Delay Sought in Anthrax Widow Suit
Posted by Ross on Friday January 30, 2004 at 8:08 pm MST [ Send Story to Friend ]
Link to story: http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
The federal government is seeking to delay a lawsuit from the widow of Robert Stevens, the man killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks, on the grounds of national security. The Department of Justice is doing the same in the case of the civil claim by Dr. Steve Hatfill.
Attorney Richard Schuler, the attorney for Mrs. Stevens, has said he believed DNA tests on anthrax found at Stevens' office would prove it matched the anthrax at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., which does unclassified anthrax vaccine research. But given that the strain was at a number of other locations, that is the beginning, not the end of the inquiry.
The Ames strain came from a cow in Texas in 1980. Texas veterinarian Mike Vickers sent a sample from a carcass in south Texas to the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab ("TVMDL"). Someone at that lab isolated it from a carcass and forwarded it to Ft. Detrick using a label coincidentally from Ames, Iowa. This resulted in the names "Ames" and some initial confusion among outside experts as to the history of the strain. It was forwarded pursuant to a request by Dr. Knudsen of Ft. Detrick who had sought field strains of anthrax. Dr. Knudsen at Ft. Detrick still had the correspondence from the time, to include even the misprinted mailing label.
A preliminary question is: Did the Texas lab that first isolated it, keep a sample? One scientist from the Veterinary School advises:
"Generally we think of anthrax as so closely related that strain differences are really unimportant as it has to do with killing animals. Support for this is that the Sterne strain vaccine used in livestock is very effective to prevent anthrax in cattle sheep, goats, horses no matter what strain variation they are exposed to. In summary veterinary practitioners just think of anthrax as really one strain. There are other bacterial disease that strain difference is important and vaccines have to have the specific strains to work against that strain -- not so with anthrax and naturally occurring cases in US. ***
Most diagnostic labs have so high a volume of samples that they are forced to properly destroy them after a couples of weeks (not enough storage space or funding for extra storage)."
Thus, as a general rule they would not have kept a copy, and thus not have been in a position to share it. A Dr. Whitford was the person at the Texas lab who isolated it and forwarded it. Now retired to Montana, in response to a telephone inquiry, he reports he may have sent it elsewhere.
It may have been chosen to be sent to Ft. Detrick out of other possible strains because the notes by the veterinarian, Dr. Vickers, indicate that it was particularly virulent, killing 30 cattle in a short time. He gave the example of one cow that had been healthy in the morning and then dead a few hours later. This -- or the fact it was sent to USAMRIID at Ft. Detrick -- may have made it seem unique enough to keep a copy of.
As for the testing of lab isolates where the strain is known to be (and a copy of the strain can be obtained for testing), the genetic analysis of Dr. Keim, from Northern Arizona, had potentially promised to remove all doubt as to the source of the anthrax. Hope has long since faded according to press reports. Timothy D. Read, whose work at the Institute for Genetic Research in Rockville, Md. provided the FBI with its first genetic roadmap for anthrax, has said that the differences identified by his team could not pinpoint the source.
The research is reported in "Science." The analysis is directed to showing the similarity between various samples of Ames. The institutions known to have fully virulent B. anthracis Ames, for example, include USAMRIID, Dugway in Utah, CDC, CAMR-Porton Downs in Great Britian, Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio, University of Northern Arizona (Dr. Keim), Louisiana State University (Dr. Hugh-Jones), and University of Scranton (Dr. DelVecchio). Dr. Kenneth Alibek, the former head of the Russian anthrax production program, says Russia had Ames (and had spies at Ft. Detrick).
The anthrax that was destroyed at Iowa in early Fall 2001 had first been isolated as early as 1928. There is no reason presently to think Iowa had the Ames from Texas. That is, there is no evidence they had the pertinent Ames. The use of the phrase "virulent Ames" in the literature would have referred to the "virulent Ames" existing decades before --separate and genetically distinguishable from the isolate taken from the cow in Texas. This is good news, or bad news, depending on the weight one wants to be given the Reid and Keim genetic analysis.
Dr. Barbara Hatch-Rosenberg provides a longer list on-line but it does not distinguish from the "Ames" at Iowa for decades and the "Ames" from the cow in Texas. Nor does it distinguish between virulent and avirulent strains.
There was no requirement to document transfers prior to 1997. One former USAMRIID-sponsored vaccine researcher at UMass, Dr. Curtis Thorne, whose research on virulence of genetically altered anthrax strains is being built upon at the University of Texas (Houston) by a grant from the CIA, reports that samples used to be sent by ordinary mail. The Ames strain, along with other strains, would be distributed not for nefarious purposes, but for veterinary and other research, to include use in challenging vaccines in development.
