and i say that you are almost certainly a racist bastard.
ok, before the mods ban me for my last post:
i’m sorry and that was inappropriate. my point is that no one has a right to say that. when a white person commits a terrorist act, no one suddenly becomes suspicious of white people. again, i’m sorry. i just got very, very angry when i read that.
For your future reference, the proper way to say such things is along these lines:
“and i say that those are almost certainly racist bastard ideas.”
We know that the letters were postmarked in Trenton. It is quite easy to drive to a different city to mail a letter. The person(s) could be based almost anywhere. If I were mailing something I didn’t want traced back to me I definitely wouldn’t mail it from the city I live in.
Is it just me, or is there a proliferation of stupid “ideas” on the SDMB lately?
lately?
Just wanted to reply to this point made by jonfromdenver:
A few other people made remarks along the lines of “Isn’t that politically incorrect?” but the above was the most extreme comment.
You, my friend, have little understanding of how to conduct a criminal investigation. If the prime suspect is likely to be of Arab origin then you look for an Arab.
It is not “politically incorrect”.
It is not “racist”.
It is plain old common sense.
Consider:
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on 11 September a group of Arabs hijack planes and demolish the WTC and attack the Pentagon
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the worlds most dangerous terrorist group are led by an Arab and many of the foot soldiers are Arabs
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the type of anthrax being used is weapons grade anthrax which can only have been produced by a country. This rules out the “lone nutter” theory
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the letters contained messages about how great Allah is or some such
Now imagine you are in charge of the criminal investigation to find the perpetrators. What do you do?
Completely ignore the obvious Arab connection?
Go and search the houses of the Amish community first just to avoid offending the Arabs?
All I said was that the perps are likely to be Arab (given such evidence as we have at the moment).
If you have some evidence that it is not in fact an Arab group that is responsible for this then please feel free to present your evidence.
If, as I suspect, you have no such evidence then it would seem logical to assume that the perp may well be an Arab. Therefore we should pursue that line of investigation until such time as we discover evidence to indicate that the perp was not an Arab.
Im not suggesting we persecute Arabs. That would be racist. Im suggesting that there appears to be a possible Arab connection and that could be a lead in the investigation.
There’s a diference.
As regards your “bastard” remark. I have to inform you that my parents were married at the time of my conception. So you are factually incorrect.
If, however, you meant “bastard” in the common colloquial sense of a derogatory insult then fuck you, you brainless dimwit.
For the last time: shelve your delicate misplaced politically-correct sensibilities, think about this problem unemotionally and rationally and grow up.
(ps note to mods: sorry about the insult but I figure Im allowed one in response to the insult that was levelled at me)
it actually wasn’t “weapons grade” anthrax. But, I’d still be willing to put my money on Muslims. 2:1 odds if there are any takers…
Er, please tell me you don’t actually work in law enforcement. Because, frankly, that would make me very nervous.
There are US-based white supremasist groups that have tried to use biological weapons in the past. They have written about trying to cast blame on Muslim extremists in the past. (Alas, I don’t have the cite. The link was posted in a one of the 100’s of other threads on Anthrax. Little help?)
The Anthrax is currently being called “professional-grade”, not “weapons-grade”. Reports are saying that it did need some equipment to manufacture, but not of the level only available to nations.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011018/ts/anthrax_investigation.html
While it is important to identify suspects, by focusing on only one profile without sufficient evidence is an extremely dangerous thing. Especially when there are people who would benefit from casting blame on others. If you focus on one profile you’re very likely to miss the real culprits.
Now, I’m not saying you are racist. I am saying that you are leaping to unwarrented conclusions, which are extremely dangerous right about now. Perhaps more dangerous than the Anthrax threat, which by all accounts, isn’t really that bad.
Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s a long swim back.
Sorry, I have to respond.
xanakis said:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! From the same man who said:
and
The above, completely rational. :rolleyes:
It is weapons grade anthrax see this link: Senate anthrax needed state help to produce
I agree the danger from anthrax isn’t very great. So it’s not worth getting too worried.
Sure, my ten bucks says it’s not. (Is it legal to bet on the SDMB?)
