# The Anthrax attacks: YOUR turn to play "Profiler" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 23, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178 "2001-10-23T22:24:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/41 "2001-10-24T17:13:46Z")
My guess is it is a small (2 or 20 people tops) American group looking to take advantage of the situation. I believe them to be middle aged White male possibly from the East coast. More likely a hold over from the militia anti government types like McViegh. Or even White supremacist looking to heat up anti Muslim resentment. Why do I think this? 1. This is not the style of Bin Laden or his gang. Every action they have taken in the last decade has dealt with showy explosions on identifiable targets (Embassies, Ships etc) Sending a few letters in the mail lacks the punch in the face style of blowing up a building. 2. The targets so far have been press and Government offices. What better way to undermine democracy at this time than to make them look frightened or disrupt them from doing their jobs. 3. Nothing has happened in the West (that I know of), Just the East coast. I think they are operating outside the immediate area and not “pissing on their own lawn” 4. I believe it was home-grown by the fact that these people did exactly what the Press was worrying about. Note that CNN and other news groups worked up a furore over the possibility of use of Anthrax. Suddenly Anthrax is used despite the fact it is not good for physically affecting large groups and is iffy on the means of spreading it (spraying large areas) To me it was as if these people were waiting for a good idea and picked it up from the press. Of course with little to really go on I’m just profiling based on my own world view and could be completely wrong but hey I’m not paid to do this. ---
**Author:** ![pennylane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pennylane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennylane)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/42 "2001-10-24T17:26:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > \*\*Another tiny thing: Does anyone know how the date is typically written in the Middle East? > > If it’s the same in the Middle East, the “9-11-01” may show a certain level of familiarity with the USA beyond somebody who’s only been here temporarily. \*\* I lived in several Middle Eastern countries as a child, and dates were always written day-month-year. This is one of my reasons for thinking, like you, that even if the writer is Arab or Muslim, he may be a long-term resident of the United States. Another point which I forgot to mention: one of the envelopes was addressed from a school in New Jersey. The practice of schoolchildren writing to senators and other government representatives, while not restricted to the U.S., is very uncommon outside of North America and Europe. Of course, any terrorist who has spent time in the U.S. or taken the trouble to educate himself about American society could be familiar with this practice, but it is a concept which is quite alien to many foreigners. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/43 "2001-10-24T20:25:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > \*\* > > Just out of curiosity do you know what a terrorist’s handwritng looks like? Does the handwriting from a arab born terrorist schooled at Oxford differ from a white aryan’s handwriting schooled at whitetrash high? Sorry for the bluntness. But A)…sources say the anthrax that recently killed 2 D.C. postal workers was weaponized and B) This is quite obviously someone or someones who want to cause terror, lets just hope its not a diversionary ploy, or a learning experience… \*\* Well, by definition I know what a terrorist’s handwriting looks like. i.e. whoever sent the anthrax letters is a terrorist. The point of this thread is to “profile” the author of the anthrax letters - to make guesses about his background and motivations. I find it an interesting exercise, but if you feel there’s something wrong with it, I’m not gonna debate you. I’m not sure what your point is about the handwriting, but to me, the handwriting looks like that of someone who did not grow up writing English. In spite of this, my guess is that the author is American-born and unaffiliated with extremist Muslim causes. By the way, if you could (1) define “weapons grade” anthrax; and (2) identify your “source,” I’d appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/44 "2001-10-24T23:00:17Z")
The handwriting is irrellevent. Whoever did this would certainly make some attempt to disguise their handwriting. My guess is that they copyed the letters upside down or some other technique to remove identifying characterists from the writing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/45 "2001-10-25T01:55:19Z")
