That other terrorist attack on U.S. soil
By Steve Benen Monday Jan 28, 2008 6:00pmIn his State of the Union address last night, Bush boasted, “We are grateful that there has not been another attack on our soil since 9/11.”
Except, of course, that’s wrong. I’m not trying to play a cute semantics game; I know what conservatives mean when they talk about “terrorist attacks.” They’re describing devastating, cataclysmic events that kill a lot of people at once. I get it.
But about a month after 9/11, someone sent weaponized anthrax to two Democratic senators and several news outlets. Five Americans were killed and 17 more suffered serious illnesses. For reasons that I’ve never been able to explain, the incident — it’s entirely reasonable to call it an “attack” — is hardly ever mentioned. No one knows where the anthrax came from, who sent it, or why. It was a horrifying incident, immediately on the heels of another horrifying incident, but more than six years later, it’s almost as if the episode never happened.
After Yglesias noted that it seems as if the “whole episode has been officially erased from the historical record or something,” Atrios added:
And anthrax was what made things like “mobile chemical weapons labs” sound so scary. Not everyone agrees, but I think more than 9/11 the anthrax freaked the country out. 9/11 was horrible, but the anthrax made it seem like we’d reached a new era where some horrible creepy shit was going to happen every day.
And then it was all forgotten.
Quite right. Every time I hear someone talk about the absence of 9/11 attacks, I twitch, wondering why the anthrax incident has somehow been downgraded in the national memory.
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Giuliani's in third right now, above Huckabee. Romeny and McCain almost tied with McCain leading with one percent. This is looking interesting.
Oh for goodness sake.
This was weaponized Anthrax (as opposed to anthrax you can make yourself in your high school lab) from a USArmy laboratory that was sent only to democratic politicians and journalists who were against the upcoming Iraq War.
This does not qualify as a terrorist attack.
Hate to be playing semantics myself, but WHAT does it qualify as?
The anthrax was extremely rare that came from an American lab, they came at the time when certain politicians were opposing the patriot act-
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7050005040016090253&q=history+...
americangoy: it's terrorism, no doubt, just domestic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdamOzrfZI0
"No one knows where the anthrax came from"
I cant find the reference, but I'm sure it was American made and hence the story was forgotten.
oops nevermind
On 9-11 the country was attacked by Al-Qaeda. Since then, the country has been under continuous attack by the Bush administration.
caught.in.a.mosh
I heart anthrax.
Maybe the problem is with the word "attack". The anthrax mailing was more like a "proof of concept".
That's precisely the definition of a terrorist act, Americangoy. Scaring people into submission is the whole point.
And let's stop tiptoeing around the obvious. Some American rightwinger sent that anthrax. We will never know who did it but their motivation was crystal clear.
And I fully expect that wishy-washy 9-11 Commission claim it was Lee Harvey Oswald. (And no, it doesn't take a tinfoil hat to state the obvious.)
Ironic isn't it that the contaminated letters only went to those who opposed the lead up to the Iraq war? When ever Congress or the mass media acts particularly spineless, even for them, these incidents always come to mind. I know I'm talking conspiracy here, but that really is all there is to believe in this case. Also do not fail to point out that the anthraxed used was home grown...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attack#Investigation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attack#Comments_from_bio-weapo...
Bush and other administration officials went of cipro before or on 9/11.
http://www.aztlan.net/bushcipro.htm
andy @ 12:
I meant "on" not "of"
And all this talk of no terrorist attacks on our soil clearly seems intended to downplay the terrorist attacks against the United States which have taken place since 9/11, like the Riyadh Residential Compound Bombing in May 2003 which killed 9 Americans, or the Mosul Mess Tent Bombing in December 2004 which killed 18 Americans.
Why is it that we openly acknowledge the Khobar Towers Bombing (1996) and the African Embassy Bombings (1998) as terrorist attacks against the United States, but gloss over the attacks above? Seems like another vestige of the fantasy world the Bushies have spun us into. And then we wonder why Democrats get pigeon-holed as being soft on terror.
And of course, besides killing Americans, each of the terrorist attacks above have something else in common:
www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
That's the real crime of this administration.
Niether incedent passes my smell test. As soos as the PNAC mentioned a galvanizing attack like Pearl Harbor and then BINGO, looky looky what they get. I feel sory for any of you that think the U.S. government is NOT capable and willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get what they want. The way it went down, it must have been planned by daddy (jr. ain't that smart) but he didn't get re-elected...
The repukes don't talk about it because they know that it came from within their own ideology, as a way to further frighten and control the populace.
The fear of bioterrorism added to the fear of further cataclysmic physical attacks akin to the airplane attacks of WTC galvanized the takeover of our civil rights and Constitution by the bush crime family. This comes right out of the Nazi playbook - and who should know better how to control a nation by fear than the bush family (remember georgie's grandpappy...)?
I wouldn't put anything past this administration, an administration seemingly without a conscience.
The anthrax "came from" Fort Detrick, MD. However, it had progressed several generations after escaping. Meaning, this was a case of homegrown politically-motivated right-wing terrorism with its roots in our chemical weapons program -- which is indeed another valid argument against having an illegal (by treaty) chemical weapons program in the first place. Dig a little deeper, and you'll find that Hantavirus got out "into the wild" in the early 90's, after some went "mysteriously missing" from, you guessed it, Fort Detrick.
The reason this has been "downgraded in the national memory" is because it does not fit the "conservative narrative" about terrorism, as promulgated in the mainstream media which takes its cues from a White House which does not want Americans reminded that this case is unsolved. Or that the Oklahoma City investigation was re-opened a few years ago, and that case remains unsolved as well. Instead, we hear repeatedly how "countless thousands of lives were saved" by the Bush administration's thwarting of that insidious Brooklyn Bridge plot.
Also, I don't think you can call it "weaponized" anthrax, there was some disinformation out there for many years about a special coating, which was recently exposed as false. That the anthrax came from Fort Detrick, however, is not in dispute -- the strain is indeed from our own WMD program.
They can't bring it up for obvious reasons. It would be like saying that they were better at fighting terrorists overseas than they are on their own turf. That would be unacceptable to the most patriotic of Americans. And it would make shrub look bad. Can't have that now, can we?
Thought this site did not allow 9/11 theories.
