US Anthrax Attacks, 2001

US Anthrax Attacks, 2001

 

I used to have a number of questions about the US Anthrax attacks that followed 9/11 and that were blamed upon Islamic militants. 

 

The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. In mid-2008, the FBI narrowed its focus to Bruce E. Ivins, a scientist who worked at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland.

 

The anthrax attacks came in two waves. The first set of anthrax letters had a Trenton, New Jersey postmark dated September 18, 2001, exactly one week after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

 

Five letters are believed to have been mailed at this time, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the New York Post, all located in New York City; and to the National Enquirer at American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida.

 

One FBI document said the total damage exceeded US$1 billion.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax_attacks

 

The Times said Ivins was the son of a Princeton-educated pharmacist who was born and raised in Lebanon, Ohio. He received undergraduate and graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in microbiology, from the University of Cincinnati.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_scientist

 

Among what appear to be the intended victims was former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a highly visible and vocal opponent of Bush.  Also a victim was Senator Patrick Leahy, the current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Both of these Senate leaders have been extremely influential in the Democratic Party, and their deaths would have likely been a serious impairment upon Bush’s political opposition.

 

In October 2001, Daschle's office received a letter containing anthrax, becoming a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Many of his staffers were confirmed to have been exposed, as well as several of Sen. Russell Feingold's staffers.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Daschle

 

Patrick Joseph Leahy (born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and is the current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Leahy

 

Senator Daschle discussed his experience and his emotions about the Anthrax attack in an article in the Washington Post for the five year anniversary of this heinous crime.

 

Oct. 15, 2001, is a day I'll never forget. On that day one of my staff members opened an anthrax-laced letter addressed to me, and my office became a part of the deadliest bioterrorism attack in U.S. history. Anthrax was also sent through the mail to a number of other people and organizations -- the National Enquirer, the New York Post, broadcaster Tom Brokaw and Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont. These attacks killed five people, injured 17 others, disrupted operations all over Capitol Hill and alarmed an entire nation.

 

Twenty-eight people, including 20 on my staff, tested positive for anthrax exposure. Though relieved that they were spared the horror of the disease, I am reminded every day that the families and friends of five others were not so lucky. Robert Stevens in Florida, Kathy Nguyen in New York, Ottilie Lundgren in Connecticut, and Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen in Washington were all victims of the attack.

 

Five years later, the alarm I and many others experienced on that dark day has been replaced by a deep discouragement and dismay.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301417_pf.html

 

The anthrax was later traced back to a US military facility.  Since Anthrax evolves very rapidly at the genetic level, it is highly likely at this was the point of origination.

 

On the 9th of May 2002, New Scientist published an article that reported:

 

"The DNA sequence of the anthrax sent through the US mail in 2001 has been revealed and confirms suspicions that the bacteria originally came from a US military laboratory. The data released uses codenames for the reference strains against which the attack strain was compared. The two reference strains that appear identical to the attack strain most likely originated at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick (USAMRIID), Maryland.

 

The new work also shows that substantial genetic differences can emerge in two samples of an anthrax culture separated for only three years. This means the attacker's anthrax was not separated from its ancestors at USAMRIID for many generations.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks

 

How and why was a strain of Anthrax that allegedly originated from a US military base found in a terrorist attack of Democratic Congressional leaders and the liberal media that have frustrated George Bush over the years?  That is a really good question, but the FBI dropped the case just like they allegedly dropped the ball on 9/11, at least for a while.  It seems that if you have the same people both allegedly committing and investigating the crimes, they never reach the correct conclusions.  Then, the US Senate pressured the FBI for more work on this particular case in 2006, although it is unclear whether this had an effect.

 

On October 23, 2006 Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa sent a six page letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting a briefing on the anthrax investigation. By December, 2006, a total of 33 members of Congress have demanded that the Attorney General update them on the investigation.

 

The FBI's Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs said, "After sensitive information about the investigation citing congressional sources was reported in the media, the Department of Justice and the FBI agreed that no additional briefings to Congress would be provided."

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks

 

The Democratic Senators have also put pressure upon former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to bring a rapid conclusion to this case.  During the Bush years, it has seemed as though nothing gets done unless somebody besides an executive branch employee oversees the project to the bitter end, pushing at times to keep the ball moving.  Government should not be this difficult!

 

On October 23, 2006 Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa sent a six page letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting a briefing on the anthrax investigation. By December, 2006, a total of 33 members of Congress have demanded that the Attorney General update them on the investigation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attacks

 

Eventually, the primary suspect was found dead, a very suspicious end to the case.

 

Ivins had been told about the impending prosecution and apparently committed suicide by overdosing on Tylenol with codeine as reported on August 1, 2008.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax_attacks

 

A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.

 

Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions.

 

Besides the five deaths, 17 people were sickened by anthrax that was mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida just weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The victims included postal workers and others who came into contact with the anthrax.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_scientist

 

Ivins was a highly decorated National Defense employee, and the reason for his seeming involvement in a backstabbing of the United States is at this time unknown.

 

In 2003, Ivins and two of his colleagues at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick received the highest honor given to Defense

 

Department civilian employees for helping solve technical problems in the manufacture of anthrax vaccine.

 

In 1997, U.S. military personnel began receiving the vaccine to protect against a possible biological attack. Within months, a number of vaccine lots failed a potency test required by federal regulators, causing a shortage of vaccine and eventually halting the immunization program. The USAMRIID team's work led to the reapproval of the vaccine for human use.

 

Ivins was the co-author of numerous anthrax studies, including one on a treatment for inhalation anthrax published in the July 7 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_scientist

 

I suggest that Anthrax I was really just an alleged continuation of the USS Cole, World Trade Center I, and the Oklahoma City bombings and was orchestrated by the Satanic Cult that controls America!  Why would the targets be chosen as Bush’s enemies if Bush were not the one who was behind it?  While Al Qaida was upset at The Republican Leadership, they sent Anthrax to leading opposition?  Do they not read the newspapers?  That seems counterproductive!  What can we say about those brave American soldiers who had to fight Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan because we would not (not could not) do it here in America?  It is a shame that Bush could not be a better man.

 

I would like to thank the FBI for bring some closure, albeit sad closure, to this case.  I appreciate their efforts for America and the family and friends of the victims of this crime.