Posted on 04/13/2008 8:20:52 AM PDT by ZacandPook
Why would the FBI drop electronic surveilance on Ali Al-Timimi and maintain it for years without tipping their hand? (beyond the 7 or 8 interviews leading up to his indictment in October 2004, which Mueller had given as a drop dead line in Amerithrax for bring an indictment).
On Wednesday Director Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee:
“The FBI uses an enterprise-wide approach to understanding our threats and strategically targeting our resources to dismantle those threats. To stay ahead of national security threats, the FBI uses intelligence not just to pursue investigations, but to develop greater awareness of the threats we face. The FBI structures its investigations to maximize the intelligence that can be derived from them to ensure that we fully exploit all of the intelligence collected. We also use this understanding to deliberately and strategically decide where and when to take action using intelligence, law enforcement, and other tools to detect, penetrate, and dismantle threats.”
“Since September 11, 2001, the FBI has implemented significant changes to integrate our intelligence and operational elements and to enhance our ability to counter today’s most critical threats. We have built upon our capacity to collect information and improved our ability to analyze and disseminate intelligence. Development of the National Security Branch (NSB) has been another step in enhancing the FBI’s mission as a national security agency.”
“The NSB comprises the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Counterintelligence Division, the Directorate of Intelligence, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, and the Terrorist Screening Center. The NSB’s mission is to lead and coordinate intelligence efforts that drive actions to protect the United States. Our goals are to develop a comprehensive understanding of the threats and penetrate national and transnational networks with the desire and capability to harm us. Such networks include terrorist organizations, foreign intelligence services, that that seek to proliferate weapons of mass destruction, and criminal enterprises.”
“To be successful, we must understand the threat, continue to integrate our intelligence and law enforcement capabilities in every FBI operational program, and continue to expand our contribution to the intelligence community knowledge base.
***
“For example, the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board provides a forum to discuss issues that affect not just the academic culture, but also the country, from campus security and counterterrorism to cyber crime and espionage. Presidents and chancellors from Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, NY, UCLA, the University of Washington, and Iowa State, among others, share their concerns and their collective expertise.”
***
“We have doubled the number of intelligence analysts on board, from 1,023 in September 2001 to more than 2,100 today. *** But these agents and analysts are not merely collecting intelligence, they are acting on the intelligence, and disseminating it those who need it, when they need it.”
***
http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/Mueller080423.pdf
The recent unsealed filing mentions that the IANA head was questioned about Al-Timimi prior to 9/11. Why exactly?
A July 2001 visit to Sheik Abdel-Rahman was electronically monitored unbeknownst to participants.
Before reading letter from [Postal worker] Sattar (who was the blind sheik’s paralegal), “YOUSRY told SHEIK ABDEL RAHMAN that “they” (not further identified) had paid $35,000 for a taxi cab, using the money that YOUSRY was holding. YOUSRY also told SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN that SATTAR and another person, who was not further identified, had started their own business and wanted SHEIK ABDEL RAHMAN’S advice on whether the way they planned to operate the business was permissible. SHEIK ABDEL RAHMAN told YOUSRY to tell SATTAR that there were risks in all businesses. ***
YOUSRY then read [Postal employee] SATTAR’S letter. SATTAR stated that he was upset by an article that an IG leader had written, which stated that SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN which stated that SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN is “abiding by the peace initiative and encouraging it.” SATTAR wrote that “this was debilitating news to us all, is it true?” SATTAR reminded SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN that he (Rahman) still has great influence over IG. SATTAR also informed SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN that he had been sending approximately $6,000 per year to SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN’s family and asked if that was acceptable. In the letter, SATTAR asked SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN what he should do, bearing in mind that “people don’t care anymore and nothing is coming (by way of donations).”
d. YOUSRY then asked STEWART if he could talk to SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN about an issue relating to the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, which had occurred in Yemen on October 12, 2000. Stewart consented. YOUSRY told SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN that “some people spoke to [SATTAR] on the phone and said that they did this operation for Omar Abdel Rahman so that he could be released from prison and they asked SATTAR to do some negotiations with the American government and tell them ‘if [Rahman is] not released we’ll execute another operation.’” SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN responded that SATTAR had to take himself out of this and that a lawyer should handle any negotiations.”
