Anthrax attack on US Congress made by scientists and covered up by FBI, expert says

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20061211-033912-3373r

Sherwood Ross
Middle East Times
December 11, 2006


WASHINGTON -- The terrorists who perpetrated the 2001 anthrax attack on Congress likely were US government scientists at the army's Ft. Detrick, MD., bioterrorism lab having access to "moonsuits" that enabled them to safely process and manufacture super-weapons-grade anthrax, an eminent authority on the subject says.

....

Boyle, who drafted the US Biological Weapons Convention of 1989 enacted by Congress, said destruction of the Ames anthrax "appears to be a cover-up orchestrated by the FBI."

.....

Boyle, a leading American authority on international law, said after the attacks he contacted senior FBI official Marion "Spike" Bowman, who handles counter-terrorism issues, and provided him with the names of the scientists working with anthrax. Boyle told Bowman the Ft. Detrick scientists were not to be trusted.

In addition to then destroying the anthrax, the FBI "retained every independent life-scientist it could locate as part of its fictitious investigation, and then swore them all to secrecy so that they cannot publicly comment on the investigation or give their expert opinion," Boyle said.

Boyle pointed out that Bowman is the same FBI agent "who played a pivotal role in suppressing evidence which in turn prevented the issuance of a search warrant for the computer of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th Al Qaeda hijacker on 11 September 2001, which might otherwise have led to foreknowledge and therefore prevention of those terrorist attacks in the first place."

.....

Because of its "bogus investigation," Boyle said, "the greatest political crime in the history of the United States of America since its founding on 4 July, 1776 - the anthrax attacks on Congress, which served not only to deliver a terrorist threat on its members, but actually to close it down for a period - may remain officially unresolved forever."

"Could it truly be coincidental," he continued, "that two of the primary intended victims of the terrorist anthrax attacks - Senators Daschle and Leahy - were holding up the speedy passage of the pre-planned USA Patriot Act ... an act which provided the federal government with unprecedented powers in relation to US citizens and institutions?"

Leahy is incoming Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and may have a personal interest in holding hearings to learn who tried to kill him. He recently said President George W. Bush should be "terrified" that he will be the new Chair.

[WindRavenX]

1. I'm sorry, but WTF?

:wtf:

[seemslikeadream]

3. Are you refering to Dr. Boyle?

http://www.law.uiuc.edu/faculty/DirectoryResult.asp?Name=Boyle,+Francis


Francis A. Boyle
Professor

A scholar in the areas of international law and human rights, Professor Boyle ([e-mail]) received a J.D. degree magna cum laude and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at the College of Law, he was a teaching fellow at Harvard and an associate at its Center for International Affairs. He also practiced tax and international tax with Bingham, Dana & Gould in Boston.

He has written and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad on the relationship between international law and politics. His eighth book, Destroying World Order, was recently published by Clarity Press. An earlier book, Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law, has been used successfully in numerous foreign policy protest trials. In the September 2000 issue of the prestigious The International History Review, Professor Boyle’s Foundations of World Order: The Legalist Approach to International Relations (1898-1922) was proclaimed as “a major contribution to this reinterrogation of the past” and “required reading for historians, political scientists, international relations specialists, and policy-makers.” That book was translated into Korean and published in Korea in 2003 by Pakyoungsa Press.

As an internationally recognized expert, Professor Boyle serves as counsel for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) currently pending before the International Court of Justice. He also represents two associations of citizens within the country and has been instrumental in developing the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Professor Boyle is Attorney of Record for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, conducting its legal affairs on a worldwide basis. Over his career, he has represented national and international bodies including the Blackfoot Nation (Canada) and the Lakota Nation, as well as numerous individual death penalty and human rights cases. He has advised numerous international bodies in the areas of human rights, war crimes and genocide, nuclear policy, and bio-warfare.

From 1991-92, Professor Boyle served as Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations. He also has served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, as a consultant to the American Friends Services Committee, and on the Advisory Board for the Council for Responsible Genetics. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

Professor Boyle was selected for inclusion in the 2005 Edition of Marquis' Who's Who in America.

