who's behind deadly anthrax letters from 2001? (CNN tonight)

CNN ^ | 3/8/06 | Anderson Cooper

[TrebleRebel]

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/

Wednesday's show

A new and mysterious case of anthrax. How did it happen? Plus, who's behind deadly anthrax letters from 2001? Tune in at 10 p.m. ET.

[Mitchell]

According to Bill Tierney
who translated the Saddam tapes
recently released
it was done by Hatfill
acting as an agent for Saddam.

Interesting theory.
Maybe someone should tell TGS about it.

It seems this Tierney has disavowed this position. See the letter Tierney wrote to National Review Online, http://corner.nationalreview.com/06_02_19_corner-archive.asp#090361, responding to Byron York's article:

"The other major error in your piece was the contention I stated that Saddam Hussein used Stephen [sic] Hatfill to do their dirty work. If you had been listening more closely, you would have heard me say they could have their proxies send the anthrax letters, then point the finger at a former associate of Fort Detrick, such as Mr. Hatfill. I maintain that Mr. Hatfill was innocence based on examination of his public statements and the paucity of reliable evidence. You should really check the CSPAN tape before you commit your errors to print."

As far as I can tell, he has gone back and forth on the question of Hatfill's role, if any, in response to oral questions, but these seem to be just brief answers in passing. The written statement above would seem to be a definitive presentation of his view.

By the way, since you mentioned it, Tierney's position on this isn't too far from TGS's position.

[Mitchell]

I meant:

It seems that Tierney has disavowed this position....

[Allan]

I saw a video interview with Tierney on the net.
From the way he worded it
it certainly seemed he said
Saddam was using Hatfill as a proxy
NOT that Saddam was using Hatfill as a fall-guy.
But perhaps he just was careless
in the way he worded it.
He certainly did not make it clear
that there was some 3rd person who was the proxy
as he does in the clarification you quoted.

At any rate
I was
on the whole
unimpressed with Tierney
who seems to support conspiracy theories
left and right.

But he seems to know Arabic well
and that is impressive.

Anyway
Hatfill was neither proxy
nor Saddam's fall guy
since Saddam did not have biological WMDs.
That at least is abundantly clear.

[TrebleRebel]

The Cooper piece was almost breathtakingly awful. They had a "no comment" from the FBI on the status of the investigation and an interview with Marilyn Thompson who poured out some irrelevant verbage on DNA analysis.
There's some interesting new comments and links at the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_anthrax_attack

under "Controversy over coatings and additives" which partly reveals what the team of recruited scientific advisors are really focussing on. It's 5 years too late, but at least they're headed in the right direction.

[southland]

ping

[southland]

ping

[Sax]

So it seems they really didn't have anything to say, just speculation. Just using the word 'antrhrax' to entice viewers - figured that much. MSM continues to degrade its integrity and relevance with it's fear mongering and increasingly frequent tabloid style journalism.

[bonfire]

Is TGS still around? I, for one, miss him.

[jpl]

The Cooper piece was almost breathtakingly awful.

You aren't kidding. I had a feeling it would be a total waste of time, and in that regard it didn't disappoint.

I do think it's significant though that questions about the status of "Amerithrax" no longer bring the standard old pat response "the investigation is active and ongoing", but now just a simple "no comment".

I think that's as close as we'll ever get to the admission "we have no clue". I noticed that even the ever optimistic Ed Lake doesn't seem nearly as gung-ho about "Amerithrax" these days; he said the other day that it doesn't look as though the case will be solved any time soon.

And to that I say: welcome to the club, Ed!

[jpl]

Is TGS still around? I, for one, miss him.

He was banned a while back for posting under multiple accounts. He still has a blog that he updates almost every day though.

I agree with a lot of his basic thesis, though I don't agree that Dr. Hatfill volunteered himself as a phony fall guy. I think he's just an unfortunate victim of a personal vendetta, an incompetent federal government, and a clueless, hateful media.

[sono]

Any updates on Dr. Hatfill's suit against the DOJ?

[sono]

OMG CNX simply tried to boost ratings?


I'm Shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[Peach]

I haven't heard a word, sono.

[jpl]

I will give him this: Ed Lake has done a pretty good job of keeping up with events regarding Hatfill, a lot better than most of the so-called mainstream media, who pretty much completely lost interest in him when it became evident that they fingered the wrong guy.

Hatfill v. Ashcroft et al and Hatfill v. Foster, Vanity Fair & Readers Digest both look like they could go to trial late this year in November or December, but there is always the possibility of settlements or further delays.

Hatfill v. The New York Times has been stayed, and the Times has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. I'm not sure when the Court is expected to review that case.

[Battle Axe]

More specifically, it was isolated at College Station Texas and shipped to Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa, actually to the diagnostic lab there, but one of the profs worked at both places.....you get the drift......

In 2001, 5 days after Bob Stevens, the Veterinary school at Ames, Iowa destroyed their entire collection of anthrax in a ceremony. The head of the destruction team was the same guy that was the chair of the dept. in 1990 when I was sitting in class. The woman sitting across the table from me received a package in the mail with her address and but the name of a Pak. She opened the package and thought it contained seeds, but was not sure. One week later she and her husband each had an ugly sore. The physicians said it was a bug or spider bite.

I was the only entomologist she knew so she showed it to me and wanted to know what I thought. It was an ugly sore, black in the middle surrounded on the outermost ring with a bruise. She said it only hurt when she looked at it.

The date was Nov. 29. 1990. This woman lived at 161E and there was a Pak that lived at 116E. At the vet school was another Pak from the same town. Faisalabad!! same place we caught KSM.

I theorize that the vet Pak lifted it and mailed it to his friend so that he would not get caught with it on him.

The receiving Pak never graduated.

I have been interviewed but not much progress that I know of. But I will be the last to know. I have a GOOD FRIEND that handed my notebook to a VERY WELL KNOWN FREEPER and radio talk show host.

I am most hopeful that soon, they will solve it.

The truth is stranger than fiction. And yes, I do have a sample of what it was after she had been on antibiotics for 10 days.....but I know where there is more.

[oceanview]

nothing, the segment was terrible.

[bonfire]

I knew he was banned but wish he were able to get back here. I agreed with alot of what he said also. Even if you didn't agree, you had to admit he was quite smart and had a way with words! :)

If you have his blog, would you PM me with it?

[Allan]

To expand a bit more:
the impression I got from the Tierney interview was
that he wanted to indicate Hatfill was acting
on behalf of Saddam
but later
when people pressed him on the point
he chickened out
no doubt aware that otherwise
he could be sued for libel.

Tierney is a loopy character.
At the end of the interview
he broke down in tears.

[Shermy]

You weren't impressed with Tierney's claim to special knowledge of the "Tikriti dialect" which made only him among the investigators the one who could decipher what was really meant on the tapes???


...Neither was I.

[Mitchell]

Thanks for the comments on the show. It sounds like the show was just about what I expected.