# What happened to the anthrax? (tinfoil: Iraq, 9/11 - maybe?)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 22, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387 "2008-03-22T23:26:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/1 "2008-03-22T23:26:56Z")
I really am asking a question. I am categorically NOT prone to conspiracy theories. It’s just been forever and I can’t dislodge one central thought from my head, and I’m hoping by posting here and getting answers, I can.
People tend to think of 9/11 as something that happened one day. I don’t. The anthrax stuff happened over a few weeks right before - with letters going to really arbitrary places and THEN political figures.
Then, one sunny day in New York City… 9/11 happened.
Out of that specter, we decided it was time to take on Al Queda and go to Afghanistan to kick some butt. We screwed it up some… letting Osama get away, bailing before really finishing the job, stuff like that - in large part to…
Go to war with Iraq. Now the argument for going to war with Iraq was WMD (at the time). I don’t know that that argument would have flown had the anthrax scare not laid the foundation for that argument.
But 9/11 loomed large. And the anthrax story slowly just… died away. Without resolution.
The question of whether the anthrax was so central is part of my thing. The question of where it came from (SOME idle speculation would be ok… I suppose) is part of this. It just seems… too convenient. Am I wrong?
It’s just like a splinter in my brain… help me dislodge it? Am I cracked?
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/2 "2008-03-22T23:32:38Z")
I think that you’re right that it just died away, with no resolution, but incorrect in that the attacks were over a period BEFORE 9/11. It was shortly after.
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks) backs me up on this, as does [the FBI website](http://www.fbi.gov/anthrax/amerithraxlinks.htm)
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### Author:  [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/3 "2008-03-23T00:06:29Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk]
I think that you’re right that it just died away, with no resolution, but incorrect in that the attacks were over a period BEFORE 9/11. It was shortly after.
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks) backs me up on this, as does [the FBI website](http://www.fbi.gov/anthrax/amerithraxlinks.htm)
[/QUOTE]
Fair point, apologies. Either way I mean it was over a course of weeks. And the USPS just isn’t that slow…
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### Author:  [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/4 "2008-03-23T00:38:45Z")
What I think is interesting is the link between the deaths of several Microbiologists after the Anthrax attacks. The only reason I know anything about it is because Don Wiley had visited St. Jude’s in Memphis (where I was) the day of his death. He, for no apparent reason after giving a talk, got in his rental car, drove back to his hotel, somehow missed it but instead got on the interstate (which isn’t really a mistake you can make because I know the roads there very well), drove up to the bridge over the Mississippi, got out of his car, and jumped off. The FBI stated they do not believe foul play was involved…
The only reason I think it’s strange is because I know several colleagues who physically met with him that day, and they all said he was in perfect mental condition. He was going to vacation with his family out of Memphis.
Here’s two websites that give background on his case and many others who died after 9/11. I’ve seen some sites that tie in the deaths of up to 11 scientists in strange ways.
[Site 1](http://www.devvy.com/micro_20020104.html)
[Site 2](http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/deadbiologists.html)
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2008, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/5 "2008-03-23T10:38:17Z")
There’s some evidence that the FBI has screwed the pooch on the investigation, focusing heavily on one scientist for years, and ignoring all other leads. I have to wonder if [this guy](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKTvbgBD4wAvysJWCK0LFWjV9VwwD8V5L90O0) wasn’t somehow involved. Yeah, he was found with ricin and not anthrax, but neither one of those things is something that you’d want to play with. And if you’re worried about anthrax, [have a cup of tea and relax.](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080312100045.htm)
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/6 "2008-03-23T18:03:17Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]
And if you’re worried about anthrax, [have a cup of tea and relax.](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080312100045.htm)
[/QUOTE]
You ever been on _Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me_? You should be.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/7 "2008-03-23T19:58:10Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco]
You ever been on _Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me_? You should be.
[/QUOTE]
Nope. They record the shows when I’m at work, so without taking a day off, I couldn’t participate. (If I were to go on the show, I’d want to be on when PJ O’Rourke was there.)
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/8 "2008-06-27T22:48:00Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]
There’s some evidence that the FBI has screwed the pooch on the investigation, focusing heavily on one scientist for years, and ignoring all other leads.
[/QUOTE]
Hatfill won big today:
[DOJ Settles Hatfill Suit for $5.8 Million](http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=5264759&page=1)
> [@](#):
>
> The Justice Department has agreed to pay former Army scientist Steven Hatfill almost $6 million to settle his claims that the government violated his privacy rights during its investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks.
>
> In August 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft named Hatfill as a person of interest in the mysterious mail attacks, which had further frightened a nation still reeling from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that had been carried out just weeks before.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-anthrax-tinfoil-iraq-9-11-maybe/442387/9 "2008-08-03T20:50:09Z")
There’s a whole string of these threads over the years:
[From 2006:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=357084&highlight=anthrax)
[QUOTE=Squink]
The investigation went cold at about the time that DNA analysis should have told us whether the stuff was from a weapons lab or not. It’s not moved since.
[/QUOTE]
That time was 2002.
Apparently, the Feds sat on their best evidence for 6 years.
[Scientist: DNA led probers to anthrax suspect](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080803/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_investigation_2)
It may be that the US is now in trouble for violations of the [Biological Weapons Convention](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Weapons_Convention)