New Evidence in the Anthrax Attack- Additive Exceeded Accused Knowledge

By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Buried in FBI laboratory reports about the anthrax mail attacks that killed five people in 2001 is data suggesting that a chemical may have been added to try to heighten the powder's potency, a move that some experts say exceeded the expertise of the presumed killer.


The lab data, contained in more than 9,000 pages of files that emerged a year after the Justice Department closed its inquiry and condemned the late Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator, shows unusual levels of silicon and tin in anthrax powder from two of the five letters.

Those elements are found in compounds that could be used to weaponize the anthrax, enabling the lethal spores to float easily so they could be readily inhaled by the intended victims, scientists say.

The existence of the silicon-tin chemical signature offered investigators the possibility of tracing purchases of the more than 100 such chemical products available before the attacks, which might have produced hard evidence against Ivins or led the agency to the real culprit.
But the FBI lab reports released in late February give no hint that bureau agents tried to find the buyers of additives such as tin-catalyzed silicone polymers

SNIP



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/19/114467/fbi-lab-reports-on-anthrax-attacks.html?x=1#ixzz1MuAvPMpj

and how they had everyone on pins and needles and it was all anyone could talk about.

I firmly believe it was a political ploy designed to gin up support for Iraq, and if that makes me a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, so be it.

Someone with a "White Might" agenda...

And why?

nuff said

i forget who it was. but one theory was to undercut their objections to the patriot act.
someone here once posited that the real point was that everyone in that senate office building got up and walked out, computers on, everything. a haliburton subsidiary did the clean up. what a treasure trove of information with which to blackmail people.

implying that Saddam could use anthrax to attack the US, while the US was investigating Dr. Stephen Hatfill for allegedly doing the same.

the man who published the picture of Bush's daughter on a barroom floor?

May 19, 2011
MIAMI (AP) — The widow of a Florida tabloid photo editor who died in the 2001 anthrax mailings is casting fresh doubt on the FBI's conclusion that a lone federal scientist staged the attacks, according to new documents filed in her lawsuit against the government.

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Andrews, the other superior, told lawyers it would have taken Ivins six months to a year to refine the anthrax spores used in the deadly mailings, instead of the roughly 20 hours the FBI found he spent at night in the lab. Andrews also said Ivins did not have the expertise to do the work and some of the necessary equipment wasn't available at Fort Detrick at the time.


SNIP



Andrews added that in the 16 years he knew Ivins, there was no indication "that he understood the weaponization technology of anthrax spores, nor did any of his colleagues ever talk to me about his interest or understanding" of the processes required.

"Dr. Andrews stated in his opinion, it would take more than one person to achieve this attack because of the unusual physical characteristics of the powders," the court document said.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/05/19/us/AP-US-Anthrax-Death-Lawsuit.html?_r=2&ref=global-home


BTW THESE ATTACKS ARE THE REASON WE HAVE THE PATRIOT ACT

It's a lot of work going through evidence and making deductions and stuff, if you already know who's guilty why bother?

Might have required some real work to track that lead down - they had their man, twice, why bother?

and particularly contractors.

:shrug: even if we didn't learn anything other than Cheney's ability to suffer, it would be worth the experiment..IMO

he had the expertise or the equipment to do this.

Cui prodest scelus?

I think the answers to those ancient latin questions
the FBI totally ignored.