When materials scientist Joseph Michael and his team at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., trained their high-powered electron microscope on anthrax spore samples the FBI had sent them in February 2002, they made two crucial discoveries: The first confirmed previous findings that the Bacillus anthracis spores mailed to U.S. Senate offices and various media outlets (shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks) contained silicon, a substance used to turn anthrax-causing spores into a biological weapon.

But it was Sandia's next discovery that marked a critical turning point in the feds's probe of the mysterious mailings, which killed five people, injured 17 and prompted thousands more who were potentially exposed to the deadly spores to take potent antibiotics—in particular, Ciprofloxacin (known to irritate the gastrointestinal tract and cause joint swelling). Using highly sensitive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), the researchers came to a startling realization: The silicon had grown organically inside the Bacillus anthracis samples, nothing had been added to weaponize the spores. "The silicon was not on the outside of the spore," says Michael, who headed up Sandia's investigation, "but rather incorporated on the inside."

It was this key information that helped the FBI to rule out the likelihood that a terrorist organization was behind the anthrax mailings and prompted the agency to turn its attention to U.S. government labs as the possible source of the anthrax. This move eventually led the agency to conclude that Bruce Ivins, a scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), a federal biodefense research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., who initially assisted with the investigation, was the culprit. Ivins, 62, two months ago committed suicide as prosecutors prepared to charge him in connection with the mailings.

Post-9/11 Scare
FBI Director Robert Mueller, III, this week told a House panel that he plans to commission the National Academy of Sciences to review evidence compiled by the agency's Amerithrax Task Force to erase any remaining doubts that the mailed anthrax came from Ivins's lab—and close a case that began seven years ago when a batch of letters containing Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax, were sent to several news outlets, including the New York Post and NBC News. Although only the letters to the Post and NBC were discovered, the FBI concluded that contaminated letters were also responsible for anthrax infections at ABC News, CBS News and for the October 5, 2001, death of Robert Stevens, a photo editor for the National Enquirer publisher American Media, Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla.

Anthrax infection begins within a week of exposure with a few days of fever, chills, chest heaviness, malaise and cough as the spores are absorbed by the lungs. Ultimately the bacteria produce toxins that damage the lungs and poison the blood, potentially sending the victim into septic shock that leads to organ failure and, in many cases, death.

60 Comments

1. 1. Veritas 06:39 PM 9/19/08

   Comments on the Barbara Rosenberg interpretation of anthrax investigation forensics
   Serguei Popov, Ph.D., Sc.D.
   Professor of Biology
   George Mason University
   
   12 September 2008
   
   On September 8, 2008, Prof. Barbara Rosenberg presented her view on the evidence disclosed by the FBI in connection with anthrax investigation. Several points in Prof. Rosenbergs interpretation attracted my attention and prompted me to share my thoughts with a broader audience.
   
   ***
   Prof. Rosenberg
   Studies conducted for the FBI at Sandia have shown that, as the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) first reported, (18) the attack spores contained Silicon and Oxygen, possibly in the form of SiO2 (silica). It was initially assumed that this indicated the presence of silica particles on the surfaces of the attack spores, a known strategy for preventing the spores from clumping and failing to aerosolize well. The FBI later found, however, that there were no silica particles on the surfaces of the spores. (19) Sandia was able to localize the Si to the spore coat. In anthrax spores, the spore coat is covered by the exosporium, which constitutes the surface of the spore. According to the FBI briefing, the presence of Si within the spore, as opposed to on its surface, would have no influence on the fluid-like properties of the spore powder.
   Comment
   First, the exosporium is an unstable and a diffuse structure, which is unlikely to represent a strong barrier to chemical modification of the underlying coat. The spore coat modification argues strongly against the use of solid particles during the treatment process. However, silica is well known in its colloidal form, and its formation can take place on the surface of the spores (It is different from what Dugway did using a pre-formed fumed silica in the study mentioned below.). The subunits of particles are typically in the range of 1 to 5 nm (the spore is about thousand times bigger). Whether or not a colloidal silica forms a gel-like structure depends on the conditions. The formation of colloidal silica can be generated by acidification of silicate salts. Therefore, (i) silica can coat the spore in a form different from sand-like particles, (ii) in a hypothetical scenario a perpetrator using, for example, a soluble silicate salt would be able to modify the spore coat underlying the exosporium.
   Second, the hairy structure of the exosporium is likely to collapse upon drying. In the dry spores the exosporium and the coat are really close to each other. In this case it is not difficult to imagine that a silicon-containing compound bound to the coat may influence the fluidity, including the electrostatic charge. Sandia analyzed dry irradiated spores, and therefore itd be rather difficult to distinguish between the outer coat and the exosporium layer.
   
   Prof. Rosenberg
   On the basis of [FBI] evidence, the attack spores must have been exposed to a high level of a Si compound, which was taken up into the spore coat by a natural process.
   Comment
   It is not clear what natural means in this context. The exposure to a compound was obviously artificial but the interaction with the spores obviously took place by a natural process. If natural implies the conditions present in the B. anthracis natural habitat, then the statement is incorrect. A chemical modification of the spores by the perpetrator may have had nothing in common with the conditions present in nature. I just agree that the soil origin of B. anthracis as a species is consistent with the natural capacity of the spore to uptake some small amount of silicates or other forms of silicon. However, all evidence indicates that the amount of Si in the spores from the letters is unnaturally high.
   
   Prof. Rosenberg
   Whether the exposure was unintentional or not remains to be determined. The FBI needs to find out what kinds of Si compounds can be incorporated into the spore coats of B. anthracis spores at the level observed; and what effects these compounds may have on the properties of spores that have been exposed to them.
   Comment
   At this point, I just dont understand how the issue of intention may relate to Dr. Ivins? Can we imagine that the perpetrator had no intention to make a good powder but it just happened this way? Even if the answer is yes, what would be the conclusion? I guess the FBI may decide to test several hypotheses, but it is not its function to study all possible modifications of the spores. The primary question the FBI is expected to address is WHO did it but not HOW?
   
   Prof. Rosenberg
   There is an interesting possibility that the attack spores may have been grown using a microdroplet culture technique in which microdroplets of inoculated medium are isolated by coating them with hydrophobic silica particles. (21) This technique has the advantages of portability, growth to a high density, and minimal need to concentrate the spores. (22) It is noteworthy that the silica particles used for the technique must first be made hydrophobic by treating their surfaces with a siloxane (silicone oil) or a silane derivative.
   Comment
   This argument is purely hypothetical and implies a sophisticated generation of silica particles. It also ignores the basics of any perpetratorkeep a low profile, and opt for the simplest technique. The microdroplet cultivation activity is highly visible and not a part of a routine experimentation. USAMRIID denies the use of dry powders. Had anybody in USAMRIID been doing it anyway?
   
   ***
   

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2. 2. Veritas 07:05 PM 9/19/08

   The Barbara Hatch Rosenberg analysis can be found at:
   
   Comments on the anthrax investigation's scientific forensics
   Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, PhD��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
   ��� Professor of Natural Sciences, State University of New York at Purchase (retired 2008);���������
   ����Co-founder and former Chair, Scientists' Working Group on Chemical and Biological Weapons
   
   http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dc3wqmd7_35d5vc6bdc
   
   Footnote 22 explains:
   
   (22)� The new microdroplet technique for cell culture, applicable to B. anthracis and other cell types, was invented by two scientists well-known in the USAMRIID and bio-contractor communities:� Charles Bailey, a former Deputy Commander of USAMRIID, and Ken Alibek, the anthrax expert who defected from the USSR.� Both had connections with both USAMRIID and Battelle.� Very likely, many of the 100+ potential anthrax attack suspects knew about the technique soon after the patent application was filed.� According to Dr. Bailey, major advantages of the technique include portability, minimal power supply needs and lack of requirement for a complex infrastructure ("Biodefense Researchers Invent Process to Help Create Biofriendly Products," http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/5545/ , April 13, 2004).� The technique permits growth of cells to a high density, consuming most or all the liquid in the droplets, thereby minimizing the need to concentrate the cells/spores.� The hydrophobic silica can be removed from the cells by a simple centrifugation step.� These benefits may have led the maker of the attack anthrax to use the Bailey-Alibek technique, thereby exposing the anthrax to specific Si compounds (the inventors recommend several types) during growth.

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3. 3. Toney 07:09 PM 9/19/08

   Great.

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4. 4. seannelson1969@hotmail.com 07:17 PM 9/19/08

   I because this Anthrax wasn't 'weaponized' seems to me to point that
   in fact a more unsophisticated organization like Al-Qadea may have been
   the culprite rather than a US Army scientist. The conclusions they are comming up with are anti-intuitive, or I'm missing something?
   

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5. 5. Veritas 07:28 PM 9/19/08

   Terms like "weaponization" are being used by the FBI and the Sandia scientist in a way that obfuscates rather than clarifies. As Dr. Alibek told me yesterday, "if you ask whether a gun powder is a weapon -- some people say it is but some others would disagree. Of course, this example is not absolutely exact, but it (at least) could explain some differences in opinions."

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6. 6. Veritas in reply to seannelson1969@hotmail.com 07:37 PM 9/19/08

   In a filing unsealed this Spring, Dr. Ali Al-Timimi's lawyer explained that his client "was considered an anthrax weapons suspect." Al-Timimi was a computational biologist who had worked in the building housing the "Center for Biodefense" funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ("DARPA"). He came to have an office 15 feet from the leading anthrax scientist Ken Alibek and the former deputy commander of USAMRIID Charles Bailey. Dr. Al-Timimi's counsel summarizes:
   
   "we know Dr. Al-Timimi:
   * was interviewed in 1994 by the FBI and Secret Service regarding his ties to the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center bombing;
   * was referenced in the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing ("Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US") as one of seventy individuals regarding whom the FBI is conducting full field investigations on a national basis;
   * was described to his brother by the FBI within days of the 9-11 attacks as an immediate suspect in the Al Qaeda conspiracy;
   * was contacted by the FBI only nine days after 9-11 and asked about the attacks and its perpetrators;
   * was considered an anthrax weapons suspect;
   [redacted]
   * was described during his trial by FBI agent John Wyman as having "extensive ties" with the "broader al-Qaeda network";
   * was described in the indictment and superseding indictment as being associated with terrorists seeking harm to the United States;
   * was a participant in dozens of international overseas calls to individuals known to have been under suspicion of Al-Qaeda ties like Al-Hawali; and
   * was associated with the long investigation of the Virginia Jihad Group.
   ***
   The conversation with [Bin Laden's sheik] Al-Hawali on September 19, 2001 was central to the indictment and raised at trial. Al-Timimi called Dr. Hawali after the dinner with Kwon on September 16, 2001 and just two hours before he met with Kwon and Hassan for the last time on September 19, 2001.
   [911 imam] Anwar Al-Aulaqi goes directly to Dr. Al-Timimi's state of mind and his role in the alleged conspiracy. The 9-11 Report indicates that Special Agent Ammerman interviewed Al-Aulaqi just before or shortly after his October 2002 visit to Dr. Al-Timimi's home to discuss the attacks and his efforts to reach out to the U.S. government.
   [IANA head] Bassem Khafagi was questioned about Dr. Al-Timimi before 9-11 in Jordan, purportedly at the behest of American intelligence. [redacted ] He was specifically asked about Dr. Al-Timimi's connection to Bin Laden prior to Dr. Al-Timimi's arrest. He was later interviewed by the FBI about Dr. Al-Timimi. Clearly, such early investigations go directly to the allegations of Dr. Al-Timimi's connections to terrorists and Bin Laden -- [redacted]"
   
   The letter by Al-Timimi's counsel attached as an exhibit is equally meaty states that in March 2002, Dr. Al-Timimi spoke with Dr. Al-Hawali (Bin Laden's sheik who was the subject of OBL's "Declaration of War") about assisting Moussaoui in his defense The filing and the letter exhibit each copy defense co-counsel, the daughter of the lead prosecutor in Amerithrax. That prosecutor has pled the Fifth Amendment concerning all the leaks hyping a "POI" of the other Amerithrax squad, Dr. Steve Hatfill.

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7. 7. Veritas in reply to Veritas 07:46 PM 9/19/08

   Ali Al-Timimi worked in the same building as famed Russian bioweapons scientist Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Charles Bailey. Al-Timimi was a current associate and former student of Bin Laden’s spiritual advisor, dissident Saudi Sheik al-Hawali. While Ft. Detrick anthrax scientist Bruce Ivins was dwelling on the girls of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Ali Al-Timimi was preaching on the end of times and the inevitability of the clash of civilizations. He was in active contact with the sheik whose detention had been the express subject of Bin Laden's 1996 Declaration of War. At GMU, Dr. Bailey would publish a lot of research with the “Ames strain” of anthrax. The anthrax used in the anthrax mailings was traced to Bruce Ivins' lab at USAMRIID, where Ivins, according to a former colleague, had done some work for DARPA that had included drying anthrax using a lyophilizer. Ali would speak along with the blind sheik’s son at charity conferences. The blind sheik’s son served on Al Qaeda’s WMD committee. Al-Timimi’s mentor Bilal Philips was known for recruiting members of the military to jihad. The first week after 9/11, FBI agents questioned Al-Timimi. He was a graduate student in a program jointly run by George Mason University and the American Type Culture Collection (”ATCC”). Ali, according to his lawyer, had been questioned by an FBI agent and Secret Service agent in 1994 after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He had a high security clearance for work for the Navy in the late 1990s. The defense webpage reported that in 1996, for two months had worked for the White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (who had been Secretary of Transportation in 1992-1993). As time off from his university studies permitted, Ali was an active speaker with the charity Islamic Assembly of North America.
   