"Every time I hear someone talk about the absence of 9/11 attacks, I twitch, wondering why the anthrax incident has somehow been downgraded in the national memory."
Much speculation is that it was made at Fort Dietrich.Of course it has been forgotten.It achieved the goal of getting the Patriot Act passed.Only Demopcrats and enemies of ...,well you know the drill.Get on your tin foil hat on and become logical,and you`ll figure it out.I have even read articles that the FBI has covered up significant leads.
As Fr Duffy used to say when I asked him a difficult question,"It`s a mystery." Yes it is.
And we must not forget the elderly lady in one of the NE states that received an anthrax letter and succumbed. We never ever found out where her's came from.
I think and always will, that the bush administration was responsible for these attacks. Maybe some how the letter the lady received went astray or crossed paths with the original letters but she was killed by the same domestic attack.
The anthrax was government grade. AND THAT SHOULD TELL YOU RIGHT THERE WERE IT CAME FROM.
Since it didn't involve any Repubs, it can't be qualified as an attack.
I'm going out on a limb here, but I believe the Perp. listened to Rush Limbaugh.
No Conspiracies going on here, pleae move along...
isn't it curious though how nobody has been found for this ? very curious indeed ....
It was clearly a terrorist attack, orchestrated by the world's deadliest and most powerful terror group.
It was designed to terrorise the Democratic Party and the media into acquiescence to the terrorists' wider aims, and the American people into a state of pants-shitting obedience.
Check it out. It worked. The Bushies got everything they wanted.
fwacbar @ 15:
Good post I`m in total agreement.I don`t think Sr. did it,but he may have helped.
It is conveniently forgotten, as has been said, because the guilty are Americans committing the murder of their own people like some goddam tinpot shithead like suharto, kim jong il, pinochet, stroessner, et al, welcome to the world of people who have been given their head in America, the fringe of the right wing, who are no longer the fringe and they will do anything without qualm to advance their agenda.
I change the dynamic and it is OT just to make you all aware of the beauty that is possible, a little tidbit by a fine guitarist named Philip Sayce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPljVbLv-I4&feature=related
I am just so very tired of the ugliness.
VietVet8666 @ 20:
I find myself agreeing with you. I was of the assumption that any of these type of "conspiracy theories" were out of bounds. Was kind of shocked to read this one.
Kos doesn't allow Cindy Sheehan because she's not a Dem.
C&L doesn't allow 9/11 suggestions.
These sites are a good place to hang out.
But suggest you look for the exit.
In 2001, Judith Miller wrote a book with Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, "Germs, Biological Weapons and America's Secret War." I read it. Scared the bejeezus out of me at the time. Question -- is this the Judith Miller?
Who used all the aluminum foil?
So, who attacks soil? How about attacks on our PEOPLE?
I am sick of this claim of having kept Americans safe when Americans are killed and maimed on a daily basis because of neocon ambitions. Are Americans any less dead or dismembered because Bush sent them there to stir up a shitstorm of terrorist retribution? They might just rather take their chances against terrorism standing on "our soil", and we might be a lot safer if they were.
Screw the soil, Bush! Then go screw yourself!
Anthrax? Some say the Eyerackies, some Al-Qaeda, maybe the Cubans or the Russians, we will never know...
The anthrax attacks were the carefully-planned aftershocks of the greatest psychological experiment of all time.
Agent Provocateur @ 11:
Also, do not forget that in the spring of 2002 there was a Wisconsin man that was planting and setting off pipe bombs in mail boxes. His intent was to create a 'smilie' face pattern across the US. Last I heard he was in the Linn County, Iowa jail after having been found guilty of terrorism.
gumby @ 33:
george
Come on that was a weapons test.. By VP inc a Haliburton subsidiary..
While I remain unconvinced that the US government had any direct role in 9/11 (although I'm prepared to believe they had wind that something was up, and chose inaction), the anthrax attacks are another thing altogether.
This really stinks to high heaven.
And the total lack of interest in it ever since is a dead giveaway that the 'authorities' never want the facts of this case to see the light of day.
And tin pots are better than aluminum pots for your health just a little harder on the neck muscles on account of weight.
Let's not forget about the DC Sniper attacks either. Surely that was terrorism.
And yes, I'll stop calling you Shirley.
Out of curiosity, how many C&Lers think of TWA 800 as a terrorist attack?
Conspriracy theories are subjected to ridicule.
So the American people are told they must be sheep.
Umm. There was a second Terrorist incident in the Washington DC area for a number of weeks after 9/11. You may remember that DC was terrorized by two snipers for a good period of time.
There is no reasonable way you cannot call that terrorism.
VietVet8666 @ 31:
Op Ed News doesn't allow mention of Islamism or Anti-Semitism. Democrats.com doesn't allow any suggestion you might not support any possible Democratic nominee.(found that out the hard way)
I though we had progressed beyond this type of supression.
JTM @ 44:
I have no idea, what I do know is that MLK was killed, JFK was killed, Robert Kennedy was killed, Fred Hampton and 20 plus black panthers were killed, 58, 000 American soldiers were killed by a war based on a lie, not to mention all the Vietnamese poeple, Iraq, the same just different casualty numbers but still a horror. So you all tell me just what the fuck you think these people are capable of.
And I gave you the short list.
Democratic Representative Rush Holt (NJ-12) has been stonewalled in his efforts to get answers from the DOJ and the FBI about the status of investigations into the 2001 anthrax attacks.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/26/17724/7643
Families of Sept. 11 are still waiting for answers.
http://nyc911initiative.org/unanswered_family_questions.htm
From Bush and Cheney who testified only in private, without being under oath.
we can consider the anthrax mailings as an inside job.... but.... nothing else qualifies for fear of raising hard questions.
I don' buy ANY gov't explanation.
One thing I always wonder - is it not a terrorist that opens fire on unsuspecting people, be it in a mall, school or other public place? Does that not invoke terror in its victims? Therefore, a 'terrorist act'? Or does it only count if they have brown skin and not citizens of the US? To say there hasn't been any terrorism certainly isn't accurate. Maybe the term needs to be more defined.
Can I get a "duh"? Now, back to our election coverage . . .
I don't buy the conspiracy theory. I find it too hard to believe that Americans with plenty of money and power would bother killing innocent Americans. It would be a desperate act with huge risks, and wealthy Americans have no reason to be that desperate. I don't think the pro-war people are evil, just very unwise.
