Reply #71: Barbara Rosenberg and Francis Boyle

[RainDog]

Rosenberg, a scientist who runs the Fed. of American Scientist's Bio Weapons Monitoring Program, developed a profile of the anthrax mailer. She has been the most authoritative source I've read about this issue. This article is old, but was written after the anthrax had been examined (and resulted published in the journal Science.

The anthrax the terrorist sent belongs to the "Ames" strain of the bacterium, which was extracted from an infected cow in Texas in 1981. In December, the Washington Post reported that genetic tests showed that the variety used by the terrorist was a sub-strain cultivated by scientists at the US army's medical research institute for infectious diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland. That finding was publicly confirmed two weeks ago, when the test results were published in the journal Science. New Scientist magazine notes that the anthrax the terrorist used appears to have emerged from Fort Detrick only recently, as the researchers found that samples which have been separated from each other for three years acquire "substantial genetic differences".

Barbara Hatch Rosenberg has produced a profile of the likely perpetrator. He is an American working within the US biodefense industry, with a doctoral degree in the relevant branch of microbiology. He is skilled and experienced at handling the weapon without contaminating his surroundings. He has full security clearance and access to classified information. He is among the tiny number of Americans who had received anthrax vaccinations before September 2001. Only a handful of people fit this description. Rosenberg has told the internet magazine Salon.com that three senior scientists have identified the same man - a former USAMRIID scientist - as the likely suspect.

Monbiot makes a good point that the FBI wouldn't be too enthusiastic about finding the person because the anthrax violates domestic and bioweapons conventions.

Francis A. Boyle, an international law expert who worked under the first Bush Administration as a bioweapons advisor in the 1980s, has said that he is convinced the October 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people were perpetrated and covered up by criminal elements of the U.S. government. The motive: to foment a police state by killing off and intimidating opposition to post-9/11 legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the later Military Commissions Act.

There's someone else who may fit the criteria from Rosenberg...I don't know enough to say, but he's someone who makes me go "hmmm." Jerome (Jerry) Hauer.

Winter Patriot has information on Hauer, tho I think the youtube video he included in this post isn't very well-thought out... some of the questions can be easily answered.

Hauer took a job with Emergent ONE MONTH (illegal) after he left govt. service, btw.

Sadly, when the anthrax was mailed, I immediately and strongly suspected it was a way to intimidate congress (and shut down information/investigations) and to get the patriot act passed. As Conyers admitted... people didn't even read the whole thing before they voted for it. I didn't want to think that Bush et al was capable of that, but consequent actions by the repuke congress and bush do not contradict that possibility. in fact, they are the most likely suspects, as far as benefiting from the crime.