Certainly, it would be silly to try to determine the ethnicity or nationality of the offender by examining the printing, but there’s plenty of other info for forensics. There’s an [article](http://www.usatoday.com/life/2001-10-22-penmanship.htm) at USA Today that focuses on the handwriting, but it is typical USA Today quality stuff. ‘Handwriting experts’ have determined that all three letters were written by the same person. (That’s why they get the big bucks, I guess.) I can’t believe they cite a corporate graphologist (who uses a system about as scientific as astrology to advise companies on the best hire,) as an ‘expert.’ > [@](#): > > “Disguised handwriting and sloping baselines are all indicative of a suicidal personality or very depressive person. The writing is completely free of emotion. All that is present is pure depression. Sociopaths have no conscience. They are without feeling. They will destroy others and themselves,” Hopper says. So, disguising your handwriting in the comission of a capital crime indicates a suicidal personality? And the sloping baselines in a document that is covered in deadly anthrax tell us the writer has a disregard for other people’s lives? This guy deserves a raise, he’s good. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/46 "2001-10-25T04:05:33Z")
The letters seem to me more like someone trying to _sound_ like an Islamic terrorist rather than someone who _is_ an Islamic terrorist. The statements are too simplistic. “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” “Allah is Great.” It’s like the person read _Islamic Extremism for Dummies_. If it were Al Qaeda, I’d expect the letters to be completely innocuous in content. They would write perfectly normal-sounding letters, then sit back and let people die. ---
**Author:** ![audient](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@audient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audient)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/47 "2001-10-25T04:52:28Z")
the boston globe ran a story (can’t find the link) suggesting that it’s a homegrown right-wing group. mainly because they attack Democrats & the “liberal media”. Me, I’m struck with a philosophical similarity between the 9/11 attack & the anthrax attacks. Both use the openness of american society & turn its infrastructure against itself. wtc terrorist: gosh, those americans can lob missiles at us at will. I wish we could do that… Wait a minute - there are 4,000 missiles flying over USA at any given time. we just need to commandeer some. we can even get the americans to train us how to guide them! anthrax terrorist: if I only had a courier to distribute this poison, who could sneak into the seat of american power, not even knowing what he’s carrying, without ever meeting me. And also it’d be nice if he’d do it for just 34 cents… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/48 "2001-10-25T06:47:55Z")
Here’s the [Boston Globe](http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/294/nation/In_anthrax_puzzle_some_see_evidence_pointing_within_US%2b.shtml) story. > [@](#): > > Edith Flynn, a longtime researcher and specialist on terrorism at Northeastern University, said she was reluctant to rule out Iraq but ‘‘nearly all of the evidence that we have now points to this being a case of domestic terrorism.’ > ‘There is a prior history in which right-wing crazies and neo-Nazis have dabbled in biological’’ weapons, said Flynn, who has written extensively on terrorism. '‘My thesis is that 80 to 90 percent of the anthrax stuff we’ve seen is homegrown because these extremist groups are using the cover of a national calamity to advance their own agendas.’ ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/49 "2001-10-25T11:56:38Z")
I’m going to admit straight up that I’ve have not been paying attention to the Anthrax attacks. I’ve been purposely trying to ignore them for a while. With that said, I haven’t read more than a few posts in this thread (though from a quick scan I see that the consensus is developing that this may be a homegrown incident). Here is some fuel for the fire, so to speak. **Bibliography:** [sub][ul] [li]**[Talking Points Memo-- Oct. 24](http://j-marshall.com/talk/oct0104.html#102401222am)**[/li]by Joshua Micah Marshall [http://j-marshall.com/talk/oct0104.html#102401222am](http://j-marshall.com/talk/oct0104.html#102401222am) [li]**[No Consensus on Who Wrote Anthrax Letters](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47885-2001Oct24.html)**[/li]by Peter Slevin for the Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47885-2001Oct24.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47885-2001Oct24.html) [li]**[Don’t blame Saddam for this one](http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,576755,00.html)**[/li]by Scott Ritter for the Guardian (UK) > **[Comment: No evidence for connection between Iraq and anthrax](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/19/iraq.anthrax)** > > The current spate of anthrax attacks on media and government buildings in the United States has heightened the undercurrent of concern since September 11 about the possibility of links between the perpetrators and the Iraqi regime. [/ul][/sub] Josh Marshall brings up an very interesting point about how this all started. Some guy at an National Enquirer office in some podunk town in Florida _dies_. That gets mentioned after the entertainment minute of the local news. Then we find Tom Brokaw recieving a letter. It gains a little bit of media attention but nobody seems to link them up together or even seem to acknowledge the events. Tom