Md. Anthrax Scientist Dies in Suicide
Grand Jury Was Preparing to Indict Bioweapons Expert for Role in 2001 Anthrax Attacks
By Carrie Johnson, Del Quentin Wilber and Carol Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 1, 2008; 3:28 PM
A Maryland scientist who committed suicide this week was about to be indicted in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and terrorized the country, two sources familiar with the investigation said today.
Prosecutors were considering whether to seek the death penalty against Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked at an elite U.S. Army bioweapons laboratory in Fort Detrick, the sources said.
Paul F. Kemp, a criminal defense lawyer in Bethesda who has represented Ivins for the past year, declined to comment today but issued a statement that confirmed the federal investigation. He also asserted Ivins' innocence.
"For more than a year, we have been privileged to represent Dr. Bruce Ivins during the investigation of the anthrax deaths of September and October of 2001," Kemp said. "We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial.
"The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation. In Dr. Ivins' case, it led to his untimely death. We ask that the media respect the privacy of his family, and allow them to grieve."
In the last few weeks, Kemp, an experienced death penalty attorney, had been appointed to represent Ivins at public expense because Ivins was in danger of losing his job upon indictment, one source said.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) said they had made "substantial progress" in the investigation using "new and sophisticated scientific tools."
But they refused to provide any details, saying they had significant obligations to the victims of these attacks and their families that must be fulfilled before any additional information on the investigation can be made public. In addition, investigative documents remain under court seal."
One source who has been briefed on the investigation said Ivins had been under intense FBI scrutiny for weeks if not months and that wiretaps were used in the investigation. Authorities' working theory is that Ivins sought to highlight U.S vulnerability to such attacks.
Dr. David Fowler, chief medical examiner in Maryland, said Ivins was admitted to the hospital Sunday morning and died 10:47 a.m. Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital. The cause of death was listed as an overdose of acetominophen, the active drug in Tylenol, which causes liver failure over several days. Fowler affirmed the the death was ruled a suicide, based on doctors reports, the condition of the body and recent events in his life.
In a July 24 petition to a Frederick County court seeking protection from Ivins, a woman claimed that he had threatened her with violence, stalked her and harrassed her.
"Client has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans...toward theripist [sic]," Jean Duley claimed in a hand-written note. "FBI involved, currently under investigation and will be charged w/5 capital murders. I have been subpoena [sic] to testify before a federal grand jury August 1, 2008 in Washington, D.C."
The Los Angeles Times first reported in today's editions that a federal grand jury in Washington had been gathering testimony about Ivins's alleged involvement in the attacks, and that Ivins had been notified that criminal charges were looming.
Fort Detrick, located 50 miles north of Washington, has been a focus of Justice Department and FBI investigators for nearly six years, since anthrax-laced letters arrived at media organizations and Senate offices shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The anthrax mailings killed five people, including two postal workers at the Brentwood Road facility in the District, and sickened 17 others, spreading fear on Capitol Hill and across the country only weeks after hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
For the past several months, the grand jury had been hearing testimony from scientists who worked alongside Ivins at Fort Detrick, performing research on inhaled anthrax spores, according to the Times report. While the Times report said Ivins worked in the elite biodefense lab since 1990, the News-Post obituary said he had been a scientist at Fort Detrick for 36 years.
Kemp said Ivins had cooperated with investigators for the last six years and was a "world-renowned and highly decorated scientist who served his country for over 33 years with the Department of the Army."
A reporter who visited Ivins's two-story white house this morning, flanked by large maple and oak trees and located across the street from Fort Detrick, was ordered to leave by a visibly upset young man who was pacing in the side yard. A woman who answered the phone at a relative's home in North Carolina said, "We're just a family in grief; that's all I can say."
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr declined comment early this morning. Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said, "We are not making any public statement at this time or any public comment regarding the anthrax investigation."
Denise Backus, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is part of the joint investigation, said: "It is an ongoing investigation. I don't have any information to share at this time."
President Bush "was aware there had been developments" in the anthrax investigation, according to White House press secretary Dana Perino. But Perino declined to comment about the reports of Ivins's suicide, and whether there was any connection to the anthrax probe.
"I have nothing for you on that report," Perino told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, where Bush was spending the weekend at his father's Walker's Point compound. Perino said that Bush "over the years has maintained an interest in this case, and has periodically been updated by the FBI director."
Investigators were tightlipped because the investigation is continuing and because of their experience with another one-time subject of their efforts.
Little more than a month ago, the Justice Department reached a settlement valued at $5.85 million with Steven J. Hatfill, another bioweapons expert and Fort Detrick alumnus who had been called a "person of interest" in the anthrax mailings by then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. Lawyers for Hatfill, who has struggled to find employment as a scientist after reporters and federal agents tailed him for years, said the financial agreement amounted to a resounding vindication of their client.
Thomas Connolly, Hatfill's attorney, said today: "We understand that the FBI wants to take the time to brief the victims' families about an important development in the anthrax investigation." Connolly said that "out of respect for the families" Hatfill would refrain from comment for now.
The mailings, sent to then-Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), network television offices in New York and the company that owns the National Enquirer, gripped the nation and disrupted correspondence. In addition to the two D.C. postal workers, a Florida photographer, a New York hospital worker and an elderly Connecticut woman died after being exposed to the powder.
At the time of the settlement with Hatfill, Justice officials said the anthrax probe remained one of their "highest priorities."
A spokesman for Leahy said the senator would have no comment on the developments.
Daschle said in an e-mail today that "the FBI owes it to the country to provide some accounting of their investigation and their expectations for a successful conclusion."
Daschle was last briefed on the investigation in late 2003, when the Justice Department and FBI accused the Senate of leaking details of the semi-regular briefings that had taken place since the attacks. After that, the agencies refused to brief anyone on Capitol Hill, sowing divsion between investigators and lawmakers.
In the spring of 2007, after Democrats took control and Leahy became chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the FBI briefed the Vermont senator and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a frequent FBI critic for the past two decades who Leahy asked to be on hand for the briefings. It's unclear whether any briefings have occurred since then.
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), a persistent critic of the anthrax investigation whose office played a key role during the attacks, said "of course we would all hope the case is closed. ...But it doesn't change the fact that this investigation was not well-handled."
After the attacks, postal facilities in Holt's New Jersey district were found to be contaminated with anthrax, and Holt's Capitol Hill office also was contaminated. Since then Holt, a physicist, has repeatedly chastised the FBI in public for its handling of the case and its refusal to share more information with Congress.
"I watched them take evidence [from my office]," Holt said. "It was sloppy. It was illogical. So I'm not surprised that it was a long case."
The Times report said federal investigators moved away from Hatfill and concluded Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller changed leadership of the investigation in 2006. The new investigators instructed agents to re-examine leads and reconsider potential suspects. In the meantime, investigators made progress in analyzing anthrax powder recovered from letters addressed to the two senators, according to the report.
A source briefed repeatedly on the investigation until early 2007 told The Washington Post today that Ivins was not mentioned as a possible suspect and that the FBI acknowledged significant difficulty in ever identifying the specific source of the anthrax used in the attacks.
Ivins was one of the nation's leading biodefense researchers, the Times reported, and co-author of numerous anthrax studies, including one on a treatment for inhalation anthrax published in the July 7 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
In 2003, Ivins and two of his colleagues at the USAMRIID -- the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick -- received the highest honor given to Defense Department civilian employees for helping solve technical problems in the manufacture of anthrax vaccine.