There is another explanation for the anthrax attacks:
If I were a loony religious terrorist and wanted America to get rid of the heathen Saddam for me, I'd send the anthrax. And I'd thank my lucky stars that there was such an unwise man in the Whitehouse to carry out my plans for me.
larry flynt @ 50:
Terrible
Explosive
Righteous
Retribution
Of
Religious
Islamic
Scary
Muslims
Martin Gifford @ 52:
And you'd single out only democrats to send it to, those who strongly opposed Bush's war agenda, correct?
You sure as heck should buy the conspiracy theory because that was no ordinary anthrax: it was US military grade, and you, as a loon, could never get your hands on it.
This was the most transparent domestic terrorist attack on US soil ever orchestrated by (and you can fill in the blank).
"War" is so effin profitable, don't you know?
What has been the color on the "Terrorism color chart" lately?
Don't hear about that much anymore.
also they fail to include domestic terrorism as part of their definitions. they only want to include attacks by Muslims. but i would consider the school shooting in Virginia an act of terrorism and the church burnings in the south, and the attack on the Amish that we've had since 9/11 acts of terrorism.
They know EXACTLY where the anthrax came from- right down to the lab and batch number.
Maddy @ 48:
Dont froget John Lennon.
http://www.mackwhite.com/lennon.html
It's one thing to be unconvinced the government was behind the 9/11 attacks, but one would have to be naive to the 100th power to think it's something the government would never do.
fwacbar @ 15:
Ever since 9/11 - I've been trying to point out that the framers of the PNAC were praying for another Pearl Harbor to give them a reason to invade Iraq. Can you imagine their collective orgasms when their prayers were answered? It is a pity that more Americans are not aware of the PNAC, their plans for World Domination and the people behind it.
Not the goverment itself but a small criminal element in key positions within the relevant agencies- the "shadow government" that Bill Moyers talks about.
"why the anthrax incident has somehow been downgraded in the national memory."
WHY? ...because it was perpetrated by pro-war Republicans, who have influenced the press to "forget about it" after pulling the FBI off the case.
They don't care if a few people die, if their wallets grow fatter. Follow the money.
It is generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definition_of_terrorism
The fact that this conversation is occurring and we have a color coded terror threat notice (that has been red how many times?) invokes the phrase "threat of violence". When ever Osama speaks, we freak out. Every accident with a plane, train, or ship has whispers of terrorism.
Thus we are essentially under terror attack daily. We may have been even before 9/11 but we just didn’t recognize it.
Ya they know, didnt you guys see that history channel clip where they say it came from the Department of Defense?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdamOzrfZI0&eurl=http://goldismoney.info/...
A young restaurant manager in Texas thought she was doing her job when she called the police on two girls who were notorious for using fake ID to get into bars. Unflattering photos of the two banditas made it onto the cover of the National Enquirer in July 2001. It was the fourth time the girls, the Bush twins, made the cover of the tabloid, which also ran unflattering stories of the Florida governor, Jeb Bush, accusing him of rigging the Florida vote in 2000 for his brother, George W. Bush. There were rumors of more embarassing photos yet to be published. Three months later, the photo editor died of inhalation anthrax poisoning at the publisher of the National Enquirer in Boca Raton, Florida. Mysterious "federal authorities" purged the building of files, computers, photos and mail before turning the crime scene over to the FBI. Neither the CDC nor the FBI were in control of the team that purged the building. A year later the FBI would return to the building and literally scrape the floors and walls looking for anthrax spores because the Attorney General (John Ashcroft) had given what little the FBI had to the US Army.
Maddy @ 48:
The son and the brother that had a dinner date arranged the day after they shot Reagan.
Ok so American only had a population of 270 million back in March 1981, its a small world...
As bad as forgetting about it is, the fact that there has been no real effort shown to bring the criminals to justice is worse. This a crime that should have been very easy to trace back to it's origin. How many people had access? Security logs? Any missing samples at the facility? CSI Maryland would have had this wrapped up in one episode.
The amazing coincidence with the anthrax attacks is that folks at the Bush White House started on anti-anthrax CIPRO one week before the first anthrax letter was mailed. An FOIA request was entered by the conservative action group Judicial Watch on this issue. The original page is now off their site, but the text is still present on Google cache. link
using the word 'they' as in random lone psycho gunman of course.
My guess is the @nthrax was a Black-Op conducted by Blackwater on behest of either the present admin, the previous admin's predecessor, or a combination of the two. My magic 8 ball suggests Cheney was neck deep in it.
Selective is to Memory
as
Anthrax is to Usama Bin Laden
There are constant attacks on abortion clinics by Christian terrorists. I guess only terrorist attacks by Muslims or environmentalists are all the current regime cares about.
Didn't the two senators that were targeted (by the anthrax) spearheading the drive to "shoot down" the Patriot Act. They got their scare... and well, the rest is selective history.
I realize it's semantics but...Anthrax is a disease state caused by the spores of a bacteria Bacillus anthracis. You can't send "anthrax" through the mail. It's like saying, they sent you an envelope of pneumonia.
Look at how much time elapsed between the two World Trade Center attacks. The reason there have been no big terrorist attacks is that Osama & the boys are REALLY good at waiting. The fact that we haven't been hit again isn't b/c of anything that Duhbya & his fellow goons are doing.
I'm not one for conspiracy theories but:
If the anthrax attack had been conducted by an amateur, it would have been easily traced back to its origin. The perpetrator would have left a string of anthrax cases in his wake. The letters were leaky and left a traceable path as they made their way through the postal system leaving a wake of infection. It was clearly a professional operation made to appear amateurish conducted by an individual or parties that had access to high security labs at Fort Detrick.
The chosen targets of the attack were also interesting. Members of the media and Democratic politicians that posed obstacles to a complete right wing takeover.
We'll never know who was responsible but the only people who benefited from it were the Bush regime.
It was supposed to look amateurish, but not too amateurish. It was supposed to be pinned on Saddam Hussein, but then too much info leaked out so they couldn't do that. They already had the powerpoints all made up about bio-weapons labs in Iraq. They still went with those, of course, but under a different rationale.
Martin Gifford @ 52:
1) No "Americans with money and power would bother killing innocent Americans."
Got one word for you: Tobacco.