   The government claims that silicon was detected and yet nowhere explains how it came to be present in the anthrax attack if not present in the anthrax found in Ivins' flask. An unnamed FBI source reports that anthrax has a natural tendency to absorb silicon from its environment if it is present in the culture medium. The FBI reports that it could replicate the anthrax and its floatability but could not replicate what it calls the Silicon Signature.

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8. 8. Veritas 08:06 PM 9/19/08

   Ali Al-Timimi worked at George Mason University’s Discovery Hall throughout 2000 and 2002 period. The Mason Gazette in “Mason to Pursue Advanced Biodefense Research” on November 17, 2000 had announced: “The School of Computational Sciences (SCS) and Advanced Biosystems, Inc., a subsidiary of Hadron, Inc., of Alexandria, are pursuing a collaborative program at the Prince William Campus to enhance research and educational objectives in biodefense research. The article noted that the program was funded primarily by a grant awarded to Advanced Biosystems from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). As a 2007 GMU PhD thesis "An Assessment of Exploitable Weaknesses in Universities" by Corinne M. Verzoni offices and research located in Discovery Hall, making this an attractive building on the Prince William Campus to target for information and technology." The 2007 PhD student biodefense student explained: "Discovery Hall currently has BSL 1, 2 and 2+ labs in which students work with attenuated and vaccine strains of Fracella tularemia, anthrax and HIV. GMU will eventually have new biological labs featuring a BSL-3 lab which will have anthrax and tularemia."
   
   Instead of starting a center from scratch, GMU chose to join forces with Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey’s existing research firm, Hadron Advanced Biosystems Inc. Hadron was already working under contract for the federal government, having received funding from DARPA. Dr. Alibek told the Washington Post that he and Bailey had spent their careers studying an issue that only recently grabbed the country’s attention, after the anthrax mailings the previous fall. Dr. Bailey and Alibek met in 1991, when a delegation of Soviet scientists visited the USAMRIID at Ft. Detrick. Dr. Bailey explained that the purpose of the tour was to show the Soviets that the US was not developing offensive biological weapons. Bailey said he tried to engage Alibek in conversation but Alibek remained aloof. Alibek, for his part, explains that he was suspicious of this American smiling so broadly at him. A year later, Alibek would defect to the US and reveal an illegal biological program in the Soviet Union of a staggering scope. Alibek says that one reason he defected was that he realized that the Soviet intelligence was wrong — that the US research was in fact only defensive.
   
   Former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Ames researcher Bailey coinvented, with Ken Alibek, the process to treat cell culture with hydrophobic silicon dioxide so as to permit greater concentration upon drying. He was in Room 156B of GMU’s Discovery Hall at the Center for Biodefense. The patent application was filed March 14, 2001. Rm 154A was Victor Morozov’s room number when he first assumed Timimi’s phone number in 2004 (and before he moved to the newly constructed Bull Run Hall). Morozov was the co-inventor with Dr. Bailey of the related cell culture process under which the silica was removed from the spore surface.
   
   One ATCC former employee felt so strongly about lax security there the scientist called me out of the blue and said that the public was overlooking the patent repository as a possible source of the Ames strain. ATCC does not deny they had virulent Ames in their patent repository pre 9/11 (as distinguished from their online catalog). The spokesperson emailed me: “As a matter of policy, ATCC does not disclose information on the contents of its patent depository.”
   
   George Mason University, Department Listings, accessed August 17, 2003, shows that the National Center For Biodefense and Center for Biomedical Genomics had the same mail stop (MS 4ES). The most famed bioweaponeer in the world was not far from this sheik urging violent jihad in an apocalyptic struggle between religions. Dr. Alibek’s office was Rm. 156D in Prince William 2. The groups both shared the same department fax of 993-4288. Dr. Alibek advises me he had seen him several times in the corridors of GMU and was told that he was a religious muslim hard-liner but knew nothing of his activities. At one point, Timimi’s mail drop was MSN 4D7.

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9. 9. casey 08:53 PM 9/19/08

   I believe the "weaponization" being talked about refers to the manual addition of silicon (silica?) to the spores. Like someone would produce the spoors and then add some silicon and stir it all up. Weaponize the spores.
   
   But since they found that the silicon had been grown organically inside the spores, rather than added seperately, they concluded that it was much more sophisticated and that that fingerprint indicated someone at the USAMRIID labs. No one added silicon seperately.

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10. 10. Veritas in reply to casey 09:42 PM 9/19/08

    Hi Casey,
    
    No connection has been made between silicon and the Ivins flask. At the briefing, it was explained that there was no silicon in the flask. It was added later. The FBI WMD expressly concluded it could have been in the medium. It gets to be in the medium by having been put there, as Dr. Popov explains. Dr. Michaels from Sandia explained at the briefing that he has no training in biological processes and was told what an exosporium was.

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11. 11. Veritas 09:43 PM 9/19/08

    In Fall 2001, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (”AFIP”) had detected silicon dioxide (silica) in the attack anthrax — with a characteristic big spike for the silicon. The reason for the silicon dioxide/silica claimed to have been detected by AFIP has never been explained (and it’s been nearly a half decade). No silica was observable on the SEMs images that Dr. Alibek and Dr. Matthew Meselson saw. The Daschle product was “pure spores.” Was silicon dioxide used as part of a microdroplet cell culture process used prior to drying to permit greater concentration? As explained in a later related patent, the silica could be removed from the surface of the spore through repeated centrifugaton or an air chamber.
    
    Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey had filed a patent application in mid-March 2001 involving a microdroplet cell culture technique that used silicon dioxide in a method for concentrating growth of cells. The patent was granted and the application first publicly disclosed in the Spring of 2002. Weren’t the SEMS images and AFIP EDX finding both consistent with use of this process in growing the culture? Didn’t the AFIP in fact also detect oxygen in ratios characteristic of silicon dioxide? Wasn’t the scientist, now deceased, who performed the EDX highly experienced and expert in detecting silica? Hasn’t the AFIP always stood by its report. In its report, AFIP explained: “AFIP experts utilized an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (an instrument used to detect the presence of otherwise-unseen chemicals through characteristic wavelengths of X-ray light) to confirm the previously unidentifiable substance as silica.” Perhaps the nuance that was lost — or just never publicly explained for very sound reasons — was that silica was used in the cell culture process and then removed from the spores through a process such as centrifugation.
    
    Dr. Morozov is co-inventor along with Dr. Bailey for a patent “Cell Culture” that explains how the silicon dioxide can be removed from the surface. Perhaps it is precisely this AFIP finding of silicon dioxide (without silica on the SEMs) that is why the FBI came to suspect Al-Timimi in 2003 (rightly or wrongly, we don’t know). The FBI would have kept these scientific findings secret to protect the integrity of the confidential criminal/national security investigation. There was still a processor and mailer to catch — still a case to prove. After 9/11, intelligence collection takes precedence over arrests. As Ron Kessler explains in the new book, Terrorist Watch, many FBI officials feel that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Outside observers are constantly second-guessing them about how to proceed rather than trusting that they are in the best position to balance the competing considerations of national security, intelligence gathering, the pursuit of justice, and the safeguarding of civil liberties. Above all, in disclosing the theory of access to know-how, the FBI has needed to protect the due process rights of Al-Timimi while he defended himself on other charges.
    
    An example from October 2006 of equipment that went missing from GMU's Discovery Hall was a rotissery hybridization oven belonging to the Center for Biomedical Genomics. "This equipment can be used to manufacture biological agents and genetically modified agents, which could potentially be used as biological weapons," the Corinne Verzoni explained in her PhD 2007 thesis. "Upon hearing about instances or missing equipment in Discovery Hall, the author contacted campus security who was unaware of instances of missing equipment. Missing equipment should be reported to the equipment liaison. Missing equipment may not be reported to campus security because labs tend to share equipment. Equipment also goes missing because it is not inventoried if it is under $2,000.
    
    "A student with legitimate access to Discovery Hall," she explained, "has easy accessibility to equipment. A student with access to the loading dock could steal equipment on the weekend when campus security is not present in Discovery Hall. A student could also walk out of the entrance with equipment on the weekend without security present." She concluded: "The events at GMU demonstrate opportunity to create a clandestine lab, the ability to sell items illegally, or the ability to exploit school equipment." In a late September 2001 interview on NPR on the anthrax threat, Dr. Alibek said: "When we talk and deal with, for example, nuclear weapons, it’s not really difficult to count how much of one or another substance we’ve got in the hands. When you talk about biological agents, in this case it’s absolutely impossible to say whether or not something has been stolen.” A spokesman at the GMU "Office of Media Relations" emailed me in mid-December 2007 noting: "While working toward a doctorate in bioinformatics here at George Mason University, Mr. Al-Timimi had no access to any sensitive or secure materials or matter. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know." When I emailed him questions, he did not know of the answers and then never got back to me.
    
    At a conference on countering biological terrorism in 1999 sponsored by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Alibek was introduced by a former colleague of Dr. Bailey:
    
    “Dr. Llewellyn: This is rather strange because I just met Dr. Alibek today. He was introduced to me by Dr. Charlie Bailey, who now works for SRA. But Charlie and I were associated with the Army Medical Research and Development Command Defense Program for over 20 years.
    ***
    Dr. Alibek: Thank you very much for your attention.”
    
    Isn’t SRA who Al-Timimi worked for 1999 where he had a high security clearance for work for the Navy? See Milton Viorst’s article “The Education of Ali Al-Timimi. Did Dr. Bailey also work there at SRA in 1999? Did they work together? When I emailed Dr. Bailey in December 2007 to confirm Ali had the room right near his at Discovery Hall he politely referred me to counsel and took no questions. Dr. Alibek and Dr. Popov have told me that Ali is not known to have worked on any biodefense project. Dr. Popova told me I should direct any such questions to Dr. Bailey. Dr. Bailey told me I should direct any questions to University counsel. University counsel declined to answer any questions. This is one of those uncomfortable questions that Condoleeza Rice in 1999 in writing about bioterrorism the public might have to ask about intelligence matters relating to bioterrorism. Unfortunately, it is easier to ask the question than get any answers from this Administration.

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12. 12. lhpd 10:17 PM 9/19/08

    Interesting article and interesting comments from Veritas. I feel I have to do more reading about this Al-Timimi.

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13. 13. Veritas 11:58 PM 9/19/08

    The Washington Post, in an article Hardball Tactics in an Era of Threats, dated September 3, 2006 summarized events relating to George Mason University computational biology graduate student Ali Al-Timimi:
    
    In late 2002, the FBIs Washington field office received two similar tips from local Muslims: Timimi was running an Islamic group known as the Dar al-Arqam that had conducted military-style training, FBI special agent John Wyman would later write in an affidavit.
    
    Wyman and another agent, Wade Ammerman, pounced on the tips. Searching the Internet, they found a speech by Timimi celebrating the crash of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, according to the affidavit. The agents also found that Timimi was in contact with Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, a Saudi whose anti-Western speeches in the early 1990s had helped inspire bin Laden.
    
    The agents reached an alarming conclusion: Timimi is an Islamist supporter of Bin Laden who was leading a group training for jihad, the agent wrote in the affidavit. The FBI even came to speculate that Timimi, a doctoral candidate pursuing cancer gene research, might have been involved in the anthrax attacks.
    
    On a frigid day in February 2003, the FBI searched Timimis brick townhouse on Meadow Field Court, a cul-de-sac near Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax. Among the items they were seeking, according to court testimony: material on weapons of mass destruction.
    
    Al-Timimi had rock star status in Salafist circles and lectured in July 2001 (in Toronto) and August 2001 (in London) on the coming end of times and signs of the coming day of judgment. He spoke alongside officials of a charity, Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA) promoting the views of Bin Ladens sheiks. Another speaker was Alis mentor, Bilal Philips, one of the 173 listed as unindicted WTC 1993 conspirators. Bilal Philips worked in the early 1990s to recruit US servicemen according to testimony in that trial and interviews in which Dr. Philips explained the Saudi-funded program. According to Al-Timimi's attorney, Ali "was referenced in the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing ("Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US") as one of seventy individuals regarding whom the FBI is conducting full field investigations on a national basis."
    
    According to witness testimony in the prosecution of the Virginia Paintball Defendants, after September 11, 2001, Al-Timimi stated that the attacks may not be Islamically permissible, but that they were not a tragedy, because they were brought on by American foreign policy. The FBI first contacted Timimi shortly after 9/11. He met with FBI agents 7 or 8 times in the months leading up to his arrest. Al-Timimi is a US citizen born in Washington DC. His house was searched, his passport taken and his telephone monitored. Ali Al Timimi defended his PhD thesis in computational biology shortly after his indictment for recruiting young men to fight the US in defending against an invasion of Afghanistan.
    
    Some of his communications in 2002 with dissident Saudi sheik Safar al-Hawali, one of the two fundamentalist sheikhs who were friends and mentors of Bin Laden, were intercepted. The two radical sheiks had been imprisoned from September 1994 to June 1999. Al-Hawalis detention was expressly the subject of Bin Ladens 1996 Declaration of War against the United States and the claim of responsibility for the 1998 embassy bombings.
    
