“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.”
false analogy, we can be relatively certain of the co-operation a support of the government of Idaho (local, state and federal).
Well, yeah. I was replying to the question “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?”
In the politically almost unimaginable scenario that a state or local government in the U.S. were deliberately and knowingly sheltering a terrorist group which was carrying out bioterrorism attacks on other parts of the U.S., I think the federal government would Take Steps PDQ. But, of course, no state government–not even a very conservative, “pro states’ rights” government from down South or out West–would do any such thing.
sorry, try this CNN link.
xanakis, I don’t think that there is a strong argument that the 9/08 postmark on the letter sent to Kenya indicates a connection to the 9/11 attack. Consider this: There has never been any suggestion that al-qaeda has had anthrax. Their operations manual does describe some rudimentary biological agent preparation, but it is so crude that it doesn’t compare. (It involves nothing that you don’t probably access to without leaving your house.)
The only terrorists confirmed to have successfully cultured anthrax operated within the U.S., had links to white supremacist right-wing christian groups, and had planned to make a biological attack on New York and blame it on Iraq before the FBI stepped in. What grudge might al-qaeda have against a Kenyan citizen? And what might white supremacists have against a Kenyan? These are people who have said that Armageddon is something that should be helped along-- Because, when it’s all over, they get to go to their glory, so it would make sense for them to do anything that might step up the “final war.” They may have seen the 9/11 attack as an opportunity. They are at least as likely suspects as the 9/11 terrorists. It’s way too early to assume that the “mysterious anthrax guy” is “certainly muslim.”
[sub]If you don’t think these guys are as fanatical as al-Qaeda, read their doctrine… They’re alike as peas in a pod.[/sub]
CNN just mentioned the guy (at last.) Apparently, He was not caught with weapons grade anthrax, (although he had bragged that he had enough to wipe out a small city,) but he had stockpiles of anthrax vaccine.
Here’s an excerpt of a Frontline script with a LWH interview:
[sub]Sorry for the hijack. Here’s an interesting BBC article about Biolab security to mitigate it somewhat.