Well, damn. That pretty much blows my theory. <insert sound of bubble popping>
(So sometimes it does indeed take an Express Mail package a month to arrive…)
If you’re trying to divert law enforcement through this anthrax by mail plan, you’re not necessarily diverting the FBI or the Army. It’s the Postal Inspectors who are doing most of the legwork on this matter.
I don’t know which news anyone else is watching, but since 5am this morning our media has been reporting the anthrax as confirmed “weapons grade”. When I want to confirm information which is all over cnn, I usually trust theBBC to give me a fairly accurate and non-hysterical summary of what is known and verified by our governments and approved for public distribution.
News reports in our media this morning said that the DefSec was having a hernia over people leaking information to the media and thus compromising national security.
I wouldn’t want to be a profiler for quids in this aprticular campaign unless I was damn sure I was outside of the range of the tabloid media.
preview is my friend…really
*Xanakis: You should go back and read what I said. At no point did I suggest that Anthrax was being dropped by cropdusters. I’m quite familiar with the difficulty in setting up the spray bars on a crop duster to handle something other than what it was particularly designed for.
I simply said that it makes me nervous. It’s STRANGE. Dusting some boat on a river could possibly be the work of some cropdusting joker, but a National Guard Base? Where you could actually get shot at? That takes it beyond practical joke. It could be a random nutcase, sure. But it could be something else. Just what, I won’t speculate. But there are plenty of other biological, radiological, and chemical toxins out there.
As for the attack on C&C - I think you missed what I’m talking about. I’m not suggesting that the government can’t communicate or something, but that it DID cause disruption. If you’ve got the weapon, and it will have any effect at all, don’t you use it? Is it amateurish? Or is it more ‘professional’ to not use a weapon at your disposal just because it won’t produce an impressive body count? If they had the Anthrax and no way to deliver it as a WMD, then this seems to me to be a reasonably effective use. Don’t you? As opposed to not using it at all?
I think it’s strange that people are saying that the fact they didn’t kill as many people with this attack means that they don’t have any more large attacks in their inventory. That’s like Bin Laden watching a U.S. sniper kill a Taliban leader and saying that it’s good news, because it means the U.S. is almost out of bullets.
I think the anthrax attacks have been very successful. Obviously they haven’t killed many people, but they were never supposed to kill many people. The goal is obviously fear, panic, neuroses, paralysis, and sowing distrust of the authorities.
And the anthrax attacks have accomplished that splendidly. I can’t think of a better way to use a limited supply of anthrax spores than mailing them to government and media figures. Government figures to make sure they are scared, and media figures to make sure that the media takes the story seriously. The goal is to turn CNN into ANN–the Anthrax News Network, all Anthrax, all the time. People are panicking, stockpiling Cipro, worrying about every package and every sniffle.
As a weapon, Anthrax is pretty puny. You could do better with a simple rifle on top of a water tower if all you want is a body count. But as a propaganda tool, Anthrax is very effective.
Of course, this says nothing about whether the anthrax attacks came from Al Qaida or from some homegrown organization. Right now I’m still leaning slightly towards homegrown, if only because the attacker(s) seemed to follow all the right steps for maximum media coverage for the smallest amount of material.
Really, Anthrax is not very useful as a weapon of mass destruction. It is a weapon of assasination and terror.
I’m afraid that is not right:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101011029-180476,00.html
Sorry, squeej. 
It’s too bad, I liked the disgruntled postie angle.
You should try the disgruntled profiler angle. If profilers don’t start getting some serious sleep very soon we’re going to start saying stuff like “Luke, I’m your father”.
Luke, I am…
Oh. G’night folks.
Looking at photos of the letters:
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/102301.htm
My impression is that it’s NOT the work of a foreign terror netweok. No serious Muslim terrorist would write “Allah is great”. Sounds like something some teenager would write.
As for the penecillin misspelling, which I have heard as evidence it’s a foreigner, how many Americans REALLY know how to spell that word? I’m not even sure I spelt it right.
I also do think the militia theory is a valid one worth exploring. Larry Wayne Harris made it clear that he would use biological weapons, and that his movement would consider using them, then blaming their use on Iraq. If America attacks Iraq, Russia could switch sides, and PRESTO- WW3, and hopefully for these kooks, Armageddon.
Investigators should seriously look at someone in the postal service being involved. It seems like only someone familiar with the handling and distribution techniques and observing the mail sorting mechanisms day after day would dream up such a clever way to distribute anthrax and scare the American public. A disgruntled mail worker seeking revenge, perhaps with connections to a right wing Christian identity movement is another hypothesis I have.
I also forgot to point out that mailing these letters to high profile politicans and media members, seen in TV every day, to me smells of something someone living in American would do. Why would terrorists from another country wish to alienate the one organization that can get their message to the most people- the media?
Is this new information, or is the media just quoting Daschle’s wild speculation?
An important point, Vinnie.
Most of the larger Middle Eastern or Irish terror groups maintain pretty damn sophisticated relationships with the media. These groups have a leadership that is very savvy. Attacking the media is totally out of character for these folks.
But some white supremisist (sp?) rube from Kansas—now he might think that that was a swell move. Isn’t the idea that the “media is controlled by Jewish conspiracies” a widely held belief among these yokels?
