'christian' Right group suspected to be behind the 2001 Anthrax Attacks

[ck4829]

"In 2001, after a series of anthrax attacks were sent to several Democratic Senators' offices in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the TVC was named as a suspect by the FBI, as reported on National Public Radio."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Values_Coalition

The same TVC AKA the Traditional Values Coalition. The same group that is considered to be a part of the 'christian' Right, the same TVC which is led by Lou Sheldon, who is tied to Jack Abramoff.

Who knows?

Maybe this is the reason they haven't caught the perpetrators yet.

[marmar]

1. Hell...

Cheney probably opened the lab door for them. :tinfoilhat:

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Oh, my God! LOL! It's probably true!

[goforit]

24. And they were on a mission from their BUSH-GOD.

[magellan]

2. Always did strike me as odd that no R's were targeted

Islamic terra-ists aren't so picky.

Was there ever any link made here between the corporate media shills who were targeted and how groups like TVC viewed them specifically?

[ck4829]

3. Not that I know of

Just 'liberal' media groups and people, people that obviously the TVC sees as too Liberal.

And a guy who worked for a tabloid magazine, which took an unflattering photo of the Bush twins BTW.

Does seem sort of odd.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Nixon was too liberal for these folks!

and probably Barry Goldwater & John McCain.

[lala_rawraw]

4. And they just happened to get their hands on

WG anthrax?

Doubt it

[mod mom]

14. You mean the stuff grown right here in River City? (really West Jefferson

OH's Batelle facility) It's pretty scarey that we have this stuff in Central Ohio.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. I thought it was traced to Ft. Dettrick? (sp?)

[ktlyon]

5. Stuff came from our government labs while George was in charge,

the people attacked were in opposition to George and George seems to have benefited from it. His minions will do anything for the cause. Wouldn't surprise me in the least that George let them do it.

[CowTow]

6. i think your right!

i don't think i could have figured it out -- good show!

[area51]

26. Welcome to DU, CowTow. (n/t)

[mmonk]

7. I was thinking a rightwing or neocon ideologue

connected to the military industrial complex.

[madrchsod]

8. wow that`s just stupid

christian right? the stuff came from the military where 28 or so people had access to the stuff. so why hasn`t the antrax killer been caught? could it be that no one wants he or she caught?

[magellan]

11. So there are no right-wingers in the military?

And none of them might be influenced by one or more of TVC's agendas?

It's possible, considering the intended targets...Dems and the "liberal" media.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Well, as long as we're wearing tinfoil...

...anything that involves the Christian Right eventually has something to do with Ralph Reed, and we know who Ralph Reed's friends are.

[Warpy]

9. Weaponized anthrax from the CIA lab at Ft. Detrick was used

and there are a lot of problems with assuming anyone outside that facility was involved.

First, weaponized anthrax volatizes quickly, meaning once it's exposed to air, it diffuses through the air very quickly. If those envelopes were filled outside that facility, even under water, there would be contamination of the area where they were filled. Don't forget, the anthrax also diffused through the pores in the envelope paper. Even if the perps had been innoculated and living on Cipro, there would have been deaths in the vicinity.

Second, since the envelopes were filled in a high level containment facility, the problem remains how a bunch of religious loons with a contempt for science and scientists managed to get into such a facility and to use it without killing themselves in the process.

Third, the targets are wrong for a bunch of god nuts. They were all enemies of the Bush family, starting with the photographer in Florida who published a damning photo of the first brats falling down drunk, beer & cigs in hand.

They haven't caught the perpetrators because nobody is willing to point the finger at the most powerful crime family this country has ever known.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Good post...eom

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. It overlooks something extremely important.

Ralph Reed helped elect George Bush. And he did it by using the Christian Right to eliminate McCain in the primaries.

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. You really can't think of one person who has a strong connection

between the Bush family and the Christian Right?

[napi21]

27. Why isn't it possible that a member of that group works there?

I don't really know anything about this group, or if there's even a way to find a membership list, but I think it's reasonable to believe they all have jobs...somewhere! I can see one member saying I have an idea, and I can pull it off! I WORK THERE!

There were quite a few people talking about only Dems or anti Shrub people were targeted. Hell, even Limpballs mentioned it on his program!

