Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman

means, opportunities, motive, and modus operandi

Copyright 2002 Ross E. Getman, Esq.

November 20, 2002 rev.

(Note: Footnoted authorities are linked.)

    Vice President Cheney, CIA Director Tenet, Gorbachev, the former chief arms inspector in Iraq, and the former head CIA agent in Iraq all have said that they believe that Al Qaeda is responsible for the anthrax attacks. A growing number of commentators agree -- urging that the publicly known evidence about means, opportunity, modus operandi and motive in the Amerithrax investigation points to Al Qaeda.(1) The argument, however, is far stronger than has been made to date.

     First, Al Qaeda has had anthrax since at least 1997. Dr. Ayman Zawahiri's right-hand man confessed that Zawahiri succeeded in obtaining anthrax and intended to use it against US targets.

     Second, Senators Daschle and Leahy likely were targeted because of the appropriations to military and security forces that have prevented the militant islamists from achieving their goals. The appropriations are made pursuant to the "Leahy Law." The FBI's involvement in muslim countries is deemed to interfere with the sovereignty of those countries. Senator Leahy is Chairman of both the Judiciary Committee overseeing the FBI and the Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of foreign aid to these countries.

     Third, the Egyptian islamists sent letter bombs a few years ago to newspaper offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. in connection with the earlier bombing of the World Trade Center. The letter bombs were sent in connection with the treatment of the Egyptian islamists imprisoned for the earlier attack on the WTC. The apparent purpose of the letter bombs --which resulted in minimal casualty -- was to send a message. (There is an outstanding $2 million reward)

       A number of additional miscellaneous issues are addressed below. The issues are marked by conflicting evidence but are consistent with Al Qaeda's responsibility: to include the FBI's profile; the hijacker Ahmed's leg lesion; the reported inquiries about cropdusters; Atta's travel to Prague and alleged meeting with an Iraqi official; the dubious "Hatfill theory"; the question whether the letter to AMI was the Jennifer Lopez letter; the Fort Lee, New Jersey $100,000 processor; and the "confirmed cases" of anthrax in Pakistan.

     The FBI, for its part, reports that it is vigorously testing many alternative hypotheses.(2) The FBI has said that authorities do not know whether the perp is American or Foreign.(3) Asked if the possibility of an overseas perpetrator is still open, an investigator says, "Absolutely. Until we get a good suspect identified, we're looking at all theories."(4)

Means and Opportunity: Al Qaeda's Biochem Program    

    Bin Laden purchased anthrax a few years ago from a supplier in North Korea.(6) The Moro Front, an Indonesian radical group associated with Bin Laden, arranged for the purchase, but Bin Laden's own name was reportedly on the purchase order.(7) Dr. Ayman Zawahiri had a list of 100 US and Israeli targets to use it against.(8) Thus, while the question of the source of the Ames strain used in the Amerithrax mailings is problematic and addressed more fully below, Al Qaeda's acquisition of anthrax for the purpose of using it as a weapon against the US has been known for a long time. Indeed, Vice President Cheney and his staff knew to take Cipro on 9/11, a full week before the first anthrax letter was mailed.(9)

    In 1999, the Federation of American Scientists (“FAS”) detailed the facts relating to Bin Laden's purchase of anthrax in 1997 (relying on the translation of confessions and court testimony of Egyptian Islamic Jihad members).(10) At the same time the pro-Bin Laden Jihad elements obtained the anthrax and other pathogens, they diversified the targets and did not limit them to the blowing up of installations. They launched joint action with other groups and organizations, both local groups and others operating outside their countries. The group has maintained the objective of seizing power in Egypt since the coup planned by Jihad in 1981 and despite the Egyptian government's success in cracking down on the organization.(11)