In the six months following the anthrax mailings, Ivins conducted unauthorized testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at USAMRIID and found some, according to an internal report by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, which oversees the lab.
In December 2001, after conducting tests triggered by a technician's fears that she had been exposed, Ivins found evidence of anthrax and decontaminated the woman's desk, computer, keypad and monitor, but didn't notify his superiors, the Times reported. The report says Ivins performed more unauthorized sampling on April 15, 2002.
In January 2002, the FBI doubled the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million, and by June, officials said the agency was scrutinizing 20 to 30 scientists who might have had the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters.
After the government's settlement with Hatfill was announced in late June, Ivins started showing signs of strain, the Times said. It quoted a longtime colleague as saying Ivins was being treated for depression and indicated to a therapist that he was considering suicide. Family members and local police escorted Ivins away from the Army lab, and his access to sensitive areas was curtailed, the colleague told the newspaper. He said Ivins was facing a forced retirement in September.
The Times said Ivins was the son of a Princeton-educated pharmacist and was born and raised in Lebanon, Ohio. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees, including a PhD in microbiology, from the University of Cincinnati.
A memorial service would be held Aug. 9 at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, where Ivins was a parishioner and a musician who performed at some of the worship services. Ivins was also a member of his local chapter of the American Red Cross, which will receive the proceeds of a memorial fund established in Ivins' honor at USAMRIID. Ivins and his wife of 33 years, Diane Ivins, had two grown children.
Contributing to this report were staff writers Aaron Davis, Dan Eggen, Spencer Hsu, Paul Kane, Shailagh Murray and Joby Warrick and washingtonpost.com staff writer Ben Pershing.
Key events in the anthrax episode
Key dates in the investigation of the anthrax attacks:
___
2001:
October: Anthrax is mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida. By November, five people are dead and 17 others sickened. The victims include postal workers and others who came into contact with the anthrax.
2002:
January: Senate office building where anthrax-tainted letters were sent reopens after three months and fumigation. FBI doubles the reward for helping solve the case to $2.5 million.
June: FBI is scrutinizing 20 to 30 scientists who might have had the knowledge and opportunity to send the anthrax letters, a U.S. official says.
August: Law enforcement officials and Attorney General John Ashcroft call Steven J. Hatfill, a biowarfare expert, a "person of interest" in the investigation.
2003:
June: FBI drains pond in Frederick, Md., in search of anthrax-related evidence. Frederick is the home of the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of the nation's main anthrax research centers. Nothing suspicious is found.
August: Hatfill sues Ashcroft and other government officials, accusing them of using him as a scapegoat and demanding that they clear his name.
December: Postal workers begin moving back into Washington's main mail center, almost two years after anthrax-laced letters killed two employees. The Brentwood facility underwent more than $130 million worth of decontamination and renovation.
2004:
February: A white powder determined to be the deadly poison ricin is found in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. No one is hurt and no arrests are made.
August: FBI searches homes of Dr. Kenneth M. Berry, who founded a group to train medical staff to respond to biological disasters, as part of anthrax investigation. No charges are filed.
July 11: BioONE, a company founded by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, begins fumigating the former headquarters of The Sun, the Florida supermarket tabloid that was the first target in the anthrax attacks.
July 12: Testing determines The Sun's former headquarters is free of anthrax.
July 13: Hatfill sues The New York Times for defamation, claiming the newspaper ruined his reputation after it published a series of columns pointing to him as the culprit.
2005:
March 10: Sensor at Pentagon mailroom indicates possible presence of anthrax.
March 14: Alarm at second Pentagon mail facility also sounds possible anthrax presence. Post office in Hamilton, N.J., that handled anthrax-laced letters in 2001 reopens. Further testing determines no anthrax in Pentagon mailrooms.
2006:
March 27: The Supreme Court declines to block Hatfill's suit against the Times.
April 11: It's reported that Hatfill's lawyers have questioned at least two journalists and are subpoenaeing other reporters, seeking the identities of their confidential government sources.
Oct. 23: A federal judge orders The New York Times to disclose a columnist's confidential sources as part of a libel lawsuit filed over the newspaper's coverage of the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Dec. 2: The New York Times asks a federal judge to dismiss Hatfill's lawsuit.
2007:
Jan. 12: A federal judge dismisses libel lawsuit filed against The New York Times by Hatfill.
Feb. 2: Explaining his ruling, the judge says a New York Times columnist did not act with malice when writing about whether a Hatfill was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Aug. 13: A federal judge says five journalists must identify the government officials who leaked them details about Hatfill.
Oct. 2: Hatfill asks a federal judge to hold two journalists in contempt for refusing to identify the government officials who leaked details about the investigation into the attacks.
2008:
March 7: A federal judge holds a former USA Today reporter in contempt and orders her to pay up to $5,000 a day if she refuses to identify her sources for stories about Hatfill.
March 11: A federal appeals court blocks the fines.
June 27: The federal government awards Hatfill $5.8 million to settle his violation of privacy lawsuit against the Justice Department.
July 31: Bruce E. Ivins, 62, dies of an apparent suicide at a hospital in Frederick, Md., the Los Angeles Times reported, after being informed by the FBI that charges likely were being brought against him in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks.
From the Los Angeles Times
Suspect in 2001 anthrax attacks kills himselfThe Justice Department was preparing to file criminal charges against Bruce E. Ivins in the anthrax mailing assaults of 2001 that killed five.
By David Willman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:42 PM PDT, July 31, 2008
One of the nation's top biodefense researchers has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailing assaults of 2001 that killed five, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who for the past 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Md., had been informed of the impending prosecution, people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and with the FBI investigation said.
Ivins' name had not been disclosed publicly as a suspect in the case that disrupted mail service and Senate business three weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Maryland scientist had for years played a pivotal role in research to improve anthrax vaccines, preparing anthrax formulations used in experiments on animals.
Regarded as a skilled microbiologist, Ivins also had helped the FBI analyze the powdery material recovered from one of the anthrax-tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator's office in Washington, D.C.
Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after having ingested a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague who declined to be identified out of concern, he said, that he would be harassed by the FBI.
The death -- without any mention of suicide -- was announced to Ivins' colleagues at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, through a staffwide e-mail.
"People here are pretty shook up about it," said Caree Vander Linden, a spokewoman for USAMRIID, who said that she was not at liberty to discuss details surrounding the death.
The extraordinary turn of events followed the government's payment in June of a settlement valued at $5.82 million to a former government scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, who was long targeted as the FBI's chief suspect despite a lack of any evidence that he had ever possessed anthrax.
The payout to Hatfill, a highly unusual development that all but exonerated him of committing the anthrax mailings, was an essential step to clear the way for prosecuting Ivins, according to lawyers familiar with the matter.
Federal investigators moved away from Hatfill -- for years the only publicly identified "person of interest" -- and ultimately concluded that Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III changed leadership of the investigation in late 2006.
The FBI's new top investigators -- Vincent B. Lisi and Edward W. Montooth -- instructed agents to re-examine leads or potential suspects that may have received insufficient attention. Moreover, significant progress was made in analyzing properties of the anthrax powder recovered from separate letters that were addressed to two U.S. senators.
The renewed efforts led the FBI back to USAMRIID, where agents had first questioned scientists in December 2001, a few weeks after the fatal mailings.
By spring of this year, FBI agents were still contacting present and former colleagues of Ivins. At USAMRIID and elsewhere, scientists acquainted with Ivins were asked to sign confidentiality agreements in order to prevent leaks of new investigative details.
