Posted on 03/21/2005 10:54:21 AM PST by Gene Vidocq
WASHINGTON -- Anthrax has been confirmed in samples collected from the two Pentagon mail facilities that were at first closed last week and then declared free of the pathogen, United Press International has learned.
The head of the company that was accused of contaminating the samples sent from those facilities -- a detached building on the Pentagon grounds in Arlington, Va., and the other in Falls Church, Va. -- said the presence of anthrax was detected independently by two government laboratories.
Robert B. Harris, president and chief executive officer of Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc. in Richmond, Va., also said the anthrax found was the same genetic strain used in the 2001 attacks.
(Excerpt) Read more at wpherald.com ...
Thanks for the info. What's the likelihood this is left over from the anthrax attacks of 2001?
That's why I always wear "protection" when checking my E-mail.
; )
That is correct. After reading the thread though, I am inclined to agree that it may be dead spores on equipment contaminated in 2001, that USPS did not destroy........being a government agaency it is very easy to believe that level of incompetence.
Very possible,....yet...
may be a 'test' by 'unknown' parties checking our defense systems 'in-place'...
...enough said,...
Yeah. I got you. Thanks for clarifying a few things for me yesterday.
Freeper Henry Lee II has passed away and he used to help me with these things. He was 39 and leaves a wife and two young children.
"Federal officials say an investigation is getting under way into the possibility that Commonwealth Biotechnologies was the inadvertent source of the anthrax, either through improper testing procedures or contamination within the lab. The Defense Department has labeled the initial tests a "false positive," but Harris said his firm stands by its work.
Harris said Commonwealth Biotechnologies has conducted a "rigorous internal investigation" that included a quality assurance audit of its lab and administrative processes to look at the issue of contamination. He refused to release any additional test results, but said,
"the ball's back over the net," meaning that investigators would take any further steps in the probe."
I don't understand that last sentence you highlighted. Sorry. My brain isn't functioning today.
The freeper who used to explain that stuff to me has passed away so I'm asking for help on this matter.
Harris said Commonwealth Biotechnologies has conducted a "rigorous internal investigation" that included a quality assurance audit of its lab and administrative processes to look at the issue of contamination. He refused to release any additional test results, but said, "the ball's back over the net," meaning that investigators would take any further steps in the probe."
After Washington Redskins football, the blame game is by far the next most popular game here in Washington D.C. This ball's going to go back and forth over the net a few more times before this one's all over.
An investigation is likely warranted, but nobody's going to ever be able to successfully convince me that Commonwealth Biotechnologies is somehow responsible for causing two significantly improved biosensors to go off in two separate but nearby DoD facilities at virtually the same time.
I tend to side with this guy Harris. He actually has accountability (he doesn't work for the Federal Government who's employees appear to have zero accountability). If Harris is wrong in his statement he will be fired as CEO of his private company.
An example of a Federal Employee with zero accountability is the guy who made the statement below last week. He was assistant secretary of defense for health affairs last week, and likely he'll still be assistant secretary of defense for health affairs next week.
http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=50323
"We had some preliminary results that were positive but subsequent additional tests have determined that the sample that we had was in fact negative," said Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
Treble, I agree with you fully, but in fairness, my suspicion is that this William Winkenweder was ordered to go out there and make this prepared statement by someone higher up the DoD chain of command. Maybe very high up the chain.
Yeah, you're probably right. I'm just so cynical about anything the government says about anthrax. I thinks it's safe to assume everything they say on the subject is a lie.
Most definitely. The truth really is the first casualty of war. The powers that be want us to go to the shopping mall and buy more worthless junk and not worry our pretty little heads, and I suppose in a strange way I can't really blame them.
I have long wondered if some of these powder hoaxes could be related to the anthrax mailings. Any opinion?
79th LEGISLATURE
Roundup: Powder briefly closes senator's office; new caucus focuses on women's health
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
SECURITY
Powdery mail briefly closes senator's office
A senator's office was closed to visitors for about 30 minutes Monday after an aide opened a piece of mail containing a white powder.
Shortly before 10 a.m., Department of Public Safety troopers briefly quarantined seven aides to Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, in Ellis' office on the Capitol's third floor.
Ellis' spokesman, Jeremy Warren, said the quarantine ended once investigators determined that the substance was more likely baby powder or flour than something lethal.
"It was nothing," Warren said, adding that aides were back to work within an hour.
Ellis was in his Austin apartment at the time, Warren said.
"It's the worry in the back of every government staffer's mind that something like what happened (in Sen. Tom Daschle's office in Washington) could happen. We're just going to try to get through the day as best we can."
In October 2001, a Daschle aide opened mail with a trace of powder believed at the time to be anthrax, leading to a quarantine and antibiotic treatments for 50 staff members.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/03/22legebriefs.html
Tuesday, 03/22/05
State briefs: Suspicious powder closes Roane courthouse
The Roane County Courthouse was closed yesterday after a suspicious powder was found in the main hallway, authorities said.
The Roane County hazardous materials team and the Tennessee National Guard's 45th Civil Support Team collected samples and determined the substance was not a biological agent.
The powder was discovered at 9:45 a.m. Local emergency officials, fearing it might be either anthrax or ricin, evacuated the courthouse and called the hazardous materials team and the Guard unit, which specializes in biological substance testing.