As a disturbing example, reports and documents obtained by Congressman Markey indicate that the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab had received a shipment of virulent anthrax from Northern Arizona University on October 26, 2001, even though LANL was not authorized to receive such shipments. Los Alamos is managed by the University of California. Los Alamos did not report the incident for almost a month, and during that time, informed the community that it did not possess or intend to work on materials such as virulent anthrax until it constructed a new, higher security facility.
The "Science" article reporting the Keim and Reid genetic analysis does not address the testing done with respect to isolates from the vast majority of labs where Ames was known to be. 15 lab isolates remained to be tested. (Note that the date of the lab isolate presumed by some to be Ft. Detrick was not disclosed in the article. (Anthrax was determined to be missing in a 1992 audit.)
One expert, Dr. C.J. Peters, summarizes:
"Knowing that this strain was originally isolated in the U.S. has absolutely nothing to do with where the weapon may have been prepared because, as I tried to make the point, these strains move around. A post doc in somebody's laboratory could have taken this strain to another lab and it could have been taken overseas and it could have ended up absolutely anywhere. Tiny quantities of anthrax that you couldn't see, that you couldn't detect in an inventory can be used to propagate as much as you want. So that's just not, in fact, very helpful."
It is naive to think that Al Qaeda could not have obtained Ames just because it tended to be in labs associated with the US military. US Army Al Qaeda operative Sgt. Ali Mohammed accompanied Zawahiri in his travels in the US. The reality is that any number of lab technicians or others similarly situated might simply have walked out of some lab that had it if they could locate it in a refrigerator. (The labeling typically just consists of numbers).
A HVAC technician who used to work at Lawrence Livermore, another lab run by the University of California, is being deported from the Philippines, after meeting with officials of an organation thought to be connected to Al Qaeda.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency began anthrax research at Lawrence LIvermore in 1998 in response to the Bin Laden anthrax threat. While one source confirms presently the lab works with live anthrax, no one at the lab has responded to inquiries as to whether the lab had virulent, live "Ames" in March 2002, when the HVAC technician, who had a high level security clearance, was last there.
Ft. Detrick sent its Ames strain to places like Porton Down in Great Britain and Suffield in Canada. We can reasonably assume that Ft. Detrick did not send it directly to any supplier in North Korea or Libya or Iran. Ken Alibek, former head of Russia's program, reports that Russia had spies at Ft. Detrick. Did North Korea?
The strain referenced in documents on Khalid Mohammed's computer was not, in fact, Ames. Working on the assumption that the anthrax purchased from the North Korea supplier was not Ames, then the question relevant to an Al Qaeda theory is what access to the US Army strain might have been accomplished by someone with 1) a multi millionaire (Bin Laden) backing his play, and 2) a lot of Muslims who believe in his Islamist cause (for example, toppling the Egyptian and Saudi regimes). The possible sources include Russia (or former Soviet bloc country), Iraq, Iran, the US Army, or a facility that obtained Ames from the US Army or other researcher who had it. (Iran has been added to the list due to new reports that they have weaponized anthrax; and that they have recruited Russian scientists.)
This was the instinct of the Administration from early on, according to Woodward's "Bush at War":
"They turned to the hot topic of anthrax. The powder in the letter mailed to Senator Daschle's office had been found to be potent, prompting officials to suggest its source was likely an expert capable of producing the bacteria in huge amounts. Tenet said, 'I think it's AQ -- meaning Al Qaeda.'
'I think there's a state sponsor involved. It's too well thought-out, the powder's too well refined. It might be Iraq, it might be Russia, it might be a renegade scientist, perhaps from Iraq or Russia.'
'I'm not going to talk about a state sponsor,' Tenet assured them."
And he didn't.

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Lynne Stewart Trial: "Rise Up From Your Deep Slumber"
Posted by Ross on Friday January 30, 2004 at 9:31 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]
Link to story: http://www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
Lynne Stewart never taught millions how to host a party. The 62-year-old grandmother, however, is associated with a mass movement far more compelling to some than what flower arrangement to use. She is scheduled to go on trial this Spring on charges that she helped Egyptian Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the blind sheik, communicate with a terrorism network.
She was first charged by the government a half year after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Rahman was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy, bombing conspiracy, soliciting an attack on an U.S. military installation, and soliciting the murder of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His followers were indicted for plotting to bomb bridges, tunnels and landmarks in New York. Rahman allegedly had given his blessings.
A quarter-century ago, he was acquitted in the trial relating to the assassination of Anwar Sadat. He said at the time:
"We reject Camp David and we regret the normalization of relations with Israel. We also reject all the commitments that were made by the traitor Sadat, who deviated from Islam. As long as the Camp David Agreement stands, this conflict between us and the government will continue."
