Posted on 08/04/2008 8:00:01 PM PDT by Shermy
WASHINGTON — After four years of painstaking scientific research, the F.B.I. by 2005 had traced the anthrax in the poisoned letters of 2001 to a single flask of the bacteria at the Army biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., according to government scientists and bureau officials.
But at least 10 scientists had regular access to the laboratory and its anthrax stock — and possibly quite a few more, counting visitors from other institutions, and workers at laboratories in Ohio and New Mexico that had received anthrax samples from the flask at the Army laboratory.
To get that far, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had helped invent what was virtually a new science, microbial forensics, the use of biochemical clues to track a germ weapon to its source.
...But at that point, the science had largely reached its limits. To figure out who in the narrowed pool of scientist-suspects was the perpetrator, the F.B.I. would have to rely on traditional gumshoe investigative methods: interviewing colleagues and family members, searching houses and cars, doing surveillance, and assessing personalities.
About 18 months ago, investigators appear to have sharpened their focus on Bruce E. Ivins, a veteran anthrax researcher, whom they placed under intensive surveillance as they examined every aspect of his life and work.
Since Dr. Ivins’s suicide last week, F.B.I. officials have said prosecutors were preparing to indict him for sending the anthrax letters, which killed five people, although charges appear to have been a few weeks away.
...But the investigators found some personal quirks, according to law enforcement officials and people who knew the scientist well. They found that Dr. Ivins, who had a history of alcohol abuse, had for years maintained a post office box under an assumed name that he used to receive pornographic pictures of blindfolded women.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Scott Shane is one of the best.
He “parrots”, reports, the FBI line. But always has quotes on the other side - and by people who give their own names and don’t hide behind anonymity.
If you want to commit such a major crime, you must first work up a scapegoat.
If Ivins did it, he failed to provide any scapegoat.
Someone else may have taken the Anthrax, from several labs, or even gotten it from Ivins and other scientists, using some ‘excuse’.
Someone else may have even garnered Ivins support for ‘teaching the media and the dam politicians a lesson’.
This someone may have been an anarchist, or a terrorist.
Knowing they’ll blame it on the guy that has some personal quirks, or addiction problems, would be the real seller.
Did Ivins do it?
Did Hatfill do it?
Did the guard at the Olympics plant the bomb that went off?
One thing is for sure. We won’t ever know.
Even if they decide on a culprit.
While Ivins, Hatfill, and other scientists may have knowingly, or unknowingly, had a hand in the transfer of anthrax to someone who wanted to use it illegally, they were just pawns.
P.S. I think the guard’s name was Jewell.
Or something phonetically similar.
I wonder how many samples were taken from that flask and over what period of time?
New Mexico sort of jumps out at me because of all the issues with Los Alamos over the years: Wen Ho Lee spy case, Sandy "Pants" Berger, Burnin' Bill Richardson's May 2000 controlled burn, Hazel "Barn Door" O'Leary's "Openness Initiative", etc. New Mexico was also home to the two FBI agents who worked hand in hand with stockbroker Anthony Elgindy, the guy whose dad was involved in the protests on behalf of the Falls Church cell's Mohammad Salah and whose brother was involved in delivering "humanitarian aid" to Iraq.
Scott Shane has always wrote articles showing the skeptical side, for one his stories debunked the super-sniffer dog “evidence” on Hatfill.
Would any non-member have had any way to know the sorority used that storage site.
How many chapters of this sorority existed between Washington DC and Princeton and how many actual houses had a mail box nearby? [Just a guess that at at least one of UMD, Georgetown, U of Del, Johns Hopkins, etc Penn, UMD-Baltimore, etc there is likely to have been such a house near a mailbox, but who knows.]
No one is saying.
He probably doesn't really meet the profile the leftwingtards set up back in 1992.
This is starting to get the Lee Harvey Oswald feel ~ the MSM, and others, delayed for ever and a day in identifying him as a commie.
I remember the stories these guys trade this stuff with others around the world for scientific purposes - usually for veterinarian type work on vaccines.
BTW, Scott isn’t by himself on this piece. The “editor” put it together. We have to presume the information was heavily edited to conform to the NYT current political agenda.
You have done well Grasshopper.
“Scott Shane is one of the best.”
As the big newspapers die off and lay off more and more investigative journalists, how are we going to get the news that the government doesn’t want us to know about?
There was an attempt - via a letter- to pin it on an Egyptian working at the lab during the Hatfill hubbub.
That's the story!
I have no inkling about his politics.
All I can tell you is Shane always has interesting things to say. What the FBI says is “news” whether we question it or not.
“As the big newspapers die off and lay off more and more investigative journalists, how are we going to get the news that the government doesn’t want us to know about?”
That’s a real good question.
Do you remember if they said who wrote the letter?
So, the FBI story is that he was peeking in girls dorm rooms, and he picked a mailbox that was on his way to the dorm?
I of course do not have the technical ability to evaluate much of the evidence. I will say this sorority angle make the case sound pretty weak as it is a very weak reed.
“You’ll notice that so far the FBI has not apparantly release any information about Dr. Ivins’ political leanings...and we can only imagine what those political leanings might well be ...”
I think the FBI has learned from thousands of investigations that the political leanings of suspects rarely provides any kind of meaningful evidence. The biggest U.S. spies were often conservative politically, or at least cultivated that image. Likewise, being a “good neighbor” and attending church seems to count for little. In short, follow the evidence.
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.