What was the business that Sattar had planned to operate?
Postal Worker’s Letter Tied To Slaying of Afghan Leader - The... [Note this refers to the bomb in the camera that killed the Northern Alliance leader 2 days before 9/11]
Washington Post - - May 13, 2002
of hours of wiretaps involving Ahmed Abdel Sattar, 42, the official said. ... supplemented his income by selling baby formula at night. ...
So his business apparently involved selling baby formula.
What was the “taxi cab” “they” paid for $35,000? Did they now own a taxi cab? Or was that code for something else? Where is the food processor that Syed Athar Abbas had delivered one mile down the street from a key hijacker?
One potential lead that was reported in the press concerned a $100,000 piece of equipment bought by someone from Pakistan paying cash who had it delivered to 215 Main St. in Ft. Lee, NJ, one mile from where pilot Nawaf al-Hazmi lived. Nawaf attended a critical meeting with Yazid Sufaat, the biochemist working on anthrax, in January 2000. The United States alleged in its indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui that on or about April 1, 2001, Nawaf al-Hazmi was in Oklahoma (at the same time Zacarias Moussaoui was in Norman, Oklahoma). Nawaf then lived in Falls Church, VA and attended mosque and met with the imam that spoke alongside fellow Falls Church imam Ali Al-Timimi at a conference with other Salafists in Toronto and London in July and August 2001. The individual from Karachi who had ordered the processor pled guilty to a check kiting scheme that raised the funds used to purchase the processor. The purchaser, Syed Athar Abbas from California and then New Jersey, used the name Arthur Abbas in making the purchase. The front company was Computers Dot Com, a computer peripherals wholesaling firm, owned by Abbas. A Syed Athar Abbas (with records showing a different age and a different social security number) had a computer peripherals wholesaling firm named Mixun Solutions, also based in Karachi. Mixun Solutions went defunct after the New Jersey Syed Athar Abbas was arrested. According to the database PACER, he had initially been denied bail because he turned in two expired passports but failed to turn in the third. The New Jersey Syed Athar Abbas was given back his passport after serving a 15 month sentence.
Karachi was where KSM and As Sahab was located. KSM settled his family in Karachi in 1998. In April 2001, al Hawsawi, whose laptop contained the anthrax spraydrying documents, traveled to Dubai from Karachi at the direct of Qaeda’s Media Committee. Between September 11 and September 21, 2001, KSM and others at the guesthouse in Karachi, Pakistan recorded many news stories of the 9//11 attacks for future in As Sahab films.
In “connecting the dots” one also would want to consider whether any supporter of the militants had access to the know-how of this encapsulation technique. I’ve posed the question whether Ali Al-Timimi had access to such know-how. A supporter of the Taliban who was working with Bin Laden’s spiritual mentor, Al-Timimi was a Salafist imam sentenced to life plus 70 years for sedition and exhorting some young men to go abroad and defend their faith. We might also consider, however, whether any supporter of the militants has expertise in such polymerization or encapsulation relating to drug delivery, such as biochemist Magdy al-Nashar. He studied in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2000. His webpage at Leeds explained he was expert in functional polymers used in the delivery of drugs. He was represented by an attorney in Cairo who has been alleged as Ayman Zawahiri’s conduit to jihadists in Egypt and Iraq and elsewhere. Al-Nashar had the keys to the apartment used to make the London subway bombs and to store materials shipped to al-Zawahiri’s chief aide al-Hadi.
Ali Al-Timimi was a graduate microbiology student at George Mason University, where famed Russian bioweaponeer and former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Charles Bailey on March 14, 2001 filed a patent involving the use of hydrophobic silica in permitting greater concentration of biological agents. There is a related, more sophisticated, patent based on Dr. Alibek’s know-how published later (after the mailings). The First Floor that intermingled the Center for Biodefense/Hadron and the GMU/ATCC computational sciences people. Here, the government even allowed the method to be commercialized and be published in the public domain for use in a broad range of possible commercial applications. Perhaps the United States biodefense establishment should not let officials commercialize and disclose such dual use technology, whether the patent is assigned to a DARPA-funded program or not — and whether deemed “biofriendly” or not. (The patent, which is not classified, has been assigned to George Mason University). I have uploaded a Floor Plan for the First Floor of Discovery Hall at George Mason University. FBI Director Mueller this Fall cautioned universities to guard against access to pre-patent, pre-classification biochemistry information.
