Remember the anthrax case back in 1998 where two men -according to reports at least one was a white supremacist, and one who had a biolab back in Germany were arrested over suspicions of having anthrax? These men - or at least one of them- claimed they were going around the area vaccinating people to protect them from an Iraqi anthrax attack they had heard about by listening to foreign students at universities, and said that is why they had anthrax vaccine in their possession.
FEBRUARY 9, 1998 : (ARAB LEAGUE PROPOSES THAT THE UN'S KOFI ANNAN SHOULD DEAL WITH IRAQ'S BALK ON INSPECTION OF PALACE SITES IN IRAQ) The Arab League puts forward proposals to end the crisis. It says the inspection teams should be chosen by UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Arab bid to solve Iraqi crisis - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
FEBRUARY 10, 1998 : (IRAQ'S AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN WISSAM AL ZAHAWIE aka ZAHAWI'S HAS ANOTHER LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE ; THIS LETTER COMPAINS ABOUT COLUMNIST WILLIAM SAFIRE & THOMAS FRIEDMAN WHO ADVOCATE THAT HUSSEIN SHOULD BE DISARMED BY FORCE) In a letter published in the International Herald Tribune on Feb. 10, 1998, he objected to columns by William Safire and Thomas Friedman that advocated the use of force to disarm Saddam. "The present rabid braying and warmongering will surely serve to stiffen Iraqis' resolve, to increase their hatred of their American tormentors and to rally people around their president," he wrote.- "Iraqi Nuke Hawk Went to Niger," by Terence P. Jeffrey, Human Events , 8/1/03
FEBRUARY 1998 mid to late : (ANTHRAX : NV : LAS VEGAS CASE) FBI arrests two men, including Larry Wayne Harris in Nevada, alleging they are carrying anthrax.
FEBRUARY 19, 1998 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE RECOMMENDS BRINGING AL QAEDA LEADER BIN LADEN'S ENVOY TO IRAQ) "On February 19, 1998, about six months prior to the attacks in Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi, Iraqi intelligence officials set in motion a plan to bring a senior and trusted bin Laden aide to Baghdad from Khartoum. One of the key Mukhabarat intelligence documents shows that a recommendation was made for "…the deputy director general to bring the [bin Laden] envoy to Iraq because we may find in this envoy a way to maintain contacts with bin Laden." The meetings took place in March 1998. " "The Clinton Intel Record Deeper failures revealed. ," by Mansoor Ijaz, National Review Online, 4-29-2003
FEBRUARY 20-23, 1998 : (UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN BLUNDER WITH IRAQ; UN SAYS IT HAS GOTTEN IRAQ'S COOPERATION ON UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO IRAQI SITES) The US acquiesced in a disastrous diplomatic mission by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Baghdad to sign an agreement with Saddam to open disputed "presidential sites" to diplomats if not inspectors. By this time Iraq had a laundry list of places inspectors could not go. Iraq was backing out of even this flimsy agreement before the ink was dry. Washington said almost nothing. Nor did it put muscle behind the embattled chief inspector, Butler, as he was stiffed, insulted and humiliated by the Iraqis. - "Years have been lost, and it isn't all Saddam's fault - The undoing of arms inspections in Iraq," by Barbara Crossette, International Herald Tribune , October 1, 2002
In an effort to keep the operation afloat and avoid another war in Iraq, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan cut a deal with Baghdad in early 1998 restricting inspectors' access to eight so-called presidential sites encompassing a total of 12 square miles.The United States and the rest of the Security Council endorsed the plan but, within weeks, the inspectors said they were finding very little other than frustration. After months of cat-and-mouse games, Saddam sent the entire team packing in November 1998.
The UN secretary general holds a three-hour meeting with Saddam Hussein, and the UN later announces a deal on weapons inspections. The US says it will await Kofi Annan's formal report to the Security Council. US keeps veto option open - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
Secretary-General Kofi Annan secures Iraq's cooperation and unrestricted access to inspectors. - "Key events in UN weapons inspections in Iraq," By AP September 17 2002
(* My note : BTW, in Feb 1998 Bin Laden issued a fatwa against "jews and crusaders.")