    ABC reported in July 2004 that FBI Director Mueller had imposed an October 1, 2004 deadline for a case that would stand up in court. The date passed with no anthrax indictment. Al-Timimi was not indicted for anthrax. He was indicted for sedition. Upon his indictment, on September 23, 2004, al-Timimi explained he had been offered a plea bargain of 14 years, but he declined. He quoted Sayyid Qutb. He said he remembered reading his books and loving his teaching as a child, and that Qutbs teaching was prevented from signing something that was false by the finger that bears witness. He noted that he and his lawyers asked that authorities hold off the indictment until he had received his PhD, but said that unfortunately they did not wait.
    
    The indictment against the paintball defendants alleged that at an Alexandria, Virginia residence, in the presence of a representative of Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), the defendants watched videos depicting Mujahadeen engaged in Jihad and discussed a training camp in Bosnia. His defense lawyer says that the FBI searched the townhouse of to connect him to the 9/11 attacks or to schemes to unleash a biological or nuclear attack. Famed head of the former Russian bioweaponeering program Ken Alibek told me that he would occasionally see Al-Timimi in the hallways at George Mason, where they both were in the microbiology department, and was vaguely aware that he was an islamic hardliner. When what his defense counsel claims was an FBI attempt to link Al-Timimi to a planned biological attack failed, defense counsel says that investigators focused on his connections to the men who attended his lectures at the local Falls Church, Va. In the end, he was indicted for inciting them to go to Afghanistan to defend the Taliban against the United States invasion of Afghanistan. During deliberations, he reportedly was very calm, reading Genome Technology and other scientific journals. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 70 years.
    
    At his sentencing, Dr. Al-Timimi spoke in clear and measured tones:
    
    I will not admit guilt nor seek the Courts mercy. I do this not out of any disrespect to the Court. I do this simply because I am innocent.
    My claim of innocence is not because of any inherent misunderstanding on my part as to the nature of the crimes for which I was convicted nor is it because my Muslim belief recognizes sharia rather than secular law. It is merely because I am innocent.
    We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
    I declare the governments recitation poor as it stripped those words of their meaning.
    ***
    Imprisonment of any term, as this Court well knows, is a crisis for the incarcerated and his or her loved ones. I am no exception to that.
    But the real crisis brought on my imprisonment, I sincerely believe is Americas. For if my conviction is to stand, it would mean that two hundred and thirty years of Americas tradition of protecting the individual from the tyrannies and whims of the sovereign will have come to an end. And that which is exploited today to persecute a single member of a minority will most assuredly come back to haunt the majority tomorrow.
    
    KSM invoked George Washington in his statement to a military tribunal in March 2007. That was far less compelling because he was admitting to many serious crimes. The evidence presented at Al-Timimi's trial, however, was offered only to show that Dr. Al-Timimi was guilty of nothing other than exhorting some young men to go abroad and defend their faith. It seems that, under the governments case, his only crime was to put his religion before his nation-state. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years. As one Washington Post reporter said of such cases, the government seemed to be engaged in shadow boxing.
    
    As Al-Timimi explained in his eloquent statement upon sentencing, he was convicted out of fear.
    
    The former head of the DARPA Biological Countermeasures Program, Dr. Stephen S. Morse, in an interview airing on Charlie Rose on October 10, 2001, explained that there was no need for the public to fear. He noted that maybe the mailer had a personal reason  there was no reason to assume the Florida death related to terrorism or a large group. Dr. Morse urged that we put it into perspective and inform the public so as to remove the mystery. He explained we should not allow ourselves to feel fear. As reiterated in other interviews that week, he said mailed anthrax was not a great danger. As those words aired, however, more letters were en route from that mailbox at 10 Nassau St. in Princeton. The anthrax mailer asked a pointed question in the letter containing a much more highly refined product  product that aerosolized much more readily. The new batch of letters asked: Are you afraid?
    
    The answer was clearly yes. To use the technical Army expression with such a biohazard, it had "major pucker factor." After the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology detected silica, former USAMRIID Deputy Commander Charles Bailey, identified as a scientist at Advanced Biosystems Inc. at George Mason University, declined to comment on the purpose of the silica. He told one reporter: "I don't think I want to give people -- terrorists -- any information to help them."
    
    Oops. Too late.

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14. 14. secondclass 12:02 AM 9/20/08

    My questions are a bit off topic. Why was someone with paranoid schizophrenia working at this level of classified research? Are drug tests required of civil service employees as they are of active duty military? If not, shouldn't the urinal P-traps be sampled for phenothiazine class drug metabolites (as well as drugs of abuse)?

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15. 15. Veritas in reply to secondclass 12:09 AM 9/20/08

    Instead, his diagnosis was Paranoid Personality Disorder. Hey, just because you are paranoid does not mean the FBI is not listening to all your conversations, searching your desk at work, parked down the street etc. Just because you are paranoid does not mean they aren't out to get you. But you raise a fair point as to the 2000-2001 time period.

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16. 16. Veritas 12:18 AM 9/20/08

    After completing his religious education in Saudi Arabia in Medina, Ali Al Timimi returned to the United States and received a second bachelor’s degree — this time in computer science at the University of Maryland, while also studying software programming at George Washington University. Timimi spoke at IANA conferences in 1993 and 1994. A senior al Qaeda recruiter, Abdelrahman Dosari, also spoke at three IANA conferences in the early 1990s. In December 1993, Al-Dosari (a.k.a. Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz “Barbaros”) spoke on ‘Jihad & Revival” and exhorted young men to fight for their faith as Al-Timimi would later be accused of doing privately with young men in Virginia.
    
    At the first annual IANA conference in 1993, scheduled speakers included Bilal Philips, Mohammed Abdul-Rahman from Afghanistan, Mohammad Qutb from Cairo, Gamal Sultan from Cairo, and Abu Abdel Aziz 'Barbaros' (Bosnia).
    
    Mohammad Abdul-Rahman was the blind sheik’s son. The blind sheik would soon be sentenced for terrorism relating to WTC 1993 and the “Day of Terror” plot directed at NYC landmarks. In 2000, Mohammed Abdel Rahman, a/k/a “Asadallah,” who is a son of Abdel Rahman, was sitting alongside Bin Laden and Zawahiri and was videotaped encouraging others to “avenge your Sheikh” and “go to the spilling of blood.
    
    Mohammad Qutb was Sayyid Qutb’s brother. Egyptian Mohammad Qutb, a renown scholar and activist, taught Bin Laden at university in Saudi Arabia, having emigrated to Saudi Arabia. In the 1970s, bin Laden was taught by Sayyid Qutb’s brother, Dr. Mohammad Qutb, and a Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood member, Dr. Abdullah Azzam, who later would found Al Qaeda. Azzam’s ideas of non-compromise, violent means, and organizing and fighting on a global scale were central to Al Qaeda methods. Qutb, as al-Hawali’s teacher, also strongly influenced al-Hawali. Al-Hawali would be sent to prison in 1994.
    
    Gamal Sultan was a former EIJ member who would seek to start a political party in 1999 with the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Kamal Habib. They sought to chart a nonviolent course (given the practical reality that the movement had been so infiltrated by the security forces). The blind sheik declined to endorse the venture. In 2000, on a trip to Pittsburgh, Gamal Sultan and his colleagues thought Pittsburgh reminded them of Kandahar given its rolling hills.
    
    Abu Abdel Aziz 'Barbaros' was a well-known holy warrior and fundraiser from Saudi Arabia. In 1994, Abdel Aziz glorified jihad and praised the Pittsburgh magazine Assirat for its interest in holy war. He asked Assirat readers and in a 1995 update, to donate money for holy war. He lauded Dr. Abdullah Azzam, the founder of al-Qaeda. He explained jihad will continue till the day of judgment.” In 1996, he was detained as the primary suspect in the attack on the Dhahran barracks, in which 19 U.S. servicemen were killed. As explained by expert witness Evan Koehlmann at the trial of one of Al-Timimi's assistant, Abu Abdul-Aziz Barbaros was celebrated in LET propaganda.
    
    Salafist commentator Umar Lee has explained that in the early 1990s “the most dynamic part of the salafi movement in the DC-area were the students Sheikh Ali al-Timimi who in the 1990’s co-founded a very small group with a small office for an organization called the Society for the Adherence to the Sunnah. In early July 1994, cooperation with Al-Timimi’s Society for the Adherence to the Sunnah, Washington, D.C., IANA held its first annual summer camp in English in Frederick, MD (where the ponds were drained in the Amerthrax investigation). The theme of the camp was “Living the Shahadah in America.” This is what Sheikh Ali was teaching kids at the 1st Annual IANA Summer Camp at a Frederick, MD park:
    
    “Reflections on the Meaning of Our Testimony of Faith: ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” by Ali Al-Timimi.
    ***
    “6 Wage Jihad in the Path of Allah
    ***
    “Fight those who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and practice not the true religion (Islam), being of those who have been given the Scripture (the Jews and the Christians) — until they pay tribute readily and have been brought low. (The Qur’an 9:29)
    The Prophet has said:
    
    I am commanded to fight mankind till they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish the prayers and pay the charity. When they do that they will keep their lives and their property safe from me.”
    
    Author Milton Viorst, the father of a boy who knew Al-Timimi as a young teen, wrote: “Dozens of his talks are available on the Internet in text and in audio format. They contain little about Arab concerns with the Arab-Israeli wars, the rivalries between the Arab states, the problems faced by Muslims living in the West, or even the war in Iraq. Rather, they reveal a man who reflects deeply on the Islamic vision of Judgment day, prophecy, the nature of the divine, and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) — subjects with which he grappled in Medina and in his private reading.” Al Timimi’s lectures (in English after Arabic opening) include “The Negative Portrayal Of Islam In the Media,” “Signs Before the Day of Judgement,” “Advice to the UK Salafis” and “Crusade Complex: Western Perceptions of Islam.” In one of his taped talks available online, al-Timimi warned Muslims not to become too friendly with non-Muslim “disbelievers” or even work for them if other jobs were available. “A Muslim should never allow the disbeliever to have the upper hand.”
    
    Al-Timimi’s increasing computer skills got him a job at SRA International where Ali worked as a “bioinformatics software architect” providing information technology to the government. Some of his jobs required that Ali obtain a high-level security clearance. One job resulted in a letter of recommendation from the White House. He then enrolled in a PhD program in computational biology at George Mason University.
    
    By 2000, Ali Al-Timimi was already taking advanced courses at Mason in computational sciences. Timimi once explained his research: “I am currently a research scientist at the Center for Biomedical Genomics and Informatics, George Mason University. I am involved in the analysis of the microarray data generated by the CTRF Cancer Genomics Project. Likewise, I am developing new computational approaches and technologies in support of this project.” The webpage for Timimi’s program at the time explained: “Faculty members and graduate students in the Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology participate in numerous collaborative efforts including but not limited to the following Laboratories and Research Centers: Center for Biomedical Genomics and Informatics (GMU) , Laboratory for Microbial and Environmental Biocomplexity (GMU) and Center for Biodefense (GMU). Beginning the Spring of 2002, GMU hired Ali to develop a computer program that coordinated the research at several universities, letting him go only after he came under suspicion by the FBI. In Spring 2002, according to salary information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, GMU hired him for $70,000 a year. In 2002, the employment was through the School of Computational Sciences and in 2003, it was through Life Sciences Grants & Contracts.
    
    The School of Computational Sciences at George Mason is a joint venture between the American Type Culture Collection (”ATCC”) and George Mason. The joint venture is an effort to maximize research efforts by combining the academic and applied approaches to research. The School’s first activity was to teach an ATCC course in DNA techniques adapted for George Mason students. The ATCC is an internationally renown non-profit organization that houses the world’s largest and most diverse archive of biological materials. The Prince William Campus shares half of Discovery Hall with ATCC. ATCC moved to its current state-of-the-art laboratory at Discovery Hall (Prince William II) in 1998. ATCC’s 106,000-square-foot facility has nearly 35,000 square feet of laboratory space with a specialized air handling system and Biosafety Level 2 and 3 containment stations. The ATCC bioinformatics (BIF) program carries out research in various areas of biological information management relevant to its mission. BIF scientists interact with laboratory scientists in microbiology, cell biology, and molecular biology at ATCC and other laboratories throughout the world. ATCC has strong collaborations with a large number of academic institutions, including computational sciences at George Mason University. Through these partnerships, the George Mason Prince William Campus offers George Mason microbiology students an opportunity for students to be involved in current research and gain access to facilities and employment opportunities at ATCC and other partner companies.
    
    While I’ve not yet found any reference directly confirming Timimi’s room number, the person who inherited his old telephone number (3-4294) is Victor Morozov in the Center for Biodefense, who upon joining the faculty and inheriting the phone number was in Rm. 154A, very near Dr. Bailey in Rm 156B. It has been suggested that it instead was Rm. 154B, in the middle of the office suite. GMU Information Services helpfully looked up the listings from 2001 directory. As of October 2001 (when the directory is published according to GMU Information Services), judging from the directory, Al-Timimi was still just a graduate student.
    
    Former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Ames strain anthrax researcher Charles Bailey, in Rm 156B, was given a Gateway desktop computer in mid-March 2001 (upon his arrival) — serial number 0227315480. It was like the one Dr. Alibek would get the next year in 156D. One way to think of proximity analysis — a form of true crime analysis — is the number of feet or inches between 154B and 156B/156D. Another way is to think of it is in terms of the number of feet or inches to the hard drives. You can judge the distance for yourself from a First Floor plan that is available online, clicking upon 154-156 area to enlarge.
    
    The December 2007 biodefense PhD thesis explains:
    
    "Although computers are password protected, anyone can access the computers located throughout the labs. Research results can be recorded on lab computers. Someone wanting to access research results would first have to understand what the numbers meant. Research results are also kept in a lab notebook that is kept in the lab or office. This enables other students to repeat what was already done or to see results."
    
