Posted on 11/20/2004 11:46:06 AM PST by TrebleRebel
A federal judge ruled yesterday that U.S. Postal Service officials had no special responsibility to alert workers at the Brentwood postal facility to deadly anthrax contamination in the building and cannot be sued by the employees.
---------------------
U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said she found ample reason to believe that the officials showed deliberate indifference to worker safety by keeping the plant operating for four days after they privately confirmed the toxic spores had spread through the facility.
----------------------
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said, "We can't imagine that in the end that courts will sanction government supervisors lying to workers about biological toxins infecting their workplace. Let's be clear about the consequences here: People are sick to this day and some are dead, and the courts are saying 'Tough luck.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Is this just a general comment or are you thinking of something specific? What frame of mind do you mean?
There was enormous indignation by groups,such as the Federation of American Scientists,when the Bush administration declined to become a signatory to the most recent "bioweapons" treaty.(It would have banned ANY research in this area-including defensive research.Other countries-notably Russia-had developed huge stockpiles of nasty stuff-despite being signatories to the first ban.)
Most of the FAS people are sincere-if somewhat leftist-but there are a few genuine extremists in the organization: a few of whom might have assisted a small group of students and other young people in setting up and carrying out a "misguided" plot to call attention to their cause.
The organizers would be people with "academic credentials"-who might view something as horrible as 9/11 as perfect cover for their plot.(They could never afford to have their names linked to the anthrax attack !)
The answer might be as you suggested-or it might be simpler;
eg:the mailers lived in that general area,drove by that specific post office daily,and copied the zip number down-being careful not to use their OWN zip code.
The whole thing, I believe,is to rule NOTHING out.We might believe an idea is too irrational to be possible,but another person,from another belief system,might find it perfectly logical.
(I can recall,while doing a pre-sentence report,asking a man why he had hit a nice old lady over the head with a rock while robbing her." Well",he said,shamefacedly."Truth is I forgot to bring my gun.")
Here's something I noticed.
Khan, in a posting of yours in July, 2004, you made the claim that there was an "ineffective anthrax attack at end of February of 2003." You then elaborated, as follows:
"Has been dubbed weaponised or semiweaponised.
Was thought to have encompassed both a letter campaign with threatening messages and an outdoor delivery trial.
Best estimate of date is 24 Feb 2003." [Boldface added.]
Links: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1165194/posts?page=112#112 and http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1165194/posts?page=145#145
What I noticed was that the same date (Feb. 24, 2003) had occurred in an earlier FR discussion about the possible connection between the anthrax mailings and Internet worms/viruses. [I have placed all the instances of the date Feb. 24, 2003, in this posting in boldface, to make it easy to spot them.]
Before proceeding, a bit on the Nimda worm: It is known that the destructive Nimda worm was released on Sept. 18, 2001, exactly one week after the 9/11 attack (one week to the minute, as closely as one can tell). The destructiveness of this worm on the heels of 9/11 was sufficient that John Ashcroft made a televised statement on Sept. 18 that the worm was not known to be terrorist-related. Something no one knew on that date was that Sept. 18, 2001, was also the postmark date of the anthrax mailings to NBC News and the NY Post. In addition, a variant called Nimda.B was released some time between Oct. 5 and 9, 2001, matching the mailing date of the second set of anthrax letters. (Neither Nimda.B nor the second set of anthrax letters can be dated precisely.) This was observed in early November, 2001, but to this date it is not known whether Nimda and the anthrax mailings were really connected or whether it was a coincidence. (It's perhaps worthy of comment that both the Nimda and anthrax attacks involved putting a destructive payload in mail, whether e-mail or postal mail.)
Fast-forward two years, to late Dec., 2003. Frequent FR reincarnatee Van der Waals, who had expressed interest in the Nimda theory, noted that the Swen computer worm had been released on Sept. 18, 2003, and that a variant of Swen had been released on Oct. 9, 2003. These are the anniversaries of the two known anthrax mailings. The HTML used by the worm makes use of the code word "bacillus". Here's the link to this posting of Van der Waals: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1042297/posts?page=37#37.
I replied to Van der Waals, in http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1042297/posts?page=40#40. Here's part of what I wrote at the time (Dec. 20, 2003):
... note that the worm called Swen is apparently the latest incarnation of the earlier Gibe worm, so 9/18/2003 and 10/9/2003 are just the latest two dates in a longer series of release dates.As you can see, the Feb. 24, 2003, release date of Gibe coincides with Khan Noonian Singh's purported "ineffective anthrax attack." Possibility 3(b) specifically pointed out the date Feb. 24, 2003, as a date of interest.So, here are three possibilities regarding Swen:
My guess is that it's just a coincidence - Possibility 1.