GMU microbiology grad Al-Timimi, who was working with and had been taught by Bin Laden’s sheik, did mathematical support work for the Navy that required a high security clearance, while working for a Beltway contractor. What did his work for the Navy involve? I asked his wife, who was very gracious and charming, but she could not say with approval of Professor Turley.
When pressed by the interviewer, “Does it nag at you in the back of your mind that possibly you do know [the anthrax processor]?” Dr. Bill Patrick said: “Possibly, possibly, I could have talked to these people. But it would have been within the context of their having a need to know.” He explained: “ Most of my discussions about the biological problem has been in secure conferences and meetings, and involve people with need to know, with security clearance and what have you. I don’t talk about ‘how to’, I don’t get into ‘how to’ with many people, no people other than the fact that those who really have a need to know.” A GMU thesis that explains that silica, if used, liked was used as part of an encapsulation technique thanks both Dr. Alibek and Dr. Patrick.
Al-Timimi had a high security clearance for some of his work for the government. Why? When?
As so well explained by Rutgers professor Richard Ebright, proliferation of know-how serves to proliferate opportunities for access to that know-how.
Last Friday, the District Court in Alexandria resentenced Ali Asad Chandia, who was Ali Al-Timimi’s executive assistant, to the same 15 years originally imposed in 2006.
Teacher Sentenced for Aiding Terrorists
Washington Post - Aug 26, 2006
At the request of prosecutors, he then ordered Chandia, who had been free on ... The equipment included unmanned aerial vehicles, night-vision equipment and ...
Now that the solution is at hand and a breakthrough reportedly imminent, we can see where Ed and TrebleRebel erred in their analysis.
Dr. Zawahiri accomplished the attack on the US “structure” he intended. With the planes, Al Qaeda struck the US trade dominance (World Trade Center) and its military might (Pentagon). With the anthrax, some US-based supporter(s) of the goals of Zawahiri rounded out the field that they imagine provides support to Israel — the legislative branch and media. Analogous letter bombs were sent in connection with the earlier attack on the World Trade Center and the imprisonment of the Blind Sheikh and militant islamists responsible for that attack and a related plot. Thus, relying on the postal service to send its deadly missives in connection with an earlier attack of the World Trade Center is not only Al Qaeda’s modus operandi, it is its signature.
Everyone approaches a problem from their world view and what they know. Ed knows it when he sees it. TrebleRebel is expert in interpreting EDX, especially as to the presence of silica. A hammer tends to find a nail. Biological weapons control activists see a US biodefense insider. Anti-semites see Zionist perpetrators. US-haters see a CIA conspiracy. The CIA’s Zawahiri Task Force sees a US-based supporter of the militant islamists (at least they do if they are smart). Israeli intelligence and the Iraqi National Congress lobbied for Iraq as the culprit. Liberal Beltway insiders see right-wing wackos. The head of the criminal division at the US Attorney’s Office in charge fo the investigation apparently was a a Palestinian activist like his sister-in-law (and perhaps brother). FBI investigators, divided into squads pursuing the two main alternative hypotheses, seemed to be covering all the possible leads, leaving no stone unturned. Journalists quite reasonably kowtowed to the views of any government source in the investigation they deemed reliable and it is not surprising that they were mislead by leaks by someone who would have been presenting any indictment to the grand jury. But sometimes if a spokesman for Al Qaeda claims it has green-lighted highly-educated US-based supporters of the militant islamists who have access to United States government and intelligence information relating to biological weapons — supporters who are “above suspicion” — then the spokesman may be telling the truth. Sometimes if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
Like Ken Alibek said, it’s not rocket science. Ayman’s plan established by the documentary evidence seized in Afghanistan was to use the cover of charities and universities. Al Qaeda’s Mohammed Abdel-Rahman had fellow IANA speaker Ali Al-Timimi availalable to recruit. A December 1998 PDB had said that Mohammed Islambouli was going to send someone to make contact with people in the US to carry out attacks. In mid-2000, KSM and Islambouli apparently eventually sent bio-chem operative from Saudi Arabia, where his family had moved from Doha, Qatar. Al-Marri had been with both KSM and Islambouli. After Al-Marri was done casing New York City targets with UK operative Dhiren Barot, he had his computer sent from Macomb, Illinois to Washington. In the summer of 2001 went to UAE to receive $13,000 from Al-Hawsawi whose laptop had the spraydrying documents. Upon returning to the United States from Pakistan the next year on September 10, 2001, Al-Marri maintained contact with Al-Hawsawi. Al-Hawsawi also handled financial logistics relating to the 9/11 hijackers. Like Tenet said, anthrax planning was in parallel with the 9/11 planes operation. To close the Amerithrax case, the key question: where in Washington did Al-Marri have his computer sent?