    In April 2007, at a talk at Princeton University, Dr. Alibek noted that he felt that "[u]nfortunately, the likelihood is very high" of a follow-up to the anthrax mailings of 2001. "And the agent very likely is still anthrax." "The biggest part of my life now is devoted to cancer and cardiovascular (research). If you work in the biodefense community, good luck to you. I hope you succeed." Dr. Alibek explained that he had been scrutinized and consulted, and given a polygraph after the anthrax mailings. He said that anthrax likely would be the pathogen favored by terrorists because it is relatively easy to grow and transport. Dr. Alibek suspects it it was "a person who knew from some source how the U.S. manufactured anthrax years and years ago." He said, "It's not rocket science."
    
    

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17. 17. Veritas in reply to Veritas 12:22 AM 9/20/08

    Milton Viorst, who knew Ali as a teenager, wrote a fascinating and sympathetic yet balanced portrait in “The Education of Ali Al-Timimi” that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, June 2006. In Saudi Arabia, Al-Timimi had been mentored by a Saudi-trained Canadian imam Bilal Philips. Philips was Al-Timimi’s Islamic Studies teacher at Manaret Riyadh High School in the early 1980s. Al-Timimi adopted Philips’ view that “The clash of civilizations is a reality,” and “Western culture led by the United States is an enemy of Islam.” Between 1991 and 1993, Philips relocated to the Mindinao, Philippines, where he taught at an islamic school. In 1993, according to an interview he gave in a London-based Arabic-language magazine interview, Philips ran a program to convert US soldiers to Islam stationed in Saudi Arabia during the first Persian Gulf War. Philips was made a proselytization official by the Saudi Air Force. Philips followed up in the US, with telephone calls and visits intended to recruit the veterans as potential members of Bin Laden’s network. He enlisted assistance from others based in the U.S. and members of Islamic centers all over the US. These conversion specialists financed pilgrimages for US veterans and would later send Muslim clerics in the United States to their homes. Bilal Philips encouraged some converts from this program to fight in Bosnia in the 1990s. He enlisted WTC plotter Clement Rodney Hampton-El to help him with the program. Hampton-El was associated with the Al-Kifah center in Brooklyn. Hampton-El in trial testimony described a meeting at the Saudi embassy in 1992 at which Philips gave him a list of US Army personnel to approach. Bilal Philips was named along with Osama bin Laden and Bin Laden brother-in-law Khalifa (and many others) as unindicted co-conspirators in the Day of Terror trial that sent the “blind sheik” to prison.
    
    Bilal Philips explained these recruitment efforts to a London newspaper in Arabic (translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service) in an article titled "Jamaican-Born Canadian Interviewed on Islamic Missionary Work Among US Troops":
    
    “[redacted] used to coordinate with US intelligence. And, when Croatia closed its borders to Arab volunteers, there were a group of black Americans who completed their training and knew Islam through me. [Redacted] contacted Shaykh Umar Abd-al-Rahman and offered to use this group for sabotage acts inside the United States. The offer was made on the telephone, which apparently was tapped by US intelligence. Shaykh Umar replied by saying: ‘”Avoid civilian targets.’"
    
    "This was the expression under which he was sentenced to life. After this conversation, [Redacted]took the group to an apartment that was known to US intelligence and bugged by listening devices and cameras. The group was along with the American who travelled with them. He was the one who mentioned my name during the interrogation after denying his knowledge of any sabotage plans inside the United States. He said that he trained the group to go to Bosnia and that he was converted to Islam through me. This was how my name was involved in this case."
    
    Bilal Philips was a good friend of Adnan El-Shukrijumah’s father. Philips wrote in his guestbook on the family website his son created about learning Arabic: “He was one of my first teachers in Arabic and is a dear friend, though geography and world politics has separated us. Tell him that, as always, I love him for the sake of Allaah. Was salaam, Bilal.” Adnan’s family website also contained a picture of another “unindicted co-conspirator” of the ’93 bombing, Siraj Wahhaj, who would speak as the same Falls Church mosque as Al-Timimi. Siraj Wahhaj would host Sheik Abdel-Rahman at Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn where two of the WTC bombers worshipped. Wahhaj was a character witness for Sheik Abdel-Rahman at his 1995 trial.
    
    In a November 30, 2004 letter of appeal circulated in sympathetic circles in the US and the UK, Bilal Philips encouraged Muslims to assist Al-Timimi “financially, morally or politically.” The letter urged that “whatever the charges against him [Al-Timimi] may be, from an Islamic perspective they are false and contrived in order to silence the Da’wah to correct Islam.”

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18. 18. noserope 12:48 AM 9/20/08

    I was one of the people who reported seeing bleach blonde arab teenagers apparently casing the WTC in late April of 01' (they wanted to know what the WTC's protections were against having planes crash into them#. For years I thought I wrote the Pheonix Memo. Two weeks after I met these hinky characters I received a powder filled letter from the Greendale fourth grade in Franklin Park, New Jersey. I told the FBI this in September 02' but nothing came of it. I recognized that return address as coming from an old Mcgraw Hill fourth grade text book lesson on letter writing. I surmized an arab would need such a book to muddle through writing letters in a foreign language and that all the odd starts and stops within the handwriting of each letter, as well as the oddly written #1#s and #I#s looked to me consistent with someone not writing in their own language.
    It seems to me that as becoming airborn is a natural function of anthrax spores to disperse to new food sources then assymilating silcates from water and placing them under a skin that disolves upon drying is a suitable way to accomplish that natural objective. The anthrax may have been "weaponized" by nothing more than placing envelopes of it in a drawer for six months or a year to dry out.
    If this Dr. Ivins worked on making antedotes for mixed strain anthrax wouldn't that have been what the victims would have been exposed to? The FBI described him as an unstable character who held down the same job for thirty years. Sounds pretty stable to me. And why would the FBI, when they don't know who commited this crime label it Amerithrax. They didn't know who did it but they knew it wasn't a Muslim. That's fishy. Who got paid how much to come to that conclusion? Why couldn't this Al Timimi have stole a drop of anthrax from Ivin's lab and sent it to Alziwiri, Bin Ladens doctor? How's his letter writing skills? I'm sorry, it's just not likely somebody who warned the WTC would also get an anthrax letter without a connection. They shouldn't go through with pinning it on this innocent corpse.

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19. 19. Veritas in reply to noserope 05:02 AM 9/20/08

    1. Let me post from Anonymous Scientist on the subject of the method of processing. I would only note that your suggestion appears very similar in certain respects (regarding how the envelopes were loaded) to what has been suggested by a leading expert whose lab has performed studies making anthrax simulant with and without siliconizing solution. The spike for silicon appears only when the siliconizing solution was used.
    
    2. You write: "Greendale fourth grade in Franklin Park, New Jersey. I told the FBI this in September 02' but nothing came of it. I recognized that return address as coming from an old Mcgraw Hill fourth grade text book lesson on letter writing." This claim, if true, is subject to verification by obtaining a copy of the book. Do you have a copy? Or can you describe when you saw it? Why would you remember it? I remember "Esta Sussanna en casa" from my first Spanish lesson decade ago. But why would someone remember an address in such a book? Or even had occasion to read the book? It's a very important potential lead but would need particulars and need to be confirmed by the book itself. (which likely is easy to obtain) Ayman Zawahiri, in May 2001 correspondence explaining to long-time followers what he was doing, used "School" to refer to the Egyptian Islamic JIhad. He was justifying the merger with Al Qaeda. The CIA has known this for 7 years and the letter has been published.

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20. 20. Veritas 05:10 AM 9/20/08

    As for any Salafi-Jihadists being "bleach-blond," that seems curious, even dubious. Zawahiri has written an online book called COVERT OPERATIONS. In it, he justifies deception in times of war as permissible under koran and hadiths. He specifically says, for example, that men can shave their beards in order not to be noticed while spying on the enemy or stealing secrets. Zawahiri says that one can lie in times of war and to please one's spouse. But I've never seen an example or mention of dying one's hair blond. Ali's co-workers say he did not talk religion or politics at work. But he did nothing to conceal his dress.

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21. 21. Veritas 05:21 AM 9/20/08

    A post by an Anonymous Scientist at Meryl Nass's website.
    
    
    Anonymous said...
    
    Bad Science In The FBIs Anthrax Briefing
    
    The Aug. 18 FBI Anthrax Briefing revealed various scientific aspects of the investigation into the Anthrax mailings. Some of the scientific work may well, as claimed, lay the foundation for "a legitimate new discipline, namely microbial forensics". Nevertheless, some conclusions reported in the briefing were based on speculation rather than science and could have far reaching implications for other aspects of the FBI's investigation.
    
    In particular, FBI scientists reported their findings that the anthrax recovered from the anthrax attacks contained "no additives", despite previous reports that the materials contained extremely high levels of silicon that was chemically associated with oxygen. The FBI's "no additives" finding was based on analysis of thin sections of anthrax spores using a scanning transmission electron microscope to determine that the silicon and oxygen were present in a layer within the spore itself (the spore coat). No silicon and oxygen were found on the outer surface of the spores.
    
    According to the FBI scientists, the "silicant" (silicon and oxygen) was the result of "a natural occurrence", and could have resulted from silicon in the growth media and/or water used to prepare the spores.
    
    Nevertheless the FBI scientists reported other information that completely undercut the scientific validity of their "no additives" finding. They had been unable to prepare any anthrax samples having a silicon "signal" like that of the anthrax attack powders; and they said they could not quantify the silicon and oxygen levels within the anthrax spore. Moreover, they reported no research directed to the question of whether additives could deposit silicon and oxygen onto the spore coat within the anthrax spore.
    
    The hallmark of a finding based on science is proof. Without proof that anthrax can incorporate silicon as "a natural occurrence" to provide a silicon signal comparable to the anthrax attack powders, the "no additives" conclusion of the scientists is nothing more than a postulate, i.e., speculation.
    
    Scientific proof of the FBI's postulate would also require evidence of quantitative equivalence between, (i) the silicon and oxygen identified by the transmission electron microscope as being within the anthrax spores, (ii) the total silicon and oxygen as determined by SEM analysis (which had been previously reported, and which the FBI scientists admitted they had also seen in their own SEM studies).
    
    Moreover, the postulate of "no additives" would further require direct evidence that additives cannot be applied to anthrax spores to provide silicon and oxygen in subsurface anthrax layers comparable to the silicon and oxygen in the anthrax attack spores. It is noteworthy in this regard that actual scientific permeability studies carried out in 1961 on dormant bacillus sporesresulted in the finding that "[the] spores were permeable to all types of small molecules. The extent of uptake varied and seemed to reflect more the chemical nature of the molecule than active selectivity of the cell."
    
    It is somewhat ironic that the FBI presentation included a discussion of a study reported in 1980showing the presence of silicon in bacillus pores. The FBI obtained the original spores used in that study and found "the silicant incorporation was very similar to what we saw in the anthrax letters [although the quantity of silicon was apparently much lower]." According to the FBI scientists, the authors of the previous work had been unable to account for the silicon, and "even thought it was a possible laboratory error resulting from the silicone antifoaming agent." Without bothering to test the hypothesis of the prior authors, the FBI scientists concluded "we now have documented proof that with bacillus, the genus bacillus, that mineralization [occurs] -- including mineralization of silicant -- below the exosporian". Nevertheless various silicone antifoaming agents of low molecular weight are readily available and presumably capable of permeating the outer layer of anthrax spores in view of the 1961 bacillus spore permeability studies. Thus, the FBI's "documented proof" is based on speculation, not science.
    
    Ed Lakes's Anthrax Attacks siteis particularly noteworthy in providing additional background information, documentation, and reasoned postulates supporting the use of siloxane additives in anthrax spore production.
    
    Finally, it is significant that the FBI bases its case against Dr. Ivins, in part, on oxygen isotope measurements. The FBI claims that the isotope measurements allow determination of the source of water used to grow the spores used in the anthrax attacks. However, as indicated above various oxygen-containing additives might very well be incorporated within the interior of anthrax spores used in the anthrax attacks and could account for all or a portion of the oxygen isotope distribution results that the FBI has used to postulate water source location.
    
    
    September 8, 2008 8:27 PM

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22. 22. Veritas 05:26 AM 9/20/08

    
    Anonymous then added the following:
    
    
    I'm the "Bad Science In The FBI’s Anthrax Briefing" Anonymous. The crux of my analysis is simply this;
    in order to get the right answers, one has to ask the right questions. In an investigation, unfounded assumptions can result in the failure to investigate the avenue(s) which hold the answer to that which one is investigating.
    
    The question of silicon-oxygen additives is one that has been quite controversial in this investigation. It is clear that the attack anthrax included unusually large amounts of silicon (the element silicon). If the silicon had been present in the form, as some believe, of tiny silica (silicon dioxide) particles, there would be a potential implication that military technology had been involved in the anthrax production.
    
    But there are apparently other unique attributes of the anthrax powders used in the second letters beyond the issue of silica (silicon dioxide), and other silicon-oxygen compounds could have played a role here. For example, the anthrax powders were apparently nearly 100% pure anthrax spores. Some of Ivins' coworkers, and others knowledgeable in the field have said that it is extremely difficult to produce powders of this purity (even the weapons grade researchers of years ago apparently had difficulties producing materials of this purity). Some organic/silicon compounds called "surfactants", could have played a role here in that surfactants can greatly enhance removal of undesirable materials (soap and detergents are basically surfactants which function to allow materials such as oils, that are normally not susceptible to removal by water, to be readily removed by water).
    