[WindRavenX]

4. the situation is just fucking weird

It's bizzare.

[rman]

26. welcome to reality

[lovuian]

2. Its probably why 26 microbiologists died during Bush's

Wiley was one of them

I'm glad the Truth is coming out!!!

[LonelyLRLiberal]

16. What?

I did not know this. Cites?

[nashville_brook]

19. here's a decent article from 2002 + a short list of dead scientists (11 of 26)

http://globeandmail.workopolis.com/servlet/News/fasttrack/20020504/UMURDN?section=Science

Scientists' deaths are under the microscope

Alanna Mitchell, Simon Cooper And Carolyn Abraham COMPILED BY ALANNA MITCHELL
Saturday, May 4, 2002
Printer Friendly VersionPrinter Friendly version

It's a tale only the best conspiracy theorist could dream up.

Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months. Some of them world leaders in developing weapons-grade biological plagues. Others the best in figuring out how to stop millions from dying because of biological weapons. Still others, experts in the theory of bioterrorism.

Throw in a few Russian defectors, a few nervy U.S. biotech companies, a deranged assassin or two, a bit of Elvis, a couple of Satanists, a subtle hint of espionage, a big whack of imagination, and the plot is complete, if a bit reminiscent of James Bond.

The first three died in the space of just over a week in November. Benito Que, 52, was an expert in infectious diseases and cellular biology at the Miami Medical School. Police originally suspected that he had been beaten on Nov. 12 in a carjacking in the medical school's parking lot. Strangely enough, though, his body showed no signs of a beating. Doctors then began to suspect a stroke.

here's the short list of dead microbiologists:

Suspicious deaths

The sudden and suspicious deaths of 11 of the world's leading microbiologists.

Who they were:

1. Nov. 12, 2001:

Benito Que was said to have been beaten in a Miami parking lot and died later.

2. Nov. 16, 2001:

Don C. Wiley went missing. Was found Dec. 20. Investigators said he got dizzy on a Memphis bridge and fell to his death in a river.

3. Nov. 21, 2001:

Vladimir Pasechnik, former high-level Russian microbiologist who defected in 1989 to the U.K. apparently died from a stroke.

4. Dec. 10, 2001:

Robert M. Schwartz was stabbed to death in Leesberg, Va. Three Satanists have been arrested.

5. Dec. 14, 2001:

Nguyen Van Set died in an airlock filled with nitrogen in his lab in Geelong, Australia.

6. Feb. 9, 2002:

Victor Korshunov had his head bashed in near his home in Moscow.

7. Feb. 14, 2002:

Ian Langford was found partially naked and wedged under a chair in Norwich, England.

8. 9. Feb. 28, 2002:

San Francisco resident Tanya Holzmayer was killed by a microbiologist colleague, Guyang Huang, who shot her as she took delivery of a pizza and then apparently shot himself.

10. March 24, 2002:

David Wynn-Williams died in a road accident near his home in Cambridge, England.

11. March 25, 2002:

Steven Mostow of the Colorado Health Sciences Centre, killed in a plane he was flying near Denver.

[Dover]

25. I recall that the NYT did an article that attempted to counteract and

diminish the significance of the connection between these mysterious deaths. It was 'coincidence' don't ya know. Didn't save it, unfortunately. Apparently it caused a big stir among the scientists when they began to see a pattern.

ON EDIT: I googled and found it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/11/magazine/11COINCIDENCE.html?ex=1166158800&en=8324c6f29de63ba1&ei=5070

[nashville_brook]

28. there's a lot of that "coincidencing" regarding these deaths... but it's an uphill

battle. we are hardwired to make connections and ask questions.

[gratuitous]

5. I wonder if a Democratically-controlled Congress might investigate?

The Republicans showed all the curiosity and initiative of a pro wrestling referee in investigating these terrorist attacks. Maybe the incoming Democratic majority will do a better job?

