties to Atta/Saddam to the american people, we will already have missles flying or the smoke from the first strike will be just clearing - "My Fellow Americans, in response to the biological attacks on the governing bodies of the United States by the Baath Socialist government of Saddam Hussein, I have ordered our armed forces to immediately take actions to prevent all further uses of weapons of mass distruction by this rogue leader and his military establishment. In the days ahead we will commit the full resources our our might to end this regime..." - it's coming to your screens this fall!

[Mitchell]

I posted much the same scenario on Nov. 21, 2001 (and I've mentioned it several times since). See post #72 on this old FR thread. Here's what I wrote at that time:

Here's a funny idea. Could the two letters mailed on Sept. 18 be dated, signed letters written by Mohamed Atta on the morning of Sept. 11?

Here are the letters (if your window is wide enough, they'll be next to each other):

Brokaw letter	N.Y. Post letter

These two letters are identical to the point that a copy machine was almost certainly used (either one is a copy of the other, or they're both copies of the same original). Look at the four letters of the alphabet that were gone over with a pen, repeatedly and heavily.

Here's what I mean when I ask if these are dated, signed letters. Imagine that the writer of these is basically writing a letter as usual. He starts by putting today's date at the top, flush right the way one would ordinarily date a letter. He then writes the letter. Finally, he'd like to sign it, but he can't. So he finds the letters of his last name in the message and goes over them repeatedly with his pen: A-T-T-A. They're even roughly in a column, making the word ATTA easy to read once you point it out.

Was this letter written by Mohamed Atta on the morning of 9/11, before the World Trade Center attack? Somebody else would have mailed the letters on 9/18, of course. This second person might have done the copying too.

I realize that I'm reading a lot into the way four letters of the alphabet were written; maybe the whole idea is silly. But why were four letters of alphabet, and no others, gone over repeatedly with a pen, making them stand out?

Originally posted on 11/21/01 10:32 AM Pacific by Mitchell

[denydenydeny]

Some weigh-ins on this one, please...

[Mitchell]

Ping.

[Mitchell]

Some weigh-ins on this one, please...

See my post #17 for starters. Of course I have no idea whether this post truly describes an FBI memo, but the scenario outlined is generally believable.