Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/washington/07anthrax.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

September 7, 2008

Seeking Details, Lawmakers Cite Anthrax Doubts

By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON — A month after the F.B.I. declared that an Army scientist was the anthrax killer, leading members of Congress are demanding more information about the seven-year investigation, saying they do not think the bureau has proved its case.

In a letter sent Friday to Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Democratic leaders of the House Judiciary Committee said that “important and lingering questions remain that are crucial for you to address, especially since there will never be a trial to examine the facts of the case.”

The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, committed suicide in July, and Mr. Mueller is likely to face demands for additional answers about the anthrax case when he appears before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Sept. 16 and 17.

Terrific column in the Frederick News-Post today about the flimsiness of the govt case against Ivins. Please email Katherine Heerbrandt thanking her for naming the "elephant on the grassy knoll."

Note that contractor Battelle, who received this contract for $750 million, is a tax-exempt organization. No doubt they willl use the $750 million to heal the sick and bring comfort to the afflicted.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=79410

Katherine Heerbrandt
If not Ivins ...
Originally published August 29, 2008

When Norm Covert, a conservative former Fort Detrick public affairs officer, and attorney Barry Kissin, liberal activist opposing Detrick's biolab expansion, agree that Bruce Ivins was not the anthrax killer, either the world's spinning off its axis, or the truth is staring us so hard in the face we'd have to be blind to miss it.

Covert's piece this week in thetentacle.com establishes what many in our community, including scientists and support staff at USAMRIID, past and present, know: Bruce Ivins had nothing to do with preparing or sending the anthrax letters. --

Most new entries this week again look at the 2001 anthrax attacks. In October 2001, the FDA only recommended Cipro for use against the disease, despite a plentiful supply of alternatives, and the FBI investigation into the attacks was hampered when it destroyed an original batch of Ames strain anthrax. In November, reports began emerging linking the USAMRIID lab to the attacks, although its head later claimed a "lot of good" had come out of them.

GERM WARFARE WANTS YOU: Biowarfare * Mycoplasma * 9/11 Anthrax Connection
by Iona Miller, August 12, 2008

“And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies.” (King Lear)

"Armis Bella Non Venenis Geri"
-(War is waged with weapons, not with poisons)
-- Ancient Roman condemnation of well poisoning.

"Governments are instituted to lie to the greatest number of people
the greater amount of the time." – Machiavelli

This Germ’s for You

Washington Microbiologist links Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) to the anthrax story, which led to the suspicious death of “mad scientist,” hypno-patsy Dr. Bruce Ivins. Mycoplasma contaminated anthrax vaccines were used in the Gulf Wars, giving rise to GWS. But pathogenic mycoplasmas were also released in top-secret “mock” attacks on the domestic front from the 1950s-70s contaminating virtually everyone.

http://ionamiller2008.iwarp.com/whats_new_21.html

Most of the new entries published by the 9/11 Timeline this week deal with the anthrax scare. The main drug used to combat anthrax was Cipro, which a high government official advised some reporters to take shortly after 9/11. Although an inquiry was launched into a coverup of problems with it in May 2000, the FDA endorsed the drug two months later. Hoax letters similar to the later anthrax mailings were sent to Fox News from 2000, and one may have been received by a Florida tabloid in mid-September 2001.

If I Were a Betting Man, I'd Wager that Cheney Was Behind the Anthrax Attacks

You'd have to be a terribly cautious and willfully blind person not to think that the Bush Administration was capable of orchestrating the anthrax attacks. You'd almost have to be a fool.

Years after the anthrax attacks were aimed at Democratic senators who were necessary to pass the "spy on Americans," cynically named "Patriot Act," suddenly the latest "prime suspect" commits suicide without leaving a note or anything, but then the FBI makes claims about how they "got their man" after how many seasons of incompetence in their investigation had passed?

Excellent.

http://antiwar.com/print/?articleid=13270

The Anthrax Follies and the Bizarro Effect
The case against Bruce Ivins is pathetic

by Justin Raimondo
August 8, 2008

The release of the FBI's "evidence" against Bruce Ivins, the now-deceased Ft. Detrick scientist targeted by the FBI as the alleged culprit in the 2001 anthrax letters case, demonstrates either (1) the FBI is covering for the real culprits, or (2) what we are witnessing is a dramatic drop in the intelligence of the average FBI official – maybe it's something in the water.

In making the case for the latter, I offer as exhibit number-one the FBI's contention [.pdf file] that the origin of the return address on some of the anthrax-laden envelopes – "Greendale School" – was explained by Ivins' membership in the American Family Association, a group of Christian fundamentalists who often lobby and litigate on behalf of conservative causes:

My Conversation With a Ft. Detrick Scientist

Today (August 9), I spoke with a PhD scientist who works at Ft. Detrick. The scientist knows Dr. Bruce Ivins very well and has worked with him for many years.

The scientist is an acquaintance of mine who I've known for about five years.

The scientist is a specialist in infectious diseases, including airborne diseases.

The scientist does not want their name given out. The FBI has told all the scientists at Ft. Detrick they cannot speak with the media or they will be fired.