In the Washington, D.C. area, Taliban supporter Ali Al-Timimi had worked in the same building as famed Russian bioweaponeer Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Charles Bailey, who had co-invented a process using hydrophobic silica to lead to greater concentration of a biological agent. Dr. Bailey has been a prolific Ames anthrax strain researcher. Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey had a multimillion dollar grants from DARPA funding a contract with USAMRIID with Delta Ames supplied by NIH. NSA intercepts showed that Ali Al-Timimi was working with Bin Laden’s sheik al-Hawali, who had been the subject of Bin Laden’s 1996 Declaration of War and his 1998 claim of responsibility for the embassy bombings. Timimi has been sentenced to life plus 70 years. Bilal Philips had been Ali’s mentor and the father of Jafar the Pilot had been Bilal Philips’ mentor. Ali Al-Timimi shared a fax machine with famed Russian anthrax bioweaponeer Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID deputy commander Charles Bailey, who is listed as an author on various articles reporting biodefense research using virulent Ames strain of anthrax. Dr. Bailey had worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency (”DIA”) for years on threat assessment of biological weapons. Both he and Dr. Alibek had consulted for Battelle, world renown for its expertise on anthrax aerosols. They had co-authored the patent filed in mid-March 2001 on concentrating biological agents using silica in the growth medium that was still confidential as of Fall 2001.
CIA Director Tenet, in a May 2007 book, notes that the CIA was startled to learn that the anthrax planning had been done in parallel with the 9/11 planning. Indeed, it was the laptop of Hawsawi, who was KSM’s assistant who sent and received money from the hijackers, that had the anthrax spraydrying documents on it. In fact, KSM was not really captured on March 1, 2003, when the laptop was seized, as the Pakistanis claim. He apparently instead was captured on or about February 13, 2001 at the time the blind sheik’s son was grabbed, based on a report Zahid Hussain sourced to aa police official. Intelligence officials just wanted the two weeks to get leads on those planning attacks. The family members of the bacteriologist who owned the home where Hawsawi and the laptop were taken have always stridently claimed that KSM was not captured there. Two weeks later authorities raided Al-Timimi along with drying and processing experts. In June 2003, a UN report explained that Al-Qaeda “WMD Committee” — Mohammed Abdel-Rahman was one of its three members — “is known to have approached a number of Muslim scientists to assist the terrorist network with the creation and procurement of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.” Al-Timimi apparently was on such scientist.
Information permitting a resolution of the Amerithrax matter — the identify of the processor(s) and mailer — likely has come from the numerous individuals, now arrested, who may have played a role or known something. It likely will stem from those with a personal knowledge of Al Qaeda, and not those with an ideological or political axe to grind, whether against Iraq or militant islamists, in favor of establishing a Palestinian state, or against the US biodefense establishment or current federal Administration. The perps likely at some point have expressed upset at the detention of the Blind Sheik or been personally affected by the detention of friends or family.
Although the analysis by the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md. did not pinpoint the exact origin of the Florida isolate, the study showed how whole-genome sequencing technology and computational methods can be a powerful approach for analyzing anthrax and other bacterial outbreaks. Similarly, while the anthrax perpetrator(s) may never be caught, the Amerithrax investigation was hard fought by investigators who realized that the next 9/11 might be at issue. As they heard Ayman Zawahiri’s recurring threats of attack, the Amerithrax investigators likely remained haunted by coincidences that they tirelessly pursued while they left no stone unturned. Amerithrax investigators emphasize that there is no cover-up — no conspiracy. The investigators at least once were under intense pressure to solve the case. Giving the government the benefit of the doubt, and putting aside whether anyone will be prosecuted criminally for leaks, the information that was withheld was presumably for reasons of national security and safeguarding the integrity of the confidential criminal investigation.
