Anthrax attacks, & US bio-chemical research program Options

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Topic Introduction


Oh yeah, the Anthrax attacks - forgot about that.
by Sanders

Stuff in the air lately connecting al-Qaeda to the post-9/11 anthrax attacks. So I guess bin Laden did that too, after all. (?)

There's one other distinct possibility, that this is just more malarky from our friends at the defunct (but ever-active) Office of Special Influence (DoD). I (personally) think so because I followed the anthrax story when it was (mostly unreported) news. The FBI and a small independent group of scientists both traced the probable source of the spores back to the US Army's germ warfare lab at Fort Detrick.

Anthrax is a spore-forming germ, Bacillus anthracis, and can be found in livestock such as sheep or cattle. Analysis of the spores from the letters reveled them all to be of the same strain. This particular strain, known as the Ames strain, was first researched at the Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland. This strain of anthrax bacteria originally came from a single cow that had died in Texas in 1981. Ames has the reputation of being deadlier than other anthrax strains. Some have called Ames the “gold standard” of anthrax.

From Fort Detrick, the Ames strain was sent to researchers in at least fifteen laboratories within the United States and six laboratories abroad. It is not known how many other universities and labs may have had access to the strain...  It was reported the quality of the anthrax spores found in the Leahy letter surpassed previously known state-sponsored bio-weapons programs. According to Newsweek,[(italics as per the original article)] “The Leahy anthrax…was coated with a chemical compound unknown to experts who have worked in the field for years; the coating matches no known anthrax samples ever recovered from biological-weapons producers anywhere in the world, including Iraq and the former Soviet Union.” ...
'Anthrax Mystery Solved' by Robert Pate, National Vangard March-April issue

Stephen Hatfill was one of a few dozen people who had access to those spores and was initially the FBI's prime suspect in the case.

The timing of the mailing of the letters is quite interesting, it roughly (to the day I think,) coincided with John Ashcroft's deadline for Congress to pass his PATRIOT Act (he gave them a week, if they wouldn't pass it and there was another terror attack, it would be on Congress' head - I'm paraphrasing, but that was the jist of his message). Intriquingly, Senators Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle (who recieved letters - actually the Daschle letter made it to his office, the Leahy letter lanquished at the Post Office for a while) were maybe the two people in the best position to stop passage of the bill. Coincidence??

The FBI eventually dropped it's case against Hatfill, the case remains officially un-solved.

Whether Stephen Hatfill was the actual sender or whether he was framed (as it has been suggested), he is a window into yet another frightening aspect of our world gone mad, America's (now overt) bio-weapons program.

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Articles

Anthrax Coverup: A Government Insider Speaks Out
By Steve Watson
@afterdowningstreet.org, July 3 2007

"Senators Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
were holding it [PATRIOT Act] up because they realized what this would lead to. The
first draft of the PATRIOT Act would have suspended the writ of habeas
corpus [which protects citizens from unlawful imprisonment and
guarantees due process of law]. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
come these anthrax attacks."

"At the time I myself did not know precisely what was going on, either
with respect to September 11 or the anthrax attacks, but then the New
York Times revealed the technology behind the letter to Senator
Daschle. [The anthrax used was] a trillion spores per gram, [refined
with] special electro-static treatment. This is superweapons-grade
anthrax that even the United States government, in its openly
proclaimed programs, had never developed before. So it was obvious to
me that this was from a U.S. government lab. There is nowhere else you
could have gotten that."

...Bowman then informed Boyle that the FBI was working with Fort Detrick
on the matter. Boyle expressed his view that Fort Detrick could be the
main problem. As widely reported in 2002 publications, notably the New
Scientist, the anthrax strain used in the attacks was officially
assessed as "military grade."

"Soon after I informed Bowman of this information, the FBI authorized
the destruction of the Ames cultural anthrax database," the professor
said. The Ames strain turned out to be the same strain as the spores
used in the attacks.