Soon after the government's settlement with Hatfill was announced June 27, Ivins began showing signs of serious strain. One of his longtime colleagues told the Times that Ivins, who was being treated for depression, indicated to a therapist that he was considering suicide. Soon thereafter, family members and local police officers escorted Ivins away from USAMRIID, where his access to sensitive areas was curtailed, the colleague said.
Ivins was committed to a facility in Frederick for treatment of his depression. On July 24, he was released from the facility, operated by Sheppard Pratt Health System. A telephone call that same day by the Times verified that Ivins's government voicemail was still functioning.
The scientist faced forced retirement, planned for September, said his longtime colleague, who described Ivins as emotionally fractured by the federal scrutiny.
"He didn't have any more money to spend on legal fees. He was much more emotionally labile, in terms of sensitivity to things, than most scientists. ... He was very thin skinned."
A spokeswoman for the FBI, Debra Weierman, said Thursday that the bureau would not comment regarding the death of Ivins. Last week, however, FBI Director Mueller told CNN that, "in some sense, there have been breakthroughs" in the case.
"I'll tell you we made great progress in the investigation," Mueller added. "And it's in no way dormant."
Ivins, the son of a Princeton-educated pharmacist, was born and raised in Lebanon, Ohio, and received undergraduate and graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in microbiology, from the University of Cincinnati.
The eldest of his two brothers, Thomas Ivins, said that he was not surprised by the events that have unfolded.
"He buckled under the pressure from the federal government," Thomas Ivins said, adding that FBI agents came to Ohio last year to question him about his brother.
"I was questioned by the feds, and I sung like a canary," Thomas Ivins said, referring to his efforts to describe his brother's personality and tendencies. "He had in his mind that he was omnipotent."
Ivins's widow declined to be interviewed when reached Thursday at her home in Frederick. The couple raised twins, who are now 24 years old.
Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say
By Guy Gugliotta and Gary Matsumoto
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 28, 2002; Page A01
A significant number of scientists and biological warfare experts are expressing skepticism about the FBI's view that a single disgruntled American scientist prepared the spores and mailed the deadly anthrax letters that killed five people last year.
These sources say that making a weaponized aerosol of such sophistication and virulence would require scientific knowledge, technical competence, access to expensive equipment and safety know-how that are probably beyond the capabilities of a lone individual.
As a result, a consensus has emerged in recent months among experts familiar with the technology needed to turn anthrax spores into the deadly aerosol that was sent to Sens. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) that some of the fundamental assumptions driving the FBI's investigation may be flawed.
"In my opinion, there are maybe four or five people in the whole country who might be able to make this stuff, and I'm one of them," said Richard O. Spertzel, chief biological inspector for the U.N. Special Commission from 1994 to 1998. "And even with a good lab and staff to help run it, it might take me a year to come up with a product as good."
Instead, suggested Spertzel and more than a dozen experts interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks, investigators might want to reexamine the possibility of state-sponsored terrorism, or try to determine whether weaponized spores may have been stolen by the attacker from an existing, but secret, biodefense program or perhaps given to the attacker by an accomplice.
The Defense Department and FBI refused repeated requests from The Post to discuss recent developments in the anthrax investigation. But in some important respects, the official version of events -- developed in part during the early, frantic days of the probe -- is at odds with the available evidence, the experts say.
A profile of the attacker issued by the FBI last November described an angry, "lone individual" with "some" science background who could weaponize the anthrax spores in a basement laboratory for as little as $2,500. The FBI acknowledged that the sender may not have been a native English speaker but emphasized that there was no "direct or clear" link between the attacks and foreign terrorism.
More recently, investigators appear to have abandoned the idea of an amateur attacker, but they continue to focus on a lone, domestic scientist, probably an insider. Attention has centered on medical doctor and virologist Steven J. Hatfill, a former U.S. Army scientist identified by the Justice Department as a "person of interest" in the investigation. Hatfill vigorously denies any involvement.
Scientists suggested that the loner theory appeared flawed even in the opening days of the investigation. The profile was issued three weeks after U.S. Army scientists had examined the Daschle spores and found them to be 1.5 to 3 microns in size and processed to a grade of 1 trillion spores per gram -- 50 times finer than anything produced by the now-defunct U.S. bioweapons program and 10 times finer than the finest known grade of Soviet anthrax spores. A micron is a millionth of a meter.
"Just collecting this stuff is a trick," said Steven A. Lancos, executive vice president of Niro Inc., one of the leading manufacturers of spray dryers, viewed by several sources as the likeliest tool needed to weaponize the anthrax bacteria. "Even on a small scale, you still need containment. If you're going to do it right, it could cost millions of dollars."
Possible Foreign SourceAlso early in the case, U.S. authorities dismissed the possibility that Iraq could have sponsored the attacks because investigators determined that the spores had been coated with silica to make them disperse quickly, rather than the mineral bentonite, regarded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command as Iraq's additive of choice.
However, Iraq's alleged preference for bentonite appears to be based on a single sample of a common pesticide collected by U.N. authorities from Iraq's Al Hakam biological weapons facility in the mid-1990s. By contrast, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency warned in declassified documents as early as 1989 that Iraq was acquiring silica to use as a chemical weapons additive.
In 1998, Iraq reported to the United Nations that it had conducted an artillery test of a live biological agent that used silica as a dispersant. And U.N. and U.S. intelligence documents reviewed by The Post show that Iraq had bought all the essential equipment and ingredients needed to weaponize anthrax bacteria with silica to a grade consistent with the Daschle and Leahy letters.
Daschle, Leahy and a few other senators and representatives have received periodic FBI briefings on the investigation, and Leahy said last week that the agency "has not foreclosed the possibility of a foreign source of this attack." However, the FBI's continued focus on Hatfill shows the agency's preoccupation with a domestic loner.
Bush administration officials have acknowledged that the anthrax attacks were an important motivator in the U.S. decision to confront Iraq, and several senior administration officials say today that they still strongly suspect a foreign source -- perhaps Iraq -- even though no one has publicly said so.
That Iraq had the wherewithal to make the anthrax letters does not mean it is the guilty party. Still, the FBI's early dismissal of the possibility may have prematurely closed a legitimate line of inquiry.
"Iraq almost certainly had their anthrax spores in a powdered form," Spertzel said. "They had used silica gel to aid in dispersibility of [wheat] smut spores, and also indicated they were looking at it as a carrier for aflatoxin," a carcinogen.
Outer Limits of TechnologySince the attacks one year ago, scientists have been able to identify the anthrax bacteria used in the Daschle and Leahy letters as the "Ames strain," a virulent anthrax used in U.S. biodefense programs.
Analysts are examining lab variants of the Ames strain to find possible sources for the original spores, but scientists and biowarfare experts say the additive used to disperse the spores may be as instructive as the spores themselves.
Even the sparse evidence made public by the investigation -- the uniformly tiny particle size and the trillion-spore-per-gram concentration -- has been enough to show many researchers that whoever weaponized the spores was operating at the outer limits of known aerosol technology. The mailer was brutally efficient in making a very special product for a very special mission.
The anthrax mailer needed a powder that could negotiate the U.S. postal system without absorbing so much moisture that it would cake up. At the end of the trip, the coated spores had to be light and supple enough to fly into the air with no delivery system beyond the rip of a letter opener through an envelope.
Finally, the spores had to be small enough for potential victims to inhale them deep into their lungs so that only a tiny number of spores would be needed to kill -- far fewer than the dosages anticipated by the U.S. government for the cruder aerosols of the past.