    Apparently, other organic silicon compounds are sometimes used to enhance spray-drying processes and/or in wet milling processes. The latter process can allow conversion of solid clumps (agglomerates) into a more uniform dispersal of small particles.
    
    Could Ivins had obtained and used these additive materials? Easily if he knew what to look for. But his work didn't involve addressing these particular problems. So identifying these materials as the solution to problems he hadn't previously faced would have been, at least arguably, a 'find the needle in the haystack' type of situation that should have taken a great deal of time to solve. Also Ivins probably would have left a trail in obtaining the materials.
    
    So the "additives" issue is important for many different reasons; some obviously political, but others non-political in that from a technical standpoint, if one can identify unique additives, one should investigate whether people with access to RMR-1029 obtained, had, or used such additives.
    
    There's also the issue of the FBI's "water source" "isotope distribution" analysis. This one's even more obscure, but apparently the FBI analyzed the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in the anthrax powders to determine who to investigate. This was a "you are what you eat" analysis (I can't take credit for this terminology, I read it somewhere). Basically as the anthrax spores are grown, they incorporate the water used to grow them. But it turns out that water in different parts of the US and the world differs from place to place, from a nuclear standpoint (the tiny amounts of radioactive hydrogen and oxygen contained in the water varies from place to place). So the FBI used this type of analysis to conclude that the spores were grown in the Northeast US and apparently limited their investigation to suspects located there (Note I say "apparently" -- I don't know for a fact that the investigation was so limited -- someone needs to ask what role the isotope analysis played in eliminating suspects). But at any rate, if there are organic silicon compounds incorporated into the anthrax spores via permeation, then they will include hydrogen and oxygen atoms and isotopes representative of where the additives were made. (A lot of chemicals are manufactured in New Jersey). Bottom line, when the FBI thought it was determining what water was used to grow the anthrax spores, it may have been misled by additives it didn't know were present.
    
    OK, sorry for being long-winded. But if you've gotten this far, I want to add one last comment. There's no doubt in my mind that there are many dedicated women and men in the FBI, and among the scientists they've used, who are committed 24/7 to doing what's right, and giving everything they've got to doing that. And everything they've said may turn out to be correct. But until something is proven sufficiently in science, one shouldn't treat it as such in a proper scientific investigation because errors tend to compound themselves over time.
    
    So, everything's clear as mud now; I guess.
    
    
    September 9, 2008 4:26 PM

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23. 23. Veritas 05:37 AM 9/20/08

    "Anonymous Scientist" mentions the issue of isotope ratios. Although not a scientist myself, having seen the published studies as they came out, let me give my understanding of the issue.
    
    The FBI scientists have been able to distinguish between water isotopes ratios in the anthrax. Brian Williams reports that investigators have told NBC that the water used to make the spores came from the Northeastern United States. Researchers have been able to establish that anthrax grown in water in the Northeastern United States is distinguishable from anthrax grown in water from the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. In one published anthrax study, researchers grew Bacillus subtilis, a harmless bacteria that resembles Bacillus anthracis, using local water from five different U.S. cities. The scientists were able to distinguish those grown in various cities. The method can be used to narrow the number of possible origins of the water based on the number of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes. Interviewer Kestenbaum said: "Ehleringer is now creating a map showing how the isotope ratios of water vary anthrax was grown, it may rule some places out."
    
    I had inferred from the NBC report that from the isotope ratios, authorities believe either that the anthrax was grown in one of the yellow (or perhaps light green) areas, but not one of the dark green, blue or red areas on Ehrlinger's map. But perhaps future publications will explain the geographic scope of "the Northeastern United States" that were the subject of Erhlinger's conclusions (if the MSNBC report is correct). Islamabad and Baghdad, however, can be excluded. Outside of the United States, pretty much only the adjacent parts of Canada above Northeastern US (e.g., parts of Ontario and Quebec) match the yellow swath that the scientists found distinguishing. The authors of one of the key articles specifically noted that they couldn't distinguish between North Carolina and Ohio -- the dark green. Similarly, they can't distinguish between Central New Jersey and North Carolina (again, the dark green). The key studies in the peer reviewed literature indicate that they were funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. Someone needs to pay the bills.
    
    Ehleringer and his colleagues published a March 2007 article titled "Stable isotope ratios of tap water in the contiguous United States" in "Water Resources Research." The study was funded by the "federal government." The raw data survey results have been embargoed by the federal government." (The agency would usually be identified). In other water isotope ratio studies the funding agency was identified as the CIA or whatever agency it was -- it varied. Perhaps this March 2007 study was funded by the Department of Justice/Federal Bureau of Investigation and was done specifically for the purpose of laying the scientific groundwork of a prosecution in Amerithrax.
    
    Separately, a press release announced in September 2003 that University of Maryland researchers have developed a technique to help the FBI track the origins of deadly anthrax spores by identifying the medium used to grow it. The FBI asked Maryland professor Catherine Fenselau to turn her mass spectrometry lab to the forensic task of sleuthing how bacillus spores, such as anthrax, are prepared. While the Utah scientist in this study was looking at the tap water, Helen W. Kreuzer-Martin, the Maryland scientist in a study published in April 2007 titled "Stable Isotope Ratios and the Forensic Analysis of Microorganisms," was looking at the nutrients in the culture. The DOJ/FBI hoped to put all the data together with the more familiar reasons to suspect someone (means, motive, modus operandi and opportunity), and put on a case that to a moral certainty proves it was committed by the perp(s). Absent the scientific evidence, there reportedly was a lack of a "smoking gun." Here, based on this new science, under an Ivins Theory, there was no smoking petri dish either.
    
    By looking at the oxygen, hydrogen and deuterium geospatial distribution, authorities can more precisely identify where the water came from. For example, the deuterium map might be relied upon to eliminate an ambiguity left by the range indicated by the oxygen and hydrogen maps.

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24. 24. Veritas 05:46 AM 9/20/08

               I've always credited Dr. Alibek as being perhaps the premier expert.  In a March 31, 2003 public exchange sponsored by the Washington Post, in response to my written question submitted in advance, Ali Al-Timimi's George Mason University colleague, Kenneth Alibek, said: "This anthrax wasn't sophisticated, didn't have coatings, had electric charge and many other things."   In other responses, he further explained: "There was no special need to add silica to this anthrax. Presence or absence of silica says nothing about whether it was state sponsored."
    
                 US bioweaponeer William Patrick took time out from consulting with GMU grad students and gave it a 7 out of 10 --- calling it professionally done but not weapons grade. Perhaps that would be a B+ or even an A-. In an interview with CBS, William Patrick explained that he had been given a polygraph in June 2002 about the anthrax letters. He reports that "The FBI that they wanted me to become a part of their inner circle of--of experts, and that in order to become a part of that inner circle of technical experts, that I'd have to pass a polygraph test." In fact, he has not been quoted since, as he often was in 2001. Thus, this was a good indication of what scientific information the FBI credits or at least that they credit his expertise.
    
                 On April 11, 2003, Scott Shane reported that reverse engineering "carried out at the Army's biodefense center at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, raises the disquieting possibility that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups could create lethal bioweapons without scientific or financial help from a state." (The Scientific American's bizarre non sequitur on this point notwithstanding) Quoting one outside bioterrorism expert. "It shows you can have a fairly sophisticated product with fairly rudimentary methods."  At last report, the reverse engineering reportedly was not able to recreate the identical product. Lisa Bronson, deputy undersecretary of defense for technology security policy and proliferation, has said that commercially available equipment used to make powdered milk could be used to make powderized anthrax. A spray dryer is used in chemical and food processing to manufacture dried egg, powdered milk, animal feed, cake mixes, citrus juices, coffee, corn syrup, cream, creamers, dried eggs, potatoes, shortening, starch derivatives, tea, tomatoes, yeast, and -- last but not least -- yogurt. Washington State University also has an informative discussion on the web. Making dried milk is not rocket science and doesn't require a PhD. But, if experience is any guide, Al Qaeda has PhD's and even rocket scientists who are sympathetic to its cause (indeed, even the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb).
    
                 Here is a Q&A from a March 31, 2003 exchange with Kenneth Alibek, in response to a question I posed to him:
    
    "Q. Could someone expert in making dried milk make the product used in the Daschle and Leahy letters?
    
    A. Let me answer in this way -- yes, actually, it would be the same technique to make a powderized anthrax, but at the same time we shouldn't overestimate the complexity of making it. My opinion is this -- in order to make this powder there is no need to have sophisticated equipment. Such a small amount, keep in mind that the people who did could have very simple equipment and very simple procedures. There is no need for industrial equipment. It would be enough to have small equipment. But at the same time, when people talk about it being 'weaponized' -- I can't say it was that sophisticated. I saw the particles -- they were the size of 40 microns. We can't say anything about the quality of othis powder because we saw it after it had gone through mailing sorting machines which create very powerful pressure. There was no coating. What I saw on micrograph was no coating. It was natural spores and for some people they mistakenly thought it wasn't. Some experts said there was [no] charge because it was fluffy and made a cloud when put on scale. This is another mistake. It did have charge."

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25. 25. Veritas 06:22 AM 9/20/08

    Note that authorities have known the anthrax in the letters was a mixture of two Ames samples since at least 2002. Dr. Read, a scientist helping with the Amerithrax investigation in the DNA sequencing, long ago published the news that the anthrax was a 50/50% mixture of genotype 62 (Ames) and genotype 62 with an inversion on the plasmid. This would mean two distinct nucleic acids were detected in the sample.
    
    Moreover, some of the Ames had a segment of DNA that is inverted, or flipped, relative to the remainder of the plasmid. Inversions are not an uncommon class of mutational events, however. It would only be especially probative if it were a rare inversion and if samples were to be present among samples collected from laboratory archives. They were given a sample that was an exact genetic match by Ivins in 2002 but, incredibly, destroyed it.
    
    But as a layperson, I'm interested that this issue of the inverted plasmid has not been discussed. In testimony dated October 20, 1999, before Al-Timimi joined the program at GMU, Dr. Alibek, then Chief Scientist at Hadron, Inc testified before the House Armed Services Commitee, Military Procurement Subcommittee and Military Research and Development Subcommittee, testified about the Soviet program: “In addition to continuing previous types of work (developing improved manufacturing and testing techniques and equipment; developing improved delivery means for existing weapons; and exploring other possible agents as weapons), new emphasis was placed on, among other things, "transforming non-pathogenic microorganisms *** into pathogenic microorganisms.”
    
    Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, who runs the Federation of American Scientists’ chemical and biological arms control program, announced in December 2001. “I’m certain it’s someone connected with a government program, or who works in a laboratory connected with a government program,” she said. “The grapevine has it that the results of an experiment on genetic variation at certain locations suggest that this material was made in a very small batch, and that suggests that the material was not made in some old weapons program on a large scale,” she said, citing sources inside and outside the government. “All the available information is consistent with a U.S. government lab as the source, either of the anthrax itself or of the recipe for the U.S. weaponization process,” wrote Rosenberg on a webpage uploaded in December 2001.
    
    In an August 2007, scientists working on the FBI Amerithrax investigation wrote "Role of Law Enforcement Response and Microbial Forensics in Investigation of Bioterrorism" in the Croat Medical Journal. The FBI scientist's article explained that there
    
    "are a variety of genetic markers and methods that allow highly specific and accurate characterization of microbial diversity. For forensic purposes, assaying rapidly evolving markers enables better affiliation to recent common sources, while more stable markers provide better lineage-based evolutionary interpretations, such as strain and sub-strain definition. Since bacteria, viruses, and some fungi reproduce asexually, their genomes are considered to be clonal and portions of their genomes may be very stable and uninformative for distinguishing samples. Therefore, it may not be possible to identify the source of a sample by genetic analysis alone (as often is accomplished in human DNA identity testing). Since many microbial genomes have relatively short generation times, in an overnight culture, a single microbe could have reproduced its genome over a million times, increasing the chance of mutation that may be seen within the culture. Thus, some variation, and hence a forensic signature, may occur during asexual reproduction."
    
    The authors explained: "The forensic comparison of a genetic profile from a reference sample with that of an evidentiary sample can have three possible general outcomes: match or inclusion, exclusion, or inconclusive. With microbial genetic information, it is less likely to have a prescribed interpretation policy for what constitutes a match and what does not. Some questions may be difficult to answer unequivocally based on extant data. Uncertainty is greater than what is experienced for human DNA identity testing because of unknown diversity, limited databases, unknown manipulations, and limited genetic testing. However, the power of microbial forensic tools is increasing rapidly with ever advancing technology."

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26. 26. Veritas 06:28 AM 9/20/08

    In an e-mail forwarded by USAMRIID researcher Bruce Ivins to FOX News, scientists at Fort Detrick openly discussed how the anthrax powder they were asked to analyze after the attacks was nearly identical to that made by one of their colleagues. He had written it to a friend Patricia Fellows and it was titled "HOT News!"
    
    "Then he said he had to look at a lot of samples that the FBI had prepared ... to duplicate the letter material." "Then the bombshell. He said that the best duplication of the material was the stuff made by [name redacted]. He said that it was almost exactly the same -- his knees got shaky and he sputtered, 'But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!'"
    
    FOX News reports:
    
    "The FBI has narrowed its focus to 'about four' suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army’s bioweapons research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland, FOX News has learned.
    
    Among the pool of suspects are three scientists — a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist — linked to the research facility, known as USAMRIID."
    