FEBRUARY 22, 1998 : (BIN LADEN ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF "WORLD ISLAMIC FRONT FOR JIHAD AGAINST JEWS AND CRUSADERS") Bin-Laden announces the formation of the “World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders,” merging Egypt’s Jihad Group, the Islamic Group the Ansar Movement of Pakistani and the Bangladeshi Jihad Movement under one umbrella. - Peter L. Bergen, “Holy War, Inc.,” The Free Press, New York, 2001, p. 95
FEBRUARY 22, 1998 : (BIN LADEN ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF HIS INTERNATIONAL FRONT & FATWA, AL-GAMA'AT AL-ISLAMIYYA, EGYPTIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD, HARAKAT UL-ANSAR) Bin Laden announced the creation of an "international front” against the US. According to a document obtained by the PBS program "Frontline," bin Laden "regards an anti-American alliance with Iran and China as something to be considered.” Bin Laden announces the front as the "World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders." The Front included the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Harakat ul-Ansar (Johnnie Taliban's group), and two other groups. The Front declared its intention to attack Americans and our allies, including civilians, anywhere in the world. By at least February 1998, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad had effectively merged with al Qaeda and joined with al Qa'ida in targeting American civilians. Osama bin LAden issued and signed a 'fatwa' which included a decree to all Muslims:
"...the killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is a religious duty for each and every Muslim to be carried out in whichever country they are until Al Aqsa mosque has been liberated from their grasp and until their armies have left Muslim lands."
In the same 'fatwa' he called on Muslim scholars and their leaders and their youths to :
"...launch an attack on the American soldiers of Satan."
and concluded:
"We- with god's help - call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill Americans and plunder their money whenever and wherever they find it. We also call on Muslims... to launch the raid on Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them."
When asked in 1998 about obtaining chemical or nuclear weapons he said:
"acquiring such weapons for the defense of Muslims (was) a religious duty"
FEBRUARY 23, 1998 : (IRAQ PROMISES UNRESTRICTED ACCESS) Iraq promises Kofi Annan unrestricted access for UN inspectors. Back from the brink - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/page/0,12438,793802,00.html
FEBRUARY 26, 1998 (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang meets at Old Executive Offfice Building with Bruce Riedel, senior director of the National Security Council for Near East and South Asian Affairs, to discuss his proposal for a dialogue between the United States and Iraq.
FEBRUARY 26, 1998 : (USA : REPUBLICANS POINT OUT THAT CLINTON HANDED OVER US IRAQ POLICY TO UN) American Republicans claim that President Clinton has handed Washington's policy on Iraq over to the United Nations. US:Can Clinton sell Iraqi deal? - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
MARCH 2, 1998 : (UNSC BLOWS SMOKE, PASSES YET ANOTHER RESOLUTION) UN Security Council seeks to bolster compromise by passing a unanimous resolution (1154) saying that Iraq’s failure to comply with UN sanctions will have the “most severe consequences”- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MARCH 1998 : (IRAQI INTELLIGENCE MEETS WITH AL QAEDA LEADER BIN LADEN'S ENVOY, TERROR TALKS EXTENDED FROM ONE WEEK TO TWO) "The initial program to have the terror talks last for one week was extended to two because of the success in whatever nefarious plans were being hatched. The meetings also laid the groundwork for Iraq's former intelligence chief, Farouk Hijazi, arrested last Friday [just before 4-29-2003] in Iraq, to meet with bin Laden in December 1998 in Afghanistan. Press reports also chronicled an earlier meeting between Hijazi and bin Laden in Sudan in 1994." ..."Baghdad, however, was not the only game in town. While Saddam was busy trying to find a formula for embracing and employing al Qaeda's budding global terror network to attack U.S. interests, Sudan was busy trying to alert Western intelligence officials — including those at the National Security Council, the State Department's Terrorism Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency — of the dangers still lurking in Khartoum's sandblasted neighborhoods after bin Laden's May 1996 expulsion. "..."A brief chronology demonstrates how compelling the Sudan's offer to turn over terrorism data might have been in thwarting attacks on U.S. citizens and assets overseas, and how mendacious a narrow clique of Clinton officials were in not taking advantage of those efforts. " "The Clinton Intel Record Deeper failures revealed. ," by Mansoor Ijaz, National Review Online, 4-29-2003
MARCH 1998 : (US ORDERS ALL ITS TROOPS TO RECEIVE ANTHRAX VACCINATIONS) United States orders that all troops receive anthrax vaccination.