[nashville_brook]

17. funny you should ask: AP -Congress Demands Answers on Anthrax

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2649483

WASHINGTON -- Thirty-three members of Congress have written Attorney General Alberto Gonzales demanding that the FBI update lawmakers on the investigation into the anthrax attacks five years ago that paralyzed the nation with bio-terror fears.

The bipartisan letter escalates efforts by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., to get the FBI to tell lawmakers what it has learned during the five-year case that remains unsolved. The FBI has refused, citing concerns about possible leaks.

more at link

[seemslikeadream]

6. Grassley Questions Rationale Behind FBI Award

http://grassley.senate.gov/releases/2003/p03r01-09a.htm

For Immediate Release
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003


Grassley Questions Rationale Behind FBI Award

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley today wrote to FBI Director Mueller to question why he gave an award to Marion "Spike" Bowman in light of the FBI's problems with FISA warrants, especially in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui.

The Judiciary Committee has been investigating the FISA problems at the FBI, including holding closed hearings where Mr. Bowman and other officials were questioned about the Moussaoui case. During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and in a letter to Director Mueller, Agent Coleen Rowley highlighted the resistance at headquarters, that agents in Minnesota faced in their investigation of Moussaoui.

Here is Grassley's letter to Director Mueller.

January 9, 2002

The Honorable Robert Mueller
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535


Dear Director Mueller:

I am writing to express my concern and inquire about an award you recently gave to Marion "Spike" Bowman for "meritorious service."

Mr. Bowman, as deputy general counsel who is in charge of the FBI's National Security Law Unit, has a great deal of authority at the FBI over the use and processing of warrants sought under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), one of the FBI's most important tools against terrorists.

As you know, the FBI has experienced serious problems with the FISA process over the last several years. These problems are well documented by the May 2000 Bellows report, a July 2001 GAO report, the May 2002 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's ruling and the Joint inquiry of the Intelligence Committees.

The case of Zaracarias Moussaoui, who has been charged in connection with the terrorist attacks of Sepetmber 11, 2001, is a prime example of the FBI's problems with FISA warrants. The 26-page Electronic Communication from the Minneapolis Division contained information that a reasonable person would have concluded is sufficient to obtain a FISA warrant. The application should have gone forward to the Justice Department and the FISA court.

Instead, Supervisory Special Agent Michael Maltbie concluded there was not enough information to go forward with the application. Incredibly, SSA Maltbie removed certain information before making a presentation of questionable accuracy and length to the National Security Law Unit. Mr. Bowman has said he concurred with SSA Maltbie that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the FISA warrant application. Even after Mr. Bowman was made aware of the information that had been removed from the application, he maintained that even with that information the application still should not have gone forward.

If the application for the FISA warrant had gone forward as it should have, and had a warrant been granted as I believe it would have, agents would have found information in Moussaoui's belongings that linked him both to a major financier of the hijacking plot working out of Germany, and to a Malaysian Al Qaeda boss who had met with at least two other hijackers while under surveillance by intelligence officials.

In light of the consequences of the decision not to even attempt to seek the FISA warrant, and Mr. Bowman's concurrence with that, it is shocking then that you gave Mr. Bowman the award known as the "Presidential Rank of Meritorious Service."

By granting this award and a monetary bonus, you are sending the wrong signal to those agents who fought – sometimes against senior FBI bureaucrats at headquarters – to prevent the attacks. This also fits with a disturbing pattern of rewarding wrongdoing or mistakes by top officials at the FBI that I hoped would end during your tenure. Also, you have said that the FBI must admit its mistakes, but it seems that is not happening in this case.

To my knowledge, agents who were investigating leads on the hijacking plot prior to September 11, 2001, have neither been thanked nor awarded by you or other headquarters officials in any official way. Agents in Minnesota who investigated Moussaoui and the agent in New York who tried to investigate Khalid Al-Mihdhar should be held up as models of FBI agents seeking to prevent terrorism. Instead, you have given an award and extra money to a bureaucrat at headquarters who is seen by many as having stymied the work of field agents.

