Anthrax Letter Writer Profile

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[bvw]

FYI

[Grit]

I think they did when they noted that its probably a scientifically trained person - its the type of thing an engineer would do.

Indeed. Including the block lettering.

[Sungirl]

hee hee....what's an A+Bert?

Maybe on a binge?
IN Afghanistan?
Lurking but pi$$ed at JR again?

I hope they realize that the person who wrote these letters did everything they could think of to be DIFFERENT from their normal handwriting style......

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Without trying to stay in line, i.e. follow a rule on a page of paper, just write a simple sentence. If you are right handed, your line will curve slightly down, if you are left handed it will curve slightly up. The spacing is odd, but I beleive that's because he was trying to disguise his writing. Most likely he held the pencil near the top instead of the bottom and wrote each letter individually instead of writing it quickly. This gives the boxy, sloppy look that the letters have.

[Sungirl]

I also write 09 on my checks for the month.....I thought it was standard practice for that professional feel.......heehhee. I am serious though....I really do.

[Revolting cat!]

Groovy! Has anyone considered that the author of these letters intentionally placed false leads such as the ones discussed? I guess not, 'coz that would make all the experts look like complete fools. Still I think that is worth taking into account. In particular, the date thing may be intentional, because it is such an obvious red herring to plant. An educated person, if that's who it is, would be educated enough to know that different countries and continents have different ways of writing dates. Instead, we (the FBI) are saying that this dude was highly educated in one area (say bio-technology,) but a complete dumbie (an FR expression) in all others? Unfreakingbelievable!

[FITZ]

Who else has a bigger grievance against the Supreme Court?

Bill Clinton. They disbarred him, also Daschle might be stealing Hillary away.....well....you'd think that would make him want to keep Daschle around...

[Askel5]

I wish you hadn't had your thread pulled.

You saw the article today wherein abortion clinics were being targeted for anthrax threats, right?

[Sungirl]

Why in the world do you have such a negative nick.

[FITZ]

He lacks the personal skills necessary to confront others. He chooses to confront his problems "long distance" and not face-to-face. He may hold grudges for a long time, vowing that he will get even with "them" one day.

This points to it being a Middle Eastern Muslim.

[Nita Nupress]

< text tilt="down" > I CAN NOT IMAGINE WHO THIS MAY BE, BUT WE WILL NEVER FORGET 09-11-01.  (I HOPE THIS DOES NOT OFFEND ANY ONE.)  < /text >

[Osama Hunter]

[irv]

It is a very odd formulation, and I think it's even odder that the FBI wouldn't even note that.

You're only looking at half the oddity. Look again at the description of letters. All caps, but capitals a little larger. I work in printing and see that style of font regularly. It's mostly used in magazines with a snooty kind of attitude. (the New Yorker comes to mind, though I'd have to actually look at an issue to see if I'm right.)

The formatting of the dates is also a magazine-style affectation. This raises the possibility that the person who wrote the letters learned written English by copying a magazine. This doesn't rule out an American. Some of your weird loner types are at least partially self-educated.

Another possibility is that whoever it was used some kind of electronic (probably not online) translator that displays results in a similar format. That's less likely than the above idea, but it should be checked. Hope the FBI is reading this thread!

[Steve_Seattle]

"Who writes "09"?

I can't tell if you are referring to writing dates in the format 09-11-2001 or "09-11-2001" or "09"11"2001".

The latter WOULD be weird, but the quotes on the second alternative are merely put there in the FBI memo as correct punctuation to set off the terrorist's date format from the rest of the text. They are not to be interpreted as part of the date as written by the terrorist. As for the first format (09-11-2001), I don't think it is unusual at all; it is how I write the date when I write a check and it is my preferred format for date fields when I design computer reports. I think the dash gives a better and clearer separation than the slash.

[aristeides]

Good point. And doesn't "01" for the year also suggest a computer background?

[muawiyah]

Yes, who writes "09"? Well, for starters, the clerks at "7-11" do. Also most cab drivers when they fill out their reports on fares for the local regulatory authority do so.

First off, the FBI was totally wrong on all of its advice and counsel regarding how the letters in question ended up in New Jersey. In some instances where it was impossible to explain how a "contaminated letter" got there, they threw up their hands in despair.

If they'd bothered to ask Postal Inspectors (who they hate for having demonstrated that Lon Horiuchi had no cause to fire at Ruby Ridge, and for many other things besides) they would have discovered that the mere fact a letter, or even a dozen letters, are cancelled in a specific facility, that's no reason to believe that the letters had to be entered into the mail at any serving post offices that may send mail to that facility.

The FBI could also have read FreeRepublic because I have covered this topic repeatedly. If they had done so they would have found that it is a trivial bit of analysis to discover that all of the letters were probably mailed at Boca Raton (where the AMI employee died), and were simply "lost" in a presumably empty flat tray, or trays, which were shipped from West Palm Beach P&DC to Philadelphia BMC and then out to Trenton, or a major mailer in the Trenton area (there are only 8 of them and not a single one of them has been reported to have been examined for anthrax contamination).

Once the anthrax letters were placed in a letter or flat tray, that tray itself became contaminated and could pass on the bacterial spores to anyone who handled the tray, or to any other mail placed in the tray.

It is more than likely the use of New Jersey references in the return addresses was serrendipitous than it was definitive regarding where the mail was entered and the route it traveled. In fact, my scenario - all the pieces entered in Boca Raton on or about September 8 - is really the only way you can account for the mail showing up at various times. A stack of "empty" flat trays would be worked down at a mailer's plant, and as each "lost letter" was discovered, it would be tossed into the mailer's own outgoing dispatch to the local post office. The trays, of course, would be refilled with mail at the mailer's plant.

Those trays might well have been used for different 5-digit sortations in the immediate Trenton vicinity. Although they didn't contain any anthrax laden letters, the bacteria would be "puffed out" through the polypropylene corrugations wherever the tray went and as it was used. There is a possibility that this action itself served to breakup the spore clumps into far smaller sizes.

Such a breakup would explain the "different qualities" of the anthrax mixture. As far as I know no one at the CDC has thought to "test the hypothesis". Of course, if they'd been reading FR 4 weeks ago they could have read about it right here.

There are more answers to all of the questions than are possible to put in this one thread.

[Nita Nupress]

The word should have been "dispersed" rather than "Disbursed."

How embarrassing. Whatcha wanna bet that'll be corrected on their site within 30 minutes?!

I can hear it now:  "Harvey!! Pull out yer d*mn dictionary and get that changed.  Now!!"

[Norb2569]

Pronounced anxiety//Atypical media interest//Noticeable mood swings//More withdrawn//Unusual level of preoccupation//Unusual absenteeism//Altered sleeping and/or eating habits.

Hey - many of these post 9-11 behaviors could apply to most Americans who HAVE BEEN STRESSED THE HELL OUT!!