- Possibility 1. The dates are just a coincidence. If you look, you can find many things that happened on Sept. 18, and some that happened on both Sept. 18 and Oct. 9 in some year.
- Possibility 2. Someone who had nothing to do with the anthrax mailings intentionally picked the anniversary dates, just because he thought it would be a cool thing to do.
- Possibility 3. Someone who had something to do with the anthrax mailings picked those dates on purpose. But why would he do that? Two possible reasons:
- Possibility 3(a). Disinformation. This presupposes that the Nimda theory is false; the purpose of Swen would then be to divert resources into investigation of a (false) Nimda connection to the anthrax mailings.
- Possibility 3(b). To draw attention to the earlier release dates of Gibe/Swen:
Why draw attention to these earlier dates? I don't know, but that attention to the earlier Gibe-worm release dates is a predictable consequence of the later Swen releases on the anthrax anniversary dates. In this theory 3(b), it's as if someone is saying: "Look at the release dates!"
- Mar. 4, 2002
- Feb. 24, 2003
(There were also minor follow-up variants released on Mar. 16, 2003, and Mar. 24, 2003.)
I have some questions on this theory:
1. Why would they have sent anthrax to Leahy and Daschle? Leahy especially is one of the best friends such people have in the US government.
2. How would someone like that have had the connections to obtain weaponized anthrax from clandestine military sources or clandestine intelligence sources?
3. Wouldn't a bioterror attack be expected to result in a resumption or resurgence of biological warfare research, and isn't this the precise opposite of what these people wanted to achieve?
Mitch,there WERE a few other things that match the September and October dates: On Sept.17 (as I recall) Pres. Bush publicly identified Osama as the "author" of 9/11;and on October 18 (again,as I recall)we began bombardment of AQ and Taliban in Afghanistan.
In Princeton, NJ-not far from where the second batch of letters was mailed,there were 2 large student demonstrations going on: one pro-war;the other anti-war.
Both demonstrations "collapsed" when word of the Afghanistan response was received.(Both factions had been on tenterhooks because the media had been speculating on the date for quite a while.)
I can picture someone at one of the demonstrations (the "Anti",seems more likely to me)hurrying away to a storage spot,retrieving a carefully wrapped package,and walking it to the mailbox,in direct reaction to the news.
1.Connections in our biolabs:Security was NOT great.There may have been student interns-almost completely "un-vetted"-with far more access than desirable.There were labor problems at all of our bio and atomic labs,and "gray collar" technicians sometimes engaged in enormously risky "demonstrations".Security people sometimes engaged in thefts.(GAO publicized quite a few of them,but probably revealed only the tip of the iceberg.)
2. Why Leahy and Daschle ? IF this was a "far-left" protest,the plotters may have been fairly sure neither man would actually be EXPOSED to the anthrax letters.The September mailings had put the nation on notice,and special precautions-meager as they might have been-were being taken. Daschle and Leahy would (and I'm sure did) perceive the letters as some sort of right-wing plot.
Overly complicated? Perhaps;but,since we really know very little-beyond what has been published,we should rule almost nothing out.
I don't believe it was something as casual as that. The weaponized anthrax could have caused very large numbers of casualties, if it had been delivered differently. The use of what is clearly a WMD would have been planned out in advance.
Any theory must explain the motivation of the mailers -- what is the motive that would cause them, on the one hand, to use the anthrax but, on the other hand, to use it in a way that would minimize its military effectiveness?
And what is the motivation for mailing two very liberal Senators?
It's true that security wasn't great. But for a far-left group to arrange for the theft of professionally prepared material whose very existence was being kept secret is difficult to believe. It's easier to believe that someone could have obtained Ames anthrax prior to weaponization, but then one has to believe that your hypothetical left-wing group has laboratory facilities both for inventing and for carrying out the weaponization process, in an entirely clandestine fashion. That's quite difficult to believe.
2. Why Leahy and Daschle ? IF this was a "far-left" protest,the plotters may have been fairly sure neither man would actually be EXPOSED to the anthrax letters.The September mailings had put the nation on notice,and special precautions-meager as they might have been-were being taken. Daschle and Leahy would (and I'm sure did) perceive the letters as some sort of right-wing plot.
Why attack even the staff of two of the government officials most friendly to you?
If the purpose was to convince people that it was a right-wing plot, why did they try so hard to convince people that it was an Islamic plot?
There's also my third question, which you didn't answer:
"Wouldn't a bioterror attack be expected to result in a resumption or resurgence of biological warfare research, and isn't this the precise opposite of what these people wanted to achieve?"
What did your hypothetical perps want to achieve that they thought they could achieve through the anthrax mailings?
I think Occam's razor suggests that something else is the right answer. Everything in this theory seems strained - no offense intended, I agree with you that we should consider all sorts of possibilities, I just don't think this one works on close inspection.
