Anthrax Developments

[The] Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Pat Leahy […] will now hold hearings to investigate the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins.

  Salon

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Anthrax Mysteries - Further

I had it wrong. Ivins’ psychiatrist wasn’t a psychiatrist. She was a social worker...

[...] who, as recently as last year, was apparently still in college at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland.

[...]

Duley herself has a history that, at the very least, raises questions about her credibility. She has a rather lengthy involvement with the courts in Frederick, including two very recent convictions for driving under the influence -- one from 2007 and one from 2006 -- as well as a complaint filed against her for battery by her ex-husband.

[...]

Later that same year, she was criminally charged with possession of drug paraphenalia with intent to use, charges which appear to have been ultimately dismissed.

[...]

What is certain is that Jean Carol Duley is hardly some upstanding, authoritative source on Bruce Ivins' psychological state or his guilt, nor is she some accomplished and highly credible psychological professional, notwithstanding the fact that most media depictions of Ivins are based on uncritical recitations of her accusations. The fact that her depiction contradicts not only the claims of virtually everyone else who knew Ivins but also numerous facts about how Ivins was treated even by the FBI (see below), suggests that a large amount of skepticism is warranted.

  Glen Greenwald

Moreover, Greenwald notes that Ivins’ arrest was not, as reported, imminent. The Grand Jury was planning on several more weeks of hearings.

While genetic analysis had linked the anthrax letters to a supply of the deadly bacterium in Dr. Ivins’s laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., at least 10 people had access to the flask containing that anthrax, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation also have no evidence proving that Dr. Ivins visited New Jersey on the dates in September and October 2001 when investigators believe the letters were sent from a Princeton mailbox, the source said.

  NYT

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Continuing Criminal Cover-Up

The unanswered questions in the anthrax case are literally too numerous to chronicle. It is so vital to emphasize that not a shred of evidence has yet been presented that the now-deceased Bruce Ivins played any role in the anthrax attacks, let alone that he was the sole or even primary culprit. Nonetheless, just as they did with Steven Hatfill, the media (with some notable and important exceptions) are reporting this case as though the matter is resolved.

  Glen Greenwald

And, it appears that the FBI may be going to close the case.

Just in case you’re tempted to think that the case ends with Bruce Ivins’ death, take a look at Greenwald’s article and see if you can answer any of the list of questions he asks.

And how about Ivins' "psychiatrist"’s claims?

Bruce E. Ivins, the late microbiologist suspected in the 2001 anthrax attacks, had attempted to poison people as far back as 2000 and his therapist said she was "scared to death" of him, according to court testimony that emerged Saturday.

Social worker Jean Duley testified at a court hearing in Frederick on July 24 in a successful bid for a protective order from Ivins — who five days later committed suicide — that he "actually attempted to murder several other people."

[...]

"As far back as the year 2000, the respondent has actually attempted to murder several other people, either through poisoning. He is a revenge killer. When he feels that he's been slighted or has had — especially toward women — he plots and actually tries to carry out revenge killings," Duley said.

She added that Ivins "has been forensically diagnosed by several top psychiatrists as a sociopathic, homicidal killer. I have that in evidence. And through my working with him, I also believe that to be very true."

And this man was still working at a government biowarfare lab? Do psychiatrists have no duty to report “homicidal killer”s? That, my friends, is a load of hogwash.

And it makes me think once again of the long string of microbiologist mystery deaths in the early days and for several years after 9/11.

At YWA:

Saturday, October 18, 2003 No kidding - You do NOT want to be a microbiologist these days
Monday, October 20, 2003 Dr. Butler in trouble - and where's Dr. Ri?
Friday, October 31, 2003 Mysterious deaths of microbiologists
Sunday, January 11, 2004 Microbiology is bad for your health - revisited
Sunday, January 23, 2005 It's not safe to be a microbiologist - Part whatever
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 It's not safe to be a microbiologist - part whatever

And while we're on the subject, let's take a moment to recall Frank Olson, another Ft. Detrick scientist "suicide" back in 1953, and the CIA's hand in his death.

Here's a list I was making once upon a time (and linked in some of those posts - unfortunately, the link no longer works). My list isn't on the web any more, but somebody stole the whole page and published it on his own website - so it's still available - although not kept up to date.

Oh, all right. Here...

Click pic for instructions.

