Anthrax, One Year Later

The Washington Post ^ | 01-01-03 | Editorial

[Allan]

SINCE THE DEADLY anthrax mailings more than a year ago, the government's public focus has shifted from the crime to measures necessary to combat bioterrorism and make such attacks more difficult in the future. ....

This record is all the more disturbing because more than a year after the anthrax was let loose through the mail, U.S. authorities have made no arrests.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

"I will trust President Bush. He knows exactly where this originated, but the time is not right to disclose our sources."

Is this blind faith or do you have some reason for thinking this is true?

[Hunble]

Ok, but think about this:

We know exactly where the WMD stuff is being hidden.

Iraq has one final chance to come clean, and we are bending backward to give them that chance.

Today, we have the United Nation inspectors in Iraq, and their one and only job is to verify the location of the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons that Iraq has in it's possession.

The negotiations are only how to destroy these weapons in Iraq once the locations have been established.

Any violation of the treaty signed by Iraq to halt the war in 1991, is a declaration of war once again.

If, anyone on this website can explain to me why Americans should endanger their lives, without fighting back, is more than welcome to talk to me.

[Ditter]

Is the Hamilton PO really that badly contaminated or are they just being overly cautious?

[Nick Thimmesch]

Well, this American looks at Iraq, Iran, et al the same way: nuke 'em all now and let Allah sort 'em out. You know Bush pledged to Putin to reduce our nukes by a third and I know exactly where we can reduce our stockpiles. We paid for 'em: use 'em, NOW.

[Betteboop]

I think they are being overly cautious, however, no one really wants to go back there. They didn't seem to know what to do and the place has been shut down since the event.
Of course, I don't work there, so I don't really know how I would feel if I did!!

[muawiyah]

The problem with the contaminated buildings is you can't just let them stand there, and you can't tear them down until you decontaminate them.

[keri]

We may not know exactly where the WMD stuff is being hidden, (Israel might) but the whole world knows Hussein has them. I think the whole "UN inspector" thing is a dog and pony show. Saddam obviously has WMD; the UN must know that.

We are almost on the same page, hunble. I would like to see the ultimate control freak, his sons, and all their cronies dead. I wish his bio-programs and labs to be utterly demolished. This is different though, from the topic at hand: who attacked us with weaponized anthrax? We don't know, if Cheney is to be believed. Maybe Iraq, maybe not. Personally, I remain skeptical that Iraq produced "this" anthrax.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the links, Saber.

[bonesmccoy]

a growl ping.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for the flag, Allan. I don't know why I bother pinging propaganda.

[The Great Satan]

From an account of the NSC meeting of October 17, 2001 (Bush at War, Bob Woodward, pp 244-245):

They turned to the hot topic of anthrax. The powder in the letter mailed to Senator Daschle's office had been found to be potent, prompting officials to suggest its source was likely an expert capable of producing the bacteria in large amounts. Tenet said, "I think it's AQ" -- meaning al Qaeda. "I think there's a state sponsor involved. It's too well thought out, the powder's too well refined. It might be Iraq, it might be Russia, it might be a renegade scientist," perhaps from Iraq or Russia.

Scooter Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, said he also thought the anthrax attacks were state sponsored. "We've got to be careful on what we say." It was important not to lay it on anyone now. "If we say it's al Qaeda, a state sponsor may feel safe and then hit us thinking they will have a bye because we'll blame it on al Qaeda."

"I'm not going to talk about a state sponsor," Tenet assured them.

"It's good that we don't," said Cheney, "because we're not ready to do anything about it."

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the heads up and the information!

[Travis McGee]

However, the Hamilton (Trenton) post office is still closed and it will never be re-opened. They are going to tear it down and build another facility.

As is the Brentwood PO, one mile from the US Capitol.

And that was after a 3 Gram sample attack.

Now understand that sooner or later we are going to suffer a 100 KILOgram attack on our postal system, UPS, FedEx, airports, seaports, office buildings, subways, etc.

If anyone can tell me that 100 kilograms of anthrax would have been any harder for Saddam to preposition in the USA than for a drug cartel to bring in 100 kilos of cocaine, which they do routinely every damn day, please tell me where my logic breaks down.

Please.

[Travis McGee]

The problem is that some of Saddam's "WMD stuff" may be already hidden in mini storage garages in Indianapolis, Houston, and Orlando.

Or any other places in the USA, all boxed up and ready in hundreds of nice one kilo glass jars.

All Saddam needs to do to "fire" his WMD is inform Al Queda of the locations of the garages, they will do the rest.

Good bye airports, postal system, subways, etc.

Goodbye US econcomy. Hello hunger and fear in the Great Satan.

[Matthew James]

Can't argue with you Trav! (unfortunately)

It's just a matter of time.

[NukeMan]

I can only offer the feeble theory that the cartel guys presumably have more experience at it. Presumably.

[Travis McGee]

I just pinged it to you as a professional. This will be a new "front" in war, and we must prepare.

[Travis McGee]

It's going to be an interesting decade. Buy ammo, and stock up on food stuffs, the transportation infrastructure could easily come unglued.