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----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Downing Quig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Robert Lederman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 5:30 AM
Subject: FBI: Financial Motive in Anthrax Attacks; New translation bin Laden
tape
> What's next, an admission that we attacked ourselves on 9/11?
>
> There! Now someone has written what the rest of us are afraid to think.
>
> Your anthrax analysis is unexcelled. No one noticed my opinions which
were
> well imformed on this subject. No one can ignore yours as they are stated
> so clearly. It amases me how you can analize and explain for others so
> many arcane issues.
>
> Brian Quig
>
> Preston, please post for CIA-DRUGS as YAHOOGROUPS continues to lock me out
> dispite the fact that Kris and I have done all that we can to correct the
> problem.
>
> Robert Lederman wrote:
>
> > [It looks like the "conspiracy theorists" Bush denounced aren't so far
> > off base after all. The FBI now believes (exactly as Dr Len Horowitz,
Dr.
> > Patricia Doyle and myself among numerous others on the www have written
> > about for months) that drug companies may have been behind the anthrax
> > mailings, and the government now admits it left out key parts of the bin
> > Laden tape transcript that were embarrassing to Bushs' Saudi friends.
> > What's next, an admission that we attacked ourselves on 9/11?]
> >
> > Washington Post
> >
> > FBI Investigates Possible Financial Motive in Anthrax Attacks
> >
> > . Anthrax Exposure Estimates Increased (The Washington Post, Dec 21,
> > 2001)
> >
> > . Anthrax Vaccine Plan Sows Confusion (The Washington Post, Dec 20,
2001)
> >
> > . Investing in National Security (The Washington Post, Dec 20, 2001)
> >
> > By Susan Schmidt and Joby Warrick
> >
> > Washington Post Staff Writers
> >
> > Friday, December 21, 2001; Page A21
> >
> >
> >
> > The FBI is pursuing the possibility that financial gain was the motive
> > behind the mailing of letters containing deadly anthrax bacteria and has
> > conducted extensive interviews of personnel at two laboratories and
> > possibly more, according to government officials.
> >
> > Although investigators have not ruled out other possible motives, they
> > have conducted dozens of interviews in at least two labs to determine
> > whether potential profit from the sale of anthrax medications or cleanup
> > efforts may have motivated the bioterrorist believed responsible for the
> > attacks, the officials said.
> >
> > The current line of inquiry represents a deepening interest in one
> > possible motive for investigators, who have examined a range of
scenarios
> > since the anthrax attacks on media and government representatives began
> > this fall. Authorities have probed whether foreign terrorists or
> > homegrown extremists are responsible for the attacks but have come to
> > favor the theory that the bioterrorism is likely the work of an
> > individual operating in this country.
> >
> > Investigators are still looking at a wide range of possible motives,
> > including revenge and an attempt to implicate Iraq. Although authorities
> > believe the person who mailed the anthrax spores may have some
scientific
> > expertise, they are not convinced the person necessarily produced it.
The
> > material could have been stolen, officials have said.
> >
> > The focus on a profit motive may help explain why the FBI has yet to
seek
> > samples of anthrax spores from two foreign laboratories known to possess
> > Ames-strain anthrax microbes that genetically match the material sent to
> > Sens. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). Those
labs
> > are the Canadian armed forces' Defence Research Establishment Suffield
> > (DRES) and Britain's Defence Science and Technology Laboratories at
> > Porton Down.
> >
> > Spokesmen for the two foreign laboratories said they have not been
> > contacted by the FBI or asked for samples of their germ stocks. Neither
> > lab ever processed the Ames strain of anthrax in the powdered form found
> > in the two letters, which readily becomes airborne and is easily
inhaled.
> >
> > "Porton Down has received no request from the FBI for information on its
> > security arrangements, but if we were contacted, we would cooperate
> > fully," said Sue Ellison, spokeswoman for the British lab.
> >
> > Kent Harding, chief scientist for DRES, said the institute has "only
been
> > contacted by media at this point."
> >
> > But a senior law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of
> > anonymity, said there are reasons the FBI has not yet asked those labs
> > for the samples. He said the bureau is looking at its most important
> > leads first.
> >
> > He also noted that it will be some time before there is anything
> > meaningful to compare with samples from other labs, because the anthrax
> > spores in the Leahy letter are still undergoing chemical analysis. That
> > process may take weeks to complete.
> >
> > The letter to Leahy, found among quarantined mail, was unopened, leaving
> > a substantial quantity of material inside for the FBI to test. The
letter
> > is seen as the FBI's best hope for forensic clues in the attacks that
> > have killed five people and sickened 13.
> >
> > A possible profit motive for the attacks has been the subject of
> > speculation among scientists. Richard Ebright, a microbiologist with
> > Rutgers University's Waksman Institute, said the list of possible
> > scenarios and perpetrators would be quite long -- ranging from drug
> > manufacturers to companies specializing in decontamination and cleanup.