I ask that you personally review the Judiciary Committee transcript of the closed hearing held on July 9, 2002 about the FBI's FISA problems. This transcript contains troubling comments and answers from Mr. Bowman and others in the National Security Law Unit. Any reasonable person who reads the transcript will seriously question the competence of the National Security Law Unit.

To better understand why you gave the award to Mr. Bowman, please answer the following questions.

1) How and why was Mr. Bowman selected for this award? – Was this award given by your sole discretion as director, or were others involved in nominating or selecting Mr. Bowman? If others were involved, please identify them and include their reasons for thinking Mr. Bowman should be rewarded in the response. – Please provide any and all documents relating to the decision to grant Mr. Bowman this award. – My staff has been informed by an FBI official in the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs that the award is for work performed over the last three years. If this is so, please include documentation of achievements in this period for which Mr. Bowman was given the award and extra money.

2) I ask that you provide the full internal announcement, or the citation, for the award to Mr. Bowman and other recipients.

3) Please state how much money accompanies Mr. Bowman's award.
I would appreciate a full response in writing by Monday, January 27.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs

[Drops_not_Dope]

7. FBI Is Casting A Wider Net in Anthrax Attacks - WP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092401014.html?nav=hcmodule

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 25, 2006; Page A01

Five years after the anthrax attacks that killed five people, the FBI is now convinced that the lethal powder sent to the Senate was far less sophisticated than originally believed, widening the pool of possible suspects in a frustratingly slow investigation.

The finding, which resulted from countless scientific tests at numerous laboratories, appears to undermine the widely held belief that the attack was carried out by a government scientist or someone with access to a U.S. biodefense lab.


What was initially described as a near-military-grade biological weapon was ultimately found to have had a more ordinary pedigree, containing no additives and no signs of special processing to make the anthrax bacteria more deadly, law enforcement officials confirmed. In addition, the strain of anthrax used in the attacks has turned out to be more common than was initially believed, the officials said.

The prevailing views about the anthrax powder, meanwhile, have been coalescing among a small group of scientists and FBI officials over several years but rarely have been discussed publicly. In interviews and a recently published scientific article, law enforcement authorities have acknowledged that much of the conventional wisdom about the attacks turned out to be wrong.

Specifically, law enforcement authorities have refuted the widely reported claim that the anthrax spores had been "weaponized" -- specially treated or processed to allow them to disperse more easily. They also have rejected reports that the powder was milled, or ground, to create finer particles that can penetrate deeply into the lungs. Such processing or additives might have suggested that the maker had access to the recipes of biological weapons made by the United States in the 1950s and 1960s.

In fact, the anthrax powder used in the 2001 attacks had no additives, writes Douglas J. Beecher, a scientist in the FBI laboratory's Hazardous Materials Response Unit, in an article in the science journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[thingfisher]

23. So everything ever written about the attack wa false?

The story which pointed directly to Ft. Detrick, the Ames strain, weaponization is now being "exposed" as false and the FBI is now "widening the net" and coming clean about the whole affair?

What a bunch of total BULLSHIT!

[hughee99]

8. Just wondering about this...

"Boyle, a leading American authority on international law, said after the attacks he contacted senior FBI official Marion "Spike" Bowman, who handles counter-terrorism issues, and provided him with the names of the scientists working with anthrax. Boyle told Bowman the Ft. Detrick scientists were not to be trusted."

So Boyle provided the names of of the scientists working on Anthrax to Bowman and then told him that those same scientists were not to be trusted? Is this right?

[Judi Lynn]

9. Very interesting reading this news. It was so startling when we got the word

that Senators Daschle and Leahy had been the targets, it occured to a lot of people immediately that it was odd they were both Democrats. It took the appearance of ramdomness out of it altogether, and left the impression someone was trying to intimidate them.