I don't believe in coincidences. There's firm ground in the assumption that this was an attack on political opponents. I'd love to know if somebody's still looking for the perps.

[Jawja]

28. Yes, the god nuts

would go after abortion clinics and Gay bars - like Eric Rudolph.

[jarnocan]

10. traditional Values!!!! kind of like clear skies

their values include murder apparently.Theirends justify their means. Sound like dominionism/reconstrutionism http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm background info-if you don't know this already read it. Remeber BTW several voting machine companies involved in our fraudulent elections are owned/controlled by Dominionist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism From Chalcedon's own website immediately at the top one finds, "“Proclaiming the Authority of God’s Word Over Every Area of Life and Thought.”

"Wally O'Dell, a top Bush fundraiser, has publicly committed himself to "delivering" his home state's votes to Bush next year - the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at "rival" ES&S. The brothers were originally staked in the vote-count business by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing "steering group" stacked with Bushist faithful." http://healthandenergy.com/election_fraud.htm this was the first article I read concerning this -in Oct. before the 2004 elctions.
"Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, which openly advocates a theocratic takeover of American democracy..."

[sofa king]

18. Be careful tossing that accusation around, though.

NPR has issued something of a retraction on the TVC/Anthrax story:

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/020314.html

I cannot help but note this conclusion from the NPR ombudsman:

"In my opinion, the statement was a correction but in the form of a clarification. But while Kestenbaum was right to ask a strong reportorial question in the process of gathering information, the denial should have been enough. There was no journalistic reason for including it in the report."

But I can think of one really good reason for including it, which was that the reporter knew from sources he could not quote that TVC was being investigated, and TVC lied to him. So perhaps David Kestenbaum did what was left to him, which is to drop the name in the form of a denial.

As it stands, it's one of those pieces of evidence upon which is useful for hypothesis, but which would never be considered "proof" of anything.

[IsItJustMe]

21. From my research, that Ames strain definitly came from the USA

[Poll_Blind]

25. Colonel Philip Zack is still the prime "person of interest"

Link right HERE. Or pop "anthrax" and "Philip zack" into Google.

PB

[Vanje]

22. I suspect the anthrax target list came straight from the whitehouse

By itself,the Christian loons would have more likely targeted random gay bars and abortion clinics like Eric Rudolf did.
A religious zealot seton Anthraxing congress, would have been more likely to target liberal icons like Ted Kennedy or Barney Frank.Nott a soft-spoken son of the soil from the Dakotas.

Not only did theanthrax mailings they take a very skilled technician to accomplish, The Anthrax mailings also were very well thought out to benefit the whitehouse.

The Whitehouse benefitted from the Anthrax strikes on the media.
The deadly strike to National enquirer photographer in Florida was revenge for unflattering images of Bush family members. The florida anthrax death was a test. Fatal,it made shocking news.

The other media case which targeted news at NBC was not fatal. That Anthrax mailing was meant to scare media personel into stunned silence and frightened obedience. That strike was to get news organizations firmly convinced of the need for a war on terrorism. It worked. No president has ever had a more complient and submissive press.

The deadliest anthrax letter was sent to Senator Tom Daschiel. It was stuffed with anthrax spores more finely milled then NBC's envelope contained. This mailing was meant to frighten AND to kill.
It killed US Postal workers who had the misfortune to be anywhere near where the deadly letter had been.

It was meant to kill the most powerful Dem Senator. Daschiel,had he died, would have been very very likely to be replaced by a Republican (as indeed,he was, a year or two later,with much assistance from Rove and co.)
The Whitehouse NEEDED a Republican-led senate.Neede it bad.
Needed it enough to interfere with elections. Perhaps they needed it enough to kill for it. Wellstone got in the way of the Republican majority, and look where it got him.


Remember back, They had a republican majority for a brief time until Senator Jeffords switched his republican affiliation to independant , throwing the Senate to the Dems.
Imagine the desperation and The whitehouse. Revenge on jeffords might have been sweet, but taking out a dem would be more useful than taking out an independant.


I dont know who licked the stamps on those anthrax letters, but I'll bet my teeth that Karl Rove supplied the addresses.

