Re: The Anthrax Attacks of 2001

For those of you who may have missed it, a brief update on the Anthrax attacks. You may recall how the Bush administration tirelessly "kept us safe." Unless you count 9/11 of course. But after that they kept us safe. Unless you count the bioterrorism attacks of late 2001 against Bush's rivals in Congress. Weaponized, military-grade anthrax was sent through the mail, killing postal workers, and leaving several more with permanent respiratory disorders. This anthrax, was genetically modified to efficiently aerosolize, so the spores spread quickly through the air and into biological targets. The FBI closed the case, claiming a lone military scientist stole anthrax from a heavily fortified facility to which said scientist did not have clearance or access, and used that sample to grow a batch of anthrax in a bathtub, or something. The problem: the anthrax used in the attacks was weaponized, and could not have been grown in a mass culture using amateur equipment. Add to that the Bush White House began treating its staff with the anti-anthrx medication CIPRO weeks before the attacks, and the situation gets fishier. The accused lone, crazed scientist, Bruce Ivins, commited suicide before he could stand trial, and the FBI promptly closed the case before the evidence gathered by the bereau ever saw a courtroom. Case Closed? Not quite. The journal Nature embarked on an in depth analysis of the samples gathered by the FBI, and concluded that, not only was the anthrax genetically dissimilar to the batch Mr. Ivins allegedly stole, but it contained metals typically used in the process of weaponization of biological weapons. So bathtub or Government lab? Read the new study here and decide for yourself.