Daschle doesn’t recieve a letter for several weeks – as the story seems to be dying down. I quote from Marshall… > [@](#): > > The letters to the New York Post and NBC News were sent on September 18th from Trenton, New Jersey. To the best of my knowledge, the letters responsible for the CBS, ABC and AMI contaminations have yet to be found. But it seems reasonable to assume, from all we know now, that those letters were also sent out of Trenton on the same day. > > Two weeks later almost nothing had happened. Bob Stevens had been hospitalized on the 2nd of October, had his diagnosis confirmed on the 4th, and died on the 5th. But at that time federal authorities were still sticking with some improbable natural explanation for Stevens sickness. > > So after two weeks the terrorist’s work had gone entirely ignored and after two and a half weeks authorities were not even conceding that there had been a terrorist attack. None of the letters to the legit media had even been publicly discovered or acknowledged. This isn’t meant to sound flippant but you get the sense there was a bit of frustration. > [sub]Joshua Micah Marshall[/sub] This could mean that the original plan of attack–scare the reporters-- wasn’t working, (note: _Why the National Enquirer?_) so they started going after whom else would make news–the politicians, and to make sure to link it to previous letters to fan the flames. For that bit of evidence, I’ll quote from the Wash Post article… > [@](#): > > [Retired Air Force anti-terrorism expert Gerald] Brown believes the letter to Daschle is distinctive in intriguing ways, and may have been written by a different person than the earlier two. . . . It specifically mentions anthrax, which the media letters did not, suggesting that the author wanted to attract more attention. Unlike the earlier letters to Brokaw and the New York Post, which had no return addresses, the Daschle letter carried a fictitious one. > > "Now they’re saying, ‘How can we get this through the system? Well, a letter to a senator from grade school kids might get it through. And if we mention that this is anthrax, this might get their attention,’ " Brown said. > > Brown also theorized that the anthrax operation seems more likely a case of domestic terrorism, not least because a letter packed with anthrax spores went to Daschle, “who’s on the left. If it’s a home-grown militia effort, Daschle’s a likely target.” > [sub]Washington Post[/sub] And to note the last line, I’m not completely sure that Daschle’s politics is the issue – especially if the White House anthrax story is true. But it is interesting to note because it shows an awareness of the American political climate. Daschle didn’t become terribly important until Jim Jeffords made it known that he was leaving the Republican Party. Events like that in the Senate wouldn’t seem to be important to foreign terrorists like that. Anyway, this looks doesn’t look like the MO of Osama or the Al Qaeda network. They seem to work on the idea of killing as many people as possible in big showy ways. This anthrax thing is too shrouded in mystery and such as to the perps. It looks more like a con than anything else. Like **spoonbender** said, it looks kinda like a caricature or burlesque of a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist. Remember that the suicide hijackers were pretty educated and living in America for some time. I’d expect the letters to be less _kindergardenized_ than “You die now”. Anyway,I’m not sure Israel plays as big a role in Al Qaeda’s rage against us than is generally believed. There also recent reports that this anthrax was treated with something that is only available in the US, Russia, and Iraq. Iraq could be very well behind this, but they’ve been trying their damnedest to get the UN to lift the sanctions, and they’re too close now to gamble that on some pennyante stunt like this. And that other signatures on the microbes seem to [point away from the Iraqis](http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,576755,00.html). But this is all speculative and I’m really bad at this detective stuff (especially under an all night crash course in the anthrax story), so I don’t know. And I should be going to bed. ---
**Author:** ![audient](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@audient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audient)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/50 "2001-10-25T12:00:03Z")
thanks for finding the article, **LM**. vB is doing wierd things to that url - adding spaces where there aren’t any, rendering it bogus. here’s the raw address. paste it into your browser, but delete the space in “shtml” [http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/294/nation/In\_anthrax\_puzzle\_some\_see\_evidence\_pointing\_within\_US+.shtml](http://boston.com/dailyglobe2/294/nation/In_anthrax_puzzle_some_see_evidence_pointing_within_US+.shtml) i didn’t put that space there. i don’t know why vB is insisting on inserting it ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/51 "2001-10-25T15:08:28Z")
