"Yesterday the German newspaper Bild suggested a more sinister motive for their meetings. The claim, according to Israeli security sources, is that Atta was handed a vacuum flask of anthrax by his Iraqi contact." You'll recall that, on several occasions, I've remarked about a source claiming a Thermos had been passed between al-Ani and Atta. But I couldn't recall the article.
Here it is...
Thanks. The only other reference to this I've seen is in an
Oct. 29, 2001, PBS interview, in which the interviewer states: "You know that the allegation in today's paper is that Mr. al-Ani allegedly gave a bottle or vacuum bottle of anthrax to Mr. Atta."
In any case, I've never understood what the evidence for this could be. Based on what we've been told, Czech intelligence saw Atta meet al-Ani and may have taken pictures of the meeting. They may even have seen a bottle being transferred. But how could they know what was in the bottle?
There are three possibilities I can think of:
- They eavesdropped on the conversation between Atta and al-Ani. But I find it hard to believe, to the point of incredulity, that al-Ani and Atta would have said anything so incriminating.
- There is inside information, from a double agent or the like, as to what happened.
- The anthrax in the bottle is pure speculation. It may be known that al-Ani gave Atta a bottle, and people may say, "What else could have been in it?" But, if that's what's happening here, it's not very definitive.
By the way, has anybody seen any article purporting to state the size of this bottle? [What I'm really asking is: Was it large enough to hold envelopes?]
This is an interesting thread, the possibility certainly exists that by the time our planes are in the air, Bush will go on TV with the evidence trail in hand.