Although, I'm pretty certain, without mentioning the litany of cases where the government has conspired to kill Americans, there are millions of cases where the wealthy have killed other Americans, directly and indirectly. And the more money is as stake, the more people are expendible.
2) The anthrax attacks were timed with the Patriot Act Vote, not the Iraq War Vote.
3) Your conspiracy hypothesis is much less plausible than the theory put forward here, considering we know the rare strain of anthrax came from our own defense labs.
Certainly, we're entitled to a more thorough investigation than the one offered by the History Channel.
shutterbug98 @ 76:
Dead men can wait forever, OBL was reported dead and buried december 2001 from kidney failure,
by most foreign press back then or early 02, only the silly and rating obsessed US media still thinks he is alive and plotting.
Yoiu have this uber super villain still wearing the exact same clothes as he wore in a video from five years ago...
I always thought we got ripped off by no white cat in the videos too, proves beyond doubt they were CGI faked.
And as various people have said, OBL was fluent in English, so why are the videos targeted at the US audience not in english...
moniker @ 7:
Can you prove that? I know the FBI can't.
Spot on.
Back in 1991, Russell Welch was mailed anthrax when he blew the whistle on the Mena Arkansas cocaine drug smuggling operation going on under Clintons nose.
History repeats itself...
Drug smuggling is used to fund black-op type stuff, like during Iran contra. Kinda funny how opium export out of Afghanistan went up 400% after we invaded.
Sooner or later people will wake up and realize that the military is calling the shots - and they don't care about parties - only power. Disagree and you'll be inhaling some anthrax. Which would also explain why no one else even bothered to read it before it's passage.
Smoke and mirrors... watch my LEFT and RIGHT hands... you're getting sleepy...
"For reasons that I’ve never been able to explain, the incident — it’s entirely reasonable to call it an “attack” — is hardly ever mentioned."
Because by mentioning it, conservatives, Faux News, Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, etc., couldn't then claim "On Bush's watch, there hasn't been an attack since 9-11..."
Of course, WHAT ABOUT 9-11? What about "Bin Laden determined to attack within U.S.?" What about "You've covered your ass now?"
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/19/AR2006061901211...
Why was the anthrax attack forgotten?
It didn't turn out to be useful to the people who decide what gets talked about. See also, Oklahoma City Bombing.
Yes, the death toll from 9/11 was greater, but that alone can't explain the diference. If size mattered in such things, then the half million people we lose to cigarettes every year would swamp the one-time loss of three thousand. But the half-million victims of cigarettes aren't terribly useful to anyone, and are a very inconvenient truth to some folks with the means to influence what gets talked about.
The anthrax attack was probably done by some disgruntled, but highly educated, white guy. Wrong demographic for the bad guy. Not useful. Next topic.
I don't scare easily, but the Anthrax attacks were more effective at frightening me than anything I could have imagined.
People I know personally were affected by the anthrax attacks. Ordinary people. But still I believed at the time - and I still do - that the people who benefitted from these attacks were the ones responsible for them.
If you think this government wouldn't do anything to harm the people, I ask that you look at health care, SCHIPS, unemployment and those who are scared of losing the jobs they have. Cost of living increases, lost wages, the Kyoto Treaty and the destruction of the planet. The Medicare Drug plan.
No, you're right. They would never harm the American people. No such thing as state supported terrorism.
I'm pretty new to the conspiracy theory game, but I think that the anthrax attacks are the key to the grand conspiracy unification theory, and I don't mean this mockingly. In my mind, the anthrax attacks are the link between the "unknowns" about 9/11, the false propaganda behind the Iraq war, and all of the unitary executive abuses. Throw in Duke Cunningham and bribery (the outfit that bribed him was hired to "screen" mail for anthrax) and Blackwater and Halliburton and all the money that these guys are making from war and homeland security and we have the largest criminal conspiracy in history. Ahhh there is a hole in my tinfoil hat.
That's because people were watching every move of yours.
Bush did not have another attack, because he got what he wanted - to attack iraq.
When he plans to attack Iran - we may have a similar 9/11.
Until then, Bush can be in denial.
From what I remember, the anthrax was not only the Ames strain, it was Weaponized. The anthrax was contained in a micronized powder designed to spread the spores into the air.
Anyone with a basic knowledge of microbiology and access to a high school microbiology lab could grow anthrax. Weaponizing it is a different matter all together. It takes some fairly sophisticated equipment to weaponize it. The kind of equipment available at Fort Deitrich or the Dugway proving grounds.
The anthrax mailings were either the results of a terrorist INSIDE the US biodefense program, or a black ops job by the US government. Either way is pretty scary.
jw bungle, m.d. @ 75:
Yes, it is semantics. Saying 'anthrax' instead of Bacillus anthracis is a colloquial term. But I believe most microbiologists understand that when someone says a person sent 'anthrax' through the mail, they sent B. anthracis endospores.
I still suspect Hatfill did it.
Martin Gifford @ 52:
How is it not evil to start a war and effectively order the death of any given number of people because you just feel like doing so?
And don't forget....
Legal group wonders why White House took Cipro before attacks
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27888
So do I.
I thought from the very beginning that the anthrax scare was an inside job. What better way to intimidate anyone who opposed the war, and frighten the American people into further submission?
I live in the DC area. I remember training our mail clerk to use gloves and a mask when opening the mail. People died. This was indeed a terrorist attack, and I believe that the domestic terrorists who did it were inside our government.
They tell themselves they are in a fight of good vs evil, and/or what's good for America (in their mind) is good for the world. These people are black and white thinkers focussed on goals. The ends justify the means in their minds. We see they are regularly claiming victory in Iraq, and it's not that they don't regret the deaths - it's just that THE GOAL fills their minds.
Even tobacco company people tell themselves that they are helping keeping the wheels of the economy turning, and if they don't someone else will, and what's good for america is good for the world, etc.
The two main points of my post is that 1) they aren't evil and 2) they aren't smart and 3) the risk of killing americans is too high.
Point 3 is probably the key one. If you were a rich evil guy, would you risk getting gutted in the street if you were caught anthraxing America? And imagine the infamy. Aren't there better ways to make even more money or whatever?
