SCIENTISTS SLAM FBI 'THRAX PROBE IN BID TO CLEAR BUDDY 'DR. DOOM'

[seemslikeadream]

By SUSANNAH CAHALAN
The colleagues of Army scientist Bruce Ivins , named last summer as the man behind the fatal post-9/11 anthrax mailings, want to sue the FBI, who they say fingered the wrong man.


Last updated: 4:02 am
November 2, 2008
Posted: 3:21 am
November 2, 2008

It was an open-and-shut case, the FBI said.

But three months after agents pinned the post-9/11 anthrax mailings on Army scientist Bruce Ivins - who committed suicide as the FBI closed in on him - his former colleagues have approached a lawyer to sue the feds for fingering the wrong man, The Post has learned.

They argue that the FBI abused its power and violated its own policies as they probed an innocent man for six months.

One of Ivins' former colleagues was being aggressively pressured to confess to the crimes just two months before Ivins killed himself on July 29, he told The Post. And he identified at least one other employee who was under the same pressure.

The move by the Army scientists comes on the heels of a Senate Judiciary Committee demand for an independent review of the case following a hearing with FBI Director Robert Mueller in which committee members called the bureau's case an "open matter." The bureau has named a panel of independent scientists to review the evidence against Ivins - a probe that will take six to 18 months.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a target of the 2001 anthrax attacks, said at the Judiciary Committee hearings that he doubted Ivins, who worked at Fort Detrick, Md., could have acted alone and that he believes "there are others who could be charged with murder."

Anthrax-laced letters were also mailed to then-Sen. Tom Daschle and news media outlets, including The Post.

"The people at Fort Detrick would love to see some suit brought, some way of reckoning, adjudicating this," said Ivins' Maryland-based lawyer, Paul Kemp. The Pentagon had refused a request to allow Ivins' colleagues to speak to Kemp.

The case the feds presented rested mainly on these FBI claims:

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. We will learn about this and many things more under President Obama. NT

[LiberalHeart]

2. Is there a link to the source, or can you tell us where you found this?

[EFerrari]

3. It's the Ny Post:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11022008/news/nationalnews/scientist_slam_fbi_thrax_probe_in_bid_to_136476.htm

[LiberalHeart]

4. Thanx. I knew I could count on you, our resident anthrax expert.

[EFerrari]

7. I wonder who's talking to Paul Kemp!

There was apparently another hit piece in the WaHo last Monday based on FBI talking points.

[LiberalHeart]

9. I saw that. It read like FBI propaganda.

[LiberalHeart]

8. I didn't know about the feds renting the house next door to Ivins.

The de-socializing they put him through must have been horrible.

[EFerrari]

10. I didn't know that, either. It would be nice to try to fact check this article

some how. I asked for that at Meryl's blog. Maybe someone can help.

[LiberalHeart]

11. Good idea re Meryl's blog. I was wishing for fact-checking as I read.

[EFerrari]

16. Somene from Ft. Detrick checked in and verified the reporting.

If a suit is brought, I hope they wait until Spring. Maybe by then, Mueller will be spending more time with his family.

[suffragette]

22. Ivins colleagues clearly aren't giving up

And although the FBI keeps trying to slam the door shut, they haven't been able to.

Here's yet another item that points out issues with the FBI's portrayal of Ivins:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=82026

Tuesday, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Army released copies of Ivins' personnel file.

Army officials redacted the bodies of Ivins' performance reviews, citing a FOIA exemption protecting against the release of intra-agency memos and letters.

Army regulations require individuals whose duties include working with select agents, such as anthrax or Ebola, to be certified as reliable under the Biological Personnel Reliability Program. This includes a review of the individual's personnel file, medical records, the results of a background check and drug testing.

On Ivins personnel screening and evaluation form, officials certified that they found no information that would preclude Ivins from working with select agents.

So, Ivins was certified as reliable. Again, no match there to the FBI's characterization of him as unstable. In fact, I'd say reliable is pretty much the opposite of that.

[seemslikeadream]

13. Thank you sfexpat2000

I was posting while sleepy and forgot the link :hi:

[starroute]

5. There were doubts about the FBI from the start

Back in 2001-02, I was still printing out stuff from online instead of saving the files, because my husband didn't have his own computer yet. As it happens, I was just going through those old stacks of printouts today to find and save the electronic versions of some of the more interesting articles so I could recycle the paper versions instead of leaving them in a box in the basement to gather dust.

The first thing I hit was a small stack of printouts about the anthrax investigations, and I found that they were almost invariably critical of the FBI. Some of the most alarmist naturally came from the tinfoil end of the spectrum -- Wayne Madsen, Rense. But not all -- for example, here's something from the Baltimore Sun

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/Bioter/exanthraxmakersFBI.html

Baltimore Sun
December 9, 2001

Two months after the FBI mobilized hundreds of agents to investigate the anthrax attacks, the bureau has still not interviewed the only Americans with experience producing anthrax for use as a weapon: aging veterans of the U.S. biological warfare program based at Fort Detrick.

Scientists and former federal law enforcement officials say they are baffled by the FBI's failure to contact the former Army biowarfare specialists, who have rare technical expertise and might offer useful leads on finding the perpetrator.

In fact, as the biowarfare veterans themselves admit, the perpetrator might be one of them - investigators have yet to do the work necessary to rule them out. ...

But no one is more disturbed by the FBI's omission than the anthrax veterans themselves. Most are men in their 70s and 80s, living in retirement around Frederick, where Fort Detrick is situated, or in Florida. They estimate that their number has dwindled to about two dozen, and many have been trading ideas about the anthrax attacks over lunch, by phone and by e-mail since October.

[LiberalHeart]

6. That's an interesting article. Glad you held onto it and shared it now.

[Norrin Radd]

12. kicking to keep this story alive

[arcadian]

14. NATURE has been following this very closely

They say the FBI's story doesn't add up.

[EFerrari]

17. They say that now. In the beginning, they were spreading FBI talking points

pretty thoughtlessly.

It's good to hear they've gotten more careful.

[LiberalHeart]

15. Kicking for those who've missed this.

[EFerrari]

18. Kick

[goforit]

19. Yep, and the right man would have been Dr. Evil himself...Dick Cheney.

[mhatrw]

20. Big Kick!

This loose end needs to be unraveled. The FBI's "investigation" was a sham:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3820342

[EFerrari]

21. This story will NOT stand. Too many people know it's BS.

:kick: