-Caveat Lector- Anthrax whodunit may have political subplot 04/01/2002
By TOM SIEGFRIED / The Dallas Morning News INDIANAPOLIS � Science and politics never mix very well; war and politics can never be separated. Put all three together, and you get a jumble that breeds anthrax, biological terrorism's prime example of a weapon of mass disruption. Anthrax is capable of mass destruction, too, and on a horrifying scale. But last year's anthrax attack killed fewer Americans than the flu does on any given weekend, points out Stanford biologist Steven Block, one of the nation's leading experts on biological weapons. On the other hand, anthrax's terror generated massive political, economic and social disruption, he notes, from closing down the Supreme Court and slowing down mail service to inflicting millions of dollars in cleanup costs. Yet despite the scale of the anthrax disruption, efforts to identify the perpetrator of the attack have apparently been ineffectual. The FBI's performance in the anthrax case would not make for a very impressive CSI episode. But Dr. Block says that more is known about the killer than many people realize, and he hints that political considerations may end up protecting the culprit's identity. Speaking in Indianapolis last month at a national meeting of the American Physical Society, Dr. Block reviewed the chronology of last year's anthrax episodes and highlighted some of the conclusions that the evidence to date suggests. For one thing, the anthrax used in the attacks was almost certainly derived from the U.S. military anthrax research program, he said. "Nearly all the clues so far point to the possibility that this was in fact a domestic source, an inside job," Dr. Block said. The American process for preparing anthrax is secret in its details, but experts know that it produces an extremely pure powder. One gram (a mere 28th of an ounce) contains a trillion spores. "A trillion spores per gram is basically solid spores," Dr. Block said, which is why the U.S. method is regarded as "optimal" for weaponizing anthrax. And the evidence indicates that the anthrax powder used in the mail attacks must have been effectively weaponized. "It appears from all reports so far that this was a powder made with the so- called optimal U.S. recipe," Dr. Block said. "That means they either had to have information from the United States or maybe they were the United States." By that he meant the culprit or culprits may have been participants in U.S. government anthrax research. And that, he said, "raises the serious possibility that the United States may be violating" the international treaty outlawing the development of offensive biological and chemical weaponry. Only about 200 researchers participate in the U.S. program, Dr. Block said, and fewer than 50 would have possessed the knowledge and skills needed to produce the high-purity spores. In a group of scientists that small, it should take no more than a handful of clues to pinpoint any individual. Say, for illustration purposes only, that the prime suspect was a science writer. If investigators revealed that the guilty one usually drove long distances to attend science meetings, always sat in restaurants where he could see the door, and included a note in the envelope saying journalism is dead, dozens of other science writers would know immediately who it was. Similarly, enough is known about the anthrax letters that at least one researcher would almost certainly have a pretty good idea who sent them. So maybe the FBI already knows who did it but doesn't have enough evidence to make an arrest. There is, however, another possibility, Dr. Block mentioned at the physics meeting. Perhaps the FBI knows who did it but also knows that it is someone who knows too much. "The FBI, after all these months, has still not arrested anybody," Dr. Block said. "It's possible, as has been suggested, that they may be standing back because the person that's involved with it may have secret information that the United States government would not like to have divulged." It's a scenario that would make a good conspiracy-theory movie script. But real- life events argue that such suspicions should be taken seriously. After all, Dr. Block noted, both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations have resisted adjustments to the international biological weapons treaty that would have allowed inspections of U.S. research facilities. Of course, other possibilities remain. It may be that clues have been manipulated to deceive investigators and the public; perhaps foreign terrorists were involved in the anthrax attacks. Maybe a domestic terrorist illicitly gained access to anthrax without the knowledge of any U.S. researchers. So unless the guilty party decides to go public and confess, there may never be any way to know if the cover-up scenario accurately reflects the facts. And if it does, nobody who really knows is free to say, and nobody who's free to say really knows. But anybody who knows anything knows that when science clashes with politics, there's always more to the story than most people will ever know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/health/columnists/tsiegfried/stories/040102dnlivtomco l.20d69.html ------------------------ "In little more than a year we have gone from enjoying peace and the most prosperous economy in our history, to a nation plunged into war, recession and fear. This is a nation being transformed before our very eyes." http://www.truthout.com Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
