FBI to drain pond in anthrax probe

Orlando Sentinel ^ | May 11, 2003 | Marilyn Thompson

[pttttt]

WASHINGTON -- The FBI has developed a new theory on a central mystery of the 2001 anthrax attacks after finding evidence in a Frederick, Md., pond that may suggest how an ingenious criminal could have packed deadly anthrax spores into envelopes without killing or sickening himself, sources close to the investigation said.

[VOA]

Profiling has nothing to do with this. This case is much too complex and high profile for that.

I hope you are right.
And I'm not knocking Ashcroft...even as popular as it seems to get in this forum on occassion.

What I'm worried about are FBI/DOJ hold-overs from The Dark (Clinton) Years.
I'm afraid those sorts may (even subconsciously) have latched onto the profiling
done for them by Professor Rosenberg...as detailed from the excerpt from a publication
by the UCLA School of Epidemiology.
The last sentence of the excerpt makes it sound like somebody in the guvmint
has latched onto a profiling approach...

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/anthraxinquiryuslabs.html

Separately, a private expert in biological weapons, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg,
has recently published a paper contending that a government insider,
or someone in contact with an insider, is behind the attacks.
Though not an expert on criminal profiling, Dr. Rosenberg, a molecular
biologist at the State University of New York, has testified on biological
weapons before Congress, advised Bill Clinton when he was president and made
addresses to international arms control meetings, including one a few days ago in Geneva.
Law enforcement officials said Dr. Rosenberg's assertion might turn out to be
well founded, though they emphasized that the investigation was still
broadly based. One official close to the federal investigation called the
Rosenberg theory "the most likely hypothesis."

[Allan]

More stuff

[eno_]

The only benefit I can think of for putting a glovebox into a pond would be to unload, for example, a baggie with the letters in it from the glovebox. The baggie would be contaminated on the outside, and the killer would be counting on the water to wash away anthrax on the outside of the baggies.

All this assumes the anthrax killer started with a safely sealed container uncontaminated on the outside.

If I was betting my life on this improvised procedure, I'd want to test it first, and that seems unlikely.

And, as others have pointed out, it still does not solve how to mail the letters, which are now known to have contaminated a lot of stuff while still in their envelopes, without exposure.

Contrast that with a bunch of "martyrs" that don't really care anymore and who don't need no stinkin' glovebox. They would have licked the envelopes!

[The Great Satan]

Hatfill's attorney, Thomas Connolly, called the water theory "far-fetched" and said Hatfill had nothing to do with the anthrax crimes.

A heads up on Hatfill's attornee, Thomas Connolly:

Before joining the firm, Mr. Connolly was a federal prosecutor spending ten years in public service as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Columbia. During his tenure as a prosecutor, Mr. Connolly was lead trial counsel in more than 50 jury trials in matters involving espionage, RICO, public corruption, bank fraud, government procurement fraud, export control matters, and immigration fraud. In 1998, Mr. Connolly was awarded both the John Marshall Award, the Department of Justice’s highest honor, and the Intelligence Medallion, the CIA’s highest civilian honor, for his work in the prosecution of James Nicholson, the highest-ranking CIA official ever convicted for espionage. Mr. Connolly also successfully prosecuted David Sheldon Boone, an NSA crypto analyst, for spying on behalf of the Russian Federation.

Source: Harris, Wiltshire and Grannis, LLP

[Pan_Yans Wife]

IF they would have licked the envelopes, why would they then warn the recipient who touched the envelopes to take antibiotics?

[The Great Satan]

Two sources familiar with the items recovered from the pond described a clear box, with holes that could accommodate gloves to protect the user as he worked. Also recovered were vials wrapped in plastic.

Oooh, the FBI went looking for anthrax evidence in a pond back of Hatfill's house, motivated by a description in Hatfill's bioterrorism book, and they dredged this up back in January. Sounds pretty incriminating, if you ask me. So, I guess they will be empaneling a grand jury of randomly-selected members of the general public to put Hatfill and his cronies in the hot seat really soon now. I'm sure this isn't just another bogus story to get us past the awkward "Why did Saddam Hussein get off the hook?" moment some of us might be experiencing. It's for real this time. In fact, it's a toss up which will happen first: empanelling of the grand jury to interrogate Hatfill, or recovery of Saddam Hussein's body from the bunker he was "earprinted" entering on March 20.

[The Great Satan]

It's also odd for it to be coming out now.

Not really, when you think about it.

[The Great Satan]

Remember...

WMD mean never having to say you're sorry.

[Wolfstar]

Actually, John, the first letter, which went to American Media in Florida, was never recovered. Physical, eyewitness and other evidence builds a strong circumstantial case that the 9/11 hijackers were tied to at least that first letter. Examples:

• According to published accounts from AMA employees, the letter that went to AMA was a rant against a female celebrity. It had a brownish white power in the envelope along with an inexpensive Star of David. It arrived during the week of September 8th. The letter was discarded.
• It was mailed in South Florida, where some postal facilities later tested positive for traces of anthrax.
• The two people from AMA who got sick, began showing symptoms toward the end of September. The approximate 3-week span between when the letter arrived and the men began getting sick is well within the known anthrax incubation range.
• Approximately two months earlier, one of the men who would become a 9/11 hijacker visited a doctor in Florida for a black lesion — on one of his legs, I believe. The doctor, who treated the lesion with antibiotics, later told both police and the media that he was certain the lesion was cutaneous anthrax.
• Also in the month or so leading up to 9/11, Mohammed Atta and another man who would become a hijacker, visited a pharmacy in South Florida. The second man asked the pharmacist for something that would help a severe skin irritation of his hands, which the pharmacist said were extremely red.
• In the vicinity of AMA, Atta inquired about learning how to fly crop dusters.
• Atta rented an apartment from the real-estate-agent wife of the head of AMA.