"Twenty-eight months have passed since September 11th, 2001 -- over two years without an attack on American soil." Bush, 2004 State of the Union
Cheney, 12/07
"I think the policies we put in place … have been directly responsible for our success at defeating all further attacks that have been launched against the United States since 9/11,” Cheney added.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7234.html
Cheney 11/2001
David [reporter]: You talked about the possibility of a threat in the U.K. The anthrax attacks, which have happened since September 11th, CBS is reporting that they -- that these may be an American -- what you might call an American loony, and not a Muslim terrorist. Do you think -- are those reports correct, do you think? Do you have anything you could share with us?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We just don't know. We're working hard trying to find out exactly what the source of the anthrax attacks are. But at this stage, we don't know whether that's something that's generated here at home, or whether it's part of the Osama bin Laden-al Qaeda attack on the U.S. It's clearly a terrorist attack; whether it's domestic or foreign, we don't know.
David: Absolutely. But you have no proof that it's al Qaeda or bin Laden?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: At this stage, I can't say. We just don't know.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/567683/posts
Fran Townsend, White House Homeland Security Advisor, also admits that America was attacked twice under Bush's watch.
Q Fran, you said that we've not been -- "in the six years since the September 11th attacks, we've not been attacked, and I'm often asked why" -- are we any closer to finding out who carried out the anthrax attacks that followed the September 11th attacks?
MS. TOWNSEND: Obviously that's an ongoing investigation. I'm sure Director Mueller would be delighted to answer. (Laughter.)
Q But doesn't that count as a terrorist attack? I mean, that is a subsequent event, right, so it's --
MS. TOWNSEND: It does in my mind.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-7.html
Martin Gifford @ 52:
You don't think the pro-war people are evil? These are essentially the same group/type of people who ran Enron and intentionally shut down entire power grids during a heat wave to drive up energy prices. Not only did they almost bankrupt California, but its never been said how many people may have actually died as a result.
In my opinion, the entire Enron fiasco was a true act of terrorism -- thats the real mentality that permeates our present Corporatocracy. A little Anthrax to get the Patriot Act pushed through... thats nothin'
MK Ultra @ 58:
And just imagine what Princess Diana would have had to say in the run up to the Iraq War after successfully campaigning against landmines and falling in love with not one but two muslim men.
We take it for granted that political assasinations happen all the time in other countries but somehow in the USA it always has to be a lone nut or an accident. Bullshit.
The citizen lost his country after JFK and will never get it back until the debt is paid. 911 is just more of the same. What do you want to do about it John A?
Snapshots:
1) 9/11 terrorist attacks.
2) Within weeks, lethal weaponized anthrax mailed.
3) Copycat mailings involving non-lethal powder sprinkled into envelopes start.
4) December 2001: At the same time an Army of God escaped convict is captured in the Midwest following his mailing of about 500 non-lethal powder terrorist envelopes to family planning centers, I saw a CNN bottom-of-screen news blurb stating that the FBI was conducting 15,000+ investigations into anthrax-related incidences, presumably the one lethal anthrax case plus 14,999+ other copycat mailing investigations. News blurb lasted for under thirty minutes, then disappeared.
5) A year or so passed. I linked to a Philadelphia Inquirer article about the Army of God guy's trial being shifted from the Midwest to a federal court in Philadelphia. I contacted the reporter via email, asking him about the other 15,000+ FBI investigations into domestic terrorist mailings, which by extrapolation must have increased in size exponentially. I also asked why no major news media seemed interested in compiling the statistics of these ongoing nationwide terrorist mailings. He replied that he checked with the top honchos at the Philadelphia Inquirer, who told him that they were keeping a lid on any national reporting of the nationwide trend of terrorist mailings so as not to alarm people, with the idea also being that if they didn't report on all the terrorist copycat mailings occurring, then they'd eventually wind down and stop.
6) In the interim, Bill Clinton's Harlem office received one (how many others?) and Al Gore's Tennessee office received one (again, how many more?). In the case of the terrorist mailing to Al Gore's office, the local Tennessee newspaper quoted a first responder as saying that this terrorist mailing incident was just one of 400 in that area that this person had responded to since the copycat terrorist mailings began in late 2001.
7) The copycat terrorist mailings continue to this day.
It is obvious to me that the Bush administration is sitting on this because of how damning the information would be for the Republican Party, especially since over 99 percent of the terrorist envelopes have been sent to liberal, progressive individuals and organizations from right-wing nuts. My local newspaper in late 2001, for instance, had to put a trailer out in its parking lot to sort through and screen incoming mail for potential terrorist mailings because it was viewed as being "left-wing" since it published "liberal" columnists on its op-ed page like Molly Ivins and has a "left-leaning" political cartoonist. Since the initial terrorist mailings, though, my local newspaper has added right-wing columnists like Charles Krauthammer and Jonah Goldberg to their columnist stable, so I presume the right-wing terrorist mailings have diminished, if not ceased, especially since they no longer have the trailer parked out front for screening purposes.
Anyway, not only are the culprit(s) behind the lethal weaponized anthrax mailings still on the loose, but apparently most of the right-wing nut copycats who have sent powder-filled terrorist letters through the mail also remain unprosecuted. In fact, based on the total lack of any news or updates about all the internal terrorist attacks involving the mails, I'd have to say that the Bush administration's, the Justice Department's and the Republican Party's coverup is succeeding. (Which makes me wonder if any of the Democratic Party's candidates, if elected president, will work to expose how many right-wing terrorist attacks have actually occurred inside the United States while Bush has been in office, or will they, for the sake of "bipartisanship," sweep these domestic terrorist attacks under the rug just as the Bush administration has?). I pray to God daily that all the criminals in the Bush administration, as well as in the Republican Party in general, are finally brought to justice, as a top priority of the next administration...but I'm not holding my breath.
We were all praying for that before the 2006 elections. Remember that? Those were the days. Like in 1968 people thought they were on the cusp of a love revolution.
You Americans are currently living through the darkest period of modern American politics.
Corrupt politicians loudly supported (or quietly accepted) by the media - it doesn't get much worse than that!
Maybe it will take some wise charismatic person to come along. There must be someone somewhere.
Martin Gifford @ 52:
I wouldn't be quick to say there is a conspiracy but the anthrax was almost certainly carried out by someone who didn't like it's targets. It could have been one person, a few of them or a group from within the government. I dont think we can rule out anything. It could even be a foreigner that somehow got ahold of American anthrax. One thing that does make me wonder is what seems like inaction in the investigation. If all leads are dead, you would think they would bring it up again to try and get new leads.