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27. 27. Veritas 06:45 AM 9/20/08

    
    Las Vegas Sun editorial -Overcoming anthrax doubts: Panel that will review government investigation of attacks must be independent
    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/sep/20/overcoming-anthrax-doubts/
    
    The Sandia scientist in the Scientific American article should have limited himself to the location of silicon observed and sat down. He was not qualified to address the implications of his findings for the investigation -- not being trained in biological processes or experienced at aerosolizing anthrax simulants. Let some other named scientist with data from controlled experiments argue those points. The USG can start by providing the USG's best estimate of the percentage weight of the silicon.

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28. 28. Veritas 07:43 AM 9/20/08

                 Kathryn Crockett, Ken Alibek’s assistant -- was just a couple doors down from Ali Al-Timimi -- addressed these issues in her 2006 thesis, "A historical analysis of Bacillus anthracis as a biological weapon and its application to the development of nonproliferation and defense strategies."  She expressed her special thanks to Dr. Ken Alibek and Dr. Bill Patrick. Dr. Patrick consulted with the FBI and so the FBI credits his expertise. "I don't want to appear arrogant. I don't think anyone knows more about anthrax powder in this country," William Patrick told an interviewer. Dr. Alibek’s access to know-how, regarding anthrax weaponization, similarly, seems beyond reasonable dispute. Katie successfully defended the thesis before a panel that included USAMRIID head and Ames strain researcher Charles Bailey, Ali Al-Timimi's other Department colleague.  She says that scientists who analyzed the powder through viewing micrographs or actual contact are divided over the quality of the powder.  She cites Gary Matsumoto’s “Science” article in summarizing the debate.  She says the FBI has vacillated on silica.   “Regarding the specific issue of weaponization," Dr. Alibek's assistant concluded in her PhD thesis, "according to several scientists at USAMRIID who examined the material, the powder created a significant cloud when agitated meaning that the adhesion of the particles had been reduced. Reducing the adhesion of the particles meant that the powder would fly better.”  She explains that “The most common way to reduce electrostatic charge is to add a substance to the mixture, usually a silica based substance.”
    
                 On the issue of encapsulation, she reports that “many experts who examined the powder stated the spores were encapsulated. Encapsulation involves coating bacteria with a polymer which is usually done to protect fragile bacteria from harsh conditions such as extreme heat and pressure that occurs at the time of detonation (if in a bomb), as well as from moisture and ultraviolet light. The process was not originally developed for biological weapons purposes but rather to improve the delivery of various drugs to target organs or systems before they were destroyed by enzymes in the circulatory system" (citing Alibek and Crockett, 2005).  "The US and Soviet Union, however, " she explains, "used this technique in their biological weapons programs for pathogens that were not stable in aerosol form... Since spores have hardy shells that provide the same protection as encapsulation would, there is no need to cover them with a polymer.“ She explains that one “possible explanation is that the spore was in fact encapsulated but not for protective purpose. Encapsulation also reduces the need for milling when producing a dry formulation." By reducing the need for milling, she means permits greater concentration of the biological agent.  If the perpetrator was knowledgeable of the use of encapsulation for this purpose, then he or she may have employed it because sophisticated equipment was not at his disposal."

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29. 29. Cosmic 08:15 AM 9/20/08

    Wasn't some of his alleged motivation that he was pro-life and wanted to gt back at people who did not support his views?

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30. 30. Cosmic 08:18 AM 9/20/08

    Very interesting! We will never know for sure if Ivins was the person responsible but wasn't he allegedly and ironically motived by his Pro-life views?

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31. 31. Veritas in reply to Cosmic 10:08 AM 9/20/08

    The FBI has speculated on a range of alternative possible motivations, to include that one. There is no need to speculate on Ayman Zawahiri's motive -- he expressly announced that he intended to use anthrax against US targets. His military commander Mabruk and shura member al-Najjar -- and even the blind sheik's lawyer -- said he intended to use anthrax in retaliation of the rendering of senior Egyptian Islamic Jihad leaders and the detention of the blind sheik Abdel-Rahman. The Defense Intelligence Agency gave me 100+ pages, to include correspondence from a scientist who had infiltrated UK biodefense to Ayman. That correspondence from 1999 indicated he had visited two labs. The first lab did not have pathogenic anthrax. At the second lab, he reports that he had achieved his targets. The lab has not been identified. The ISI stopped cooperating with the CIA in early 2003 when the US DOJ started making noises about extraditing him and prosecuting him. He did not get the job as director of Ayman's lab in Afghanistan. That job went to Yazid Sufaat.

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32. 32. bruce 10:17 AM 9/20/08

    here's the problem: shortly after the attacks, government scientists assured us that the anthrax was weaponized. now they're assuring us that it was not. it seems inescapable from these premises that one group of scientists was either incompetent or lying to us to advance the interests of whoever was behind this, to deflect attention toward an innocent party. i don't have a ph.d. in microbiology, so i lack the knowledge set to determine which group is telling the truth. i don't trust anybody on this issue anymore, and this article's timing and conclusions seem awfully convenient, as if they were made to order. there's no room for an "honest mistake" when you're making representations of fact to the american people about a terror attack.

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33. 33. ajhil 10:46 AM 9/20/08

    Although I lack the expertise (not to mention the time required) to understand the technical details of this debate, I find it fascinating. I gather that the basic question remains unanswered: did the anthrax attack originate from (1) a foreign terrorist, (2) a domestic terrorist or terrorist sympathizer, or (3) none of the above?
    I'm still impressed by the facts that the anthrax mailings followed the 9-11 attacks so closely and that they were directed at Democratic congressmen pushing aggressively for a thorough investigation of those attacks. If one of the purposes of the mailings was to delay or handicap effective investigation of 9-11, while evidence was still relatively fresh, they certainly succeeded. Seven years later we still have only the disgracefully slipshod and incomplete reporting of the 9-11 Commission to explain the bizarre coincidences and scientifically implausible events of that day. I do not wish to distract from the important theme of this thread. Nevertheless, if there is a connection between the anthrax attacks and 9-11, it might provide useful clues about the former.

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34. 34. Veritas in reply to bruce 11:29 AM 9/20/08

    I note two things:
    
    (1) The head of the criminal prosecution pled the Fifth about the hyped sensational leaks regarding Hatfill. He came over the CIA on September 29, 2001. His daughter now represents Al-Timimi pro bono. His relatives are Palestinian activists. He was born in Haifa in 1948. Director Mueller should have directed that a meaningful leaks investigation be done in 2002 in connection with the Hatfill leaks so that they did not continue in 2003. Internal DOJ documents have been uploaded showing the emails and the cynicism demonstrated by the former US Attorney and this assistant to whom the lead investigator and FBI DC Field Office head reported. So when the next US Attorney now tries to pin the crime on a dead man, I say enough. Especially given the other "anthrax weapons suspect" was Andrew Card's former assistant and the present US Attorney was Gonzalez's advisor on national security matters. Al-Timimi's father worked at the Iraqi embassy. I suspect this situation closely parallels the mess with Ali Mohammed, the infiltrator who was OBL's head of intelligence. He was a former US Sergeant, worked briefly for the CIA and was an FBI informant. But he was a triple agent and was snookering them.
    Why did Al-Timimi have a high security clearance while at SRA with Charles Bailey at a time when Bailey consulted with Battelle? I asked Ali's wife, who was wonderful and gracious, but she could not tell me without counsel's approval.

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35. 35. noserope in reply to Veritas 03:34 PM 9/20/08

    Veritas at 05:02 AM on 09/20/08
    The following is a direct response to this comment.
    
    "1. Let me post from Anonymous Scientist on the subject of the method of processing. I would only note that your suggestion appears very similar in certain respects (regarding how the envelopes were loaded) to what has been suggested by a leading expert whose lab has performed studies making anthrax simulant with and without siliconizing solution. The spike for silicon appears only when the siliconizing solution was used.
    
    2. You write: "Greendale fourth grade in Franklin Park, New Jersey. I told the FBI this in September 02' but nothing came of it. I recognized that return address as coming from an old Mcgraw Hill fourth grade text book lesson on letter writing." This claim, if true, is subject to verification by obtaining a copy of the book. Do you have a copy? Or can you describe when you saw it? Why would you remember it? I remember "Esta Sussanna en casa" from my first Spanish lesson decade ago. But why would someone remember an address in such a book? Or even had occasion to read the book? It's a very important potential lead but would need particulars and need to be confirmed by the book itself. (which likely is easy to obtain) "
    
    I am not 100% positive why I remember the book, especially from so long ago. I was in fourth grade in 1969-70. My fourth grade teacher Ms. Lippman was a real ball buster, the best teachers always are. I remember busting Ms Lippmans chops because "Greendale Fourth grade Franklin Park, New Jersey is not a proper return address because it has no street address. Those gotcha moments when the student out smarts the teacher and the text book writers are rare, satisfting and memorable, and that was the only time I remember outsmarting her. I still remember her squirming a little as she said it didn't need a street address because every mailman knows where the local school is. Still it didn't conform with the directions on the same page that you need a return address consisting of a name, street address,city and state. Did they have zip codes way back in 69'? I forget. I also surmised to the FBI that it made sense to me further that a foreigner would end up with that old text book because I remembered a report about how old text books often got sent overseas as part of some literacy program. I e-mailed an inquiry to Mcgraw Hill but i got no response.

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36. 36. casey 01:16 AM 9/21/08

    Ya know, all this spinning is really just so much obfuscation. You don't want to lose sight of the forest for the trees.
    Some basic facts of the attacks:
    1) the perpetrator didn't want to be caught. ----
    9/11 terrorists were caught - dead but caught. and Al-Qaida gleefully took credit. Not so here on both counts.
    2) Terrorists like a lot of random death, guided by broad, obvious motivations. Whether the federal building in OK , or the 9/11 attacks.
    Not the case here - thousands could have been killed by the spores, such as spraying at a football game, etc. Instead, very specific targets were selected. And only a few people killed. This is not characteristic of a terrorist attack of the Al-Qaida type. The letters in the attacks were obvious red-herrings. And there was obviously some agenda in the attacks other than random death.
    3) Terrorists use the most convenient, obvious, tools at hand, bombs, guns, etc.
    They don't waste energy and time creating complex, obscure instruments of death. That's just movie stuff. They focus on the publicity, not the tool. They know that more complex methods have greater chance of failure. After all, they have a difficult time just making out-of-the-ordinary explosives. Forget things like anthrax, which requires at a minimum sophisticated equipment, specialized knowledge, etc, etc.
    After spending just a few years in DC – I was amazed at the “inbreeding” government employees can display. Just 20 years to the payoff, and they’re home free. But in the process, I’ve seen many with little twitches, quarks, etc. which betray their ability to ‘sell out’ and they end up with frustrations, anger and resentment for the ‘system’. In short, the motivators for attacks such as these. The very intelligence the perpetrator relied on to disguise these attacks ends up being the ‘tell’ which differentiates these from your garden variety terrorist. Ironic.
    Just who, I certainly can’t tell, but a government scientist vs an Al-Qaida terrorist, beyond a reasonable doubt, it was a scientist!
    

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37. 37. Veritas in reply to casey 05:19 AM 9/21/08

    Casey, do you categorize Ali Al-Timimi what you call "Al Qaeda" or what you call a "scientist?" In a filing unsealed this Spring, Dr. Ali Al-Timimi's lawyer explained that his client "was considered an anthrax weapons suspect." Al-Timimi was a computational biologist who had worked in the building housing the "Center for Biodefense" funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ("DARPA"). He came to have an office 15 feet from the leading anthrax scientist and the former deputy commander of USAMRIID. Dr. Al-Timimi's counsel summarizes:
    "we know Dr. Al-Timimi:
    * was interviewed in 1994 by the FBI and Secret Service regarding his ties to the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center bombing;
    * was referenced in the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing ("Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US") as one of seventy individuals regarding whom the FBI is conducting full field investigations on a national basis;
    * was described to his brother by the FBI within days of the 9-11 attacks as an immediate suspect in the Al Qaeda conspiracy;
    * was contacted by the FBI only nine days after 9-11 and asked about the attacks and its perpetrators;
    * was considered an anthrax weapons suspect;
    [redacted]
    * was described during his trial by FBI agent John Wyman as having "extensive ties" with the "broader al-Qaeda network";
    * was described in the indictment and superseding indictment as being associated with terrorists seeking harm to the United States;
    * was a participant in dozens of international overseas calls to individuals known to have been under suspicion of Al-Qaeda ties like Al-Hawali; and
    * was associated with the long investigation of the Virginia Jihad Group.
    ***
    The conversation with [Bin Laden's sheik] Al-Hawali on September 19, 2001 was central to the indictment and raised at trial. Al-Timimi called Dr. Hawali after the dinner with Kwon on September 16, 2001 and just two hours before he met with Kwon and Hassan for the last time on September 19, 2001.
    [911 imam] Anwar Al-Aulaqi goes directly to Dr. Al-Timimi's state of mind and his role in the alleged conspiracy. The 9-11 Report indicates that Special Agent Ammerman interviewed Al-Aulaqi just before or shortly after his October 2002 visit to Dr. Al-Timimi's home to discuss the attacks and his efforts to reach out to the U.S. government.
    [IANA head] Bassem Khafagi was questioned about Dr. Al-Timimi before 9-11 in Jordan, purportedly at the behest of American intelligence. [redacted ] He was specifically asked about Dr. Al-Timimi's connection to Bin Laden prior to Dr. Al-Timimi's arrest. He was later interviewed by the FBI about Dr. Al-Timimi. Clearly, such early investigations go directly to the allegations of Dr. Al-Timimi's connections to terrorists and Bin Laden -- [redacted]"
    The letter by Al-Timimi's counsel attached as an exhibit is equally meaty states that in March 2002, Dr. Al-Timimi spoke with Dr. Al-Hawali (Bin Laden's sheik who was the subject of OBL's "Declaration of War") about assisting Moussaoui in his defense The filing and the letter exhibit each copy defense co-counsel, the daughter of the lead prosecutor in Amerithrax. That prosecutor has pled the Fifth Amendment concerning all the leaks hyping a "POI" of the other Amerithrax squad, Dr. Steve Hatfill.