1998 (Spring) : (CANADA ORDERS ALL OF ITS TROOPS IN THE PERSIAN GULF REGION TO RECEIVE ANTHRAX VACCINATIONS) Canada orders troops in the Gulf to receive anthrax vaccination
MARCH 1998 : (IRAQ : BIN LADEN IN BAGHDAD) Bin-Laden reportedly visited Baghdad for consultations . Giovanni De Stefano, an international lawyer visiting Baghdad on business, had a chance encounter with bin-Laden in the lobby of the five star Al-Rashid Hotel during which the two men introduced themselves and engaged in polite conversation. De Stefano did not, at the time, recognize bin-Laden’s name. Five months after the chance encounter, bin-Laden’s suicide bombers attacked the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. - Tom Walker, “Hotel Clue Points To An Iraqi Connection,” Sunday Times (London), September 30, 2001.
Monday, February 23, 1998
Leavitt remains FBI target
Federal agents search the property of a man charged in an anthrax scare despite his release from jail Saturday.
By Glenn Puit, Review-Journal
A day after he was released from jail, William Job Leavitt Jr. remained the target of FBI agents who searched his Logandale property Sunday, removing several files and cases of materials.
FBI spokesman Kevin Caudle said agents wearing protective gear searched Leavitt's property, but he declined to discuss what investigators were seeking. "The property is being searched at Logandale, but I can't really go into it," Caudle said. "It is a logical lead to follow up on, and we always follow up on all the leads that we have."
Leavitt's criminal attorney, Lamond Mills, called the search "a fishing expedition" and said he planned to visit the home to "see what kind of shape the house is in and what they've taken."
"I think they're embarrassed, and I think they're looking for anything they can find to bring charges against Bill Leavitt," Mills said.
Also on Sunday, Leavitt's civil attorney, Kirby Wells, said his client had no idea that a co-defendant in the highly publicized case, Larry Wayne Harris, 46, was once a member of the Aryan Nations with mail fraud convictions relating to the possession of bubonic plague toxins in Ohio.
Harris, a microbiologist, also wrote "Bacteriological Warfare, A Major Threat to North America: What You and Your Family Can Do Defensively -- Before and After: A Civil Defense Manual."
"The only information he had about Harris is that he had seen his book and he knew (Harris) had a background in microbiology," said Wells. "I know (Leavitt) had never heard about his prior convictions relating to the bubonic plague." Wells said Leavitt, 47, understands the diligence of federal agents investigating such serious charges. The FBI search started Saturday and was expected to continue this morning.
"We aren't really surprised, and I think they are just completing their investigation and wrapping up loose ends to assure themselves no one is hiding anything dangerous," Wells said. "No one wants to have their home invaded, but (Leavitt) is dealing with it."
Leavitt and Harris were charged Thursday with conspiracy to possess and possessing a biological agent for use as a weapon. The charges were filed after the FBI received information from medical researcher and FBI informant Ronald Rockwell indicating the two were transporting the toxin throughout Las Vegas.
Federal agents seized Harris' car and vials believed to contain anthrax. However, tests showed the vials contained a nonlethal vaccine used to prevent anthrax. Anthrax is a potentially lethal toxin caused by spore-forming bacterium.
Leavitt's attorneys said Rockwell was trying to sell Leavitt medical equipment he claimed could fight anthrax and that Rockwell was demanding a significant down payment. But before that payment was made, Leavitt and Harris wanted to test the equipment. While attempting to do so, the men were arrested by the FBI Wednesday night at a Henderson business complex.
After tests for weapons grade anthrax came back negative, Leavitt's attorneys negotiated for their client's Saturday night release on his own recognizance. Leavitt will not have to appear at a detention hearing originally scheduled for today. Federal officials are reviewing their case against Leavitt and could decide to pursue charges if new evidence is found.
In a criminal complaint filed against Harris and Leavitt, FBI agents claimed Leavitt told at least one witness he possessed "military-grade anthrax." Leavitt's attorney said Sunday if such a statement was made it was either misconstrued or possibly said as a joke.
"I do not believe Bill Leavitt ever said that seriously to anybody," Wells said.
Harris remained at the Clark County Detention Center on Sunday evening. His release may depend on the outcome of tests on materials seized from his Lancaster, Ohio, home.
He also could be vulnerable to an Ohio probation violation stemming from his guilty plea to wire fraud in 1995 after he obtained inert bubonic plague germs in the mail. Under terms of that probation, he was not allowed to leave the state without approval and was not supposed to associate with convicted felons.