In other words, the 9/11 hijackers had motive, opportunity, proximity to, and personal knowledge of the scene of the first anthrax attack. In the same general vicinity as where the first letter was mailed, two sought some medical treatment for severe skin problems, and the leader sought knowledge of an aerial means of chemical delivery. Circumstantial, yes. Impossible to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, perhaps. But there are just too many "coincidences" placing the first anthrax letter and the hijackers mighty close to each other for my tastes.

[polemikos]

Anthrax = Islamic Terrorism

Any scenario other than Islamic terrorism means ALL of the following are just coincidences.

SERIOUS CONNECTIONS

- The most serious bioterror attack in America began only days after 9-11

- The letters all mention standard Islamic catch-phrases.

- Florida Dr. Tsonas treated Ahmed al-Haznawi for a severe leg lesion in late June.
  Dr. Tsonas is now convinced it was cutaneous anthrax.

- Two Johns Hopkins biodefense experts (Dr. Thomas Inglesby, Dr. Tara O'Toole) agree with Tsonas.

- FL hijackers inquire about crop-dusters and dispersal characteristics of chemical loads.

- Atta attempted to obtain a loan to buy a plane and convert it into a chemical transport.

- Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker", had tech info on airliners, crop-dusters, and wind patterns.

- Mohamed Atta went to a drugstore with red, chemical-burned hands mid-2001.
  Druggist thought Atta was suffering from exposure to a chemical with basic pH, possibly bleach (used to kill anthrax).

- Allah Rakah, detained by FBI, for placing suspicious bag of letters in his car with FL license plates

- Atta met twice with Colonel Muhammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, a "very senior" Iraqi 'Special Ops' agent.
  (one report says the Czechs confirmed they had video...spycraft SOP)
  (another report claims that a vacumm bottle was passed to Atta during the meeting)

- Ziad Jarrah also met with an Iraqi agent in 2001 in the UAE.

- Marwan al-Shehhi also met with an Iraqi agent in 2001 in the UAE.

- Iraq is the ONLY hostile country known to have succeeded in weaponizing anthrax

- Iraq conducted military exercises simulating the dispersal of anthrax spores from crop-dusters

- The anthrax coating is silica, a material used by Iraq on biological agents.
- Chemical and biological weapons are effectively dispersed from crop-dusters

- The terrorists had two operational hubs: Hamilton, New Jersey and Delray, Florida. Anthrax was found in both areas.

JUST COINCIDENCES??

- The wife of the Sun tabloid's editor rented two apartments to two hijackers In Florida.

- The intials of the ringleader, A-T-T-A, are highlighted in letter 3a (Brokaw).

- Marwan al-Shehhi went to Huber Drugs (with Atta) with severe chest congestion.
  The pharmacist sold him a bottle of Robitussin initially, and later antibiotics.

[WarSlut]

Yeah, but they sent letters to Daschle and Leahy. Therefore, it had to be right-wing, anti-abortion maniacs. John HK told me so.

[cricket]

"Again, one previous report -- right or wrong -- said that the idea to search the pond came from that novel, making the recent discovery even more dramatic."

. . .they were aware of the novel and some of it's implications a long time ago. . .so why did they wait so long. . .until now; to decide to check the pond.

Nothing seems right about this case; and while I trust John Ashcroft; not so sure about some at the FBI. . .

[FairOpinion]

Did they find ANY anthrax residue on this equipment they are touting? I haven't heard. If they didn't find any anthrax on it, how do they know it is even remotely connected to it?

[sandydipper]

Unfortunately the center fuel tank is akin to the real murderer of Nicole and Ron Goldman - lost forever on a golf course.

[Destro]

I think there were non-Muslim Americans working with al-Qaeda all along for their own reasons. I think Oklahoma points to a link between such American traitors and al-Qaeda and other Muslim groups either for money or for other reasons. Is Hatfill being defended more than is required to secure his rights because he fought for Rhodesia?

[Donna Lee Nardo]

No, but they hope to find the way overloaded wires leading to the center fuel tank...

[FairOpinion]

I just heard on FoxNews, that someone suggested that this may have been equipment used in drug labs, and that there was NO anthrax found on any of it, there is no evience whatsoever to connect this to the anthrax case. FBI just came up with this theory that it is connected.
What IS the matter with the FBI?!

[cake_crumb]

The anthrax mailings came a little after 9/11, but I still think Arab terrorists were behind them, whether Hatfill really had anything to do with them or not. Which doesn't mean the new 'Pond Theory' won't reveal anything. Hopefully it will.