Replies

The "pharmaceutical fold" is a pretty dang lazy one, if it is that. More likely the letter was just folded in at the sides to keep the powder from falling out while the envelope was loaded.

Duh. That's the point. Why not just pour the anthrax in the envelope? Why wrap it in the letter? If you want to contaminate the postal system with anthrax, you just dump it in the envelope.

And you could also fold the letter normally - with only one end folded over - and still pour the anthrax inside through the open end. But the anthrax mailer didn't do that. Furthermore, he taped the flap shut on the Senators' letters.

The anthrax was meant to be collected, sampled and analyzed to prove that America's enemy (Iraq presumably) has the ability to manufacture weaponized anthrax.

That was the point of the exercise, not to kill a few postal employees or even a senator or two.

Whoever sent the gram sized samples must be presumed to have smuggled hundreds of kilos into the USA, ready for a massive strike if that nation is attacked. I see it as Iraq's "non nuclear MAD on the cheap".

100 one kilo glass jars of the weaponized spores dropped onto subway tracks in America's ten largest cities on the same day would kill tens to hundreds of thousands, and shut down those cities for weeks or longer, resulting in an economic disaster. Another ten kios put into thousands of leaky envelopes and dropped into mailboxes across the USA would shut down mail delivery for weeks or months, adding to the economic disaster. Many other delivery methods exist which are not yet in the public domain for open discussion, best not to give any new ideas to our enemies.

Last Autumn's "anthrax attacks" must be seen as a demonstration, and planning must be based on that idea. Of course, the witehouse and NSC may be privy to further proofs which they have not informed the public of.

If you want to contaminate the postal system with anthrax, you just dump it in the envelope.

This is a red herring. They weren't trying to contaminate the postal system. They wanted to prove that they had weaponized anthrax, that it was in the U.S., and that they had agents to deliver it. There had to be enough powder left in the envelope that it could be analyzed, so that we could see what it was and that it was "weaponized."

And, by being willing to waste a significant amount of anthrax spores on just a warning, they strongly implied that they have a much larger quantity of it. Maybe they're bluffing, but I wouldn't take that chance.