> >
> > "There are numerous mid-Atlantic regional links to all of these
> > possibilities," said Ebright. "Doesn't narrow the field much, does it?"
> >
> > DNA tests have confirmed that the spores used in the terrorist attacks
> > are genetically identical to a strain obtained by researchers at the
U.S.
> > Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at
> > Fort Detrick, Md., in about 1980. The Army has acknowledged distributing
> > the strain to five other agencies, and some of the strain was in turn
> > shared with other researchers.
> >
> > The five labs that received the Ames strain from USAMRIID are the Army's
> > Dugway Proving Ground in central Utah; Battelle Memorial Institute in
> > Columbus, Ohio; the University of New Mexico's Health Sciences Center in
> > Albuquerque; the Canadian DRES; and Porton Down.
> >
> > Battelle, a private contractor that has worked with the Pentagon in
> > developing defenses against biological attacks, is one of several labs
> > visited by FBI agents investigating the anthrax attacks. Katy Delaney, a
> > Battelle spokeswoman, said the company has cooperated fully with the
> > government's investigation.
> >
> > FBI agents "have interviewed people on our staff," Delaney said, but she
> > declined to provide information about the nature of the interviews or
how
> > many Battelle employees had been questioned. "I can say that we have
> > continued to provide all of the information and material that has been
> > requested by the government," Delaney said.
> >
> > Battelle is a contractor at Dugway, which last week acknowledged making
a
> > powdered form of anthrax to use in testing sensors and other equipment
> > used to defend against biological attacks.
> >
> > In the past several weeks, the FBI has also learned that a CIA defensive
> > biowarfare program has involved the use of Ames-strain anthrax.
> > Investigators have been very interested in the CIA program, government
> > officials said, including work done by private contractors in connection
> > with it.
> >
> > Investigators learned belatedly that the CIA possessed Ames-strain
> > anthrax spores because the agency was not listed among 91 labs
registered
> > with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to handle
> > various strains of anthrax bacteria. Before 1997, labs that possessed
> > anthrax spores but did not transfer them to other labs were not required
> > to register with the CDC. The FBI has been surprised to learn only
> > anecdotally of some programs, such as the CIA's, which have the
material.
> >
> > The CIA program was designed to develop defenses to a vaccine-resistant
> > strain of anthrax reportedly created by the former Soviet Union. CIA
> > officials have said they are certain the anthrax used in the mailings
did
> > not come from their work, that none of it is missing and that the small
> > amount in their possession was not milled into powder form.
> >
> > Staff writers Steve Fainaru and Rick Weiss contributed to this report.
> >
> > --------------------------------
> >
> > Friday December 21 2001 02:52 AM EST
> >
> > Bin Laden Translation Omitted Sections
> >
> > By John Miller ABCNEWS.com
> >
> > A new ABCNEWS translation of the Osama bin Laden videotape released last
> > week reveals information that may be embarrassing to Saudi Arabia, a
very
> > important U.S. ally. . Bin Laden Hunt Strains U.S-Saudi Relations .
> > Excerpts of the Bin Laden Video Weigh In . Poll: Americans Believe
> > Toughest Battles Ahead
> >
> > When the videotape of Osama bin Laden talking about the Sept. 11 terror
> > attacks was released by the United States government on Dec. 13,
> > administration officials spoke at length about the extensive effort to
> > achieve a full and accurate transcript.
> >
> > The translation commissioned by ABCNEWS, however, reveals new elements
> > that raise questions about what the government left out of the official
> > version and why.
> >
> > The new translation uncovers statements that could be embarrassing to
the
> > government of Saudi Arabia, a very important U.S. ally. Bin Laden's
> > visitor, Khalid al Harbi, a Saudi dissident, claims that he was smuggled
> > into Afghanistan by a member of Saudi Arabia's religious police.
> >
> > He also tells bin Laden that in Saudi Arabia, several prominent
clerics -
> > some with connections to the Saudi government - made speeches supporting
> > the attacks on America.
> >
> > "Right at the time of the strike on America, he gave a very moving
> > speech, Sheikh Abdulah al Baraak," bin Laden said on the tape. "And he
> > deserves thanks for that."
> >
> > Sheikh al Baraak, to whom the visitor refers, is a professor at a
> > government university and a member of an influential council on
religious
> > law.
> >
> > "It shows that bin Laden's support is not limited to the radical side of
> > Islam but also among the Saudi religious establishment," says Fawaz
> > Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern studies at Sarah Lawrence College.
> > "And that is bad news for Saudi Arabia."
> >
> > The new translation reveals bin Laden's intimate knowledge of the
> > hijackers themselves. Bin Laden mentions not just the ring leader
Mohamed
> > Atta but several of the hijackers by name, including the al Hazmi
> > brothers: "So these young men, may God accept their action, Nawaf Al
> > Hazmi, Salim Al Hazmi ."
> >
> > A member of the team that translated the tape for the U.S. government
> > said the ABCNEWS translation is consistent with portions of the
> > government's transcript that have not been released to the public.
>
>
>
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