SENATE POWDER TESTS POSITIVE FOR RICIN (Update -- 16 PEOPLE DECONTAMINATED)

AP Wire ^ | Feb. 3, 2004 | AP Wire

[varina davis]

Senate Powder Tests Positive for Ricin

February 3, 2004 12:20 AM EST

WASHINGTON - Preliminary tests of a white powder discovered in a Senate office building Monday were positive for the potentially deadly poison ricin, the U.S. Capitol Police chief said.

Two out of three tests indicate ricin, Chief Terrance Gainer said at a late-evening news conference. The third test came out negative, and a fourth, more definitive test was under way, with results expected Tuesday.

Sixteen people who were on the floor where the white powder was discovered on mail were being decontaminated and would be allowed to go home, Gainer said.

"At the moment we're in a wait-and-see position from an analytical point of view in what next steps we may take," he said. That included what, if any decontamination of the Dirksen Senate Office Building would be needed.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., also at the news conference, said no symptoms were reported by those near the powder. "Everybody's fine" and there is "no cause for alarm," he said.

"Nobody is sick, we don't expect anybody to get sick," said Frist, a surgeon before his election to the Senate.

The powder was discovered at about 3 p.m. in a mail room near Frist's office on the fourth floor of the Dirksen Building, Gainer said. A congressional official had said earlier the powder was found in Frist's office suite.

Another government official said lab tests were being conducted at Fort Detrick in Maryland, but Gainer refused to give any location.

Authorities do not know if the substance was found on a letter or a package, the chief said.

The Homeland Security Department is monitoring the situation, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

Ricin, derived from the castor bean plant, can kill within days. Twice as deadly as cobra venom, ricin is relatively easily made. It may be inhaled, ingested or injected.

Police found traces of ricin in a north London apartment last January and arrested seven men of North African origin in connection with the virulent toxin that has been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq.

A package containing ricin was also found at a post facility serving Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina in October.

An FBI official said the bureau was awaiting the result of tests at the Fort Detrick laboratory before deciding whether to get more fully involved in the case.

Mail to congressional offices has been irradiated since deadly anthrax was found in letters sent to the offices of Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in 2001. No one was arrested in those incidents.

Frist said irradiation would likely have no effect on ricin because the substance is neither a virus or a bacterium.

[piasa]

The London ricin was in the form of a cream.

[Ophiucus]

That's kind of like saying "Ricin poisoning is treated through treatment of Ricin poisoning."

That's because there is no antidote. The only thing that can be done is to treat the effects and pray that the body can recover. If too many cells in too many systems are damaged, there is nothing to do but watch your patient die.

[JohnHuang2]

"don't worry... its just a chem-bio weapon..."

Impossible -- David Kay, after an incomplete search, assures us WMD don't exist. ;-)

[FairOpinion]

It takes a while to die, I think symptoms may not appear for hours, but there is no antidote. You got a lethal dose, you die, and the lethal dose is very very small -- I heard it described as an amount of a pinhead. You can also inhale it and die.

[FairOpinion]

"The DU freaks are already claiming that this is a ploy to bump Bush's numbers and trace it back to Iraq. Unreal."

==

THAT is not unreal -- what is unreal that I have seen people here on FR posts similar things -- one of them has finally been banned, but I know there are others still left.

[Ophiucus]

Police found traces of ricin in a north London apartment last January and arrested seven men of North African origin in connection with the virulent toxin that has been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq.

A package containing ricin was also found at a post facility serving Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina in October.

This part of the story makes me wonder about the coverage. This appears to give a clear trail:
Iraq->Al Qaida->London, England->Greenville, SC, USA-> Washington DC, USA

Questions I have are is this trail that clear an open? What was/wasn't done to intercept the passage of ricin? What is known about the operation that carried this out? How much of the operation was compromised to have just a package of ricin arrive in the Senate mail room rather than it being released similar to the Japan subway attack years ago?

Of course, it does beg the question, with so much of the anthrax activity centered in the same places as the hijackers and now ricin in the Capitol, why does the FBI insist on their domestic 'person of interest' theory?

[FairOpinion]

Ricin suspects linked to al Qaeda

Thursday, January 16, 2003 Posted: 7:43 PM EST (0043 GMT)


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. intelligence has evidence of connections between four people charged with possessing chemical weapons in London and a senior al Qaeda leader, officials tells CNN.