The answer was silica -- the same silicon dioxide that comprises substances ranging from beach sand to window glass. The attacker needed a special kind of silica, however, because the aerosol that delivered the spores was as sophisticated as any on the market.
"You need to get a drug into the bloodstream as an alternative to injecting it," said pharmaceutical scientist Richard Dalby of the University of Maryland's Aerosol Lab. "You need the drug to get much deeper into the lung, where the membranes are thinner, and to do that, you need smaller particles."
The pharmaceutical industry is the leader in this technology, Dalby added, but "there's only been an interest in generating tiny particles for that purpose for about the last 10 years."
Several sources agreed that the most likely way to build the coated spores would be to use the fine glass particles, known generically as "fumed silica" or "solid smoke," and mix them with the spores in a spray dryer. "I know of no other technique that might give you that finished product," Spertzel said.
According to William C. Patrick III, the former chief of product development for the U.S. Army's now-defunct bioweapons program, U.S. government scientists made biological agents using spray dryers, but did not spray dry anthrax.
Fumed silica grains are between 0.012 and 0.300 of a micron in size, and will readily adhere to the surface of any larger particle, such as an anthrax spore. Coated particles will easily disperse, because the grains act as tiny "ball bearings," enabling the larger bits to skid past one another.
Under an electron microscope, fumed silica would look like cotton balls strung together into strands that branch out in every direction. Their extremely small size gives them an aerodynamic quality, and their high surface area allows them to readily trap moisture, acting as a natural dessicant.
"If you packaged this stuff in a container, it would float out, and it's highly dispersible and messy to deal with," said C. Jeffrey Brinker, a University of New Mexico chemical engineer and a senior scientist at the Sandia National Laboratories.
Moreover, Brinker added, simply by shaking the particles in a jar, they acquire an electric charge, which causes them to repel one another and not clump together. A few passes through a mail-sorting machine would create the same effect. The particles would float, but they would remain separated.
"This concept of using something that would serve as a dessicant and a carrier at the same time is new," said Harvard University chemical engineer David Edwards. "It's a diabolically brilliant idea."
Fumed silica has myriad uses, mostly as a thickening agent in products including ceramics, house paint, toothpaste and cosmetics. It is not widely known as an aerosol additive.
"If you're going to put it into the lung, there has to be a mechanism to clear it, otherwise you just fill up somebody's lung with silica after repeated dosings," said Dalby, of the Aerosol Lab. The anthrax mailer, he noted, obviously wasn't worried about giving his victims silicosis.
Some fumed silicas are extremely difficult to make, but at least two -- Aerosil and Cab-O-Sil -- are readily available and sold commercially in bulk. Either product, in theory, could be used to coat anthrax spores. Aerosil is based in Germany and Cab-O-Sil, in Boston. Both firms have offices around the world.
Ken Alibek, a former deputy director of the Soviet bioweapons program now running an Alexandria biotechnology firm, said the Soviets used Aerosil in agent powders, and a classified Defense Department memo in 1991 said Iraq had "imported approximately 100 MT [metric tons] of Aerosil during the last 8-9 years." Spertzel said the United Nations reported in the 1990s that Iraq had 10 metric tons of Cab-O-Sil, probably destined for its chemical weapons program.
Expensive EquipmentThe United Nations also documented the presence of three Niro Inc. spray dryers in Iraq in the 1990s. Spertzel said two were destroyed, and the third was scoured and sterilized before inspectors could examine it.
In spray drying, a technician mixes fumed silica and spores with water, then sprays the mist through a nozzle directly into a stream of superheated air shooting from a second nozzle into an enclosed chamber. The water evaporates instantly, leaving spores and additive floating in space.
"Surface tension will pull those little [silica] particles together onto the big one," said California Institute of Technology chemical engineer Richard Flagan. "You will end up with some degree of coating."
Whoever made such an aerosol would "need some experience" with aerosols and "would have to have a lot of anthrax, so you could practice," Edwards said. "You'd have to do a lot of trial and error to get the particles you wanted." It would also help to have an electron microscope to examine the results.
This would mean at least several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment, several experts said. Niro's cheapest spray dryer sells for about $50,000. Electron microscopes cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In all, said Niro's Lancos, "you would need [a] chemist who is familiar with colloidal [fumed] silica, and a material science person to put it all together, and then some mechanical engineers to make this work . . . probably some containment people, if you don't want to kill anybody. You need half a dozen, I think, really smart people."
One way to assemble such a team would be with "the knowing complicity of the government of the state in which it [the agent] is made," Spertzel said. Another way to acquire the agent, several sources acknowledged, would be to steal it from a biodefense program that uses live biological agents for research or training purposes.
The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention of 1972 bans offensive biowarfare research, but it clearly allows signatory nations to undertake biodefense programs using small quantities of live agents.
The Daschle and Leahy letters each contained 1.5 grams of anthrax powder or less, well within the boundaries of what researchers describe as "laboratory quantities" of agent. It is impossible to account publicly for all the anthrax powder that may exist in the United States, because most of the defense projects that use it are classified.
The Post asked the Defense Department whether the U.S. armed forces have made any anthrax powder comparable to that which was mailed to the Senate. The department declined to comment, citing the ongoing anthrax investigation.
There is, however, no public evidence that the Army has used spray-dried agents in recent biodefense projects, choosing instead to test small amounts of irradiated -- and therefore nonlethal -- anthrax bacteria that had been dried with older technologies.
In a written response to questions about the U.S. interpretation of the weapons convention, the Defense Department said its personnel may use live biological agents in a number of research settings: for vaccines and treatment; protective clothing and containment; alarms and detection; and decontamination.
The department "does not set quantitative thresholds for the agents or toxins in its possession," but "these quantities are generally small," the response said. "DOD continues to evaluate its procedures to ensure dangerous materials are safely stored and properly disposed of when no longer required."