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38. 38. Veritas in reply to casey 05:41 AM 9/21/08

    On this question of modus operandi, the letters to newspapers in DC and NYC and to symbolic targets was not only the modus operandi of the followers of blind sheik Abdel-Rahman, it was their signature. They had done the exact thing a few years earlier.
    A memo seized in the 1995 arrest proposed flying an explosive laden plane into CIA headquarters. Anyone reading the Washington Post in the mid-1990s read about the plan to fly a plane into CIA headquarters over their morning coffee. The earlier plot to fly an airliner into the Eiffel tower by some Algerians connected to Bin Laden was also notable. It's important that as a country we learn from our mistakes and not pay short shrift to the evidence on the issue of modus operandi relating to Zawahiri's planned use of anthrax. Bin Laden denied responsibility for the planes operation until it was beyond dispute but the true experts knew it was not only his modus operandi but had been the subject of previous planning. The same is true with the anthrax mailings.
    This was not the first time the Egyptian islamists sent letter bombs to newspaper offices in connection with an attack on the World Trade Center. NPR set the scene. It was January 2, 1997, at 9:15 a.m. at the National Press Building in Washington, D.C. The employee of the Saudi-owned newspaper Al Hayat began to open a letter. It was a Christmas card -- the kind that plays a musical tune. It was white envelope, five and a half inches by six and a half inches, with a computer-generated address label attached. It had foreign postage and a post mark -- a postmark appearing to be from Alexandria, Egypt. It looked suspiciously bulky, so he set it down and called the police. Minutes later they found a similar envelope. These were the first two of four letter bombs that would arrive at Al Hayat during the day." A fifth letter bomb addressed to the paper was intercepted at a nearby post office. They all looked the same. Two similar letter bombs addressed to the "parole officer" (a position that does not exist) arrived at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth. It seemed evident how some Grinch had spent the holidays in Alexandria, Egypt.
    The FBI would not speculate as to who sent the letters or why. But this was your classic "duck that walks like a duck" situation. As NPR reported at the time, "analysts say that letter bombs are rarely sent in batches, and when they are it's generally prompted by politics, not personal animus." Al Hayat was a well respected and moderate newspaper. It was friendly to moderate Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That, without more, was accurately discerned by observers at the time as sufficient to make the newspaper outlet a target of the militant islamists. The newspaper, its editor explained, does not avoid criticizing militant islamists. The Al Hayat Editor-in-Chief explained: "We've been opposed to all extremists in the Arab world, especially the fundamentalists." Mohammed Salameh, a central defendant in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sent to Leavenworth in 1994. The other three Egyptian extremists convicted in the bombing were sent to prisons in California, Indiana and Colorado. Like the blind sheik Abdel-Rahman, Salameh had complained of his conditions and asked to be avenged. The Blind Sheik was particularly irked that the prison officials did not cut his fingernails.
    Abdel-Rahman was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy, bombing conspiracy, soliciting an attack on an U.S. military installation, and soliciting the murder of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His followers were indicted for plotting to bomb bridges, tunnels and landmarks in New York for which Rahman allegedly had given his blessings. The mailing of deadly letters in connection with an earlier attack on the World Trade Center was not merely the modus operandi of militant islamists, it was the group's signature -- it's their calling card. Khaled Abu el-Dahab, a naturalized American, from Silicon Valley, in a confession detailed Egyptian defense ministry document dated October 28, 1998, explained that he was trained to make booby-trapped letters to send to important people, as well as asked to enroll in American aviation schools to learn how to fly gliders and helicopters. He was a friend of Ali Mohammed, a former special forces officer in the Egyptian army and former US Army Sergeant. The modus operandi of these militant supporters of the blind sheik was known to be planes and booby-trapped letters.
    After the Al Hayat letter bombs to newspapers in DC and NYC and people in symbolic positions, in January 1997, both the Blind Sheikh and his paralegal, Sattar, were quoted in separate articles in Al Hayat (in Arabic) denying that they or their supporters were responsible. The Blind Sheikh commented that al Hayat was fair and balanced in its coverage and his supporters would have no reason to "hit" them. Sattar noted that the bombs were mailed on December 20, one day before the brief in support of the blind sheik on appeal. He questioned whether someone (like the FBI) was trying to undermine the appeal's prospects. The same sort of counterintuitive theory was raised in connection with the earlier letter bombing of newspapers to DC and New York City and people in symbolic positions. But that time it was Ahmed Abdel Sattar who noted that the bombs were mailed on December 20, 1996 one day before the brief in support of the blind sheik on appeal. This time, Mr. Sattar did not need any help making the argument with respect to the anthrax letters -- numerous people with political agendas rushed to do it for him to include counsel for Bosnia and Herzogovina and legal advisor to the PLO, professor Francis Boyle.

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39. 39. Veritas in reply to noserope 06:09 AM 9/21/08

    Noserope, what was the name of the elementary school you mention. Their business office might have record of the title of the text.
    As you know, ”Greendale School" is the return address of the anthrax letters to Senators Daschle and Leahy. In December 2002, the Arabic paper London Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that correspondence on Zawahiri’s computer (which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal) shows Zawahiri uses “school” as code for Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The letter was found on Al Zawahiri’s computer. The letter was designed to look innocent. It was dated 3 May 2001 and signed “Dr. Nour, Chairman of the Company.” Nour is one of Zawahiri’s aliases. In this context, it was Egyptian Islamic Jihad, not Al Qaeda, of which he was Chairman.
    "We have been trying to go back to our main, previous activities. The most important step was the opening of the school. We have made it possible for the teachers to find openings for profitable trade."
    The letter read:
    "To: Unknown
    From: Ayman al-Zawahiri
    Folder: Letters
    Date: May 3, 2001
    The following is a summary of our situation: We are trying to return to our previous main activity. The most important step was starting the school, the programs of which have been started. We also provided the teachers with means of conducting profitable trade as much as we could. Matters are all promising, except for the unfriendliness of two teachers, despite what we have provided for them. We are patient. [This apparently refers to an internal dispute with two senior London Egyptian islamists].
    As you know, the situation below in the village [Egypt] has become bad for traders [jihadis]. Our Upper Egyptian relatives have left the market, and we are suffering from international monopolies. Conflicts take place between us for trivial reasons, due to the scarcity of resources. We are also dispersed over various cities. However, God had mercy on us when the Omar Brothers Company [the Taliban] here opened the market for traders and provided them with an opportunity to reorganize, may God reward them. Among the benefits of residence here is that traders from all over gather in one place under one company, which increases familiarity and cooperation among them, particularly between us and the Abdullah Contracting Company [bin Laden and his associates]. The latest result of this cooperation is the offer they gave. Following is a summary of the offer: Encourage commercial activities [jihad] in the village to face foreign investors; stimulate publicity; then agree on joint work to unify trade in our area. Close relations allowed for an open dialogue to solve our problems. Colleagues here believe that this is an excellent opportunity to encourage sales in general, and in the village in particular. They are keen on the success of the project. They are also hopeful that this may be a way out of the bottleneck to transfer our activities to the stage of multinationals and joint profit. We are negotiating the details with both sides."
    The full message, decoded, is thought to say:
    "We have been trying to go back to our military activities. The most important step was the declaration of unity with al-Qaeda. We have made it possible for the mujahideen to find an opening for martyrdom. As you know, the situation down in Egypt has become bad for the mujahideen: our members in Upper Egypt have abandoned military action, and we are suffering from international harassment."
    But Allah enlightened us with His mercy when Taliban came to power. It has opened doors of military action for our mujahideen and provided them with an opportunity to rearrange their forces. One benefit of performing jihad here is the congregation in one place of all mujahideen who came from everywhere and began working with the Islamic Jihad Organization. Acquaintance and cooperation have grown, especially between us and al-Qaeda."
    In December 2002, the Arabic paper London Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that correspondence on Zawahiri's computer (which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal) shows Zawahiri uses "school" as code for "Al Qaeda."
    Dr. Jean Rosenfeld, a researcher associated with the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, and an expert on the symbolism of religious extremist movements, wrote me: “Greendale’ to me signified a conscious choice to use the symbolic color of Islam.” She continued: “The franked eagle on the envelope of the anthrax letters was identical to the one I caught on a documentary that showed a one-second shot of the site where Sadat was assassinated –- the huge eagle above the podium where he was when he died. That assassination was of great significance to Egyptian Jihad and produced the pamphlet by Faraj that justifies “fard ‘ayn”/individual duty as the basis of jihadist doctrine.” She explained that Al Qaeda "is rooted in Egypt and Salafism, not Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Al-Zawahiri, I believe, is intensely nostalgic for the Nile Valley.”
    The CIA factbook explains that the color green — such as used by anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat in naming his lab “Green Laboratory Medicine,” and by the mailer who used the return address “Greendale School” – is the traditional color of islam. Green symbolizes islam, Mohammed and the holy war. In its section on Saudi Arabia, and the “Flag Description,” the CIA “Factbook” explains that the flag is “green with large white Arabic script (that may be translated as There is no God but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God) above a white horizontal saber (the tip points to the hoist side); green is the traditional color of Islam.”
    An intelligence document first released in 2007 involves an operation by EIJ members headed by Atef and including Saif Adel in which the group headed to Somalia to work at developing a new base of operations. The group was called The Green Team. “Greendale School” was used as the return address in the letters and likely is code referring to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The stamp on the prestamped envelopes was of a green bird. For a video depicting the Green Bird’s point of view and invoking Allah’s guidance to “the straight path,” see this video “The 3D Kabah - A green birds eye view.” The koranic “Green Birds” reference is from the sentence relating to being set on “The Straight Path.” Timimi, the graduate student who had access to the Alibek/Bailey patent about concentration using hydrophobic silica, advised the EIJ founder Kamal Habib in writing for the publication called Assirat Al-Mustaqeem (“The Straight Path”).
    Likely for the same reason, Al Qaeda anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat and Zacarias Moussaoui used the name Green Laboratory Medicine as the name of the company that he used, for example, to buy 4 tons of ammonium nitrate, and that he used to cover his anthrax production program. In a Hadith the Messenger of Allah explains that the souls of the martyrs are in the hearts of green birds that fly wherever they please in Paradise.
    Green dale refers to green “river valley” — Egypt, Cairo, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and/or Egyptian Islamic Group. Put it all together and you have their new official name (though the American press does not use it) — Qaeda al Jihad. At the Darunta complex where jihadis trained, recruits would wear green uniforms, except for Friday when they would be washed.
    In the conversations that the blind sheikh’s spokesman, Sattar, had with people like the blind sheik’s successor Taha, EIJ/Vanguards of Conquest al-Sirri, and the blind sheikh’s son, they used the same language found in emails between Zawahiri and the Yemeni cell in email. If a brother was in the hospital, it meant he was in prison. If he had an accident, it meant perhaps that Egyptian security services had killed him.
    Given that using the same address helps the second recipient receiving the letter to identify it and avoid opening it, the perp would have no reason to use the same address unless he was communicating something and wanted to draw attention to it.
    Adham Hassoun and Kassem Daher used “school” as code. Canadian businessman Daher is an associate of EIJ member Jaballah, who was detained in Canada and had maintained regular contact with Ayman by satellite telephone after coming to Canada in 1996. “Is there a school over there to teach football?” Hassoun asked, using what the FBI says is code for jihad.
    The Amerithrax Task Force explanation of Greendale in the October 2007 affidavit in support of a search of Ivins residence is as follows. It is too absurd in its logic for words and yet the Postal Inspector or his counsel did not notice. Because of the compartmentalization between squads, it is difficult for agents to assess the quality of alternative theories. The affidavit states:
    "The investigation into the fictitious return address on envelopes used for the second round of anthrax mailings, "4th GRADE," "GREENDALE SCHOOL," has established a possible link to the American Family Association (AFA) headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi. In October 1999, AFA, a Christian organization, published an article entitled "AFA takes Wisconsin to court." The article describes a lawsuit filed in federal court, by the AFA Center for law and Policy (CLP), on behalf of the parents of the students at Greendale Baptist Academy. The articles focuses on an incident that occurred on December 16, 1998, in which case workers of the Wisconson Department of Human Services went to the Greendale Baptist Academy. The article focuses on an incident that occurred on December 1, 1998, in which case workers of the Wisconsin Department of Human Services went to the Greendale Baptist Academy in order to interview a fourth grade student. The case workers, acting on an anonymous tip that Greendale Baptist Academy administered corporal punishment as part of its discipline policy, did not disclose to the staff why wanted to interview the student. The case workers interviewed the student in the absence of the student's parents and informed the school staff that the parents were not to be contacted. The AFA CLP filed suit against the Wisconsin Department of Human Services, citing a violation of the parents' Fourth Amendment rights."
    ____________ donations were made to the AFA in the name of "Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ivins" on eleven separate occasions beginning on December 31, 1993. After an approximate two year break in donations, the next donation occurred on November 11, 1999, one month after the initial article referencing Greendale Baptist Academy was published in the AFA Journal. It was also discovered that the subscription to the AFA Journal, in the name of 'Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Invins,' ... was active until March 2005."

