MR. RUSSERT: But if he ever did that, would we not wipe him off the face of the Earth?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: Who did the anthrax attack last fall, Tim? We dont know.
MR. RUSSERT: Could it have been Saddam?
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I dont know. I dont know who did it. Im not here today to speculate on or to suggest that he did. My point is that its the nature of terrorist attacks of these unconventional warfare methods, that its very hard sometimes to identify whos responsible. Whos the source? We were able to come fairly quickly to the conclusion after 9/11 that Osama bin Laden was, in fact, the individual behind the 9/11 attacks. But, like I say, I point out the anthrax example just to remind everybody that it is very hard sometimes, especially when were dealing with something like a biological weapon that could conceivably be misconstrued, at least for some period, as a naturally occurring event, that we may not know who launches the next attack. And thats what makes it doubly difficult. And thats why its so important for us when we do identify the kind of threat that we see emerging now in Iraq, when we do see the capabilities of that regime and the way Saddam Hussein has operated over the years that we have to give serious consideration to how were going to address it before he can launch an attack, not wait until after hes launched an attack.
Instead, it carefully raised the issue without drawing any conclusions. Interesting.
BTW: Based on the clumsy way the FBI has handled Hatfill lately, I doubt he was privy to any attempt to use him as a temporary diversion. Based on what we see right now, some heads at the FBI should role.
Since no one would misconstrue the anthrax letters as a naturally occurring event, I could not help but wonder if Cheney was privately thinking of West Nile fever when he uttered this phrase.