Government By Anthrax
| Coup d’etat – a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics by a small group. Cabal – a number of persons secretly united to bring about an overturn or usurpation, esp. in public affairs (Websters). Who spread the anthrax last October and why? Well, who has that strain of anthrax and who has a motive? Most commentators and the FBI agree that only a select group of Americans have easy access to the Ames strain of anthrax used in the letters mailed last October. But why would any of them want to kill and terrorize Americans? The clue is in the timing. A chronology of events suggests that the motivation was to boost passage of controversial legislation in Congress last October, called the USA Patriot Act. A number of unlikely “coincidences” associated with the anthrax attacks makes it hard to believe that they were random. CONSIDER THESE “COINCIDENCES”· The anthrax attacks were concurrent with the debate of Bush’s Patriot Act by Congress and the media. · The Senators who received anthrax letters were trying to amend the Patriot Act to protect civil liberties and the innocent. · Two Senate democratic leaders received anthrax letters mailed the same day that Senator Feingold blocked an attempt to rush the bill through without discussion or amendments. · And on that very same day, the FBI told the Iowa state lab to · Senator Leahy received an anthrax threat after he expressed reservations about the Bill. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he managed the debate on the Bill. · Senate Majority Leader Daschle received the first Senate anthrax letter as he led the opposition to the original version of the Bill. · After receiving the anthrax letter, Daschle switched from supporting a 2 year limit on the Bill, later defending a 4-year sunset clause as the “appropriate balance.” · No Republican received an anthrax letter. · The House and Senate buildings were closed and not reopened until after the Patriot Act was passed. · The Supreme Court was shut down with an anthrax scare the day after the constitutionally-challenged Patriot Act was signed by President Bush. · All the contaminated letters contained the Ames strain of anthrax, the DNA of which is traced to the original batch preserved in a university lab in Ames, Iowa. This strain was “weaponized” in Utah into a potent powder with an elaborate secret technique developed at Fort Detrick, Md.[1] · The FBI failed to interview Ft. Detrick anthrax experts for two months into their investigation, doing it only after the experts complained to the press of gross incompetence on the part of the FBI. · The FBI overruled local homicide detectives who think that an anthrax expert was murdered, possibly because he knew too much. A CURIOUS FLOW OF EVENTSThe following is a merger of “A Chronology of Anthrax Events,” published by the South Florida Sun-sentinel,[2] and the simultaneous proceedings of the Patriot Bill in Congress as reported in the local press. Sept.16 -- Anti-terrorism bill proposed.[3] Sept.18 – Two letters containing Ames anthrax are postmarked in Trenton, N.J., addressed to Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly News and the New York Post. Sept.28 – Boy visiting ABC network in New York contracts anthrax. Oct.2 – USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism bill is introduced in Congress. Oct.3 – Tabloid editor of Boca Raton Sun, Florida, hospitalized with anthrax and dies two days later. Oct. 3 – Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (Dem., S.D.) says he doubts the Senate could take up the anti-terrorist legislation before next week, as the administration had asked. Attorney General John A. Ashcroft accuses Senate Democrats of dragging their feet.[4] Oct. 4 – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Dem., Vt.) accuses the administration of reneging on an agreement on the anti-terrorist bill. Some warn that “lawmakers are were overlooking constitutional flaws in their rush to meet the administration’s timetable.”[5] Oct. 6 – Under the headline, “Glow of bipartisanship seems to dim,” the Baltimore Sun reports: “…opposed by most Senate Democrats, Ashcroft complained about the rather slow pace…over his request for law enforcement powers…Hard feelings remain.”[6] Oct. 8 – Under the headline, “Cracks in Bipartisanship Start to Show,” The Washington Post reports, “Congress has lost some of the shock-induced unity with which it first responded to the [9/11] attacks.”[7] Oct.9 – Senator Feingold blocks an attempt to rush the Patriot Act to a vote with little debate and no opportunity for amendments. Feingold criticizes the Bill as a threat to liberty.[8] Oct.9 – Identical anthraxed letters are postmarked in Trenton, N.J., with lethal doses to Senators Daschle and Leahy. Oct. 10 & 11 – The original batch of the Ames strain of anthrax is destroyed with the permission of the FBI, making tracing the anthrax type more difficult.[9] Oct.11 – First Senate version of the Bill passes.[10] Oct.12 – First House version of the Bill passes.[11] Oct.12 – House-Senate debate on Bill starts.[12] Oct.12 – Second anthrax case reported at NBC in NYC. Oct.13 – Baltimore Sun reports that the media may have been targeted for a “coordinated bioterrorism” attack.[13] Oct.13 – President Bush says: “The anthrax attacks might be tied to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist network.”[14] Oct.15 – Tom Brokaw of NBC opens anthraxed letter containing Islamic threats and phrases. Oct.15 – Senator Daschle’s office opens the letter mailed Oct.9, containing a lethal dose of anthrax. Senator Leahy’s similar letter was misrouted to Virginia. Oct.16 – The Senate office buildings shut down. Oct.17 – House of Representatives shut down; 28 congressional staffers test positive for anthrax. Oct.17 – The New York and Florida letters are found to contain the Ames strain. Oct.18 – An assistant of CBS Dan Rather contracts anthrax. Oct.21 – Letters to N.Y.Post, NBC and Senator Daschle are found to have identical handwriting of “Death to America, Death to Israel, Allah is Great.” Oct. 24 – House passes the final version of the Patriot Act and other previously unpopular Bush projects: Alaska oil drilling, $25 billion in tax cuts for corporations, taps into Social Security funds and cuts in education.[15] Oct.25 – Congressional mail halted. Senator Daschle switched from supporting a 2 year limit on the Patriot Act to defending a 4 year sunset clause as the “appropriate balance.”[16] Oct.26 – Senate passes the final version Patriot Act.[17] Oct.26 – President Bush signs the constitutionally questionable USA Patriot Act.[18] Oct.27 – Supreme Court shut down with anthrax scare.[19] November -- No more anthrax letters received by anyone. November – Congressional buildings reopened. November – Three top anthrax experts with knowledge of the U.S. bioweapons program died under suspicious circumstances within a ten day period. CONGRESS TERRORIZEDThe atmosphere of terror in Congress was expressed by Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: “. . . a state of siege trap[s] us in a state of fear, ill equipped to deal with the patriot games, the mind games, the war games. . .” He lamented the physical and psychological disruption and disorientation of lawmakers at a time when calm objectivity was required for wise decisions.[20] No doubt, the terrorized senators accepted an anti-terrorism bill more threatening to the rights and wellbeing of citizens than they otherwise would have. They granted more power to the President than they otherwise would have. New York Times commentator William Safire wrote under the heading, “Seizing Dictatorial Power,” that “Bush admits to dismissing the principles of law and the rules of evidence that undergird America’s system of justice.”[21] The anthrax letters to the media can be considered peripheral to political targets. They guaranteed publicity and heightened general hysteria. Janette Rainwater, Ph.D., wrote that anthrax threats are useful “in creating panic and, in this case, providing a climate wherein legislation curtailing civil liberties can be passed.”[22] The anthrax scare at the Supreme Court likewise put a chill on their mission to defend civil liberties. Whether the anthrax is believed to have come from foreigners or Americans, the threats resulted in the granting of more power to the Executive Branch by the Legislative and Judicial Branches, seriously damaging “checks and balances.” FBI COMPROMISED?The FBI’s performance since the anthrax attacks has indicated either gross incompetence, conspiracy or cover up. The FBI allowed the Iowa state lab to destroy the original batch of the Ames strain on Oct.10 and 11, making tracing the anthrax to its origins impossible.[23] The Bureau was criticized by Congress for not securing critical material evidence in one of the most frightening attacks on public health this country has ever seen.