The alleged destruction of the anthrax culture collection at Ames,
Iowa, from which the Fort Detrick lab got its pathogens, was blatant
destruction of evidence. It meant that there was no way of finding out
which strain was sent to whom to develop the larger breed of anthrax
used in the attacks. The trail of genetic evidence would have led
directly back to a secret government biowarfare program....

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24273


The Coverup
by "Allie"
@ newsgarden, 2004
Well sourced - recommended!
http://www.newsgarden.org/columns/anthrax/coverup.shtml


FBI uncovers US military production of anthrax powder
by Duncan Campbell
The Guardian, December 14 2001
courtesy, Tarya

The US army has been producing anthrax in a powdered form suitable for use as a weapon, it was discovered during the FBI's investigation of the spate of letters containing the deadly spores. But the army denied yesterday that the strain it had developed was the one that has so far caused five deaths.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/anthrax/story/0,...,618524,00.html


Army sent anthrax strain to only 5 labs
by Steve Fainaru and Joby Warr
Washington Post, Nov 30 2001
@ The Plain Dealer
courtesy, Tarya
http://web.archive.org/web/20011217070140/...27612637199.xml


U.S. Expert Said Behind Anthrax Mail
Discovery Channel News, Nov 28, 2001
courtesy, Tarya

The anthrax attacks in the United States were probably the work of a member of a U.S. biological warfare program, the magazine of environment pressure group Greenpeace Germany reported Wednesday.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/disc_anth.html


Short bio of Patrick, William C. III
taken from le Cercle, membership list
THIS 'll blow your skirt up !!!
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum...dpost&p=6037808


Tables Turned In Anthrax Investigation
"Person Of Interest" Files Lawsuit Against FBI
CBS News, March 9 2007

Hatfill, a scientist who worked at an Army laboratory where the strain of anthrax used in the attacks was stored, is the only "person of interest" named publicly in the case. He has maintained his innocence all along.

Hatfill is suing the government for destroying his reputation by, among other things, naming him "a person of interest." According to depositions taken for Hatfill's suit and obtained by 60 Minutes, the FBI official who oversaw the investigation says the bureau was looking at many more people.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/09/...in2552906.shtml


Fort Detrick's anthrax mystery
Who tried to frame Dr. Ayaad Assaad, a former biowarfare researcher at the Army lab? Was it the same person responsible for last fall's anthrax mail terrorism?
By Laura Rozen
Salon, Jul 2 2007
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/20...ex_np.html?pn=1


Archive of Wall Street Journal articles about anthrax
by various authors
originally printed in the Wall Street Journal
@ anthraxinvestigation.com
http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/wsj.html

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Posts and Threads


Man Held After Threatening Letters Sent, Lawmakers
Olberman, Others Targeted
thread started by batmanchester
many links and an Olberman video clip related to this story can found in this thread
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum...showtopic=1741


U.S. Financing Bioterrorism Projects
Thread started by datars, Feb 25 2007
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum...showtopic=5018

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Other Resources


Videos

Beyond Treason
This film documents the US biological and chemical weapons programs.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7...d+treason&hl=en


Websites

Analyzing the Anthrax Attacks (2005-2006 Edition)
by Ed Lake
Very comprehensive site and analysis. Recommended.
http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/ archive For prior to 2005 see here archive (not all links work in archived version)


Research Notes for the Anthrax Attack Challenged
by Dahbud Mensch
Articles & Links organized into a timeline from 1994 to 2005
@ flying snail
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/anthrax.html

Research paper:

A Compilation of Evidence and Comments on the Source of the Mailed Anthrax
by Barbara Hatch Rosenberg
Federation of American Scientists
revised December 10, 2001
courtesy, Tarya
http://web.archive.org/web/20011214144934/...thraxreport.htm


News briefing:

U.S. Department of Defense
News Briefing
Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Presenter: Victoria Clarke, ASD(PA)
Pentagon Press Briefing on Biological Weapons Research archive

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See Also:


Further Research

THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION'S DECISION TO END
U.S. BIOLOGICAL WARFARE PROGRAMS
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 58
Edited by Dr. Robert A. Wampler
October 25, 2001; Updated December 7, 2001
@ National Security Archive
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB58/#doc1