What we learned from the FBI's scientists today.

[mhatrw]

• Anybody working in a government microbiology lab can easily turn a single anthrax spore into an infinite supply of mailable murder and mayhem that is almost impossible to contain. "It would have been easy to do this at USAMRIID."

Well, except for making it with silicon. That couldn't be done easily. It actually couldn't be done at all even though the silicon was "imported naturally by the anthrax spores from their environment." We "attributed that to natural variability." Oh, and by our own estimate, producing this easy-bake mass killer would have taken 3 to 7 days to produce (without drawing any suspicion from even a single witness while working in a lab that could not be locked in the days just after 9/11).

• The FBI traced the mailed anthrax to a sample they collected from Dr. Bruce Ivins.

Well, actually we threw out this sample "because Dr. Ivins did not follow protocol in the way it was submitted, making it more difficult to use in court." On the other hand, this other sample this private scientist kept in his fridge that we never thought to ask about for four years was totally cool to use as evidence! And the four year delay didn't matter one bit because we were busy inventing the entire science of bioforensics that allowed us to catch that lone nut the whole time!

• The FBI matched the mailed anthrax to a second sample it collected from Ivins.

Well, it "should have carried the Fort Detrick signature" but did not. This lead us "to conclude that the second sample he had submitted was falsely labeled." Of course, we can't "explain why Ivins would submit one sample of anthrax matching RMR-1029, then later submit a sample that did not match."

• The FBI relied "primarily" on "scientific evidence" to solve this case.

Well, except that, by own own estimation, this "scientific evidence" only narrowed the list of suspects to some undisclosed number "more than 100." But, don't worry. All of the matching samples were from "RMR-1029 or its descendant" and everyone knows how hard it is to get bacteria to descend.

• The FBI showed how it eliminated the other 100+ suspects.

Well, um, no. However, "the simple check of a lab notebook could be one way to do it; shipment records would be another way to do it."

• The FBI identified some of the other 100+ suspects.

Well, um, no. Maybe sometime later. But we'll try to have our people talk to your people about this soon. Next month, perhaps, if we're not too busy.

• The FBI connected the murder weapon anthrax directly to Ivins' person.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI explained how such deadly anthrax could be created, handled, transported and mailed without leaving any forensic trace until placed in a mailbox.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI linked Ivins to the New Jersey mailbox the letters were mailed from.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI produced evidence showing that Ivins could have mailed the letters from New Jersey.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI linked Ivins' handwriting to the anthrax letters.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI produced evidence showing that Ivins could have disguised his handwriting in the manner of the anthrax letters.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI explained how Ivins passed his two polygraph tests.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI produced Ivins' motive for targeting the photo editor of The Sun.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI explained why it initially reported the anthrax was weaponized to a superior military grade using silica. The FBI explained why the official Armed Forces Institute of Pathology study that stated this was mistaken.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI explained how the hoax anthrax letters were addressed and mailed by Ivins or somehow made to read and look like the anthrax-laden letters Ivins' supposedly addressed and mailed.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI discussed how it determined Ivins acted alone.

Well, um, no.

• The FBI released the results of its forensic investigation into Ivins' alleged suicide.

What? OK, out, out! Corporate media only, dammit!

[mhatrw]

1. Science is fun! n/t

[LiberalHeart]

2. You just made the closing argument in the trial that acquits Ivins.

[mhatrw]

3. All I did was ask the questions any actual non-state media organization would

have demanded.

[mhatrw]

4. Blinding us with science. n/t

[Supersedeas]

5. apparently enough dots were connected for Daschle and David Kastenbaum

[mhatrw]

7. From Daschle's own statements, this took exactly three dots.

1) Ivins could have gotten ahold of the anthrax.

2) Ivins worked late a few times in the days after 9/11.

3) Ivins could have had any of three possible motives the FBI supplied in multiple choice format.

(Of course, none of these completely speculative "motives" even begins to explain why Ivins would have targeted the photo editor of the Sun, but that fact is beyond the grasp of the FBI, Daschle and our entire corporate media.)

[mhatrw]

6. New information about the FBI's ineptitude.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1462645

At times, the officials and scientists contradicted themselves, even down to the number of flasks containing the anthrax Ivins had. They eventually agreed it was one one-liter triangular flask capped with a cheesecloth that linked Ivins to the attacks.

Wow! The didn't even know how many flasks Ivins had? And Ivins' "smoking flask" of deadly anthrax was capped with a cheesecloth?

[AntiFascist]

8. I'd still like to know exactly what was in the flask...

if it was originally sent from Dugway Proving Ground then doesn't that implicate their lab as well, particularly since they already have the means for producing highly concentrated, powdered anthrax? If Ivins supposedly engineered his own genetic mutation, does he really have that capability?

By the way, Project Jefferson is no secret. The DOD announced it on this webpage:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=44931

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2001 – The Defense Intelligence Agency hopes to grow a Russian-engineered variant of anthrax to test the effectiveness of the vaccine given to U.S. troops.

"We have a vaccine that works against ... all of the known anthrax strains. What we want to do is make sure we are prepared for any surprises," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Sept. 4.

The problem was that Russia claimed they never developed this strain, and then it was leaked out later that Dugway was already developing weaponized versions of the Ames strain.

Then there is this, published in the Wall Street Journal:

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/FBInewapproachanthrax.html

Investigators acknowledge their approach may not work. Access to anthrax was "absolutely so lax," as one senior FBI agent puts it, that even if the lab is identified, it may not be possible to discover where the terror strain was sent or who had access to it. At Dugway Proving Ground, a large military facility in Utah currently under investigation, a former scientist said security was slipshod. "Somebody could have walked out of a hot area with a couple of spores in a briefcase or lunch pail," he said. Officials at Dugway declined to comment.