Sure, I’ll play. My guess is that this person is both a homegrown American _and_ nominally Muslim – a follower of Louis Farrakhan or someone similar. This individual is probably not directly connected with the WTC and Pentagon attacks, but _does_ view them as a good thing. First of all, I agree with pennylane’s analysis of the way the date is written; I’d add that the 1’s are written without strong upstrokes, and that handwriting analysts seem to have concluded that the writer is accustomed to writing left to write. All of this suggests that the writer is certainly not Middle Eastern, was probably educated in North America, and therefore has nothing to do with the earlier terrorist attacks. However, I _don’t_ think that the references to Allah and 9/11 are entirely a blind. It seems to me that there are two reasons to commit a terrorist act of this sort – to kill people, and to make a statement. If the writer simply wanted certain individuals dead, he (or she) would have chosen a more efficient way of spreading anthrax, one that doesn’t involve warnings or statements of any sort. Therefore, this person probably wants to call attention to a particular cause, and _you can’t do that by pretending to represent a different cause_. On the other hand, the messages make perfect sense if this person really DOES hate America and Israel, and DOES perceive the WTC attack as the will of Allah (and it seems likely that an American Black Muslim _would_ make a distinction between “Allah” and “God” in English, while somebody from a predominantly Muslim culture would not). It’s also a bit suggestive that the writer can’t spell “penicillin” but _can_ spell “Israel” – most people who are poor spellers and accustomed to the standard American pronunciation would write “Isreal.” It looks like this person may actually be _interested_ in Israel, at least enough to make sure he’s spelled it correctly. Finally, I seem to remember from Farrakhan’s speech at the Million Man March that he sees some sort of cosmic significance in the numbers 9 and 1 – the sort of thing that may cause one of his followers to take an interest in the date 09-11-01, and perhaps to see the attacks as the first step in some grand divine plan. I’ve probably got it all wrong, but this is fun! ---
**Author:** ![pennylane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pennylane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennylane)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/52 "2001-10-25T15:20:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > **Therefore, this person probably wants to call attention to a particular cause, and _you can’t do that by pretending to represent a different cause_.** Good point, **Fretful**. American Muslims often do distinguish between “God” and “Allah” when speaking English. There are two other possibilities - that the person responsible is attacking specific people or organisations (this being his cause) or that he is simply a madman or prankster (and has no cause). In either of these cases, he could attempt to blame the attack on Muslims/Arabs without obscuring or hampering his intent. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/53 "2001-10-25T19:37:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by audient \* > \*\*the boston globe ran a story (can’t find the link) suggesting that it’s a homegrown right-wing group. mainly because they attack Democrats & the “liberal media”. > > \*\* For what it’s worth, the New York Post is traditionally a conservative paper. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/54 "2001-10-25T22:30:18Z")
I was really inclined towards the “home-grown white supremacist loony trying to start a race war by mentioning ‘Allah’ and casting blame on the A-Rabs” theory myself. Now, I’m not so sure. An [article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47864-2001Oct24.html) in the [_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com) seems to be talking much more convincingly about the “weaponization” of this stuff than some off-the-cuff remark by a politician as reported by the TV news. Reportedly, this stuff has weaponized–aerosolized–in a way that only the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and Iraq are known to have developed techniques for. This isn’t just Earl and Bubba going out and taking some scrapings from a dead cow. Would domestic terrorists have that kind of capability? But then, the article quotes a “government official with direct knowledge of the investigation” as saying that “the totality of the evidence in hand suggests that it is unlikely that the spores were originally produced in the former Soviet Union or Iraq.” Does that mean they were weaponized by the United States? Did we destroy all our stocks of weaponized anthrax? Could some of our domestic loonies have gotten ahold of actual U.S. military bioweapons? Or are these unnamed government sources just blowing smoke? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/55 "2001-10-25T23:49:05Z")
