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Posted: 10/27/2001 6:42:12 PM EDT
I've heard 'em all!  Let's see..... Iraq (supplied spores to Usama bin Laden), domestic U.S. terrorists (right wing or lefties), Israel (to get the US to spank their enemies), The Peoples Republic of China , or even by certain agencies within the U.S. (to bring about martial law).

Well.....WHO DONE IT?!!!!

DaMan
Link Posted: 10/27/2001 9:23:08 PM EDT
[#1]
If it smells like a skunk and acts like a skunk, I don't care what color its stripes are.  Hunt 'em down until you're sure you've got 'em all.  Then set traps.
Link Posted: 10/27/2001 9:52:17 PM EDT
[#2]
Klintong probably sold it to them. Or maybe the Chinese got hold of it when they were ripping our secrets off during Klintongs 8 LOOOOOOOOOOG years. They sure were a seedy lot of bastards.
Link Posted: 10/27/2001 10:20:01 PM EDT
[#3]
A friend just told me he heard that the Czechs have provided the US with audio tapes recorded from a meeting of an Iraqi Official and one of the Terrorists. He said these tapes prove Hussein provided Anthrax Spores to the terrorists. Whether or not these were the spores sent out is another question altogether.
Link Posted: 10/27/2001 10:51:56 PM EDT
[#4]
I believe that it was Iraq. They have the history and knowledge to make it. We all know that UN weapons inspectors never completed their search for weapons of mass destruction. There are specific chemicals in some samples that tag Iraq specifically. Think about it, they are hard up for money, they hate the U.S. and they never had any qualms about using chemical or biological weapons. Selling a few ounces to some Islamic terrorists for a couple million is just to good of a deal to turn down.

We destroyed all of our Anthrax stores over 20 years ago. Nothing to steal. The stuff sent in the mail was weaponized which means that it can't be made in a basement. It means multimillion dollar refiners, grinders and purifiers. And not to mention the extremely sophisticated/expensive deionizing agent. Also, something that you can't buy at the local drug store.

Russia, maybe. But the chemistry doesn't add up so far. They supposedly altered the DNA of their weaponized Anthrax to be risitant to anti-biotics. It would be very easy to identify these mutated germs. They may have "lost" some critical density though. The Israelis think that two "suitcase nukes" have disappeared during the fall of communism.

China, Libya, and a few other third world countries maybe trying. It is a big "?" as to wether they are up to speed yet or not.
Link Posted: 10/27/2001 11:05:45 PM EDT
[#5]
My betting is Iraq to win, Al Qaeda to place. If Al Qaeda did it, they probably got the material from Iraq or possibly made their own.

1. The anthrax is fairly sophisticated, with steps taken to make is disperse in an aerosol. The feds were saying it would take a PhD biologist to pull that off, and I don't see some nutcase militia having the smarts to do that. Renting Ryder trucks they can handle, doing the years of tinkering to get this to work, no. (Yes, I know the militia guy arrested a few years ago, but don't think he'd typical.)

2. The anthrax appeared shortly after the 9/11 attacks, with postmarks a week or two after the attack. The person who sent the letters had the anthrax ready to go beforehand. Maybe this was just a convienient trigger point for their pre-existing plan, but I doubt it. If they had the anthrax ready to go they probably would have already used it against abortion clinics or whatever.

3. Postmarks in Trenton, NJ, a hotbed of Islamic extremism.

4. The attacker appears to be east coast oriented. People of this sort tend to attack the things they see and obsess over every day. So far as we know the letters weren't sent to the sorts of people someone from the midwest or far west would see on the tube every day, while the targets hit so far, especially Pataki, suggest someone in the NY media market. There aren't as many violent militias around there.

5. The handwriting and messages in the letters are consistent with a foreigner. Maybe it's someone trying to appear to be a foreigner, but on the other hand, maybe there is not fakeout.

6. The anthrax doesn't appear to be engineered to be antibiotic resistant. That would probably eliminate the Russians or escaped Russian weapons. OTOH, Iraq would probably not place as much importance on antibiotic-resistant strains if it thought the Iranians had lousy medical care anyway.