Who on earth would have wanted to intimidate two powerful Democrats? Who gained? It seemed Tom Daschle really folded up and became very ineffective almost immediately. We didn't hear a lot from Pat Leahy after that, either. Looks as if it worked.

I'm so glad the article points out what was going on right before the anthrax attacks. That defintely puts things into perspective.

Damned glad someone had the courage to speak up, if he has made arrangements for his own protection. He'll probably get an anthrax letter. Or something even more lethal.

[seemslikeadream]

10. Hi Judi Lynn did you read Pinochet's comments

in Tom Delay's blog?

http://www.tomdelay.com/recent-appearances/2006/12/8/hannity-colmes.html#comments

Tommy Boy,

We have so much to talk about. I am waiting for you here in Hell.

See you eventually.
December 10, 2006 | Generalissimo Pinochet


:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

11. So sweet! DeLay will probably exterminate himself if he can't be the Congressional

tyrant any longer. Where will he get his bribe walking around money, anyway? Pinochet may be seeing him sooner than he thinks.

What a good idea he had with that blog. Now he knows how many friends he has.

[Javaman]

13. Tommy boy has since scrubbed all negative comments

it's a real tommyboy love fest over there now.

truly disgusting.

[nashville_brook]

18. opposing the PATRIOT Act is cited as a common denominator

[sattahipdeep]

12. Thanks seemslikeadream

Kissinger: "We didn't do it. I mean we helped them. ________ created the
conditions as great as possible."

[Felix Mala]

14. Anthrax assault on Democrats - The 'Forgotten' Terrorist Attack

The puppet and his master have bragged for five years that there has not been a terrorist attack on US since 9/11. Yet this was clearly a terrorist attack... unless it was done by someone other than terrorists. Then you couldn't call it a terrorist attack. Wonder how the Bush/Cheney junta knew that?

This FBI investigation sounds a lot like Ed Meese's "search and seizure" of Iran/Contra info in Ollie North's office, but giving 48 hours notice, first.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. K&R here's a 5th vote!

[BridgeTheGap]

20. Don't Trust the FBI

and I say that having known a few agents. Look at what they did (or rather, didn't do) around the bombing of the Murrah building in Okla City.
Then there's 09/11, not to mention the run up to it.
Read "Cover-up" by Peter Lance.
Not all FBI agents are bad/evil - but there must be some evil lurking in that bureau, given the strange stuff that has gone on.

[Ian_rd]

21. Don't forget TWA 800

There is significant evidence to suggest that TWA 800 was fired upon by mistake by a US Navy boat during an exercise and then covered-up to avoid certain embarrassment and liability.

I highly recommend "Into the Buzzsaw" - a book by several journalists about their stymied investigations, including the investigation by Gary Webb (who later committed suicide) regarding the CIA's alleged support of the Contras while they were distributing crack cocaine in the U.S. to fund themselves.

[thingfisher]

24. Is it any wonder that our goverment is

so mistrusted?
Americans should never take anything the government says at face value, in fact it has gotten so bad under Bushco doublespeak that what ever they say should be taken to mean the exact opposite!

Tax payer relief bill?
Deficit reduction maeasure?
No child left behind?
Patriot Act?
You get the idea.

[thingfisher]

22. Doesn't this story raise the spectre of state terrorism?!

Yet another carefully covered up "investigation" that never got any where, at least publicly.
This story should be getting loud attention in the media, but I bet it is unreported and soon forgotten.

I do hope Senator Leahy has a personal reason for looking into these atttacks as part of the ongoing investigations into Bushco!

It is obvious that the anthrax attacks were carried out by domestic terrorists for political reasons who attempted to make it look like an Islamic deed, with the crude messages that accompanied them. The long and protracted "investigation" and red herring suspects was meant to diffuse public interest in the story and apparently was successful in that regard.

[rman]

27. It definately does

This story is "glitch in the matrix" material, it's a small miracle it has not yet been moved to some other, less prominent forum.