[24] Moreover, the Baltimore Sun reported on Dec.9: “Two months after the FBI mobilized hundreds of agents to investigate the anthrax attacks, the bureau still has not interviewed the only Americans with experience producing anthrax for use as a weapon: aging veterans of the U.S. biological warfare program based at Fort Detrick.” According to Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), “The source of the mailed anthrax, or the information and materials to make it, is a U.S. government program.”[25] The Baltimore Sun reported on Dec.9, 2001, that “Organisms made at a military lab in Utah are genetically identical to those mailed to members of Congress.” On February 5, Rosenberg wrote in the FAS webpage: “For more than 3 months now, the FBI has known that the perpetrator of the anthrax attacks is American.”[26] BBC News reported on March 14 that “Dr. Rosenberg, an acknowledged authority on U.S. bio-defense, claimed that the FBI is dragging its feet because an arrest would be embarrassing to the U.S. authorities.” The BBC asked, “Has the FBI found the whole case too hot to handle?”[27] During a lecture at Princeton University on Feb.18, Rosenberg claimed that the FBI has a prime suspect. She called on the public and news media to keep up the pressure on the FBI., saying some of her sources, who she described as “government insiders,” have confided fear that the FBI might attempt to deal with the suspect discreetly, out of the glare of public scrutiny.[28] She wrote on Feb.5: “The perpetrator is cocksure that he can get away with it. Does he know something that he believes to be sufficiently damaging to the United States to make him untouchable by the FBI?”[29] Stanford biologist Steven Block, a leading expert on biological weapons, said revealing the identity of the culprit(s) may also reveal “that the U.S. may be violating” the international treaty outlawing the development of biological and chemical weaponry. The U.S. still refuses to ratify the international treaty for bioweapons facility inspections.[30] A leading anthrax expert, Dr. Don C. Wiley, who may have been in a position to know of such a cover-up, died under suspicious circumstances a month after the attacks began.[31] According to Memphis police officials, the bridge which Dr. Wiley fell off on November 15, 2001, had a railing “high enough that even the 6’3” Wiley could not have accidentally fallen over without assistance.” The local police suspicion of homicide was overruled by the FBI “and other U.S. agencies,” who insisted it was a suicide.[32] Would a U.S. agency kill a non-cooperator? According to former South African National Intelligence Agency deputy director Michael Kennedy, when another top bioweapons expert Dr. Wouter Basson refused a job offer, the CIA allegedly threatened to kill him.[33] A COVER-UP?Counterpunch wrote: “Knowledgeable U.S. and foreign intelligence sources have revealed that Wiley may have been silenced as a result of his discovery of U.S. government work on biological warfare agents long after the U.S. signed the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.[34] President Nixon had actually ordered the Pentagon to stop producing biological weapons in 1969. It now seems likely that the U.S. military and intelligence community failed to follow Nixon’s orders.[35] In fact, since 1972, “South African bio-chemical weapons allegedly transferred to the CIA included, in addition to anthrax, cholera, smallpox, salmonella, botulinum, tularemia, thallium, E.Coli, racin, organophosphates, necrotising fasciitis, hepatitis A, HIV, paratyphoid, Sarin VX nerve gas, Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley hemmorrhagic viruses, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, highly potent CR tear gas, hallucinogens Ecstasy, Mandrax, BZ, and cocaine, anti-coagulant drugs, the deadly lethal injection drugs Scoline and Tubarine, and cyanide.”[36] What the U.S. government would not want divulged is the fact that the U.S. has been in flagrant violation of the 1972 Convention, Article 1 of which states: “Each State party to the Convention undertakes never in any circumstance to develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or retain: 1. Microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes. 2. Weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict.”[37] Dr. Wiley’s was not the only suspicious death of a scientist with knowledge of biological defenses. Just three days before Wiley’s death, Dr. Benito Que, a Miami Medical School cellular biologist died after “four men armed with a baseball bat attacked him at his car.” A week after Wiley died, Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, a former Soviet bioweapons scientist was found dead near Britain’s biological warfare center.[38] For those who disbelieve the possibility that the U.S. Government is the number one suspect in the anthrax attacks, they are directed to James Bamford’s book on the National Security Agency, Body of Secrets. The book reveals that in 1962, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Lemnitzer was planning, along with other members of the Joint Chiefs, a virtual coup d’etat against the administration of President Kennedy using acts of terrorism carried out by the military but to be blamed on the Castro government in Cuba. The secret plan was code-named Operation Northwoods.[39] Cuba accused the U.S. of using biological war weapons against it during the 1970s. In his book, Biological Warfare in the 21st Century, Malcolm Dando refers to the U.S. bio-attacks against Cuba. “The American covert campaign targeted the tobacco crop using blue mold, the sugar cane crop using cane smut, livestock using African swine fever, and the Cuban population using a hemmorrhagic strain of dengue fever.”[40] CONSPIRACYThe number of unlikely “coincidences” associated with the anthrax attacks on the media and Congress makes it hard to believe that they were random. The simultaneous debate of Bush’s Patriot Bill in Congress points to the existence of a cabal of domestic conspirators which succeeded in terrorizing the body politic to influence legislation. If so, this American terrorism was much more harmful to democracy than the attacks on 9-11. It is frighteningly reminiscent of how Hitler grabbed power in 1933 when arsonists destroyed the Reichstag parliament building. Bush is taking advantage of widespread fear, whether he was party to the anthrax cabal or not. He is wielding dictator-like power to push through dozens of unpopular environmental, nuclear, economic and star wars policy changes. He has no electoral mandate for these policies and they have nothing to do with fighting terrorism.[41] Moreover, the anthrax-aided Patriot Act gave the President unprecedented police power over all citizens, not just suspected terrorists or foreigners. According to Senator Russell D. Feingold, the act would “allow police to scan computer activity without a search warrant, to execute a search warrant without informing the subject, and to review private medical records as well as business records.”[42] Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, who also voted against the Act, criticized “wiretaps that could record conversations of people unconnected to the investigation targets.”[43] The anthrax terror in Congress weakened the rights and wellbeing of U.S. citizens. POSSIBLE SUSPECTSWhen any crime is committed, investigators always look for a motive. Who stands to benefit from the anthrax attacks? What interests stand to benefit? Let’s consider some suspects: Suspect #1: Al-Qaida. While they may want to sow terror in the U.S., why would they target Democrats? If they struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon because they were centers of economic and military power, wouldn’t it follow that they would target Bush and the Republicans? Since it appears the anthrax letters were timed to strengthen Bush’s police power in the Patriot Act, wouldn’t it be counter to al-Qaida’s interest to do that? Suspect #2: Iraq: Likewise, Iraq would not have anything to gain by attacking opponents of the original Patriot Bill. Suspect #3: A Lone Wolf: Recent statements by the FBI and by Barbara Hatch Rosenberg theorize that the culprit is a disgruntled scientist, formerly with Fort Detrick.[44] Suspected motives include getting the government to spend more money on bioweapons research, proving his expertise and/or blaming it on a hated co-worker. David Franz, the former bioweapons commander at Ft. Detrick, said, “I think a lot of good has come from it. He told ABC News, “…we’ve now five people who have died, but we put about $6 billion in our budget into defending against bioterrorism.”[45] Has a lone wolf morphed into a pack of wolves? Suspect #4: The CIA: The CIA has cultures of the Ames strain.[46] The Agency has been conducting secret experiments with powdered germs since 1997 at Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio.[47] Battelle received the Ames strain from Fort Detrick in May of 2001.[48] The CIA said it was trying to develop defenses against anthrax, but did not explain why it was doing what other defense labs were set up to do. As of December 16, 2001, one FBI investigator said that the CIA’s anthrax project was the “best lead they have at this point.”