I said it then and I'll say it now!!! If you look up the word "terrorism" and see what it means you'll see that the anthrax attacks were a greater terrorist attack then 9/11. 9/11 was a single geographicly contained event. But the US Postal Sevice goes everywhere, including into EVERY home in America.
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
BRAVO agent provacateur!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
US ARMY ANTHRAX PERIOD END OF DEBATE
Ironic isn’t it that the contaminated letters only went to those who opposed the lead up to the Iraq war? When ever Congress or the mass media acts particularly spineless, even for them, these incidents always come to mind. I know I’m talking conspiracy here, but that really is all there is to believe in this case. Also do not fail to point out that the anthraxed used was home grown…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.....estigation
‘The DNA sequence of the anthrax sent through the US mail in 2001 has been revealed and confirms suspicions that the bacteria originally came from a US military laboratory. The data released uses codenames for the reference strains against which the attack strain was compared. The two reference strains that appear identical to the attack strain most likely originated at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick (USAMRIID), Maryland.
The new work also shows that substantial genetic differences can emerge in two samples of an anthrax culture separated for only three years. This means the attacker’s anthrax was not separated from its ancestors at USAMRIID for many generations.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.....ns_experts
“I have maintained from the first descriptions of the material contained in the Daschle letter that the quality appeared to be such that it could be produced only by some group that was involved with a current or former state program in recent years. The level of knowledge, expertise, and experience required and the types of special equipment required to make such quality product takes time and experimentation to develop. Further, the nature of the finished dried product is such that safety equipment and facilities must be used to protect the individuals involved and to shield their clandestine activity from discovery.”
Martin Gifford @ 98:
If you're volunteering don't bother! A) you don't seem to qualify, and B) We Americans don't think any more highly of you non-Americans telling us how to get rid of our scum anymore then we think of our scum telling you how to get rid of yours.
abarts @ 23:
For SHEAR AUDACITY it certainly compares to 911.
Every time I think about it I have to stop myself from thinking about it.
You're also forgetting the large number of instances of home grown anti-abortion terrorism. There have been a large number of murders, bombings, arsons, and yes chemical weapon attacks by fetus fetishists since 9/11. Yet they appear, blow some people up and disappear from the media. That's why you have morons getting mad at Rosie O'Donnell for pointing out that Christian terrorists are just as dangerous. Because Christian terrorists don't get the same press.
It is well known that the "weaponized" anthrax (the Aimes strain) used in the attacks came from a laboratory on a military base -- Fort Detrick, Maryland. To solve the case, all the FBI had to do was to figure out who had security clearances to the lab and to investigate their backgrounds. The world of suspects was very small.
The right winger who sent the anthrax out to the media and democractic senators did so to prevent any debate on the Patriot Act, which passed without debate shortly thereafter. The anthrax attacker intended to keep the fear level as high as possible betwen 9/11 and the passage of the act. Once the act passed, the attacks stopped.
The breadth of the conspiracy is the icing on the cake. The fact remains that our government knows exactly who mailed those letters.
In summary, even the wildest conspiracy theory does not do justice to the actual evil running this country right now. The news reminds one of Pravda, where half the story was the most one could expect to read. I can't believe there are people who still actually believe the crap that is filling the newspapers and media. Let me say it for you -- Sheep go "Baaahh...."
Since when does Bush care about the 5 lives that died from anthrax after he killed hundreds of thousands of lives in Iraq and over 4000 American lives.... he looks more like an idiot by the minute.
No, I was thinking of the 300,000,000 Americans. Is there anybody out there? Surely there must be 1 out of 300 million. 300 million is a lot of people.
Maybe Obama? He's seems smart and charismatic.
BTW, I'm happy for any advice about home scum-removal. Why resist help? We're all in this boat together.
" For reasons that I’ve never been able to explain, the incident — it’s entirely reasonable to call it an “attack” — is hardly ever mentioned. No one knows where the anthrax came from, who sent it, or why. It was a horrifying incident, immediately on the heels of another horrifying incident, but more than six years later, it’s almost as if the episode never happened."
If you are sincere with this statement , which I believe you are, then C&L may want to discuss what hapened on 9/11, instead of banning it. The anthrax was a message that 911 could happen to any American , any time, any where.
It is part of the same scheme.
Terrible @ 102:
HE'S CORRECT.
this has probably been noted somewhere in the 100+ posts above, but PBS reported years ago that the anthrax was traced to a military lab in maryland. it's the only place on earth that strain is manufactured.
anthrax - an inside job.
americangoy @ 2:
That anthrax killed two POSTAL Employees. It qualifies as MURDER, asshole. It MURDERED someone.
Wouldn't the DC Snipers count as terrorists?
"Every time I hear someone talk about the absence of 9/11 attacks, I twitch, wondering why the anthrax incident has somehow been downgraded in the national memory."
Just wondering that now? That explains a lot!
Here you go...all the anthrax news that's fit to print (see bottom of page): http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/
ekwhite @ 89:
All true.
The anthrax was made in a high tech lab by machines costing hundreds of millions of dollars. It was coated in bentonite for anti-clinging and a process that created two extended sections (wings) on each particle to make it float for LONG periods of time in the air. Also the Ames strain was send from the CDC to Iraq for educational purposes in 2001 but The Iraqi's did not request it and they could not produce it because they did not have the machinery and or did not have the specific parts to weaponize this form of Anthrax.
Thanks for this post. I watched the planes go in from only a block away, but it was the anthrax scare that made me skittish in my own home.
Where did this story go?
-DT
Matt Yglesias is right for a change. The anthrax attacks were downright horrorifying. I have said it before, the period from 9/12/2001 through about June 2003 (the arrest of Padilla) was the darkest, bleakest, most fear-filled time in our nation's history since the Civil War. But in particular, 9/12/2001 through Christmas 2001 was just outright scary. And then we all forgot about the anthrax.
Folks, it was weapons-grade anthrax. It was produced by us. And it was sent by an American individucal or American government in order to scare the shit out of us, and it worked.
And like the Zodiac killer, we may never know the whole story. We don't even have 1/4 of the story.
"You Americans are currently living through the darkest period of modern American politics."
