‘was helping al-Qaeda develop anthrax strains’
Wow. They found out you can dig up a dead cow.
Wow. They found out you can dig up a dead cow.
You don't "develop anthrax strains" by digging up dead cows.
Developing a strain implies that they were growing anthrax in a lab and then killing the bacteria with diluted antibiotics. If any anthrax bacteria survived, they'd try to grow more it. The idea is to develop a strain of anthrax that can't be killed by antibiotics. In other words, they were trying to create a more effective "weapon."
The Ames strain used in the 2001 anthrax attacks could be killed by just about any antibiotic. That's why no one died in Senator Daschle's office after the anthrax letter was opened there. All 5 people who died as a result of the 2001 attacks died because they weren't diagnosed and treated until it was too late for antibiotics to do any good.