In 2003, anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat’s assistants were captured. “Extremely virulent” anthrax was found in after Hambali was harshly interrogated in Jordan. Ron Suskind in “One Percent solution” reports that it was unweaponized but authorities knew it could be readily weaponized and had predated 9/11. It was highly concentrated. After these and other developments, conspicuous surveillance was called off on US scientist Dr. Steve Hatfill in late 2003. In the Summer 2006, the “911 Imam” Awlaki (Aulaqi) from Falls Church, Virginia was arrested in Yemen and held for 18 months. Awlaki met both in San Diego and in Falls Church with hijacker Nawaf who had been at the planning meeting in January 2000 at the condo of anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat. 911 planner Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh had the number of Awlaki’s mosque. CIA Director Tenet in his 2007 book says authorities were startled to find that the anthrax planning had been done in parallel with the 9/11 planning and that Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh had a CBRN role. The Falls Church “911 Iman” Awlaki would speak alongside fellow Falls Church imam Ali Al-Timimi and Bilal Philips about the signs of the coming day of judgment. In August 2001, he spoke with Ali Al-Timimi in London along with unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator Bilal Phliips.
In 2007, an Afghan governor claimed that anthrax packets intended for mailing to government officials had been seized. The anthrax operation was likely led by Mohammed Islambouli, who had been in a cell with KSM in connection with the planned attacks on the US using aircraft and other means. Islambouli’s role and his planned visit to the US in preparation for the attacks was the subject of the December 4, 1998 Presidential Daily Brief by the CIA to President Clinton. If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. The job of journalists, however, is news, not analysis. So journalists understandably need to wait until they are told these things by the government. But sometimes the government’s interest in the fruits of intelligence activity causes them to forego explaining what is really going on or in seeking a criminal prosecution. For example, the wiretap on Sattar’s telephone permitted them to catch the head of the Egyptian Islamic Group in Egypt October 2000. Similarly, by proceeding in great secrecy in Amerithrax, they have had numerous successes that otherwise would have eluded them. The solution to Amerithrax, however, has been there for all to see — most intelligence is open source. You only needed to know what you were looking at. Amerithrax is best understood as a complex web of prosecutions. In the end Amerithrax will be known as a great DOJ/FBI success story.
TrebleRebel,
Ed thinks a mole hunt involves a magnifying glass and a damsel in dis-dress.
“Wesley War - The new spy game,” Ottawa Citizen, April 28, 2008
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=3782954b-a4b1-4f76-be5c-04f91fcced0b
“Counter-intelligence and security screening - catching spies or identifying potential traitors - are the forgotten sides of the intelligence game. Yet they are crucial. Services that are penetrated by moles or that hemorrhage secrets become public laughingstocks and threats to the very idea of national security that is their raison d’être.
Intelligence services have a twin mandate - to collect secrets and to protect secrets. Both parts of their job have become exponentially more difficulty since 9/11.”
Ed, you should write a screenplay on the anthrax mailings.
There is a new novel where two men are pitted against Ayman Zawahiri in a desperate race to know what his next move will be. For example, in the real world, the question might be where and when the fiend and his pious minions will use weaponized anthrax. One is a CIA analyst who advances a theory and the other is an eighteen-year-old Grandmaster chess champion who proves it. The novel is titled WHITE KING and DOCTOR.
“I wonder if it’s wise to the Americans in our forces,” interrupted Muhammad Atef, Al Qaeda’s military commander. The Doctor had not heard him approach and felt that uneasiness he often felt when Atef was near. Despite their collaboration of decades, the stealth ability of his partner unnerved him at times.”
“Yes, it’s fine — a few at least. They will serve us well in later propaganda. And I’m confident you’ll make certain we have no infiltrators from American intelligence among them,” he responded, hoping to placate Atef.”
***
“Still resentful of his betrayal by his friend, Ali Mohamed, who had turned out to be a double agent working for the Americans, the Doctor was confident he could avoid a repeat of that fiasco.”