[Harald Ragnarsson]

23. All I know is this one Truth and it cannot be denied

IF people would kill you with Anthrax and attempt to blame arabs for it, then they would kill you with airplane es and blame arabs for that too, if they were able to get away with it.

Whoever sent this anthrax tried to frame arabs for it by sending letters with it appearing to be from a muslim. I don't see how this can be ignored out of hand coming just literally weeks after 911, when arabs who "hate our freedoms" attacked us with airplanes. Or this is the story told for 4 years now with absolutely NO PROOF shown to back it up.

[IsItJustMe]

29. Right Wing pro military interests in the US most likely explanation

Money for bio, chem and military became wide open after the discussed events.

Got to keep the Industrial Military Complex rolling.

[undergroundpanther]

30. Well Du'oh

Really now..

Look up Christian Falangist.

Sheesh..To me the issue was WHICH ONE of these groups did it.

[happydreams]

31. hmmmmmm Flora Sheldon was Bush's great-grandmother.

I know this is a stretch ,but you never know.

Prescott "Sheldon" Bush is Dubya's grandfather.

Sure would be neat to do a family tree and see what turns up. The family that preys together.


From the article:

The organization was founded by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon who is currently the chairman. Mrs. Andrea Sheldon Lafferty is the executive director.

[seemslikeadream]

36. The family that preys together.

I'll have to keep an eye out for the Sheldons



Thanks happydreams :hi:

[sarcasmo]

32. So much hate coming from a place that claims to worship the Lord.

These wacko's need to be put in their place.

[Jim Sagle]

33. This is RNC misdirection. The anthrax was an inside job.

[pinto]

34. A note from NPR - They backed off the claim. And how it was handled.

Just wanted to post this for some clarification, because it comes from NPR, one of the principles mentioned in the wikipedia entry.

http://www.npr.org/yourturn/ombudsman/020314.html

Anthrax and Christian Conservatives

This campaign involved the anthrax investigation. Reporter David Kestenbaum asked the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative Christian lobby group, if it was under investigation by the FBI. The TVC has been active in their opposition to Senators Leahy and Daschle over their efforts to remove the phrase "So Help Me God" from the oath used by the senators in their official duties. Senators Leahy and Daschle also received anthrax letters. Kestenbaum wondered if, in this case, two plus two made four. The Coalition denied that it had been questioned by the FBI and was outraged that Kestenbaum even asked the question in the pre-broadcast process of gathering information.

Kestenbaum included that denial in his report on Jan. 22:

Two of the anthrax letters were sent to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, both Democrats. One group who had a gripe with Daschle and Leahy is the Traditional Values Coalition, which before the attacks, had issued a press release criticizing the senators for trying to remove the phrase "so help me God" from the oath. The Traditional Values Coalition, however, told me the FBI had not contacted them and then issued a press release saying NPR was in the pocket of the Democrats and trying to frame them. But investigators are thinking along these lines...

The Coalition responded by denouncing NPR and launched a vigorous campaign, which at last tally was around 200 e-mails received here. More details can be found at the Traditional Values Coalition Web site.


NPR responded by airing the following statement, read by Bob Edwards on Morning Edition on Wednesday, January 30:

And a story last week about the ongoing anthrax investigation mentioned the Traditional Values Coalition. Reporter David Kestenbaum contacted that group to ask if it had been contacted by the FBI. The TVC said it had not, since there is no evidence that it was or should be investigated. The TVC said it was inappropriate for it to be named on the air. The NPR editors agree.

<snip>

In my opinion, the statement was a correction but in the form of a clarification. But while Kestenbaum was right to ask a strong reportorial question in the process of gathering information, the denial should have been enough. There was no journalistic reason for including it in the report.

NPR is known for its vigorous editing to keep the story strong and on point. In this case, the editing process seems to have failed to do its job.

The statement read by Edwards was less than it should have been. NPR still needs to be more nimble and more open about admitting its errors. In the case of the allegations, there should be a time and place where the concerns of the listeners can be addressed. The NPR Web site would be a good starting point.

Listeners can contact me at 202-513-3246 or at [e-mail].

Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman

[FreedomAngel82]

35. Nothing would surprise me