The courthouse was expected to reopen for business as usual this morning.
— Associated Press
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/67252614.shtml?Element_ID=67252614
My opinion: most of these "white powder letters" are probably being mailed by assorted sickos who get their jollies from this sort of thing, and most likely not associated in any way with the real deal. But in the current climate of world affairs, I do think we have to treat all of these with the utmost seriousness and caution initially.
Centers for Disease Control: Anthrax
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/anthrax_g.htm
Has anyone read this book?
Analyzing The Anthrax Attacks
by Edward G. Lake
"Best written review of a complex investigation, March 15, 2005"
Reviewer: Les Rayburn - See all my reviews
Highly recommended for anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of the complex investigation into the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Ed Lakes does a yeoman's job in compiling all that can be known about the investigation from hundreds of open source documents.
Mr. Lake also presents a working hypothesis of who the criminal(s) behind the attacks might be. His theory relies almost entirely on media reports and scientific discussion of the case, rather than the type of wild speculation others often resort to. You might disagree with his conclusions, but you'll find them difficult to debate without straying from the confines of what is really known about the case.
This book will also be fascinating to anyone who is interested in the new breed of journalism evolving from the web. Ed Lake is part blogger, part amateur sleuth, and part journalist.
His methods ofen involve combing through hundreds of open source articles about part of the case, looking for unique quotes, local angles, or other under-reported details. Then he combines those details to infer things that the mainstream media might have missed. It's a textbook for the new journalist, and should be required reading for researchers.
Also unique is that Mr. Lake gives permission for his critics to say, "I told you so", if his theory about the case is later proven wrong. You may disagree with his hypothesis, but it's hard to argue with his passion for the case.
An insightful book into one of the most important criminal cases in American History.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0976616300/qid=1111520159/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2665099-7832700?v=glance&s=books
" I do think we have to treat all of these with the utmost seriousness and caution initially."
I don't recall if this letter actually contained powder but it certainly seems related to the anthrax mailings, don't you think?
Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 9:15 p.m. EST
Hannity, O'Reilly Hit by Anthrax Scare Letters
"In addition to the letters with an Indianapolis postmark, "one or two were from Trenton (N.J.)"
Fox News Channel personalities Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly were hit by threatening letters similar to those laden with anthrax sent to Sen. Tom Daschle and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, the New York Post reported Thursday.
"In my gut, I know it's the same person," Hannity told his nationally syndicated radio audience Thursday afternoon, explaining that he'd kept quiet about the suspicious letters because they were the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation.
The letters arrived before Sept. 11 but were addressed in the same kind of block letter handwriting used in Daschle and Brokaw missives. They apparently contained no anthrax.
Each line in the printed address clearly sloped downward to the right, the paper said. The envelopes bore a postmark from Indianapolis, where the Post Office discovered yesterday that some of its equipment is contaminated with anthrax.
Hannity said that he'd begun receiving the suspicious mail last winter and again in August.
"When I saw the Tom Daschle envelope and the Tom Brokaw envelope, I immediately was stunned," Hannity told listeners.
"It was the exact same handwriting that I had recognized. ... When I saw it I said, 'Oh my God, that's the same guy.'"
The "Hannity & Colmes" co-host revealed that in addition to the letters with an Indianapolis postmark,
"one or two were from Trenton (N.J.)," where traces of anthrax have also been reported.
Hannity said he hasn't gotten any more of the letters since the Sept. 11 attacks and hasn't been tested for anthrax exposure.
Whereas this letter apparantly did contain powder:
THE LETTER
October 14, 2001
Fear Hits Newsroom in a Cloud of Powder
By JUDITH MILLER
It looked like baby powder. A cloud of hospital white, sweet- smelling powder rose from the letter dusting my face, sweater and hands. The heavier particles dropped to the floor, falling on my pants and shoes. An anthrax hoax, I thought.
My mind had been on something else. At my desk at The New York Times, I was already focused on what I thought was going to be the story of the day: the Bush administration's effort to seize the assets of more people and groups it said supported terrorism. It was after 9:15 a.m. on Friday, and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill would soon begin discussing the list of 39 additions to his agency's roster of rogue financiers of terror. I was on the phone, talking to Jeff Gerth, my colleague and friend, about the article we were planning to write. As we spoke, I was picking my way through the pile of unopened mail beside my computer.
I had been getting many letters since Sept. 11. Some were complimentary; others were angry about the government's failure to protect Americans from terrorism. But most writers wanted to know how they could protect themselves and their families from bioterrorism, having seen two colleagues and me on television discussing our book, "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War."
Had I not been distracted, I probably would not have opened the stamped letter in the plain white envelope with no return address and a postmark from St. Petersburg, Fla. My sources and I had been discussing the threat of anthrax attacks ever since the death of a man this month who contracted an inhaled form of the disease at a newspaper office in Boca Raton, Fla. not far from where one of the hijackers of the Sept. 11 attacks had done his flight training.
But I wasn't thinking. I was rushed, absorbed in my work, and only half paying attention to the mail.
The powder got my full attention. I immediately asked the reporters and editors around me to call security. I didn't want to touch the phone.......
Where's Jack Bauer when you need him?
" have a good friend who is a senior official in FBI. After the first anthrax attacks, he told me: "we'll never catch that guy."
Very likely true. Not a crime of passion and no behavior to profile.
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