    Upon the merger in 1998, the most senior planners in Al Qaeda relating to tactics and biological weapons were Egyptian Islamic Jihad, to include Ayman Zawahiri, Mohammed Atef, and Abu Khabab. Zawahiri is the real "brains" behind 9/11, not Bin Laden.(12) While the US government views the two groups as having merged in 1998, author Peter Bergen suggests that they have essentially been the same organization, with the merger having occurred some years before that.(13) Formerly the head of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Zawahiri assumed the #2 position after Bin Laden upon a merger of some of Islamic Jihad into Al Qaeda a few years ago.(14) Zawahiri was in charge of Al Qaeda's biological weapons program. Zawahiri's wrath against the United States is thought to have sharpened in 1998 upon the extradition of some islamic jihad members to Egypt from Albania.(15)

    In 1998, Zawahiri took time out from his travels to create some computer documents describing his biological and chemical program, which he code-named "Curdled Milk."(16) The project apparently included work on a pesticide/nerve agent that used a chemical to increase absorption (and was tested on rabbits and dogs).(17)

    Zawahiri was assisted by Midhat Mursi (alias Abu Khabab).(18) An Egyptian chemical engineer, he ran the camp named Abu Khabab. Abu Khabab's whereabouts are still unknown. Al Qaeda's experimentation with its chemical weapons is now featured on the nightly television news picturing a dog being put to death. Disturbing scenes of death show Al Qaeda's capability with what appears to be cyanide gas, which Al Qaeda contemplated using recently in Indonesia -- dispensing it by perfume bottles -- and reportedly in the Tube in London.(19)

    There have been even more dramatic reports concerning an Al Qaeda facility in northern Iraq where there was testing of chemical and biological weapons (such as ricin, which is derived from castor beans) on barnyard animals and a human.(20) It apparently is protected by a radical Kurdish group in an area not controlled by Saddam Hussein.(21) ABCNEWS reported that there is evidence the terrorists tested ricin in water, as a powder and as an aerosol. They used it to kill donkeys and chickens, and at one point, the terrorists allegedly exposed a man to the toxin in an Iraqi market and followed him home and watched him die several days later.(22) In Afghanistan, documents were found indicating that Al Qaeda was doing research relating to plans to use botulinum to kill 2,000 people.(23) According to Stephen Younger, director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, however, Al-Qaida's interest in biological weapons has been focused mainly on anthrax.(24) One lab contained a centrifuge for separating liquids and an oven in which slurried agents could be dried.(25)

    Dr. Ayman Zawahiri's home in Kabul tested positive for anthrax. (26) It has never been reported that the test was a false positive or that the anthrax was determined to be naturally occurring. Similarly, 5 out of 19 labs tested positive for traces of anthrax.(27) The Kabul office of Pakistani scientist Sultan Bashiru-din Mehmood also contained documents indicating an interest in anthrax -- to include calculations relating to the aerial dispersal of anthrax by a balloon. US-hating (Taliban) Mullahs oversaw the anthrax vaccine laboratory, much to the consternation of the scientist in charge of the lab. (28) In late November, an AP photo showed something at the lab described as "anthrax spore concentrate."(29)

    John Lindh told interrogators that, according to battlefield rumors, a biological attack was expected to be a "second wave."(30)

    Zawahiri traveled widely in his attempts to obtain and weaponize anthrax and other terroristic missions -- he traveled to Malaysia, Iraq, Russia and United States. For example, Zawahiri traveled to the US in 1991, 1995 and possibly 1998 under an alias.(31) He went to California, New York and DC (and apparently Texas at one point). Zawahiri sometimes was accompanied by a New Jersey pharmacist and a California doctor (a former classmate who denies knowing who Zawahiri was). They were joined by a former US Army sergeant and key Al Qaeda operative, Ali Mohammed.(32) Zawahiri went to Russia in 1997 where he was imprisoned for 6 months. (The Russians never learned his real identity.) (33) In 1998 he went to Baghdad.(34) According to Newsweek, U.S. operatives in Afghanistan discovered evidence indicating that one or more Russian scientists were helping al-Qaeda weaponize anthrax.(35) US News had an account of a reporter's encounter with a Filipino carrying papers from Dr. Zawahiri (allowing free lodging) and bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax.(36)

    Dr. Richard Spertzel, the former UN inspector in Iraq, says that the product here was well within Iraq's capability. UNSCOM determined that the Iraqi weapons program produced dried anthrax as well as the more primitive wet form.(37) Spertzel and others agree that Iraq would likely have Ames -- having first sought it in 1988 (and security being so lax at so many laboratories that had it).(38)

    Given that we know where Saddam lives, and he is a survivalist, he would want to maintain deniability in the event he had assisted in the anthrax mailing. As former Russian bioweaponeer Ken Alibek has explained, a terrorist state sponsor would want to use a strain that was not associated with it.