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40. 40. Veritas 07:32 AM 9/21/08

    Noserope,
    All McGraw-Hill publications are recorded at the US Copyright Office. It appears that the economic reality of elementary education is that there would be no separate text for letter writing for Fourth Grade students. Copyright Office records are searchable online back to 1978. Prior to that, records are available in-person.

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41. 41. noserope 09:53 AM 9/21/08

    Casey, you wrote: "Ya know, all this spinning is really just so much obfuscation. You don't want to lose sight of the forest for the trees.
    Some basic facts of the attacks:
    1) the perpetrator didn't want to be caught. ----
    9/11 terrorists were caught - dead but caught. and Al-Qaida gleefully took credit. Not so here on both counts.
    2) Terrorists like a lot of random death, guided by broad, obvious motivations. Whether the federal building in OK , or the 9/11 attacks.
    ere."
    
    
    1. The perpetrators of the 911 attacks wanted their mission to succeed. If that ment making some suspicios people disappear fine. They were willing to kill themselves for the success of the mossion certainly they would be willing to kill any they suspected of standing in their way.
    2 Terrorists like a lot of death true but it is their M.O. to do a half assed job first as a fact finding mission. Don't forget that it came out in the 93' WTC bombing trial against the blind sheik that the WTC was built to withstand a collision with a 707 and not a 747 as were used. When you factor in fact finding the moderate carnage of the anthrax attacks fits exactly with the Alqaeda M.O. You also commented about how terrorists like to stick to simple tools. There has been comment here that anthrax is perhaps one of the simplest of biological weapons so again the profile fits.
    
    Veritas
    You commented there are no Mcgraw Hill books on letter writing, correct, only the lesson was on letter writing, the book was an English book or some euphamism for the same thing.

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42. 42. chenxuanrainbow 12:52 AM 9/22/08

    it is the first time!

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43. 43. noserope in reply to Veritas 02:06 AM 9/22/08

    Veritas
    You asked about the unlikelyhood of my assertion about the two arabs I saw apparently casing the WTC being bleach blonde. Only one the two was bleach blonde,. I could tell from the unnatural yellow and orange highlights. The fake blonde guy never said a word. The other guy was real clean cut with very short dark hair and no beard. His name was Saud al Saheed. I said "Hi I'm..." and my name and he said "Hi I'm Saud." and winced for a split second like he didn't mean to give out his name. I know the rest of his name because his picture was on the front page of the FBI's website as a person of interest a year and a half later. He gave himself up to authorities in Saudi Arabia a week after that. That's all I know about them.
    You asked about what school I went to thinking it would help track down that text book i remembered Greendale fourth grade, Franklin Park, New Jersey as being a sample return address in. Forrestdale School, Rumson, New Jersey.

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44. 44. Veritas in reply to noserope 02:24 PM 9/22/08

    It's an intriguing possible lead and you certainly have been responsive answering questions. The best person to call the business administrator is an alum (i.e., you). I hope you do. Because all I can say is it would be a blockbuster development if it proved out based on the documentary evidence.
    
    The Anthrax Letters
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8PrTXtHDyI

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45. 45. noserope in reply to Veritas 11:17 PM 9/22/08

    Veritas,
    You mean the business administrator at the school right? And ask them if they've got any forty year old fourth grade english books, or a list of books they used. Then go in person to the U.S. Copywrite office because their online records only go back to 1978. Thanks Veritas you've been a big help. You know one of those kids in that fourth grade class grew up to be a broker for Eurotraders and got killed 9/11. I can't not follow this through.

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46. 46. Veritas in reply to noserope 06:22 AM 9/23/08

    What was the full name of the teacher? Perhaps she is a nursing home and remembers the text (she very likely used it or succeeding editions for years). At the Copyright Office, one fills out a form and it takes several days for the specimen to be retrieved. But with the exact title, I likely would just be able to buy the title from the wonderful used book dealers now available. For $2.

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47. 47. Veritas 06:27 AM 9/23/08

    It seems curious, even dubious, that a national text would use a fictitious address coincidentally so near your actual school. Seems too great a coincidence. It's only your early August reaction to the Ivins announcement that makes it seem is worth pursuing. If you are a troll, you are a troll of longstanding. In fact, it seems that this lead was publicly presented years ago and not pursued. Am I right you raised the same issue years ago on the internet? Maybe in 2002? What was the name of the FBI agent you told?

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48. 48. Veritas 06:36 AM 9/23/08

    
    I would buy this for $1 while I find a much better. It is a 1995 paperback edition. For years, I would buy and sell 19th Century books and so this should be a piece of cake.
    
    http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=974624246&searchurl=an%3DMcGraw-Hill%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3DLanguage%2BArts%26x
    
    Practice Book - Reading/language Arts - Grade 4/level 10 (Skills - Strategies)
    MacMillan/McGraw-Hill
    Buy this book
    Add to basket
    [30 Day Returns Policy]
    Bookseller:
    Great Buy Books
    (Lakewood, WA, U.S.A.)
    Bookseller Rating:
    
    Bibliographic Details
    
    ISBN: 0021791740
    Publisher: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
    Publication Date: 1995
    Binding: Paperback
    Book Condition: GOOD

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49. 49. Veritas in reply to noserope 10:28 AM 9/23/08

    Noserope,
    
    I spoke to a McGraw-Hill customer service person who explained that the texts are customized by area/state. So while I had said it seemed to undermine the reliability of your possible lead to involve a New Jersey address, it actually tends to corroborate the reliability of your lead. Your McGraw-Hill in fact would have used a New Jersey address. It is the regional rep or local rep we want now.

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50. 50. noserope in reply to Veritas 07:13 AM 9/24/08

    Hmm, an English book that isn't titled "English". That sounds just like what I described. Regionaly customized texts, i hope that doesn't make it harder to find. All i managed to get done today was find the address for the copyright office library of congress;
    101 Independence AvenueSE
    Washington, DC 20559-6304
    Phone # 202-707-3000
    Anouther friend of mine says if all else fails E-bay often sells old used text books, cheap too. time to get off my dead ass.

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51. 51. noserope 11:29 AM 9/24/08

    Veritas,
    I Talked to my old school today they don't have any records for what books they used that far back.
    You asked what FBI I talked to. I don't have too much in the way of names.
    It was the end of the labor day weekend 2002 about 2 p.m I stopped into the FBI headquarters in Quantico. They have marines there too. I gave my statemant to a young guy I assume was FBI and got grilled by like five marines at once. They searched my car and sent me on my way telling me to call a Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Huntsinger the next day. I did, he seemed more interested in why I came down there than anything else. As far as I new it was headquarters that was why. But it turns out the real headquarters is in Washington. I still have his number but I don't want to post it.
    Anouther interesting thought I had was that whoever customized the Mcgraw Hill texts for regions was likely the one who inserted the mistake of not including a street address that enabled me to catch a mistake in 69' and remember it 30 years later. They likely made those insertions after the rest of the book was proofread. Maybe that person could be located and has records. As far as looking up the teacher she was pretty old back then but it's worth a try. I think my mom knew her whole name and I recall she got married a long time ago so she'd have a different last name now. Mom might now that too.

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52. 52. noserope 12:36 PM 9/24/08

    Veritas,
    I talked to the Mcgraw Hill regional service center and sales representitive today. The sales rep said that the states customize the texts according to required skill standards not so students could relate with addresses close by and she felt a lesson on how to write a letter would be a standard lesson in every version. She didn't know about how copyrights were registered but she knew they paid fees for it and suggested I talk to the regional service center. The center has no old old books also. The guy i talked with said he could look it up if I could get the ISN number. He didn't know anything about copyrights either. Other than that he suggested I try googling it.

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53. 53. chesnics 12:46 PM 9/24/08

    Or just another Off-The-Wall-Thought born of an excessively long commute.... So - I was thinking about the ecological geographical /geological niche that the AMES strain Anthrax bacillus naturally occupies in the United States. In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, there was a great deal of speculation by various anonymous government sources about the Silica compounds observed in the analysis of the anthrax. The clay material Bentonite was alleged to have been part of a secret anthrax weaponization recipe. (Implying that the anthrax was an Iraq type bioweapons grade because it contained Bentonite.) Ames Anthrax is found though out the Western United States. (I am not sure of the extent of its actual range?) However, the area's prior geological history of volcanism makes volcanic ash deposits ubiquitous in these Western states; (particularly with the mega eruption of Yellowstone Park caldera.) (The high ash content of the soil is one of the reasons potatoes grow so well in Idaho.) Approximately four hundred thousand years ago Yellowstone erupted leaving deep volcanic ash deposits over large sections of the entire Western, Central, United States. These areas were completely buried with many meters of ash. This ash spread as far and wide into Eastern upstate New York leaving deposits there of 15 cm or deeper. Rhyollitic Lava has relatively high SiO2 content above 68% and Basaltic somewhere near 50%. Where the flowing ashes are overlain by airborne ash, an ignimbrite or tuff is formed. This particular ash may have been up to 60% pure Silica in some areas. Bentonite is an absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate generally impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are a few types of Bentonite and their names depend on the dominant elements mixed with the silica. Ca, Na, Al and K. Bentonite usually forms from weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence of water. Bentonite in large concentrations is sticky, used for drilling muds on oil rigs and also for forming clay molds for metal casting. Bentonite is also used to clarify wine and as a food additive However in low concentrations it will affect moisture content and electrostatic properties of mixtures. The volcanic ash and resulting clays are found throughout the Western United States coincident to where the Ames anthrax strain is found. The additional silica may help the anthrax spore infect the ruminants / cattle grazing close to the dusty ground.
    
    I was wondering if the incorporation of Silica into the Anthrax spore coat was a more natural occurrence then we realized and may improve the organisms survivability; allowing it to spread easier in this windy and dusty environment? Silica anti-static properties additives needed for "weaponization of anthrax" may have been "discovered" by the magic hands of evolution long before our closest living relatives had opposable thumbs or developed secrets crushes on the girls over at "KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA" cave?
    The weaponization may have been easily achieved by adding silica compounds to the anthrax growth media.

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54. 54. noserope 07:12 PM 9/24/08

    My commute is forty five minutes, how 'bout yours? Seriously, your opinion is as good as any other presented here so far including the government's. Neither opinion addresses beyond a reasonable doubt who did it though. In the end doesn't that mean there are too many reasonable doubts for this case to be closed?

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55. 55. chesnics in reply to noserope 09:56 AM 9/25/08

    70 miles each way.....

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56. 56. Veritas in reply to noserope 06:33 PM 9/30/08

    Yes, going to Quantico was way off base. They have no connection whatsoever. Even the so-called profilers only had passing involvement with the matter.

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57. 57. Veritas in reply to noserope 06:39 PM 9/30/08

    The ISBN number is easy to get through google with the title. But you want the book by that title prior to the revision in 2000. I've ordered the 2000 version through interlibrary loan. If you could, order that $1 1995 book I mentioned. I didn't see it at Abebooks when I went back. It must be at Alibris. Perhaps you could buy it. Sorry I let it slip but with it not being my recollection, I don't know what weight to give it. Remember: the real world is not like EAGLE EYE. Heck, Sarah Palin may be the leader of the free world soon. "I'll go look for it and bring it to ya," as she told Katie Couric would not inspire confidence and you should not expect that the FBI got an old copy. So you better go look for it and bring it to us. :0)

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58. 58. Veritas in reply to chesnics 06:44 PM 9/30/08

    Just focus on the textbook, if you would, as your discussion of Ames and silica is way off. The Ames came from the flask which was the origin of a stream of matching isolates (at least 8 known isolates) to which 100+ (FBI estimate) to 200-300 people are known to have access (and then an unknown number of additional people). The silicon signature, according to the FBI's WMD head, "could have been in the culture medium." They define "weaponization" as meaning silica on the exosporium and then note they did not find silica on the exosporium and thus say it was not weaponized in a way to make it more dispersable. But it is an Alice in Wonderland approach. Silicon dioxide in the culture medium serves to permit greater concentration with less expensive equipment and does that by dampening vanderwaals forces -- with silica on the surface removed through repeated centrifugation. But if you would just track down the textbook. I don't believe you've given the first name of the teacher so it can be verified that a teacher by that name worked at that school. And so she can be contacted if alive.

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59. 59. noserope in reply to Veritas 10:55 PM 10/6/08

    Veritas,
    I didn't even give you the right spelling of the last name. Upon further thinking about it her last name wasn't Lipman but more like Lapin. I think that's the right spelling. I've heard of people named Lipman but she was the only one I ever met named Lapin (Lay pin). Thats how my mind works, odd names get associated wwith the nearest common name. Mostly, I erased her class from my mind like a rape victim. Like I said she was a real ball buster. Haven't spent any money on books because I don't much have any. Foreclosure, bankrupcy that I have. Still haven't checked with my mom on Ms .Lapin first or married name. Been working. I'll get to it I promise.

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60. 60. noserope in reply to Veritas 10:55 PM 10/6/08

    Veritas,
    I didn't even give you the right spelling of the last name. Upon further thinking about it her last name wasn't Lipman but more like Lapin. I think that's the right spelling. I've heard of people named Lipman but she was the only one I ever met named Lapin (Lay pin). Thats how my mind works, odd names get associated wwith the nearest common name. Mostly, I erased her class from my mind like a rape victim. Like I said she was a real ball buster. Haven't spent any money on books because I don't much have any. Foreclosure, bankrupcy that I have. Still haven't checked with my mom on Ms .Lapin first or married name. Been working. I'll get to it I promise.

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