New lead roils anthrax probe

washington post via msnbc ^ | 3/28/02

[knak]

March 29

[Fish out of Water]

index bump

[ConservativeLawyer]

Ping.

[Robear]

Some Janet Reno left-overs wanted to blame U.S. citizens. Will we ever know the truth?

[ConservativeLawyer]

If true, the findings would raise questions about the investigation’s focus on a domestic source and the FBI’s publicly stated profile of the elusive suspect: an adult male, schooled in bioweaponry, with access to the material and equipment to manufacture the lethal spores.

Ya think? </ sarcasm>

[Nogbad]

ping

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Nogbad]

The hijacker, Ahmed Ibrahim A. Al Haznawi,
was examined days after he entered the United States,
an indication that the infection
— whatever it was —
developed before his arrival.

And the letters were xeroxed on paper
of a size rarely found in the USA
but common in Europe.

(Remember that?
It was in a WSJ article posted here).

Hmmm.

[Mitchell]

From the article [O'Toole is one of the experts from Johns Hopkins]:
“We wanted to make sure the heads of the intelligence agencies knew the specificity of the diagnosis,” O’Toole said. “I was afraid they didn’t understand that almost nothing causes a black [lesion] in an otherwise healthy young man. Apparently they didn’t know that and that’s upsetting.”

Is the diagnosis that definitive? Recall Dr. Gerald Weisfogel. He is the NJ cardiologist who suspected that he might have contracted the first case of anthrax, since he recalled having a black lesion consistent with cutaneous anthrax around Sept. 4; at the time, he thought it was a spider bite. The CDC tested his blood, and it proved negative for anthrax after all. (I'm not sure if this means testing for antibodies to anthrax, but I imagine a test after the fact has to be something like that.)

On the other hand, an interview with a CDC representative states that the test used in the Weisfogel case is "not validated for clinical use" and that they are "learning about their meaning and how to interpret them, but this test, in and of itself, is not usually as helpful as some of the other ways we have of diagnosing or excluding the diagnosis." So it's conceivable that Weisfogel did have anthrax, although the odds are against it.

[The Great Satan]

What are the symptoms of anthrax?

Symptoms of disease vary depending on how the disease was contracted, but symptoms usually occur within 7 days.

Cutaneous: Most (about 95%) anthrax infections occur when the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin, such as when handling contaminated wool, hides, leather or hair products (especially goat hair) of infected animals. Skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite but within 1-2 days develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer, usually 1-3 cm in diameter, with a characteristic black necrotic (dying) area in the center. Lymph glands in the adjacent area may swell. About 20% of untreated cases of cutaneous anthrax will result in death. Deaths are rare with appropriate antimicrobial therapy.

Source: CDC

[Mitchell]

And the letters were xeroxed on paper of a size rarely found in the USA but common in Europe.

As I recall, they were A4 size, or possibly A3 (which I think is drawing paper, twice as wide as A4 but the same height), cut in two or trimmed. This is from memory; I don't have a reference right now.

[The Great Satan]

Yes, I recall that. European stationary (A4, A3, etc.) has an aspect ratio of sqrt(2) : 1, so that the same aspect ratio is retained when a document is folded in half (1.414 : 1 is the same as 1 : 0.707).

[Nogbad]

Here is the excerpt from the original WSJ article:

One clue was contained in the missive to the New York Post:
The letter, which read in part, “Death to America,”
wasn’t printed on a paper size normally found in the US,
says an FBI official familiar with the matter.

An FBI spokesman declined to elaborate.

Erich Speckin, who runs a private forensic laboratory in Okemos, Mich.,
says the heigh to width ratio was 1.4 to 1, according to a photo he saw.
He says that ratio is common in Europe and elsewhere, but rare in the US.
That could suggest that the mailer may be from another country
or may have travelled outside the US.

[The Great Satan]

This letter appears to be on European stationary, if you measure it's aspect ratio. Either that, or cut-down Legal. It's not the standard US Letter size.

[The Great Satan]

Okay, here's a better picture. This is clearly European, A4 format.

[Nogbad]

This is clearly European, A4 format.

I wonder what kind of stationary they use in the Middle East?

Here is a wild hypothesis:

The letters were photocopied in the country where the anthrax was made.

[Nogbad]

(And of course, I don't mean the USA)

[The Great Satan]

Or in Germany, where Atta and some of his buddies hung out, or in Prague, where Atta met with his Iraqi control.

[Nogbad]

Here is the question:

Would a foreign government hand over a vial
of highly dangerous aerosoled anthrax
to a bunch of schmucks
who have no experience in handling such stuff,
or would they insist on filling the envelopes themselves
in their highly secure labs,
and then passing them back to the terrorists,
(maybe in Prague),
for them to carry back to the USA?

In which case, Atta, or somone,
handed over the original handwritten letters,
which were carried back to (?) to be photocopied
and inserted in the anthrax laced envelopes
also previously addressed.

To me, the answer is obvious.