Nooo, that would be the Harding, Truman/Eisenhower and Carter administrations on the national level. And Huey Long in Louisiana, and the Klan governments in Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma and Oregon during the 20s if you want to go to regional level. No, I'm afraid that for all its many faults, this period doesn't even come close to being the darkest in modern American politics. You gotta get a lot darker than this to impress most Americans.
"That other terrorist attack on U.S. soil"
I'm coming Elizabeth!!
I spent 6 years in the corps, and I am sure glad I didn't have to give my life for this pathitic excuse of land of the brave. Doesn't anyone care that you just may be next victim. Not one officer in the Corp, Army or Governor's office will stand up to killers.
What was done was dastardly and it makes sense that this came from the Cheney/Bush regime who in my humble opinion is terrorizing the Congress, the U.S. populous, and the people of the world with their disgraceful policies. But any proof is way buried of who ordered the anthrax. Investigating this could be hazardous to ones health, one would be labeled paranoid and ridiculed to a breaking point for the investigator, their family, and friends.
However, George Carlin was right regarding paranoia -- "You only have to be right one time to make it all worth while."
From what I remember reading somewhere I thought they traced the Anthrax back to the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah (another chemical weapons facility).
The way I remember it is: 9/11 happens, Daschle and Leahy are to head the 911 investigation committee some weeks after that, both Bush and Cheney communicate to Daschle and Leahy asking them not to dig too deep into 9/11 because of "national security." Leahy and Daschle both state that they won't hold back at all in any investigation and within a week or two, anthrax arrives at their offices.
Anthrax- absolutely a terrorist attack. What about the Bush administration placing people who have repeatedly been implicated in espionage against the US (Douglas Feith, Richard Perle) into extremely sensitive positions interpreting intelligence in the lead up to the war on Iraq? They were instruments of state sponsored terror against the Iraqis.
The constant barrage of Faux news and color alerts, the pointless no shoes at the airports (what can you hide in a shoe that you can't hide in your underwear?), and on and on? This is designed to inspire terror in the US population and uses fear to push people to submit to civil rights erosions they never would have accepted before.
Paging Dr. Phillip Zack....
There hasn't been another major "terrorist" attack since Sept. 11, 2001, because it hasn't been necessary. The American people bought 9/11 hook, line and sinker and did exactly what they were supposed to do - they got very afraid and pretty much agreeed to let Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld do whatever they wanted to allay their fears. The anthrax was just used as a follow up to keep Dems and other who opposed the war talk in line, and to reinforce the "be very afraid of terrorists" line with the public.
It is extremely difficult for me to believe that anyone who seriously reads and studies videos of all the sites on 9/11 can still think the US government was not involved in orchestrating it. The WTC buildings were constructed in a manner that precludes the kind of collapse that happened - there was nothing left but DUST, the kind that results from explosions, not pancaked floors. And, where were all the bodies? - all that was found were bone fragments. Look at the photos of the Pentagon right after the "crash" - where is the airplane? Where is any part of the airplane? How did a 737 make such a nice round hole in the Pentagon? Waht happened to all of the confiscated tapes - why can't we see them? Look at the field in PA - where is the plane? How many photos of plane crashes have you seen in your life where there was no identifiable part of the plane left at the site right after it happened?
The neo-cons plainly stated in their PNAC docs that in order for them to establish the New American Empire and steal the oil resources of the ME there would have to be a "new Pearl Harbor" - some major incident that would incite the populace to get behind endless war. And, what do you know? One year after Bush is in office, the Towers crumble into dust.
The next terror attack in the US will happen as soon as the powers that be think we're getting just a little too bold, not scared enough anymore. I'm thinking that may be sooner rather than later - and the Iranians will likely have to take the consequences.
Up until September 11, 2001, a President could have boasted that there had not been a terrorist attack on the US since February, 2003, the date of the first attack on the WTC, and that he must have been doing something right.
D to the Izzle @ 36:
I think I can read between the lines here. You're implying 9-11. Oops, I said it! Now we're both going to be banned!!
Years from now, when the 9-11/anthrax LIHOP/MIHOP operation orchestrated by the PNACs in concert with the Saudis/Bin Laden/U.S. Govt black ops and god knows who else is uncovered, my guess is that 35-40% of the U.S. population will not give one iota of shit, as long as they can still hate brown people.
What do you guys think?
That second one was also the government/Bush/Cheney/PNAC. It's easy to claim, "no more terrorist attacks", if you were the one who ordered them in the first place.
I didn't do it before, but I wanted to just thank you to Crooks & Liars for posting on this story, I also heard KO mention the attacks after the SotU speech. Thank you both. I was almost wondering if I had made the whole thing up, even though I was working in a mailroom/warehouse when the whole thing was going on, safe on the west coast, but our precautions were a pain in the ass. Considering where I and many seem to believe the origin of the attack to be, I find it to be quite a brave and inspiring thing to continue to shed light on this case. C&L, KO, and nameless other reporters who are willing to fight the good fight and give people access to true information, rather than repeating lies- you sirs and ladies, you are the true patriots. I'm proud to be a regular reader of this site.
Yes. Good to see C&L refresh people's memory on this story. These days, it seems very much to be a key.
SHOCKED
A friend emailed a link to this... C&L letting 9/11-truth-like comments.
WOW.
Just a few weeks ago I stormed off here as I had the nerve to post 911 links and they were deleted.
I myself am not automatically a Bush/Cheney hater...I dislike ANY government that creates false-flag hit on their people.
andy @ 12:
I'm not likely to consider anything controversial on this webpage to be legitimate as Websense filtered it out for "Racism and Hate". As much as I believe the Bush administration has committed criminal acts, I won't buy this story from a hate site without confirmation from a legitimate one. Find somebody who's not a screaming anti-semite and then I'll listen.
I don't know if this has already been said or debunked yet, but the first terrorist attack occurred in 1993 and 9/11 occurred in 2001. That means that, if my math is correct, there were roughly 8 years between coordinated terrorist attacks on US soil. It's only been 6+ years since 9/11. If Bush wants to brag about no attacks on US soil since 9/11 as if it's a great accomplishment, he still has 2 years to go to equal the efforts of the Clinton Admin. Yes, the Clinton Admin. The one that was the real cause in the breakdown that allowed 9/11 to happen. (yeah right!)
americangoy @ 2:
I read that no Republican received anthrax. The writer said it came on the heels of an objection to the Patriot Bill. It went to a couple of people who wanted to tone down the bill. It went to scientists who may have helped obtain it and who else I don't remember, but the writer made a point of the fact that no Republican representative received it.
