I’d like to know what you people think of the anthrax murders following the WTC attack.
Do you think:
a) Dr. Hatfill, or some other “disgruntled” bio-scientsist with access to the stuff was responsible?
b) A large company “dirty operation” to boost government spending on bio-weapons through the roof (very successful)
c) A wacko right wing military group, to scare the nation into approving the Iraq “operation” ?
d) Foreign terrorists
Nothing was proved against Hatfill. Also, the anthrax was “militarized”, meaning that it was of unnecesarily high quality for the job, which would go against the doings of a lone scientist, and leans towards the work of an organization.
Isn’t it weird that the attacks where just enough to provoke panic and paranoia. If it where a coordinated attack by a foreign nation with capabilitty to produce all the anthrax it wanted, they could’ve hijacked the nations postal system indefinitely. Also, they would’ve targerted more prominent and obvious political figures. It’s also suspicious how some letters actually warned the receiver that it was anthrax, and even suggested them to go for help. It’s Like if they just wanted to obtain the “scare/publicity” effect, minimizing the actual killings if possible.
This Link from the washington times is what piqued my curiosity . Article written in 8/26/2002
First of all, the Washington Times isn’t fit to wrap fish in, let alone read if you are expecting actual news, so it’s right out.
As for Dr. Hatfill, there is quite a good bit of circumstancial evidence against him, but nothing damning.
As for the big company arguement, that doesn’t pan out because the only group of people who are supposed to have access to whatever bio/chem weapons the US has are either in the militray or down at the CDC in Atlanta.
And the right wing AssHats stumbling around the woods who call themselves a militia are too stupid to be able to produce something like that without blowing themselves up.
Apparently they are now investigating materials found in a pond in maryland. So the investigation is ongoing.
By the way, when I said “military group”, I actually meant a “small sector of the military”. A conspiracy of a few radical elements with access to the bio-weapons, rationalizing in their minds the need to “nudge” america into a war on “terror”
My sister lives in Gaithersburg Maryland, and works in the Ft. Detrich army base, which is where they used to develop bioweapons and still work on defense against bioweapons such as anthrax.
About a week after I made her the beneficiary of my 401k account, the US has its first anthrax attack, in the media building Boca Raton, Fl.
vibrotronica -> wow! great link. In light of that, a military “operation excuse” scenario utilizing a few anthrax envelopes sounds more plausible, probable even.
I seem to remember when this was first happening there were reports, and I do not remember where or when exactly I read it, that one of the terrorists from 9/11 had gotten medical attention for symptoms consistent with anthrax exposure.
They didn’t think anthrax then, and didn’t make the connection until they were checking on the behavior of the terrorists pre 9/11 - but I have yet to hear of any follow-up …
…And I seem to remember that shortly after 9/11 there were news reports that one of the terrorists met with an Iraqi Intelligence Service operative before the attacks.
That indicates to me that the one or both of the reports klas and I read must be wrong, because the combination of the two news items is the closest thing to a “smoking gun” justifying a war on Iraq that I’ve yet seen.
Since our straw-grasping administration failed to use this “evidence” I can only conclude that one or both of the reports didn’t pan out.
The supposed Mohammed Attah - Iraqi meet in the Czech Republic has been entirely discounted as a false report. You may go to BBC archives to dig up confirm.
The report in re the ‘Anthrax’ connexion in re I believe al-Shibh is and was a rather shakey one. IIRC, al-Shibh (or whomever) sought treatment for a leg lesion, simple affair. The treating doctor, who took no tissue sample etc, months later recalls that the lesion could match those of a skin anthrax infection. Coulda, maybe… However, this was based on his recollection much later, in a very heated atmosphere where most commentators, including many of our own here, were searching around for al-Qaeda links.
I am inclined to 100% discount the report as wishful thinking of a doctor.
The “obvious” theory is the lone, Unabomber-type wacko with enough access to inadequately-guarded material to make off with some. Could be Hatfill, could be a janitor or someone else. Anything else gets into conspiracy theories, which tend to fall down due to the lack of anyone on the inside saying anything about it.
No, what interests me is why there has been no arrest, or even a dragnet operation, in as widely-publicized a mass murder case as the FBI has ever seen. One does have to wonder if it’s simply gross incompetence left over from the years when Freeh was conducting his anti-Clinton and anti-Reno campaigns instead of running the agency, or if there is a political motivation behind the lack of apparent effort.
The strongest point against Hatfill is the certainty of investigators that he was guilty. They may have information not available to the public. However, based on public information, there’s no evidence, just some vaguely suggestive facts. Since he’s been under intense investigation for a long time, the absense of evidence becomes significant. Also, he has no motive. So, if Hatfill is guilty, he’s crazy enough to send out the anthrax, but sane enough to hide every bit of evidence, even after an intensive investigation.
Sounds like a movie plot.
Another movie plot.
This would be my guess. We know that Iraq was developing weaponized anthrax. Obviously we were under terrorist attack. OTOH it’s hard to understand why terrorist would have suddenly ended the anthrax mailings.