That’s a very interesting article, **MEBuckner** , but I think that in some ways it is a bit misleading. > [@](#): > > The presence of the high-grade additive was confirmed for the first time yesterday by a government source familiar with the ongoing studies… Sounds definitive, but later, they elaborate: > [@](#): > > “The amount of energy needed to disperse the spores [by merely opening an envelope] was trivial, which is **virtually** diagnostic of achieving the appropriate coating.” - _Alan Zelicoff, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories’ Center for National Security and Arms Control_ That sounds more like an inference than a confirmation to me. The hypothetical coating in question is intended to obviate clumping due to static charge. > [@](#): > > But more than that is needed to get anthrax spores to drift easily in the air and spread widely without settling quickly to the ground. That is because tiny particles tend to have electrostatic charges. Package-handling facilities that I have worked at all have conductive “streamers” hanging over the conveyer-belt, the intention of which is to ground out everything that moves across the belt. Could this have any effect on individual particles, and, for that matter, do the conveyers in question have these? Also, it seems to me that the particles that would escape the envelope would be necessarily fine, and likely were blown into the air with the compressed air used to clean the machines. As for how sophisticated a Militia mentality perp is likely to be, [this page](http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/bioweapons/Larry_Harris_Followers_Beware.html) has a fairly objective analysis of Larry Harris’s credentials, from the dawn of proto-history, when he was still writing books about how to prepare for a biological attack by Muslim terrorists. I don’t know how typical the guy is. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/56 "2001-10-26T03:56:26Z")
I’ll still lay 100 to 1 odds that this is NOT a domestic terrorist. The type of anthrax we’re talking about is just not easy to get. It was probably either stolen from the Soviet Union’s stocks, or manufactured in Iraq. My money is on Iraq, and has been since I first heard of the Anthrax in Florida. That doesn’t mean that Iraq attacked us. They could have given it to Bin Laden years ago to attack Russians with. Or they could have given it to him before the WTC attack just as some quid-pro-quo for something, and not even know what he was going to use it for. But certainly Iraq has to be considered the top contender right now. Oh, and I don’t buy the ‘right-wing nut’ theory. They want attention. If they sent the stuff, it would have been with notes saying, “First Bin Laden, and now us.” ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/57 "2001-10-26T04:42:38Z")
Anthrax Killer Profile: The same type of person (or the same person?!) as the [Tylenol killer](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/). This is the only other ‘anonymous, widespread poisoning’ case I can think of, although the killer used retail medicine rather than the mails as a delivery system. Check out the profile at the bottom of the above link; very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![pennylane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pennylane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennylane)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/58 "2001-10-26T09:00:51Z")
**Sam Stone** , I have heard claims from several “experts” on both BBC and CNN that the anthrax was not manufactured in Iraq, but was the kind made in the United States or Russia. (These were unofficial experts - university professors and the like.) I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this statement, but after hearing it from many unrelated sources I can’t help but wonder if it might be true. ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/59 "2001-10-26T09:17:03Z")
Would-be profilers could find food for thought at the New Scientist (British science mag) bioterrorism page: [http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/](http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/) Especially relevant: [http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/trailofterror.jsp](http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/bioterrorism/trailofterror.jsp) Appearantly, there’s a possible connection to Libya, which would point the finger at radical Islamists: > [@](#): > > Wouter Basson, former head of the South African bioweapons programme [which had access to the Ames strain], made several trips to Libya after the fall of the apartheid government in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![audient](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@audient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audient)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178/60 "2001-10-26T09:26:59Z")
i’d bet one thing about the anthrax terrorist(s) - that they didn’t expect this to affect postal workers to the extent it has. Anthrax has never been distributed thru mail before (I don’t know that it’s been intentionally distributed in any fashion before). I can’t imagine the culprits figured it would spill out into mailrooms on its way to its target. That just seems inadvertant. The bummer here is that the postal workers seem to be bearing the brunt of the anthrax attack. whether that fact delights or dissappoints the terrorist(s) I couldn’t guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anthrax-attacks-your-turn-to-play-profiler/89178.md?page=4)