Rockwell has been convicted twice on extortion charges. Authorities did not know if Harris had obtained permission from his probation officer to leave Ohio.
"(Probation) will be considered at a later date," Caudle said. "Right now we are concerned with the current charges."
Leavitt is a self-described medical researcher who has previously worked on AIDS-related research. He also owns research labs in Logandale and Frankfurt, Germany, and is the proprietor of the AAA Fire Protection Corp., a business that refills and services fire extinguishers.
The businessman was avoiding his home Sunday and temporarily staying with unidentified family members while FBI agents searched his property, Wells said.
"He tried to go by his house today and pick up some of his clothes, but he didn't have much luck. ... The FBI had a big moving-type van and a lot of other vehicles," Wells said Sunday. "We have no idea what they are removing."
Internet postings and Harris' previous writings portray him as a man obsessed with protecting American citizens against a foreign biological attack. He was interviewed in 1996 by journalist James Neff as part of an Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary.
"Harris told Neff that he had obtained anthrax by locating a burial site for cows infected with anthrax more than 20 years ago," Neff said in a press release issued on the interview. "Harris said he obtained bits of the carcasses by sinking a long metal probe into the burial ground. ... When asked if he possessed anthrax, Harris simply smiled."
Harris said during the interview that enemies of the United States could create a deadly broth from the anthrax culture, put it in a pressurized paint sprayer and spread anthrax gas from a low-flying airplane. It would kill at least 100,000.
"No smell, no taste, no kaboom," Harris said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1998/Feb-23-Mon-1998/news/7008744.html
The first time he dabbled with a deadly toxin, Larry Wayne Harris claimed he needed vials of bubonic plague to save the world from a race of ''super rats.'' Three years later, authorities say, his poison is more deadly and his plan is even more bizarre.
The Lancaster, Ohio, man was arrested late Wednesday in Las Vegas after FBI agents searched his Mercedes and found a substance they believe to be anthrax.
FBI officials in Cincinnati and Las Vegas say the agents nabbed Harris and William Leavitt as they were preparing for a possible test of the biological material at a suburban medical center.
Leavitt, 47, who has no criminal record, owns a microbiology lab in rural Logandale, about 60 miles north of Las Vegas, and another in Frankfurt, Germany, according to an affidavit prepared by FBI Special Agent John H. Hawken.
He is married with three children and also runs his own fire-protection business in Nevada.
''These individuals were involved in the construction of a weapon,'' FBI spokesman Aurelio Flores said. ''We have no idea where they were going to use it.''
The FBI's spokesman in Cincinnati, Ed Boldt, said there is ''no basis whatsoever'' to reports that Harris and Leavitt planned to release anthrax in Cincinnati.
The FBI did, however, say one of the men laid out a plan to attack New York City's subways and bragged about having enough anthrax to ''wipe out a city.''
Attorney General Janet Reno briefed President Clinton in Washington about the arrests.
Bobby Siller, the FBI agent in charge of Nevada, said authorities acted aggressively on a tip from an informant because of the potential danger from anthrax, an infectious disease that usually afflicts only animals, especially cattle and sheep.
But anthrax spores can be produced in a dry form suitable for weapons and can be fatal to humans in microscopic amounts.
''Our primary concern was the safety of the community,'' said Siller.
The informant was a cancer researcher who said he had been contacted by two men who needed to test their store of anthrax - perhaps enough to ''wipe out the city.''
In the tense hours that followed, the FBI tailed the men by ground and air, briefly losing them in the desert darkness. The men were arrested Wednesday night in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, as they tried to arrange the lab test with the informant for $20 million.
Harris and Leavitt were taken to a hospital following their arrests to make certain they were not infected with dangerous chemicals or agents, then moved to isolated cells at the Clark County Detention Center.
The FBI and local authorities were so concerned about the danger involved by the materials that they also seized a beige Mercedes Benz sedan, wrapped it in plastic and trucked it to Nellis Air Force Base.
Hazardous-materials experts from Nellis, the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., and an Army team from Utah all were rushed to the scene.
They were charged Thursday with possessing a deadly germ for use as a weapon. The two-count complaint accuses them of conspiracy to possess and possession of a biological agent.
Harris told a federal magistrate Thursday he could not afford an attorney.