These attacks are the acts of evil men–but small men. No scope or scale in their resources, thoughts, or deeds. And less dangerous than the typical letter bomb. As I have posted elsewhere, I have met badasses that could do better with a .22 derringer than these palookas have done with their anthrax.
Catch 'em & hang 'em. 
Back to the OP:
I think it is foriegn terrorists living in this country operating as a seperate cell.
I beleive that there are many cells living in this country waiting patiently for either their orders to come through to start their campaign of terror or already have a start date planned.
The detail and planning that went into the WTC/Pentagon attacks was extensive. It was not hastily done. I do not for one minute think that that was the only attack on our soil. Another attack will come, has come, and will continue to come.
If everyone thinks that the only “war” on our home soil that we will witness is via CNN, et all, and if they think that this will be “over” by Christmas, they are living in a fantasy world. Life as we knew it is officially over.
Right now, our countries attention is really on two fronts: Afghan and the anthrax situation. (Has regular crime taken a holiday in the US or what?) I think in the next few weeks another scare of some sort ( car bombs? Human-kamikaze bombs?) will start. So that our minds, now split into two parts, will be divided into another faction of worry and concern and constant barragement from the media.
These terrorists are very intelligent: mailing letters to key figures in government and media, bringing fast global attention on a near instantaneous level. The damage done is mostly on the phsycological level and has scored a direct hit. That might be the only attack from “them” on this level, but what an effective job.
However, I do not beleive that there are an unlimited amount of terrorists living here (or elsewhere). Maybe a couple hundred to (perhaps) a thousand living here ( which really isn’t that much when you think of all the people in this country who are now no longer walking around blithely since Sept 11.) living in isolated cells. None of the cells know of each other and the goings on because if one is caught, he can really only narc on his own group and no one else.
Upon seeing the photograph of the anthrax-tainted letter, I have begun to question the identity of the group behind this attack. Three things struck me as peculiar in the letter.
Firstly, the date is written “09-11-01”. Is this a reference to September 11th, or November 9th? Because as far as I know, only Americans put the month before the day when writing dates. A lot of people in other countries are not even aware of this format.
Secondly, the misspelling of penicillin seems odd to me. I would have expected a non-native-English-speaker to look the word up.
Thirdly, the last sentence is “Allah is Great”. In my experience, Arabs almost always use the word “God” when speaking English. The word “Allah”, in Arabic, refers not only to the Muslim God but to any God. The plural form is even used in reference to polytheistic religions. So most Arabs and Muslims will translate this word to “God” when speaking English. (This is based on my knowledge of Arabic after two years of studying the language at university. If anyone here speaks Arabic natively, feel free to confirm or correct this.)
Of course, none of these points are conclusive evidence that the perpetrator is not Arab or not Muslim. But I am now of the opinion that this is the work of a person or people living in America, whatever their political or religious inclinations.
First, on the question of “amateurish and sloppy” v. “slick and professional”:
It seems to me that OBL’s group takes pride in very careful planning and preparation for its activities.
This anthrax attack doesn’t seem like it was very well planned or thought out. You can’t tell me that the perp was targeting postal workers. More likely, the perp didn’t really care who was hurt - he just wanted to cause terror.
If this had been OBL’s group, IMHO, they would have carefully packaged the anthrax, done “dry-runs,” observed the operations of mailrooms around the country, etc. This sort of preparation seems almost like a point of pride with them.
Further, if this had been OBL’s group, I do not believe that the letters would have denounced Israel, or said “take pennicilin,” etc. On the contrary, he would have not included any warnings or political statements, and would have sent the anthrax powder as innocuously as possible.
This leaves two other possibilities: First, OBL sympathizers; Second, someone homegrown.
I agree with pennylane that it is weird that the letters say “Allah is Great.” I think it more likely that an English-speaking Muslim would say “God is Great.” I have heard the phrase “Allah Akbar” translated a few times, and I have always heard it translated as “God is Great.”
The handwriting does seem somewhat foreign, and I’m not sure what to make of the misspelling. But my instinct is that whoever wrote those words is a troll of sorts - someone who is mainly trying to evoke a reaction, and who doesn’t necessarily believe what he is writing.
It’s not an easy call, but my guess is: frustrated white guy.
P.S. There is an open question as to just how potent the anthrax at issue was. If it truly turns out to be “weapons grade” (whatever that means), I may change my mind. But my instinct is that whoever called it “weapons grade” was a politician who was exaggerating a bit, possibly because he felt a little embarrassed about all the precautionary measures taken by American legislators.
Vinnie:
**
I think you sort of answer your own question. Visibility. They get more bang for their buck by using their limited ability to attack with anthrax on highly visible people.
And it’s not like the media is going to go away, or like they’re going to say, “No. We won’t report on what you say or do, because you were mean to us.”
I think the wording of the letters and the way they are written is intended to confuse. If you’re sophisticated enough to get your hands on this type of anthrax, chances are you don’t write like a fourth-grader. Or, if you do, then there’s someone further up the chain of complicity who is far superior in intellect to you, and you’re just more or less a drone.
Another tiny thing: Does anyone know how the date is typically written in the Middle East? My friends in and from South America always write it day-month-year, and its one of the things they have the most trouble with “slipping on,” even as they write in otherwise really good English.
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.
Lucwarm
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…