[Its interesting to note that scientists at Ft. Detrick can't exercise their first amendment rights, but the FBI can illegally leak confidential investigative information to the media. Its also interesting that some of the info leaked to the media by FBI informants is not legitimate investigative material, but instead, material meant to character assassinate Dr. Ivins. Its also interesting that the FBI leakers can avoid detection, given the Patriot Act.]

http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2008/08/beyond-reasonable-doubt.html
(see original blog for links)

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said at a Justice Department news conference, "We regret that we will not have the opportunity to present evidence to the jury."

Everybody else regrets it too--since what came out today was another pastiche of innuendo and circumstantial evidence, with an awful lot of holes. Time for the FBI to present all of what it has to the court of public opinion, don't you think? A major benefit for the FBI of sharing its case would be restoration of confidence in the US' system of justice, the Justice Department and its FBI.

I worked all day at the hospital, but want to get something out tonight, in a hurry, regarding the strength of some of the evidence presented today. I'll no doubt have more to say once I have read the rest of the "evidence".

Here goes:

Lone Nut Anthrax Killer Theory Debunked

The FBI says that Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

But the letters that contained the deadly anthrax are not in the handwriting of Dr. Ivins, according to FBI evidence released yesterday.

So that proves right there that if Dr. Ivins did do it, then he did not act alone.

More importantly, the fact that the letters are in someones else's handwriting, is strong evidence that someone else, NOT Dr. Ivins, is the anthrax killer.

We can also presume that the handwriting of the anthrax letters is not that of any of the other scientists who worked with Dr. Ivins, otherwise they would be suspects.

So George Washington's assertion that the anthrax did not come from Ft. Detrick is confirmed.

There is now a stated interest in conducting an 'investigation' into the anthrax debacle, but what will it produce? And how will it get there? How can we use it to draw comparisons to the 9/11 Omission Commission? Notice that currently everyone just refers to the 9/11 Commission as a model to follow -- if so, it will be a whitewash. But I don't think that will necessarily happen.

I find this situation fascinating because the potential exists for a relatively meaningful investigation along the lines of what should have happened on 9/11/01 -- the climate of fear is past, the power of the criminal Bush Administration is waning, the official anthrax story is absurd and transparent enough that even US Congress members can figure it out, and the propaganda labels and attacks on "anyone who dares question" our freedoms, (or anything else) is not yet arrived.

A quick look back at a list of government-targeted suspects who wound up dead before their day in court:

Riad Hamad

"Riad Hamad is a non-violent activist in Austin, Texas. He holds multiple Master's degrees and has never been arrested. He is now under surveillance by the FBI because he organized the shipment of books to Palestinian children."

"...On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 27, award-winning schoolteacher Riad Hamad, founder of the Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund (PCWF) was getting ready to leave for work when the doorbell rang in his modest apartment in Austin, Texas. It was a dozen FBI and IRS agents bearing a search warrant from Judge Robert Pittman, known for his hostility to Palestinians and Arabs, with whom Riad had had previous experience..."

Riad Hamad’s suicide:

The FBI has just released a bunch of evidence it thinks is bad for Bruce Ivins in the anthrax case. You can find a report about it here.

There are several new points against Ivins. Let's look at them one by one:
(1) He sent e-mails saying Osama had anthrax and sarin (not actually true) and that he decreed death to all Jews and all Americans. This is apparently similar to the wording in the anthrax-carrying letters, which said "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." This is actually the first point in the NYT story today.

You have got to be kidding me - we are talking about the period shortly after 9/11, everybody thought Osama wanted death to America and was writing e-mails about it. This is hardly damning. Google "Death to America" and see how many hits you get.

(2) The envelopes used for the letters were bought in Maryland or Virginia.

That's just in no way conclusive, although if there were a prize for the most circumstantial evidence, it might just win.

TODAY'S DEMOCRACY NOW!:

* Anthrax Mystery: Questions Raised over Whether Government Is Framing Dead
Army Scientist for 2001 Attacks *

The FBI's prime suspect in the October 2001 anthrax letters case died last
week in an apparent suicide. Bruce Ivins was an elite government scientist
at the biodefense research lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland. He was among the
nation's top experts on the military use of anthrax. But many of his
colleagues have expressed deep skepticism over the FBI's claims. We speak to
anthrax expert Dr. Meryl Nass and blogger Glenn Greenwald.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/4/anthrax

FBI was told to blame Anthrax scare on Al Qaeda by White House officials

Source: NYDailyNews.com

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Saturday, August 2nd 2008, 6:32 PM

WASHINGTON - In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, White House officials repeatedly pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller to prove it was a second-wave assault by Al Qaeda, but investigators ruled that out, the Daily News has learned.

After the Oct. 5, 2001, death from anthrax exposure of Sun photo editor Robert Stevens , Mueller was "beaten up" during President Bush's morning intelligence briefings for not producing proof the killer spores were the handiwork of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, according to a former aide.

"They really wanted to blame somebody in the Middle East ," the retired senior FBI official told The News.