Leavitt said he did not understand the charges against him. The arrest is the second in three years for the 46-year-old Harris, who was charged in 1995 with illegally obtaining samples of bubonic plague through the mail. He pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 18 months probation. At the time of his arrest, prosecutors in Lancaster said Harris indicated he was conducting ''bio-medical research to counteract an imminent invasion from Iraq of super, germ-carrying rats.''
Harris later said he did not intend to hurt anyone and was merely doing research for his self-published book, ''Bacteriological Warfare: A Major Threat to North America.'' Harris obtained the samples of bubonic plague through the mail by misrepresenting his home as a certified research facility.
During the court proceedings, police investigating the case linked Harris to anti-government and white supremacist groups.
Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler said Thursday that Harris joined the group in the early 1990s and left in 1995. Butler, speaking at the Aryan Nations compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho, did not say why Harris quit.
''He's not a member now,'' Butler told KHQ-TV of Spokane, Wash. ''All I know is he said he was a microbiologist.'' Harris' house in Lancaster has been searched for evidence. ''Apparently he has a lab right inside his house,'' Boldt said. ''We're going to find some things, I imagine, but I'm not sure we'll know what they are for some time.''
Boldt said the men could pose a grave threat to public health if they developed an anthrax-based weapon. Boldt said the charges filed against the men on Thursday indicate they were involved in more than just possession of a deadly toxin.
''The statute makes it a crime to possess, distribute, develop or stockpile a biological agent for use as a weapon,'' Boldt said.
Harris was well known among fringe groups and right-wing radio broadcasts on which he would pitch his 131-page book, which he sold over the Internet for $28.50.
''The scope and depth of information in the book also make it an effective do-it-yourself manual for mass destruction through biological terrorism,'' said a report on the book and its author by the Intelligence Report, which monitors hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Harris and his views apparently were too extreme even for some militia and anti-government groups.
''I've tried to keep my distance from him and not allow him on radio talk shows and not buy his book,'' said Militia of Montana founder John Trochmann. ''We believe the book he is promoting is lethal.''
Harris' attorney for the bubonic plague case, George Luther, said he has not been in touch with his former client for months and has not heard from him since his arrest.
''I'm shocked at this arrest,'' Luther said. ''His probation came with strict terms and conditions, and to my knowledge there have been no violations of those rules.'' The Associated Press and Scripps Howard New Service contributed to this report. Publication date: 02-20-98
One suspect in anthrax case released from custody
February 21, 1998
Web posted at: 10:08 p.m. EST (0308 GMT)
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (CNN) -- One of the two men arrested for posession of what turned out to be non-lethal anthrax was released from custody Saturday evening. William Leavitt Jr., 47, thanked God, his family, law enforcement officials, a federal magistrate judge and his lawyers for getting him out of prison on his own recognizance, saying the past three days have been the "most difficult days of my life."
Leavitt and Larry Wayne Harris, 46, were arrested Wednesday night and charged with conspiracy to possess and possession of a biological agent. Leavitt's release came just hours after FBI agents raided the microbiologist's home north of Las Vegas in search of more evidence.
Pale and appearing on the verge of tears, Leavitt, a self-described medical researcher, said he has no hard feelings toward FBI investigators. "I understand what happened, and I understand the position the FBI took based upon the information they received," Leavitt told the media just after his release from the Clark County Detention Center. "I spent many, many hours in fasting and in prayer, and wanted the truth (to) be known."
One stipulation for Leavitt's release is that he "will not conduct or participate in any biological or biochemical treatment," according to court documents.
The FBI acknowledged earlier Saturday that test results so far show the confiscated anthrax is not the deadly military-grade version.
"We truly felt, and we feel now, that we had enough probable cause to believe there was a danger to the community," FBI agent Bobby Siller told reporters. "We had to act the way we did." Siller, special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas office, said the arrests of Leavitt and Harris were made on the basis of information from witnesses, as well as surveillance and background checks.
Residents assured they are not in danger
Before their arrests, Harris and Leavitt had told more than one person that they had military-grade anthrax and planned to test it at a nearby medical center, Siller said.
Siller also reassured Las Vegas residents they are not in danger. "There is no reason for anybody to be concerned about any contaminants in this area," Siller said.
U.S. Army experts at Fort Detrick, Maryland, concluded the substance was not a biological weapon after completing a series of tests that began Friday morning, sources told CNN. The FBI confirmed Saturday that the confiscated version is a non-lethal type that veterinarians use.
The FBI apparently also seized other material in Ohio from houses owned by Harris. That material is still being tested at Fort Detrick, and those tests will not be completed before Monday.
