It seems like people forgot about this VERY potent terrorist attack, but the gov. did not. The main suspects recently allegedly committed suicide:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-suspect1-2008aug01,0,1343109.story

Quote :

"A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned. Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who for the last 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Ft. Detrick, Md., had been informed of his impending prosecution, said people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and the FBI investigation. ... The extraordinary turn of events followed the government's payment in June of a settlement valued at $5.82 million to a former government scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, who was long targeted as the FBI's chief suspect despite a lack of any evidence that he had ever possessed anthrax."

What concerns me though is that this guy might actually be innocent. I hope they have good evidence that he was. To me, a domestic terrorist with anthrax is more worrying than attacks from the beleaguered al-qaeda.

8/1/2008 5:26:44 PM

Incredibly sad if he was not guilty, but they weren't really scares. They were attacks that killed 5 people I think?

8/1/2008 5:30:16 PM

Quote :

"but they weren't really scares"

bullshit

its was a pretty big scare...the only reason people feel this way is because the story completely disappeared

plus the fact that it disappeared without a resolution is a bit unnerving

as far as we know...someone got away with sending a deadly biochemical weapon through the mail and most of the people who died were mail handlers. the reason it wasn't bigger than it was was because the government quarantined everything in time...surprisingly. the wikipedia article is loaded with conspiracy theories about who did it...it talks about this dude and i think it talks about Iran or the Saudis or something.

either way its all pretty creepy and I think its pretty messed up that we were essentially supposed to forget about this....

8/1/2008 6:37:04 PM

scare to me means that people thought that it was anthrax, but it wasn't anthrax

it was an anthrax attack.

and the story hasn't disappeared to me. my grandmother worked in the office right below sen. daschle's office and she was there when it happened. it's still very much a reality to me.

8/1/2008 7:13:58 PM

i was kinda sad when the "scares" stopped happening...made for good tv

8/1/2008 7:20:56 PM

Quote :

"To me, a domestic terrorist with anthrax is more worrying than attacks from the beleaguered al-qaeda."

So, just to get this clear, a domestic terrorist with a limited supply of non-contagious, limited-effectiveness biological weapon is scarier to you than a global terrorist network with a demonstrable ability to carry out massive, large-scale, devastating strikes on US soil?

Let's get this out in the open: anthrax is not a major concern. Individuals who possess it lack the ability to kill thousands. They can cause panic amongst people too ignorant to realize how minor anthrax is. That's about it.

You talk to me about somebody with smallpox, for example, and maybe I'll care. But to date anthrax, as a weapon, has lacked the ability to kill more than a few people.

[Edited on August 2, 2008 at 5:20 AM. Reason : ]

8/2/2008 5:19:55 AM

these mailings did serve to show how easily an infectious agent could be sent around the country in a short time. admittedly, that fact was already obvious, but it got a lot of people thinking.

8/2/2008 11:55:35 PM

Quote :

"these mailings did serve to show how easily an infectious agent could be sent around the country in a short time. admittedly, that fact was already obvious, but it got a lot of people thinking."

Sorry but anthrax isn't infectious.

8/3/2008 4:11:40 AM

anthrax may not be, but something virulent could be sent in a similar manner.

8/3/2008 9:00:35 AM

well, the anthrax that got mailed around the country was not the most badass anthrax around.

8/3/2008 10:24:35 AM

^bad enough to kill 5 people and keep an investigation going on

8/5/2008 6:25:55 AM

i love you, jessiejepp

8/5/2008 6:53:23 AM

Quote :

"FBI was told to blame Anthrax scare on Al Qaeda by White House officials BY JAMES GORDON MEEK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU Saturday, August 2nd 2008, 6:32 PM WASHINGTON - In the immediate aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, White House officials repeatedly pressed FBI Director Robert Mueller to prove it was a second-wave assault by Al Qaeda, but investigators ruled that out, the Daily News has learned. After the Oct. 5, 2001, death from anthrax exposure of Sun photo editor Robert Stevens, Mueller was "beaten up" during President Bush's morning intelligence briefings for not producing proof the killer spores were the handiwork of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, according to a former aide. "They really wanted to blame somebody in the Middle East," the retired senior FBI official told The News. On October 15, 2001, President Bush said, "There may be some possible link" to Bin Laden, adding, "I wouldn't put it past him." Vice President Cheney also said Bin Laden's henchmen were trained "how to deploy and use these kinds of substances, so you start to piece it all together." But by then the FBI already knew anthrax spilling out of letters addressed to media outlets and to a U.S. senator was a military strain of the bioweapon. "Very quickly [Fort Detrick, Md., experts] told us this was not something some guy in a cave could come up with," the ex-FBI official said. "They couldn't go from box cutters one week to weapons-grade anthrax the next."jmeek@nydailynews.com"

8/5/2008 1:36:45 PM

Quote :

""They really wanted to blame somebody in the Middle East," the retired senior FBI official told The News."

of course, because it's easier to point fingers than actually look into things first..

8/5/2008 5:57:46 PM

remember when mccain was blaming iraq for the anthrax attacks? good times

8/5/2008 6:38:07 PM

Quote :

""They couldn't go from box cutters one week to weapons-grade anthrax the next.""

Haha

But they can go from box cutters to nuclear-based weapons?

8/5/2008 6:54:16 PM

Perhaps I was dreaming or something, but didn't the anthrax in these attacks come from the DOD?

8/6/2008 12:04:40 PM

Its convenient he committed suicide right around when we decided to accuse him of the crime. I am about 50/50 on whether he did it or not.

8/10/2008 2:49:39 AM