Good Evening Friends,
FWIW, I don’t think the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks are affilliated with OBL. The targets (media and liberal politicians) lead me to agree that it could come from a US based group.
Access to lab grade material is easier than you might think. Lots of people have keys to lots of places. those labs and storage facilities get their plumbing and electricity repaired, their air conditioners and refrigeration seviced, their fire extinguishers and alarm systems checked, their trash emptied and their floors mopped.
Considering who may have keys to lab doors and storage rooms, anthrax in a letter isn’t that hard to accomplish. Neither is driving to New Jersey to drop the letters into a mailbox. Typing the envelopes would have been a smarter idea, but the handwriting will be a clue for law enforcement.
I am pretty confident that the FBI will find the anthrax letter group, and I will be suprised if it turns out to be Mideastern terrorists.
Next question for those of you in favor of the Afghanistan bombing: If this threat turns out to be coming from a militia group, should we bomb Idaho?
if i’m not mistaken, this thread is about anthrax.
this is probably true, i guess i don’t really know. but what do foot soldiers have to do with mailing anthrax?
i read the cite you posted, but i’m having a hard time with it. there have been nearly 40 confirmed cases of anthrax now, and all are expected to recover fully, except in the case of the man who died in florida (and he was the first case, so this would be expected). i don’t see how “weapons grade” anthrax could be so ineffective.
i would be very interested in a cite, cause i haven’t heard this yet.
and this is my original point exactly. all the sudden Arab people are guilty until proven innocent. this is not right. if this is a legitimate request, than i would like to see you give some evidence that this isn’t a white person. honestly, i don’t care who it is and i don’t think it has much relevance. the only relevance is whether or not they are linked to OBL, and if he’s as smart as everyone says, you’d think he had a few more connections than with only Arab people.
alright, i guess i had that coming. forgive me if my first apology was insufficient.
Well, if a militia group based in Idaho were responsible, and the government of Idaho refused to cooperate with federal authorities in bringing that group to justice, and in fact actively sheltered that group, then I’d think at some point the United States would take forcible action to re-assert its sovereignty over Idaho.
Just because you focus your initial criminal investigation on Arabic suspects doesn’t mean you eliminate everyone else. Should that obvious investigative trail peter out, then you expand your net to include other possibilites, but to not focus on the most likely in the beginning would in itself be criminal.
BTW, I did hear on the CBS national newscast last night that they are indeed now looking at recent, large purchases of antibiotics that the perpetrators might have used to protect themselves from auto-contamination with.
I agree with whoever said it, we’ll find these bastards.
Anybody happen to know what Bayer Pharmaceuticals stock looks like lately? Imagine one company’s economic profile getting a huge jolt from an investment of a few 34¢ stamps.
Here endeth the conspiracy theory.
And allow me to rebut xanaxis:
From cnn.com
And the obligatory link:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/19/anthrax/
OK,
Let me put another point to y’all. The anthrax letter that was sent from America to Kenya was posted on 8 September.
Three days before the attack on the WTC
That can only mean:
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The two incidents are connected or
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the two incidents are unconnected and, just by sheer co-incidence, someone decided to unleash bio-warfare on the world at exactly the same time as OBL decided to unleash his own war
Thats a pretty big co-incidence.
Which of the two options do you think is the most likely?
See this CNN link.
The only other option I can think of is that it wasn’t OBL himself who did the WTC but some other group, perhaps affiliated to al quaeda and maybe funded by them but not directly controlled by them.
Al quaeda is a very loose knit organisation. OBL may well be right in denying all knowledge of the attacks. He may ultimately fund these groups but he may not be in day to day control of whatever it is they decide to do. From what I’ve read many of these cells act autonomously and separately from the main al quaeda body.
Although they all share a similar anti-US outlook and although they may well all receive training and funding from OBL, once they leave the al quaeda training camps in Afghanistan and disperse throughout the world, they pretty much make their own minds up as to what to do next.
This is what makes it so hard to pin anything on OBL himself. He has plausable deniability ie he really doesn’t know what his minions are planning.
He just gives them the training and the money and leaves it to them to decide - he trusts them to come up with their own dastardly plans.
If this is the case, it still means the WTC and the anthrax attacks are the work of the same group.