[49] Just as Oliver North ran an illegal and secret Iran-Contra scam out of the White House, with then President Reagan and CIA denying knowledge of it, so too could conspirators operate secretly and illegally to intimidate the congressional opposition now.[50] Former President Nixon did this also with his Watergate break-in, enemies list and domestic surveillance.[51] There is evidence that George H.W.Bush, former head of the CIA, made a secret pre-election deal in 1980 with the Iranian hostage holders, delaying their release until after the election to insure the victory of Ronald Reagan.[52] After all these dirty tricks, is it too outrageous to think the President’s men would stoop to intimidating Congress with anthrax? Suspect #5: The anthrax vaccine industry: According to Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D.,M.A., M.P.H., “All findings have pointed to anthrax mailings being a white collar crime, a military-industrial conspiracy involving chief biological weapons firms and the CIA.” Horowitz, a Harvard trained expert in public health and social and behavioral science, bases his conclusion on “the highly weaponized nature of the silica powdered anthrax that required a weapons savvy microbiologist and expensive equipment to produce.”[53] The Baltimore Sun reported on Oct.21, 2001, “The Bush administration asked Congress for $1.5 billion to stockpile emergency medicine. The N.Y.Times reported on Nov.16, 2001, “Senators seek $3.2 billion to fight germ threats, doubling the Bush plan.” Horowitz wrote: “obvious suspects among the government “insiders” with economic and/or political motives to mail anthrax are Bioport, sole maker of the anthrax vaccine, smallpox vaccine makers OraVax/Acambis, Baxter, and Aventis, Bayer, and Battelle.”[54] Remember that Battelle and the CIA have collaborated on anthrax research since 1997 (see CIA above). Suspect #6: The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA): It is common knowledge that the military wants military tribunals, secret trails, suspension of civil liberties and impunity from civilian control. They run Fort Detrick and the Dugway Proving Ground and control the Ames anthrax. They wanted a war in Afghanistan. They want lots of oil for the military machine. They don’t want Congressional, media or public opposition. They want a free hand and have the power to get it. Several authors believe that the Joint Chiefs and DIA assassinated JFK because he removed nuclear missiles from the Soviet border during the Cuba missile crisis and would not bomb Cuba during the Bay of Pigs invasion.[55] Suspect #7: Big Oil It's been three years since Congress discussed removing the government of Afghanistan to make way for an oil pipeline: [56] Three months before 9/11, the US Government told India there would be an invasion of Afghanistan in October.[57] One month before 9/11, the BBC heard about the planned invasion of Afghanistan.[58] Five months before 9/11, Jane's Defense News got word of the planned invasion of Afghanistan.[59] The U.S. recently installed Hamid Karzai as the new interim president of Afghanistan and Zalmay Khalizad as the U.S. Afghanistan envoy. Both are former employees of Unocal, the future builder of the oil pipeline.[60] The attacks on the World Trade Towers got the American people angered into support of the war that everybody on the planet BUT Americans had been told was on the way before September 11. Suspect #8: Israeli agents: In the days right after 9/11, an influx of illegal Israelis was interdicted by INS officers. Unlike the Arabs suspects, they were not detained. Israel cited the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan to justify their increasing attacks on Palestine, saying it was part of the war on terrorism. For several weeks, the ploy seemed to be working, as Bush sided with Israel against Palestine. A strong U.S. anti-terrorism Act is seen by Israeli leaders as helpful to their military plans. The anthrax attacks helped produce it. The fact that the U.S. is a strong ally of Israel does not deter occasional hostile acts by Israel. Israel also has “sleepers” in the U.S., like Jonathan Pollard, who was imprisoned for spying on U.S. secrets.[61] It was reported on Feb. 26 that a scientist, formerly employed at Fort Detrick, Md., Dr. Philip M. Zack, may be the culprit. He allegedly tried to blame an Egyptian co-worker, Dr. Ayaad Assaad. Surveillance cameras allegedly recorded Zack’s entrance after hours at 8:40 PM on January 23, 1992. A co-worker named Dr. Marian Rippy allegedly let him in to conduct unauthorized research. Specimens of anthrax were reported missing during the same period.[62] Israel also deliberately fired on the U.S. spy ship Liberty off their coast in 1967, killing 34 U.S. seamen so their massacres would not be observed.[63] A ship load of U.S. uranium, which disappeared in 1967 is believed to have been highjacked by Israeli agents to advance its secret nuclear bomb production.[64] The motto of their secret police is “By Way of Deception.” One of their own assassinated President Rabin. Do they have a cabal operating outside the law which is just as fanatic as the Jewish Defense League or the Palestinian Hamas? ANALYSIS OF SUSPECTSSuspicion of al-Qaida can be eliminated to the extent that they were NOT enabled by American handlers, intent on using “foreign assets” as a cover. Only highly-placed US personnel have access to the Ames strain of anthrax. Iraq has no significant biological weapons capability, according to Scott Ritter, former United Nations inspector in Iraq.[65] U.S. investigators have found no Iraqi connection to terrorism in the U.S.[66] Any Zionist who worked at Ft. Detrick or Dugway may have had access to the Ames strain. An Israeli agent would commit this crime only at a risk of inciting anti-Jewish sentiment if caught, which a scientist should be smart enough to know. A vaccine company by itself is an unlikely suspect. If they wanted to “scare up a market” for drugs, they could have done so without carefully coordinating the attacks with the Patriot Bill. Dr. Rosenberg theorized that the motive of a lone bioweapons scientist was to get more research money from the government. The sophisticated timing with congressional events would be unnecessary for that purpose. The CIA and Battelle seem capable of pulling off this conspiracy. The CIA’s history of covert action makes it entirely plausible. Big Oil would pull off this coup, but they are not able to do it alone. The President and Vice President are oil men and they run the military and intelligence agencies. Either with or without Executive collusion, it would necessitate the involvement of military or intelligence personnel. Chances are great that the Joint chiefs and DIA are involved because they control the Ames anthrax and have a motive. An oil pipeline through Afghanistan was nixed by the Taliban before 9/11. Now it’s back on track.[67] CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION?The US is using state-of-the-art genetic splicing to make designer bioweapons. An article by Laura Rozen in Salon (2/8/02) revealed that the "Defense Intelligence Agency hired Battelle to create a genetically enhanced version of anthrax" even though no vaccine was proven to be effective beforehand. A former Clinton administration official, Elisa D. Harris, "was shocked to read in the New York Times" (9/4/01) about bioweapons research "that she herself had not known about, although she had served for eight years in the White House as the point person for weapons of mass destruction nonproliferation issues." The extreme danger of genetically engineered pathogens with no cure or vaccine requires urgent attention by lawmakers. Such secrets kept even from White House staff and FBI indicates a security establishment out of control. This rampant deception justifies an open Congressional investigation to stop illegal activities and restore confidence in government. Secret hearings will not accomplish this purpose. The glaring coincidence of the anthrax attacks with the passage of the Patriot Act can only be ignored as an elephant is ignored at a tea party. It is believable that this coincidence was overlooked in the fall of 2001 due to all the confusion, including letters to other places. In historical hindsight, the connection is obvious. It can be ignored now only as Germans ignored the death camps – the brazenness of the crime was unbelievable. Moreover, to admit the crime’s existence requires a courageous response. Timid souls may be tempted to stick their heads in the sand rather than do what is required to expose and root out criminals in high places, especially in time of war. The obvious response would be a Congressional investigation with no holds barred, even if it goes all the way to the top. The war for democracy must start at home. Land of the brave? Home of the free? May 1, 2002 REFERENCES [1] Balt.Sun, Dec.9, 2001 [2] Chronology of Anthrax Events, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-1013anthraxchronology.story [3] Associated Press, Oct.25, by