It’s good news that federal authorities may have finally solved the case of the 2001 anthrax mailings, which killed five people and further terrorized a nation already traumatized by the Sept. 11 attacks. The FBI says a top Army microbiologist and anthrax expert, Bruce E. Ivins, committed suicide Tuesday as federal prosecutors prepared to indict him and seek the death penalty for the crimes.
Let’s hope they got their man this time. An earlier “person of interest,” Steven Hatfill, was wrongly hounded by the government and has received a $6 million settlement for his troubles.
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21 Comments
This Ivins fellow sure sounds like a likely suspect. The investigators, from what I understand, were able to identify where the Anthrax was from due to its DNA. I wonder if we will ever learn why Hatfill was a “person of interest” over this Ivins guy?
I suspect the group of government anthrax experts all knew each other, if not in person, at least by reputation. My guess is they have a good idea of who’s guilty. I also suspect this suicide might not give the full story … yet.
So, below, I will offer MY OPINION from afar why the fellow who committed suicide might not be the guilty person:
1) He was trying to lead investigators down a wrong fork in the road;
2) He originally participated in the crime and wanted to appear to be the only guilty party;
3) By committing suicide, he hoped to prevent the anthrax laboratory from being closed for investigation thus saving jobs for a lot of people.
4) He was a close associate of the guilty party and wanted to protect that person.
5) He knows how and why the original crime was committed and wanted to deflect the blame from them.
6) He might have a terminal disease so wanted to use that situation to end the matter, especially to remove his associates from the eye of examination by the federal people and, indeed, by society itself.
7) The investigation is engangering their place of employment.
8) He might have been murdered by the guilty person or persons to avoid suspicion on themselves.
Remember, innocent until proven guilty.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/01/anthrax.death/index.html
The above provides a bit of information on Ivins. Interesting that he had been served with a restraining order on July 24 in an unrelated matter (unrelated to the anthrax investigation), which might go as number 8 on JWink’s list above.
So if I type 8) will I get one of those cool smiley guys?
Glenn Greenwald has has uncovered some really creepy coincidences in this matter. Apparently, the guy worked at Ft. Detrick?
<i.During the last week of October, 2001, ABC News, led by Brian Ross, continuously trumpeted the claim as their top news story that government tests conducted on the anthrax — tests conducted at Ft. Detrick — revealed that the anthrax sent to Daschele contained the chemical additive known as bentonite. ABC News, including Peter Jennings, repeatedly claimed that the presence of bentonite in the anthrax was compelling evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attacks, since — as ABC variously claimed — bentonite “is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program” and “only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons.”
ABC News’ claim — which they said came at first from “three well-placed but separate sources,” followed by “four well-placed and separate sources” — was completely false from the beginning. There never was any bentonite detected in the anthrax (a fact ABC News acknowledged for the first time in 2007 only as a result of my badgering them about this issue). It’s critical to note that it isn’t the case that preliminary tests really did detect bentonite and then subsequent tests found there was none. No tests ever found or even suggested the presence of bentonite. The claim was just concocted from the start. It just never happened.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/01/anthrax/index.html
Greenwald notes, also, that the killer took pains in his notes to link the attacks to 9-11. But isn’t weird that he went after Tom Daschle, Pat Leahy, and Tom Brokaw–all people who might be expected to question the conduct of the “war on terror”?
No, I’m not donning a foil hat just yet, let alone suggesting a conspiracy, but I think it merits further examination.
Dead men tell on tales! Case closed.
He was suicided. This dead guy can take the fall for the crime. Just pile evidence all over him now and he won’t be able to refute any of it…case closed. Move along.
Just a tin-foil review.
Do you think they were going to take a chance of another ‘person of interest’ getting away? We went to war on a lot flimsier evidence!
Well, I was instantly suspicious when I heard about the anthrax attacks–it was too convenient, and I found the list of victims too poliically convenient.
I said nothing at the time, as I had no evidence of anything, and you couldn’t be suggesting spooky things at the time unless they fit within the “war on terror”–then you could get as nutty as you want.
But we do know that:
1. The government accused a guy who
2. Worked at the same lab where the anthrax was tested and,
3. Thes tests were used to try to connect 9-11 and Iraq and,
4. The guy now ends up dead
Hmmm. . . Danny Casolaro, anyone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Casolaro
R, Ph and Pl: Your comments above gives me #9.
#9: Ivins was “suicided” (to use Pleefer’s words) by investigators, public or private, domestic or foreign, once they were fairly certain of his guilt to make sure he didn’t continue his deadly anthrax game.
The LD50 for codeine is apparently 800 mg. That amount could easily be gotten form a bottle of Tylenol #3. So that part holds up, damn it. Now if it was Tylenol #2 or #1 it’s a different story.
(Tylenol #4 contains 60 mg of codeine per dose.)
Umm, but John McCain said Iraq was behind the anthrax attacks and that’s one of the reasons we had to invade Iraq.
Chalk another one up to McCain’s incompetence. But that’s experienced incompetence so the equally incompetent borrow and spend conservatives love him (as long as they don’t have to fight in that war).
bentonite a trademark of Iraq? WHAT A JOKE! I used bentonite frequently in catalysis preparation and it is also used in oil fields. In fact, it is even used in neighborhoods to seal ponds from leakage.
Weaponizing anthrax is very easy – all you need is a small laboratory spray dryer and a binder (bentonite). Both readily available from any lab supply house.
It all sounds too convenient to me. 3 months out from elections, and they’ve found the anthrax perp! But, oh, my goodness, he offed himself!
What’s the October surprise, bush closes in on Obama, Obama blows himself up?
Trust your Government to employ a guy like this for 35 years.
Can’t wait to see what kind of Doctors the Government National Healthcare system turns out.
Were the mobile weapons labs invented before or after the anthrax attacks?
If you continuously over ABC News, you’re going to continuously come up short. The anthrax is that you’re never going to get rid of them. You do not want to buy a trademark when everyone else is doing it.
Is Forex System a registered member of weblog.
Just read they’re considering labeling ‘case closed’ like I said “Dead men tell no tales”.