    Spertzel states: "Iraq certainly knows how to produce 100 percent pure spores. That is a technique that they developed ... which is capable of giving them the kind of concentrations that we are seeing in the Daschle letter."(39)  The bottom-line, however, remains that Iraq is just one of a number of possibilities. Al Qaeda had purchased anthrax for the intention of using it against US targets and Zawahiri sought out the necessary expertise in his travels. (40)

    The genetic analysis of Dr. Keim, from Northern Arizona, had promised to remove all doubt potentially as to the source of the anthrax. Hopes have 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.(41)

    The research is reported in "Science."(42) The analysis is directed to showing the similarity between various samples of Ames. According to many reports, Ames was widely distributed to universities throughout the world. But even under the most conservative estimate (such as made by Dr. Hatch Rosenberg), the strain was sent to 15-20 labs. The "Science" article does not address the testing done with respect to isolates from the vast majority of labs where Ames was known to be. 15 labs 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.)

     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."(43)

    Ft. Detrick sent its Ames strain to places like Porton Down in Great Britain and Suffield in Canada.(44) We can reasonably assume that Ft. Detrick did not send it directly to any supplier in North Korea. Presently, there is no information in the public record as to the strain that Bin Laden purchased in 1997. Informed analysis requires that at least that much be determined.

    Working on the assumption that the anthrax purchased from the North Korea supplier was not Ames -- which is a huge and perhaps reckless assumption -- 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, Iraq, the US Army, or a facility that obtained Ames from the US Army or other researcher who had it.

    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.

"It's good that we don't." said Cheney, "because we're not ready to do anything about it."

    The technique to weaponize the anthrax was not the one used by the US Army. (William Patrick's process involved freeze drying and chemical processing whereas it was the Iraqi process that involved spraydrying.)(45)

    It appears, according to US bioweaponeer William Patrick, that the electrostatic charge was not removed.(46) This is contrary to what numerous press accounts have reported (based on assumptions outside observers were making dating back to last Fall). Moreover, former Russian bioweaponeer Ken Alibek and Harvard biologist Meselson have opined that there was no special coating.(47) Any silica-like coating, Drs. Meselson and Alibek say, may have been naturally occuring. Both of these points seem to indicate that the production was not state-sponsored, industrial production.

    An article in the New York Times in May 2002 noted the views of the bioweaponeer experts Alibek and Patrick based on the admittedly sparse information available:

    “As federal experts investigated the residual Daschle sample, they found the picture becoming fuzzier. On one hand, the concentration of the anthrax was extraordinarily high — roughly equal to that made in the abandoned American germ weapons program, a trillion spores per gram.    But federal experts now say the particles turned out to have a large size range. While single spores predominated, the experts said, some Daschle clusters ranged up to 40 microns wide — far too big to penetrate human lungs. A micron is one-millionth of a meter, and a human hair is 75 to 100 microns wide. The big clusters suggested the powder was far less than weapons grade.   Private experts disagree on just how much less. Ken Alibek, a former Soviet germ official who is now president of Advanced Biosystems, a consulting company in Manassas, Va., called the Daschle anthrax mediocre.   'It was not done with a regular industrial process,' Dr. Alibek said in an interview. 'Maybe it's homemade.' ...    But William C. Patrick III, a scientist who made germ weapons for the American military and is now a private consultant on biological defense, rated the Daschle anthrax as 7 on a scale of 10.    'It's relatively high grade,' Patrick said, 'but not weapons grade.' (48)

Dr. Spertzel, on the other hand, remains more impressed with the quality of the product. Perhaps everyone would agree, however, that there is much information that has not yet been disclosed about the process used to weaponize the anthrax, and perhaps that is as it should be.