Link Posted: 10/27/2001 11:41:41 PM EDT
[#6]
I just saw an interesting program on CNN tonight. They interviewed an expert on Bio-terrorism. He said that they have conducted tests a few years ago to see if a small group could really gather the equipment and germs necessary in order to weaponize a germ. They were able to procure all the equipment necessary to grow, purify, dry, and mill the non lethal test bacteria from many readily available sources. No questions were asked or backgrounds checked. The price for everything was 1.6 million. There is a hitch though. Small domestic groups lack is the necessary scientists specializing in Bio-warfare. This test was conducted by a team of experts with years of practice. It is not something that you can learn over the internet or from a book.

As for bio-engineered "mutated" strains, the cost is so prohibitive, hundreds of millions, only state sponsored organizations could pull it off.

And the electro-static additive used to help aerosolize bio-weapons is also very cost prohibitive and requires a level of technology reserved to governments or state sponsorship. Millions of dollars to research, test and develop.
Link Posted: 10/28/2001 7:09:22 AM EDT
[#7]
NY Times, Washington Post (Bob Woodward), NPR among others are quoting
"high level FBI sources" as saying that anthrax source is "probably domestic". Lefty
news sources seem to be pitching the right-wing extremist angle.
Link Posted: 10/28/2001 6:42:48 PM EDT
[#8]
I think the feds flogging the domestic angle are doing some misdirection. We're already fighting one war. Let's not add another before this one is done. And going to war right now is exactly what everyone would be demanding if Iraq was involved. So the people feeding Woodward et al are being economical with the truth.
Link Posted: 10/28/2001 10:34:46 PM EDT
[#9]
That's what I'm thinking too. There trying to keep the mission small so it doesn't look like we are trying to take on the entire Muslim world. One battle at a time with special forces instead of fighting all 1.3 billion Muslims at once.
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 3:08:20 AM EDT
[#10]
My gut feeling tells me we are living in a time when we are facing multiple enemies on more fronts than we have admitted.

I don't even think all of the anthrax came from the same source.
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 3:26:59 AM EDT
[#11]
It doesn't matter where its from.....just pick an enemy, any enemy and say its from them.  We are at war....its not necessary to "prove" anything, just act in response.

We'll never win the "war" against terrorism if we keep trying to apply justice dept levels of proof to every single terrorist act.  During war, just kill the enemy.  Period.  This is why the FBI cannot perform the anti-terror mission effectively.
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 5:21:19 AM EDT
[#12]
Which "source" do you mean?

It's possible that the mailers, suppliers, and processors of the anthrax were three different groups.  Consider this scenario:

1) Iraq grows and processes the anthrax spores.
2) Iranian agents steal some of the Iraqi anthrax and supply it to Kurdish insurgents.
3) Kurdish agents mail the spores to US targets to provoke retaliation against Iraq and the eventual creation of a Kurdish state.

Depending upon how your tin foil is creased, you can substitute your villain of choice in any of the three steps.
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 6:23:42 AM EDT
[#13]
No matter how much Daschle and Gephart would like to play up the "weaponized" deadliness of the anthax spores sent to Daschle's office, it was some truly pathetic stuff compared to TRUE WEAPON GRADE anthrax.

The REAL DEAL (like was accidentally released at Sverlovsk) is almost 100% fatal to those infected...... whether the victim is treated with anti-biotics or not!  And the spores are much smaller and more easily aerosolized than the "weaponized" version sent to Daschle's office.

So this stuff was either made by someone lacking the facilities and technical ability to make true weaponized anthrax...OR intentionally made to look so.

BTW - The printing on the envelopes was almost certainly made by someone whose first language is English.

DaMan  
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 7:13:05 AM EDT
[#14]
The REAL DEAL (like was accidentally released at Sverlovsk) is almost 100% fatal to those infected...... whether the victim is treated with anti-biotics or not!
View Quote

Actually, the fatality rate in the Sverdlovsk accident was closer to 86%.  [url]http://www.hopkins-biodefense.org/pages/agents/agentanthrax.html[/url]
The largest experience with inhalation anthrax occurred after the accidental release of aerosolized anthrax spores in 1979 at a military biology facility in Sverdlovsk, Russia. Some 79 cases of inhalation anthrax were reported, of which 68 were fatal.
View Quote



Link Posted: 10/29/2001 7:13:59 AM EDT
[#15]
BTW - The printing on the envelopes was almost certainly made by someone whose first language is English.
View Quote

Why?
Link Posted: 10/29/2001 7:17:44 AM EDT
[#16]
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