***
Then in Chapter 2 we meet the CIA analyst.
Then in Chapter 3 we meet the young chessmaster he recruits at an Arlington, Va high school football game.
The chessmaster goes to the CIA analyst: “Andrew [the chess prodigy] swallowed hard and nodded as he looked at a picture of the assassination of Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981. James [the CIA analyst] said nothing.
***
“Do you know who did this?”
“Yes. We know who actually emptied his machine gun.” [Islambouli]
“That’s not what I’m asking,” Andy asserted. “Do you know who we are playing? The shooter was only the Knight. Whose game is this?”
And with that question, posed by one of the world’s best chess players, James knew that we stood a chance. He answered calmly, knowing that the Kid would have to stay. “Yes, one at least. His name is Ayman Al-Zawahiri.” [The other, putting aside the late Atef, who was killed in November 2001, is Islambouli’s brother, the fellow in the cell with KSM planning attacks on the US]
***
“I regret to tell you, sir, 9/11 was not the checkmate move.”
“What was it then?”
“It was the first move of the Black King’s Knight.”
***
“I’d better go tell my mom.”
Interestingly, I've been getting a few visits to my site by people who link in from www.amesstrain.com where some guy supposedly has a screenplay about the anthrax attacks for sale. I say "supposedly," because it looks more like a site where he just promotes his beliefs about the attacks.
The problem with writing a screenplay about the anthrax attacks is that doing so requires that you believe that the case will never be solved -- at least anytime in the next two or three years. I'm not at that point yet.
That's required because making a movie will take at least year or more, and if the case were solved during that time it could make your movie out-dated before it is released. And everyone involved could lose a bundle of money.
It would also take a lot of ingenuity to write an interesting screenplay about a case that has dragged on for over six years without a resolution.
Personally, I'd like to see the case solved so I can write an update to my book where I explain how I figured everything out. When finished with that, then I might try writing a screenplay about the case to add to my list of screenplays.
You don't seem to understand the meaning of the term "cognitive rigidity." You seem to think it applies to anyone who doesn't believe as you believe and who looks at the facts, instead.
You also don't seem to understand the term "ad hominem" which you've been using a lot in this thread.
Saying someone suffers from "cognitive rigidity" because they will not convert to your beliefs is a demonstration of an "ad hominem" attack. It doesn't address the facts of the argument but is instead a personal attack upon the person with whom you are arguing.
Good observations and good logic never grow old. And, if good observations and good logic are not easy to sell, that doesn't necessarily make them wrong.
Ed, it is you who uses terms in a unique way. For example, it is not a FACT (as you regularly claim) that a 1st grader wrote the anthrax letters. It is an opinion. Your opinion. Not shared by any handwriting expert. With the only person sharing the opinion the webposter you stole it from 7 years ago.
Relevant evidence (putting aside questions like admissibility and hearsay) would be the type of conclusion referenced in the FoxNews email that John Ezzell doesn’t deny writing. The email related to samples tested by USAMRIID and which was was the closest match. Do you see that subject? Doesn’t it say PDF images? Isn’t Dr.Ezzell commenting on the PDFs from Microbial Forensics showing silica? He’s retired now from USAMRIID and very likely would be very responsive to an open-minded inquiry from you. He has a major paper coming out soon on anthrax in a major, highly regarded publication.
As for cognitive rigidity, an example would be that you argued on your webpage that the hijackers had no accomplices when it is an established fact that they did — for example, Jdey. Why didn’t you revise/correct your page after this was pointed out? The fact is established by his martyrdom video, the statements made by detainees, the FBI’s investigation etc. Yet rather than disclose his existence you just claim it is an established fact the hijackers had no accomplices and don’t even address Ken Dillon’s argument that the evidence points to Jdey as the anthrax mailer.
A Palladin only ever rides a white horse (unless, of course, studio execs force him to ride a black horse for marketing reasons).
Philip Shenon, “Lawyers Fear Monitoring in Cases On Terrorism,” April 28, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/28lawyers.html?ref=us
Your friend, the documentary maker, wrote the ultimate treatise on “Have Gun, Will Travel” and was nice enough to send me an autographed copy when I asked him.