SckofFknLiarz @ 117:
The anthrax used in the mailings were NOT coated with bentonite. The claim that it was was something fed to reporters at ABC News in order to float the false claim that the "bentonite coating" linked the anthrax directly to Iraq.
Glenn Greenwald wrote a piece regarding this issue a while back:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/09/abc_anthrax/index.html
"Seeking to clear up public confusion, an FBI official has reiterated the bureau's judgment that the anthrax in the letter attacks five years ago bore no special coatings to increase its deadliness and no hallmarks of a military weapon."
Glenn goes on:
"The claim that the anthrax was laced with bentonite, and that government tests detected the presence of bentonite, was simply false -- a complete invention from Ross's sources, eager to link Saddam and (the) anthrax attacks. And separately, it was a complete fiction that "the anthrax spores found in the letter to Senator Daschle are almost identical in appearance to those they recovered in Iraq in 1994 when viewed under an electron microscope." That just never happened.
Equally false, really completely frivolous, was the conclusion Ross's sources fed to him from this false premise -- namely, that even if bentonite -- which ABC referred to as a "troubling chemical additive" -- had been found in the anthrax, that would be some sort of compelling proof linking Iraq to the anthrax attacks.
The very idea that bentonite is "a troubling chemical additive," let alone that it is some sort of unique Iraqi hallmark, is inane. Bentonite is merely a common clay that is produced all over the world, including from volcanic eruptions."
As far as the History Channel program/vid clip on the Anthrax mailings being an inside job; in the near future you can be sure that they will broadcast another Anthrax program, only this time explaining how it COULDN'T have been an inside job. They did this with the Kennedy Assassination, you see. The first series was called, "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" and was a 4 or 5 episode series on exactly what transpired in Dallas on that fateful day in November complete with detailed information on all the who, when, where, whats and whys. It was an excellent show that had many eyewitnesses and solid data to support it's claims. It provided some great insight into the assassination of JFK, as I am a JFK assassination nut, and even I had not heard some of the info the History Channel had presented, so I was pretty impressed and excited that FINALLY SOMEONE was properly giving the JFK assassination the attention and coverage it had needed for SO LONG. Well, a year or so later they came out with another program about the JFK assassination, only this time it was about how Oswald was the lone gunman and that the conspiracy to kill JFK was unfounded. They COMPLETELY contadicted themselves, so I figure they must have taken a lot of heat for "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" and were simply doing damage control. Still, it made me wonder about the integrity of the History Channel. I logged on to their website and launched a scathing diatribe at them for doing so, but there you have it. Be sure to watch for a 180 degree spin on the Anthrax program coming soon to a History Channel near you!
As a recently retired letter carrier from Iowa, I am gald to see that I am not the only one who still remembers the anthrax attacks, and also the smiley-face bomber. Both of these terror acts had a direct and immediate effect on my life and work environment. In the first case, there was the worry of not knowing if any one of the thousands of letters I delivered each day might contain a deadly agent. The second case was even more worrisome, because the smiley-face nut had struck, and injured carriers, just a few miles from my home.
For bush to brag that "there has not been another attack on our soil since 9/11”, is just another despicable lie.
Check the subconcious....check the subconcious....
If the "Anthrax scare" was actually a planned government operation, the perps could un0ethically argue that the activitivy was not "TERRORISM" since it was the goverment doing it against itself.
Also watch for "guilt by association" - a most favored tool of propagandists. Most of the 935 lies about WMD/Iraq are just false insinuations. Make a statement then associtate an inference from it. Make up facts if not true and concentrate on the inference.
The art of black propagada has been perfected by the power elites. They still use white propaganda which is effective for small segments of the population, but many rely on black propaganda for the masses.
Silly me, I thought it took years of training to fly commerical airlines or be proficient in micro-biology - but all the "experts" are now telling me that flunkies, kooks and "terrorists" can master those professions while partying in bars, hinding in caves and generally running around crazed with anger. I want my $ back I spent on Law School and College back, I only needed to send in a form from the inside cover of a matchbook!!!
Checking facts would help this conversation.
As someone mentioned in message #116, I've been keeping track of every detail of the anthrax attacks on my web site at www.anthraxinvestigation.com for over six years.
I guarantee you, not everyone has forgotten about the anthrax attacks. The culprit has been identified. The BIG problem is that the main evidence is based upon the new science of micrbial forensics, and there are BIG problems with getting evidence from a new science into court. My web site has all the details.
And my site also has details about every other aspect of the investigation, from legal documents in the Hatfill lawsuit to published scientific reports, and, of course, many hundreds of newspaper articles. And there are even six years of my comments about every detail of the progress of the case.
If you are really interested in what's happening in the anthrax investigation, check it out.
Ed Lake
Hmm. The new science is called "Microbial Forensics," of course.
FWIW, I was going through my web site logs for yesterday and noticed that 14 people clicked on the link to my site in message #116. That's why I dropped in this morning to post a comment.
Last week there was a conference in Washington DC where they laid out the problems with getting a new science into court. The key problem is that it all depends upon a judge. If the judge decides that he doesn't want to accept the evidence, then it all gets thrown out, and the case could get dismissed.
So, it's an all or nothing proposition. Make an arrest, go to court and see if the evidence will be allowed and the culprit goes to trial, or see if the evidence gets thrown out and the case gets dismissed.
And, if you think it's unlikely that a case would get thrown out, you should know that there's a web site dedicated to helping defense lawyers get new sciences thrown out of court.
The situation was discussed in detail at a conference in Washington DC last week The main speakers were FBI scientists.
The science of Microbial Forensics had to be "formalized" before they could even begin to think about going into court with it. That took YEARS. The Supreme Court decision in the Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. lawsuit laid out the rules for getting a new science introduced in court.
So, when people say the antharx attacks of 2001 have been forgotten about, they are just showing that they haven't been paying attention. The anthrax attacks of 2001 haven't been forgotten about for a single second - not by me, not by the FBI and not by the scientists involved in microbial forensics.
The media isn't paying attention because people don't want to know about details. If there hasn't been an arrest, they feel there isn't any progress. In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Ed
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