Re: anthrax blooper

From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jul 13 2002 - 17:19:55 MDT


Extropes,

--- Damien Broderick
<d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:

> Speaking of the Oz Science Show, a convincing
> report today sez the FBI
> know full well who did the anthrax attack and won't
> act because it would
> open up a can of US military germ warfare worms.
> Clue: the attack not only
> followed the protocols described in that advance
> report by one of their
> guys, it *also failed to take account of factors
> missed by that analysis*.

After the spores settled, I came to the same
conclusion. Despite everyone screaming "Arab
terrorists, Arab terrorists!"--a natural-enough
conclusion in the hysteria of the moment--it seemed
odd to me that the stuff should be sent out labeled as
anthrax, if the object was to kill whole bunches of
people. It seemed more likely the work of a
disgruntled, self-important, down-sized defense
bio-warfare researcher, who may have wanted to return
to work, and who may have felt that the rest of the
country--both the proles and the powerful--just didn't
'get' the horrible reality of vulnerability to
bio-terrorism. The mailings to news media and
congress could have been intended as a maximum
impact/minimum fatality wake-up call.

I had pieced together much of what Ms. Hatch, in the
following article, assembles comprehensively.

Analysis of the Anthrax Attacks
Barbara Hatch Rosenberg,
Federation of American Scientists

http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm

Then I read this piece:

Is Osama bin Laden behind the mail attacks?

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/print_version/wo_muller041602.asp

Nothing therein does much to change my mind, that is
until I get to the comment:

"...a medical doctor, Dr. Christos Tsonas, who had
treated the leg of Ahmed Alhaznawi, one of the
September 11 hijackers, and says "the most probable
and coherent interpretation of the data available" is
that the infection was skin anthrax..."

If the above is accurate, then I might feel compelled
to go over the data again. Naturally developed
cutaneous anthrax is quite rare. For one of the 9/11
hijackers to have developed a case,is highly
suggestive.

Seeking confirmation of the 'Tsonas' information,
leads to this article:

Al Qaeda-Anthrax Link?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/23/attack/printable504460.shtml

And that's where the trail ends for me.

Best, Jeff Davis

   "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                           Ray Charles

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