I’ll send it to you so you can learn the ways of a palladin.
Show me where I EVER said that was "a fact." All I say is that the accumulated FACTS show that that is the MOST LIKELY explanation.
"Cognitive rigidity" would be claiming that no matter what the evidence says, you refuse to believe it. That is what you are demonstrating with your comments.
I'll address your other distortions when I get back. I have to leave the office for a couple hours.
There is indeed a lot to analyze in the Fox News email. For starters - the email implies that the total cast of unknown Detrick characters involved in some way in the email is at least 6. All of these people have an identity. 6 is a big number, and this secret is not going to remain secret for ever. And when the secret is out Ed can plan is next book “To Err is Human - Why My First Anthrax Book Was Completely Wrong”.
Cast of unknown characters:
(1) The sender of the email
(2) The recipient of the email (of course, could be more than 1 person)
(3) The person who looked at the samples the FBI had produced and said that the best match was to the powder made by Mr Redacted.
(4) Mr Redacted himself.
(5) The person whose knees got shaky when told by the person in (3) that the best match was to Mr Redacted’s powder.
(6) The Commander referred to as the “worst Commander”.
Ed, I’m not allowed to share emails.
But would you admit that it is your formally and publicly stated theory that a child almost certainly wrote the anthrax letters and that you estimate the child’s age as First Grader?
That no handwriting expert agrees with you?
What probability do you attribute to your characterization that a child “almost certainly” wrote the anthrax letters?
Then I’ll compare it to the probability Ken’s assessment of the probability that Jdey is the mailer and see who is more certain. (He is very confident).
To clarify Ken’s theory, he theorizes that Jdey mailed the anthrax letters after making the martyrdom video.
To clarify your theory, did he write the letters before or after recess?
Yes. That is what my analysis indicates.
That no handwriting expert agrees with you?
No, I would NOT agree with that. As far as I know, no "handwriting expert" has ever publicly addressed the question of whether or not a child could have written the letters. Plus, a first grade school teacher could be considered to be a "handwriting expert" for how first graders write, and it was a first grade school teacher who first described the handwriting as using the techniques that first graders are taught.
Plus, it doesn't make any difference if someone disagrees with me. That doesn't automatically make me wrong, even though you may think so.
What probability do you attribute to your characterization that a child “almost certainly” wrote the anthrax letters?
It varies with how closely I'm working on that particular subject. I'd say it's between 90 and 95 percent certainty that a child wrote the letters. And the fact that you believe otherwise doesn't change that.
Then I’ll compare it to the probability Ken’s assessment of the probability that Jdey is the mailer and see who is more certain. (He is very confident).
Clearly you do not understand that comparing degrees of confidence to come to some kind of a conclusion about who is right is stupid beyond belief. At one time, nearly everyone in the world was 100% confident that the earth was flat. That didn't make it flat. And it didn't make them right.
To clarify Ken’s theory, he theorizes that Jdey mailed the anthrax letters after making the martyrdom video.
And I should care .... why?
To clarify your theory, did he write the letters before or after recess?
Sarcasm just shows you don't have a real argument. The same with the way you endlessly distort what I've said.
The FACTS show that the first letter was written some time before the envelopes for the first mailing were addressed. The FACTS show that the letter writer was taught how to properly draw the letter R between the writing of the first letter and the addressing of the envelopes.
But you can dream up some alternative explanation, and I it's unlikely that I can prove beyond any doubt that you are wrong. So, you are free to believe whatever you want to believe. I only say it is "most likely" that a child wrote the letters. That automatically says I cannot prove it beyond any doubt.
“Detrick characters” should be revised to be “linked to Detrick” — the three referenced in the text of the email are only “linked to Detrick,” not at Detrick. See FoxNews report. See also contract with USAMRIID involving NIH-supplied Delta Ames and both DARPA grants (then the biggest biodefense award in history).
One is leading anthrax scientist Ken. One is former deputy commander (Acting Commander for a few months) Charles. One is Ali. See recently unsealed memo in Al-Timimi prosecution.
Neither Ken nor Charles are suspected of being at all complicitous. They are a necessary and logical focus only because they are the victims of the theft of the biochemistry information. See Mueller November 2007 speech.
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.