She and her two co-defendants are accused of helping relay messages from the cleric to a radical terrorist group based in Egypt.
"They know very well I'm no terrorist. They know very well I've never crossed the line. This is just their need to bring some kind of terrorist case to keep the lawyers in line."
Last year, the judge dismissed two of the most serious terrorism counts on the grounds that they were unconstitutionally vague. In December, the government brought new charges accusing her of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Michael Tigar, her attorney, has called her case "a vindictive effort to chill courageous advocacy by all lawyers."
Stewart recently has traveled across the country, making more than 100 speeches to generate support. "They need the preaching and I need the choir because it invigorates me to know there are people that care that they're really backing me."
Associated Press quotes her as saying: "My only uneasiness with Martha Stewart's case is because I do feel that there's a lot of boys out there who did worse than Martha and they're not indicted. And there was a sense of mine that she was in her position because she was a successful woman and had a high profile, sort of not unlike myself."
Authorities take the issue of aiding the sheik to communicate with his followers seriously. His words in the past have resulted, according to authorities, in acts of terrorism.
The release of the blind sheik has remained a central aim of the Egyptian militant islamists. In what would prove a public relations debacle for the islamists, on or about November 17, 1997, six terrorists shot and stabbed a group of tourists visiting an archaelogical site in Luxor, Egypt. Fifty-eight tourists were killed along with four Egyptians. The terrorists left leaflets explaining their support for the Islamic Group and calling for the blind sheik's release. The torso of one was slit and a leaflet inserted.
In 1998, the blind sheik issued a fatwa directing that Americans be killed to avenge his imprisonment. During the trial relating to bombing the U.S. embassies in Africa, one witness testified that Abdel Rahman smuggled a flier from prison calling on Muslims to avenge indignities he sustained as a prisoner. "Oh people, oh men of Allah, rise up from your deep slumber. ... Rise up and see justice done," the sheik wrote in a letter smuggled out of prison.
On September 21, 2000, an Arabic television station, Al Jazeera, televised an interview with Usama Bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, and Islamic leader Abu Yasser (of the Islamic Group and Al Qaeda), and Mohammed Abdel Rahman (the blind sheik's son), during which they pledged jihad to free Abdel Rahman. They urged that his followers avenge the "insult" paid him by his imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder. To add to the perceived outrage, according to the government's indictment of Attorney Stewart, his followers were told that he was being denied his insulin for his diabetes when actually he was just refusing to take it. (The alleged mistreatment concerned, at its core, restrictions on his ability to issue further communications ordering that Americans be killed).
The Cole bombing, reportedly masterminded by Khalid Mohammed, was also motivated at least in part to free the blind sheik. One government affidavit in the prosecution of Stewart for violating prison regulations, explained: "YOUSRY told SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN that "some people spoke to [SATTAR] on the phone and said that they did this operation for Omar Abdel Rahman so he could be released from prison and they asked SATTAR to do some negotiations with the American government and tell them 'if [Rahman is] not released we'll execute another operation. SHEIKH ABDEL RAHMAN responded that SATTAR had to take himself out of this and that a lawyer should handle any negotiations."
In the Fall of 2001, Zawahiri wrote:
"Regarding the shaykh's change of mind and his withdrawal of support for the [non-violence in Egypt] initiative that was made by the brothers in Egypt three years ago, the shaykh reached this conclusion because he received information that tens of thousands of detainees were still held in jail and tortured."
Zawahiri's wrote in "Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet" that he agreed with the supporter of "blind sheik" who said:
"the Egyptian Government is guilty of a major shortcoming by not intervening to safeguard the shaykh, guarantee his humanitarian rights inside his US jail, and find a solution to his case because, in the final count, he is an Egyptian national, a Muslim scholar, and a professor at Al-Azhar university. Finally he is a blind and sick old man. His continued detention and the inhuman way in which he is treated will continue to be a source of tension on all levels."
Ahmed and Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, two of the Egyptian sheikh's 13 children, were named as co-conspirators in the Sep 11 attacks. Ahmed Abdel Rahman helped run a terrorist training camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
The blind sheik's plight was also of concern to alleged Al Qaeda operatives in the US. According to an August 2002 federal indictment, members of an alleged Detroit, Ohio terror cell had an angry conversation in June 2001 about Abdel Rahman's imprisonment. Similarly, the Government's Indictment of the Buffalo defendants explained that one of the reasons motivating the terrorists actions was that "al Qaeda opposed the United States Government because of the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of persons belonging to Al Qaeda or its affiliated terrorist groups or those with whom it worked."
Attorney Stewart has said previously that she thinks the Egyptian government eventually will negotiate with the militant islamists. Indeed, 1000 imprisoned islamists were released this past year.
That appears, however, not to be the case with respect to the United States of America.