The four men were arrested during a January 5 raid by British police on two addresses in north and east London where traces of ricin, one of the world's deadliest poisons, were discovered.

Now U.S. officials say they believe the suspects can be tied to al Qaeda, specifically "associates" of senior al Qaeda figure Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, a senior official tells CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/16/ricin.alqaeda/



"United Nations weapons inspectors who left Iraq in 1998 listed ricin among the poisons they believed Saddam produced. U.S. troops also found traces of the substance at suspected Al Qaeda biological weapons sites in Afghanistan."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,74833,00.html




But I am sure the FBI is already looking for the "angry white male" to blame it on, as they blamed the anthrax attacks on Hatfill, totally ignoring the mountain of evidence linking it to Al Qaeda and Iraq.

[FairOpinion]

""At a university there was a person of interest involved in the ricin program [Ricin is a poisonous protein extracted from castor beans. Iraq has produced at least 10 liters of ricin and tested it for use in artillery shells.] "

It's from a great article, which details the elaborate deception tactics of the Saddam regime, to hide their WMD from the inspectors.

Here is the link:

FORMER UN WEAPONS INSPECTORS DESCRIBE IRAQ'S CONCEALMENT TACTICS

http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/wwwh02111404.html

[My Dog Likes Me]

This story is weird. Who has access to this stuff?

I'm sure the government knows more than us right now.

[piasa]

The FBI didn't blame the anthrax attacks on Hatfill. Some presstitutes said FBI sources said this or that, but named none of them. The FBI said it had some 30 'persons of interest,' certainly not just Hatfill, I might add. It was the presstitutes' choice to only focus on the one guy- led on by "it's a white right winger" Rosenberg and whichever reporter she was playing expert for, but at least it kept them- and the world's leakiest clinton-era FBI team- out of the rest of the FBI's hair for a bit while investigation went on elsewhere.

[FairOpinion]

And why has this been forgotten:


Positive test for terror toxins in Iraq
MSNBC.com finds signs of ricin, botulinum at Islamic militants’ camp

http://osborn-scientific.com/PDF/Positive_test_for_terror_toxins_in_Iraq.htm

SARGAT, Iraq, April 4 — MSNBC.com tests reveal evidence of the deadly toxins ricin and botulinum at a laboratory in a remote mountain region of northern Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist training camp by Islamic militants with ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is conducting its own tests at the same area, but has not yet released the results, according to officials in northern Iraq.

MSNBC.COM’S TESTS were conducted over a two-day period at Sargat, an alleged terrorist training camp a mile from the Iraq-Iran border. The camp, set back in an isolated valley and surrounded by snowcapped peaks, was home to the radical Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, which counts among its some 700 followers scores of al-Qaida fighters.

In a Feb. 5 speech to the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a satellite photo of the Sargat camp and described Ansar al-Islam as “teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons.” U.S. officials have repeated the allegations in recent weeks.

MSNBC.com’s samples of ricin and botulinum, two deadly biological agents, were taken from the soles of a boot and a shoe recovered from the Sargat camp. The facility has been flattened by several Tomahawk cruise missiles, fired as part of the U.S. campaign against Ansar al-Islam.

The thick rubber boot twice tested positive for ricin, a toxin derived from castor beans. Ingesting a pinch of ricin, which causes shock and respiratory failure, can kill a human being within 72 hours. There is no cure.

A black running shoe, shredded by the U.S. bombing, tested positive for botulinum. U.S. officials say terrorists have a particular interest in botulinum and ricin toxins, which may be delivered through release in food and water.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

The FBI will no doubt trace this to a "White Male Loner", just like the anthrax attacks and the DC Sniper (singular).

[piasa]

A black running shoe, shredded by the U.S. bombing, tested positive for botulinum.

Isn't that what some reports say about Kerry?

[Dog]

It is almost 530 am on the East coast Tuesday morning and I just watched the headlines on MSNBC and this story wasn't even mentioned .......what is going on?

[jrlc]

John "F*ing" Commie Kerry discussing how to fund more anti-American activity in the US Congress. Oretga and the Harkins being only a few of the leftist terrorits Commie Kerry courts:

[Rebelbase]

Police point ricin probe at trucker discontent. (Oct. 2003)

[MrBambaLaMamba]

End terrorism, kill terrorists.

[Williams]

I'm not sure yet, but if you think the media is above burying a real story, and maybe ultimately burying real Americans - think again.

[Indie]

And the test results due from MD at 5am EST are overdue.