Jessie J. Holland [4] Washington Post, Oct.3, John Lancaster, pg.A6 [5] Washington Post, Oct.4, John Lancaster, pg.A21 [6] Baltimore Sun, Oct.6, Karen Hosler [7] Washington Post, Oct. 8, Helen Dewar, pg.A21 [8] Balt.Sun, Oct.10. [9] New York Times, Nov. 9, “Experts See FBI Missteps Hampering Anthrax Inquiry,” William J. Broad, et al. [10] Balt.Sun, Oct.13. [11] op.cit. [12] USA Patriot Act, http://thomas.loc.gov [13] Balt.Sun, Oct.13. [14] Balt.Sun, Oct.17. [15] Balt.Sun, Oct.25 & 27; Washington Post, Sept.27, 2001, Juliet Eilperin, pg.A4 [16] Balt.Sun, Oct.10; AP, op.cit. Jessie J. Holland. [17] AP, op.cit. [18] Balt.Sun, Oct.27. [19] Chronology, Sun-Sentinel, op.cit. [20] Speech: “How Can We Justify This?” & “A Prayer for America”, Dkucinich@aol.com [21] NYT, Nov.15, 2001. [23] Could the Anthrax Mailings be Military-Industrial Espionage?” by Leonard G. Horowitz, Dec.2001, p.9,www.tetrahedron.org To order: 1-888-508-4787; voice: 1-800-336-9266 [24] Peter J. Boyer, “The Ames Strain.” The New Yorker, Nov.12, 2001, P.68. [25] Balt.Sun, Dec.9, 2001. [26] Federation of American Scientists, http://fas.org/bwc/news/ http://fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm [27] BBC News, March 14, 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo /programmes/newsnight/archive/newsid_1873000/1873368.stm [28] Anthrax Expert Stands by her Claim, Truthout, Joseph Dee, Feb.21, 2002, http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.23F.Anthrax.Expert.htm [29] Commentary: Is the FBI Dragging its Feet?, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, Federation of American Scientists, Feb.5, 2002. http://fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm [30] Dallas Morning News, April 4, 2002, Tom Seigfried [31] Counterpunch, “Anthrax and the Agency – Thinking the Unthinkable,” Wayne Madsen, April 8-9, 02, Pg.5 http://www.counterpunch.org/madsenanthrax.html [32] op. cit., pg.5-6 [33] op. cit., pg.7 [34] op. cit. pg.6 [35] op. cit. pg.3 [36] op. cit. pg.7 [37] op. cit. pg.5 [38] op. cit. pg.8 [39] ABCNews.com, May 1, 2001, Book: U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba by David Ruppe, http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/jointchiefs_010501.html [40] Counterpunch, “Anthrax and the Agency – Thinking the Unthinkable,” Wayne Madsen, April 8-9, 02, Pg.3 http://www.counterpunch.org/madsenanthrax.html [41] Baltimore Sun, Oct. 10, 2001: “We see this as a power grab by the administration,” said Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union. “They are taking advantage of the fear and anxiety of people to get through changes in the law that couldn’t pass otherwise.” [42] Balt.Sun, Oct.10 & 25, 2001. [43] Balt.Sun, Oct.13, 2001. [44] NYT, Dec.14, 2001, William J. Broad [45] ABC News.com, “No suspects, Few Clues,” April 4, 2002, Brian Ross [46] Reuters News Service, Dec.16, 2001, JoAnne Allen. [47] NYT, Dec.13, 2001 [48] The Plain Dealer, Nov.30, 2001; Washington Post, Steve Fainaru [49] Washington Post, Rick Weiss, Dec.16, 2001 [50] Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: Iran-Contra Affair http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/aae/side/irancont.html [51] New York Times, Nov. 16, 1997, “Call the Plumbers www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/16/reviews/971116.16findert.html [52] New York Times, April 15, 1991, “The Election Story of the Decade” by Gary Sick http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_cr/h920205-october-clips.htm [53] op.cit., Horowitz, page 10. [54] op.cit., page 7. [55] The Joint Chiefs of Staff opposed JFK’s intentions to withdraw from Vietnam, establish détente with the Soviet Union and end the arms race. Kennedy also said he would “scatter the CIA to the four winds” after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Judge for Yourself by John Judge, Coalition of Political Assassinations (COPA), P.O.Box 7147, Wash.DC 20044, www.geocities.com/open_secrets_2000 A Heritage of Stone by Jim Garrison NY, Putnam, HB, 1970;Bloody Treason by Noel Twyman, Laurel Publishing, December 1997 Hardcover. [56] Hearing before the Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee onInternational Relations of the House of Representatives, February 12,1998.) http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0f.htm …western companies could increase production…an increase of more than 500%…”, John J. Maresca, V.P., Unocal Corp. “…construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place... So one of these days this war too will end. Then I believe the pipeline will be secure.” [57] Special Report in the Public Affairs Magazine: indiareacts.com called "India in anti-Talibanmilitary plan", June 26, 2001) http://www.indiareacts.com/archivefeatures/nat2.asp?recno=10 [58] BBC News' article by George Arney quoting Niaz Naik, former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, who was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action would go ahead by the middle October, September 18, 2001, [59] Rahul Bedi, "India joins anti-Taliban coalition" March 15, 2001. [60] Chicago Tribune, “Pipeline Politics Taint U.S. War,” Salim Muwakkil, March 18, 2002 [61] CNN.com, “Source: Clinton Agrees to Release Convicted Spy Pollard,” Oct.23, 1998, Wolf Blitzer. [62] Baltimore Sun, Jan.21, 2002, Jack Dolan & Dave Altimari; "Turmoil in a Perilous Place, " Hartford Courant, Dec. 19, 2001, by Lynne Tuohy and Jack Dolan. (archives) www.hartfordcourant.com [63] CNN.com, “Israel's 1967 attack on U.S. ship deliberate, book says,” David Ensor, April 23, 2001 www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/23/liberty.attack/#top_of_page [64] Washington Report on Middle east Affairs, “With Friends Like This…,” Dec.1986, Jane Hunter, http://www.washington-report.org/ backissues/1286/8612006.html [65] CNN.com, “Former Arms Inspector Urges US-Iraq Dialog,” March 24, 1999www.cnn.com/US/9903/24/ritter.about.face Iraq’s main biological weapons facilities (supplied originally by the US and Britain) “have been destroyed and rendered harmless,” according to a 1999 special panel of the UN Security Council. Not in Our Name, http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.06G.JP.Name.htm [66] New York Times, Feb.5, “The CIA has no evidence that Iraq has engaged in terrorist operations against the US in nearly a decade, and the Agency is convinced that Saddam Hussein has not provided chemical or biological weapons to al-Qaeda or related terrorist groups.” Reported in: http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.06G.JP.Name.htm [67] This Pipeline War Has Been Planned for Three Years, http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ifiwere.html Complete 911 Timeline (from the History Commons) By: Steve Benen on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 5:30 AM - PDT The president spoke briefly this morning from the White House, heralding the “success of the surge” for creating “sustained progress” in Iraq. Soon after, Joe Lieberman announced that he and Lindsey Graham are “introducing a resolution recognizing the strategic success that the surge has achieved in a central front — the central front of the war on terror against the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01, and expressing our thanks to our troops who’ve made that success possible.” Ben at TP did a nice job knocking this down, emphasizing “the obvious fact that the terrorists who carried out the September 11, 2001 terror attacks operated out of Afghanistan, not Iraq,” and that the policy that Lieberman supports has ”prevented the U.S. from sending more troops where they are needed, in Afghanistan.” Quite right. I’d add that Lieberman’s insistence that the surge defeated “the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01″ also suggests he thinks al Qaeda is (or at least, has been) the principal cause of violence in Iraq. That’s completely wrong, too. The New York Times’ public editor, Clark Hoyt, eventually tackled the subject head on in a terrific column; the paper took steps to make amends; and news outlets have generally been more responsible about not equating all Iraqi violence with AQI. But Lieberman wants to fudge the details in the hopes that Americans don’t know the difference. If violence is down, the surge worked. If the surge worked, we’ve beaten al Qaeda. It’s completely wrong, but it might fool those who aren’t paying attention.
There’s also, of course, the political considerations. Lieberman and Graham, McCain’s two most sycophantic allies, want a resolution recognizing “the strategic success that the surge has achieved in a central front — the central front of the war on terror against the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01, and expressing our thanks to our troops who’ve made that success possible.” The want that so Barack Obama will be compelled to take a position on it. If he opposes it because it’s based on bogus and ignorant premises, it’s yet another cudgel for the McCain campaign. I wonder, will there ever be a presidential campaign for grown-ups? |
No comments:
Post a Comment