Police suspect Harris gave 'inoculations'
Saturday, a Columbus, Ohio, police investigator said he believes Harris regularly gave some people injections that Harris claimed would protect them against biological agents. "It's something we've suspected and can't divulge our sources, but we think he was giving inoculations," Det. Rick Adrian said.
It was unclear how long Harris offered the injections, what the shots contained or whether anyone became sick because of them.
The FBI affidavit detailing the case against Harris says he claims to be an officer in the Idaho-based white separatist group Aryan Nations.
Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national watchdog group that monitors extremist groups, told The New York Times that Harris traveled around the country, "meeting with extremist anti-government groups and inoculating them against anthrax."
Harris was previously given probation after pleading guilty to illegally obtaining bubonic plague bacteria through the mail in 1995.
Man suspected of having anthrax predicted attack Harris told talk show Iraqis poised to strike
February 20, 1998
Web posted at: 10:15 p.m. EST (0315 GMT)
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- A man arrested on charges of possessing what is believed to be the deadly toxin anthrax predicted on a radio talk show the day before his arrest that the United States would be the target of a major biological attack within two years.
Tuesday, Larry Wayne Harris, speaking on Talk America Radio Network's "The Buck Stops Here," gave a detailed description of what he said was a plot involving more than 200 "sleeper cells" of Iraqi students poised to unleash anthrax and bubonic plague bacteria on the American people. "The odds of us making it through even the end of this century without a major biological incident are very low," Harris said.
Harris, 46, and William Leavitt Jr., 47, were arrested Wednesday night in a Las Vegas suburb after an informant called the FBI to report the two men told him they had anthrax. They are being held at the Clark County Detention Center.
Laboratory test results to determine whether a substance seized was in fact anthrax were delayed Friday. No reason was given.
Leavitt's attorney: Tests will be negative
Leavitt's attorney, Lamond Mills, said in an interview with CNN in Las Vegas he believes the tests will prove negative. "On Monday, I think the test results will be in and show that it's non-toxic, and they're going to have to stand up and acknowledge that. And their case is going to be flushed," Mills said.
In the radio interview, Harris said he learned of a bacteriological threat against the United States because he was "heavily involved" in the training of Iraqis between 1985 and 1990 when he worked for a "corporation," an apparent reference to the CIA.
In the preface to his book, "Bacteriological Warfare: A Major Threat to North America," Harris claimed that he once worked for the CIA.
"I'm actually one of the scientists who was literally involved in training Iraqi microbiologists on how to conduct biological warfare defense," he said Tuesday. Harris claims Iraqi students smuggled 'biologicals' Harris said that after the 1991 Gulf War, he learned from a former Iraqi student he befriended that Iraqi "college students were now in the process of smuggling biologicals into the United States."
Harris then gave the radio audience a detailed descriptions of the methods the Iraqi students were using to grow the smuggled bacteria and distribute it to the "cells" around the U.S. for eventual attacks on U.S. cities. "Anthrax, if you take a commercial paint sprayer and went up the Hudson River and sprayed it out into the air, you have a mist that moves over Manhattan," Harris said.
"People unsuspectingly walking in that area breathe in the deadly microbes," he said. "There's no smell. There's no taste. There's no boom. There's no bang. There is no indication." The Iraqis were poised to attack at anytime, Harris said. "They are here, and they are very able to hit us whenever they want to," he said. Harris claimed that a single individual with a single container of anthrax could kill between 400,000 and 1.3 million people
Report: Harris admitted culturing anthrax
Back in November, Harris, a self-avowed white separatist, told U.S. News & World Report in an interview that he had cultured anthrax but did not plan to use it for any malicious purpose. The magazine quotes Harris predicting that the Aryan Nations -- a far-right group to which he once belonged -- would strike at federal officials with biological agents if "they arrest a bunch of our guys."
They would "get a test tube in the mail," he said.
Leavitt, a businessman, who like Harris, is a licensed microbiologist, owns clinical laboratories in Logandale, Nevada, and Frankfurt, Germany, and is said to have been trying to develop a vaccine for AIDS.
His attorney, Mills, says Harris and Leavitt met at a scientific convention in Denver last August and discussed a joint project to develop a vaccine for anthrax. Mills said that even if the lab tests are positive, federal officials "would have to prove that he knowingly was a part (of a conspiracy) to do something with that anthrax."
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