A small group along the lines of Iran-Contra or Nugan-Hand or any # of covert activities alignes better with the pattern we see. Eyes open for for means, motive and opportunity. Also for past engagement in covert ops.
<< The group need not have been Muslim-or even have known which direction Mecca lies in. >>
I concur.
JF - << Is this just a general comment or are you thinking of something specific? What frame of mind do you mean? >>
The comment about 2-stage covert ops is true ingeneral, but I had something specific in mind.
Phase One in the anthrax mailings was meant to get people in a frame-of-mind to connect the anthrax mailings with Muslim terrorism and specifically with 09-11.
For a start, the letters were dated 09-11-01, and they said "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is Great."
The mailers realized that this was not enouf: people could say that the Muslim connection was a ruse. That's where the AMI attack in Boca Raton came into play. It established a geographically incontrovertible nexus of connexion between the anthrax and the 09-11 highjackers. This was convincing in a way that phrases written in the letters could not be, since it would have been much harder for a casually opportunistic piggybacker to find out that Boca Raton was where to go and then to go there so quickly after 09-11. Howsoever, this is preciisely what happened; that just proves that it wasn't a casual piggybacker.
Bob Stevens' death has kept the anthrax/09-11 connexion in play. That was the purpose of the Phase-One attack on AMI.
Just for the record, the "Camel Club Connection" was,from what I've been able to determine,more smoke than fire-although certain of the west coast left-stremists ,such as MEcha circulated hundreds of articles on the internet suggesting otherwise.
Col. Zack and his "camel commando" were brought to account-by the FBI, and by the courts,and wound up apologizing publicly for their conduct-though you WON'T see that on any of the web news sites.They were also cleared of anything but "inappropriate conduct" - (there was apparently a bit of "ye olde slap and tickle" involved in the mysterious lab visits.)
It's also interesting the real author of this disinformation campaign had not done his/her homework particularly well.The author made much of the word "antrax",concluding whoever wrote it could not spell-and might,therefor have been the person who mis-spelled "penicyllin" in the anthrax letters.The fact is, anthrax is spelled ANTRAX in a wide variety of languages-including most of the "Germanic" tongues.
John, picture this scenario: a young dedicated female intern
who has been gulled into thinking she's doing the right thing,scouts out the location of some (supposedly not-there)vials of LIVE anthrax,pulls one vial,and substitutes an identical-looking vial of harmless simulant.
She hides the vial long enough for it to warm up to room temperature,then smuggles it out-under a sanitary pad - a method long used by cocaine smugglers by the way.
There is no need for a lab.All that is needed is a proper glove box-which can be bought or built.
I loooked at that "Israeli connection" a LONG time ago,and in some detail.Some of the "documentation" is pure Arab propaganda,and some of the conclusions are (to me) inane.
I say this a non-Jew,who knows Israel and the US sometimes have conflicting interests-and are occasionally "at swords point".
For example,the notion that "Zionists" would want a war in which Israel would be the target or choice for Iraqi rocket attacks-this time with chemical and/or bio weapons does not make sense - especially when Iraq's close allies, Syria and Egypt have similar WMD programs,and would be strongly tempted to "jump in".
I have also read these reports about Israeli agents circulating about our country,prior to 9/11.I'm sure there were-and still are some-just as there are agents for a number of countries:some "friendly";some hostile.The people who originate these reports often seem to be people who want us to believe 9/11 was a covert Israeli operation-a notion Osama bin Laden and his merry men would find a bit breath-taking.
Do you ever wonder why some people want you to believe this stuff ?
There are people who want the anthrax murders to be part of something they can relate to: whether it be an al-Qaeda plot,an Iraqi plot,a Russian plot,an Israeli plot,a domestic right/left wing (your choice) plot,etc.,etc.
The problem with wanting a certain outcome is that it taints the inquiry-often beyond redemption.Let me give you an example.
One of the last pieces of information FBI traitor Robert Hanssen "fetched" at the request of his Russian paymasters was the government's "Doomsday" scenario-which asked the question : "What would happen if there were a decapitating strike on the US government ?"
At the time this request was made,Russia was no longer communist. The KGB had morphed,seamlessly,into the FSB.The Cold War was officially over.Why did the Russians want this information?
Did the Russians-still smarting from Afghanistan,and from a number of "dirty tricks" our CIA had played on them-forward the information to one of their numerous contacts ? Did they supply the anthrax murderers with a vial or so of their own anthrax ? (Ken Alibek,former head of the Vektor Labs in Siberia has told western reporters Vektor had Ames - strain anthrax, and made their weapons grade anthrax by a process identical to that developed at Ft. Detrick - whose security they had long since penetrated.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.