About That Anthrax

Let's say Bruce Ivins really did kill himself, and he really did kill himself because he was involved with the post 9/11 anthrax murders. That would still leave problems.

ABC News reports linking Saddam and anthrax penetrated very deeply -- by design -- into our public discourse and into the public consciousness. Those reports were absolutely vital in creating the impression during that very volatile time that Islamic terrorists generally, and Iraq and Saddam Hussein specifically, were grave, existential threats to this country.

[…]

And then, when President Bush named Iraq as a member of the "Axis of Evil" in his January, 2002 State of the Union speech -- just two months after ABC's report, when the anthrax attacks were still very vividly on the minds of Americans -- he specifically touted this claim:

The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade.

[…]

[Washington Post's columnist, Richard Cohen,] -- in a March 18, 2008 Slate article in which he explains why he wrongfully supported the attack on Iraq -- disclosed this:

[…]

The attacks were not entirely unexpected. I had been told soon after Sept. 11 to secure Cipro, the antidote to anthrax. The tip had come in a roundabout way from a high government official, and I immediately acted on it. I was carrying Cipro way before most people had ever heard of it.

[…]

We now know -- we knew even before news of Ivins' suicide last night, and know especially in light of it -- that the anthrax attacks didn't come from Iraq or any foreign government at all. It came from our own Government's scientist, from the top Army bioweapons research laboratory. More significantly, the false reports linking anthrax to Iraq also came from the U.S. Government -- from people with some type of significant links to the same facility responsible for the attacks themselves.

[…]

ABC News already knows the answers to these questions. They know who concocted the false bentonite story and who passed it on to them with the specific intent of having them broadcast those false claims to the world, in order to link Saddam to the anthrax attacks and -- as importantly -- to conceal the real culprit(s) (apparently within the U.S. government) who were behind the attacks. And yet, unbelievably, they are keeping the story to themselves, refusing to disclose who did all of this. They're allegedly a news organization, in possession of one of the most significant news stories of the last decade, and they are concealing it from the public, even years later.

[…]

There are few news stories more significant, if there are any, than unveiling who the culprits were behind this deliberate propaganda. The fact that the current GOP presidential nominee [John McCain] claimed back then on national television to have some "indication" linking Saddam to the anthrax attacks makes it a bigger story still.

  Glen Greenwald

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Anthrax Murders Solved?

Well, we can likely expect a "Mission Accomplished" statement from the FBI. A month after the government had to admit to erroneously tagging Steven Hatfill (and coincidentally destroying his career), another Ft. Detrick scientist, Bruce Ivins, who worked with anthrax, has committed suicided at the prospect of being arrested.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

What a Crock of Shit

Or...

Just Another Day Under the New Amerikan Sun

Steven Hatfill has settled for close to $6 mil against the "US Government" for having been publicly targeted in the anthrax poisoning cases shortly after 9/11. Cases which, by the way, have never been solved.

The crock of shit is that the "US Government" that has to pay the multi-million-dollar settlement is the American taxpayers. Why are we punished when it was Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration who "leaked" information with the intent and consequence of destroying Hatfill's reputation? How is the award going to prevent future such incidents? Is it designed to make us choose our future presidents more carefully, knowing they could be careless about responsibility, costing us millions in taxes to settle lawsuits? If that's the idea, he didn't get nearly a big enough settlement. The trillions we're forking over to occupy Iraq doesn't seem to be clearly making us think about our ballots.

Specific people need to be held responsible, and those specific people need to be individuals in the Bush Administration that made the decision to target Hatfill in the way they did, not a collection of US taxpayers who had no part in the affair.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Great Connections

A drug company that manufactures a vaccine against anthrax, and is connected to the Bush Administration through the revolving door, has been granted a sole-source multi-million dollar contract to supply said vaccine to the civilian population, even though it has caused adverse reactions in 80% of the military population who already have been required to use it.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

And, about that fishy anthrax business...

I was wondering whatever happened.

A federal appeals court has reinstated a libel suit against the New York Times filed by a former Army scientist who claims one of the paper's columnists unfairly linked him to the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001.

Steven Hatfill sued the Times for a series of columns written by Nicholas Kristof that faulted the FBI for failing to thoroughly investigate Hatfill for the anthrax mailings that left five people dead.

  WaPo article

Somehow we just never did seem to concern ourselves much with the fact that no one was ever busted on the anthrax killings. Maybe Hatfill's suit will raise the issue again.