Motive: The reason Leahy and Daschle were targeted

    The letters to the news organizations were mailed -- coincidentally or not -- on September 17 or September 18, the day the Camp David Accord had been signed in 1978 and then approved the next day by the Israeli knesset.(49) The letter read:

09-11-01

THIS IS NEXT

TAKE PENACILIN NOW

DEATH TO AMERICA

DEATH TO ISRAEL

ALLAH IS GREAT.

    Taking into account the fact that there was no mail postmarked with a Trenton postmark on Columbus Day, October 8, the letter to Senator Tom Daschle postmarked October 9 may actually have been mailed October 6. October 6 was the day Anwar Sadat was assassinated for his role in the Camp David Accord. (Sadat was assassinated on October 6, which was Armed Forces Day. He was killed during an annual holiday parade which marks the day Egypt made a critical successful surprise attack on Israel during the 1973 war). (50)

    The note read:

09-11-01

YOU CAN NOT STOP US.

WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX.

YOU DIE NOW.

ARE YOU AFRAID?

DEATH TO AMERICA.

DEATH TO ISRAEL.

ALLAH IS GREAT.(51)

    In an interview broadcast on al-Jazeera television on October 7, 2001 -- which was about when the second letter saying "Death to America'" and "Death to Israel" was mailed -- Ayman Zawahiri echoed a familiar refrain sounded by Bin Laden:

"O people of the U.S., can you ask yourselves a question: Why all this enmity for the United States and Israel? Your government supports the corrupt governments in our countries."(52)

    Senator Daschle is the majority leader of the Senate, which approves appropriations that support the governments in countries such as Egypt, Israel and Pakistan. Senator Leahy is Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight jurisdiction over the FBI and INS. (53) That role alone would explain why Senatory Leahy was targeted as a symbol. But to more fully appreciate why Leahy -- a human rights advocate and liberal democrat -- might have been targeted as a symbol, it is important to know that Senator Leahy is head of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the panel in charge of aid to Egypt and Israel. That aid goes to the core of Al Qaeda's complaint against the United States. (The portion going to Egypt and Israel constitutes, by far, the largest portion of US foreign aid, and most of that is for military and security purposes.)(54) Pakistan is now a grudging ally in the "war against terrorism" largely due to the US Aid it now receives in exchange for that cooperation. In September 2001, the press in the US and in muslim countries discussed the waiver of the curbs under the Leahy Law in light of the war against terror.(55)

A Hamas activist wrote in an ode "To Anthrax" on November 1, 2001:

"O, anthrax, despite, your wretchedness, you have sewn horror in the heart of the lady of arrogance, of tyranny, of boastfulness!"(56)

    The "Leahy Law" plays a key role in the secret "rendering" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Al Qaeda) operatives to countries like Egypt, Jordan and Algeria where they are allegedly tortured. Although humanitarian in its intent, the law permits continued appropriations to military and security units who conduct torture in the event of "extraordinary circumstances." According to the New York Times,

"Egypt's intelligence service has a reputation for being among the most formidable and ruthless in the Middle East, and several of those arrested in other countries have been sent to Egypt for interrogation or trial. According to evidence gathered for a 1999 trial in Egypt of more than 100 defendants from the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the intelligence agents regularly used torture to obtain confessions from suspected terrorists."(57)

    A video clip dealing with the rise of militant Islam in Egypt features a jailed Zawahiri in the early 1980s ferociously condemning torture and other human rights violations by the Egyptian government.(58)

    After 9/11, national security interests sometimes have been deemed to override such concern for human rights. (US officials recently complained about an Egyptian-American academic who has been imprisoned, but Al Qaeda/Egyptian Islamic Jihad operatives have not merited our concern). (59) Dr. Ayman Zawahiri's associates and even his brother have been spirited off by jet planes to destinations where interrogations might be more fruitful.

    In a videotape that circulated in the summer of 2001, Zawahiri said

"In Egypt they put a lot of people in jails -- some sentenced to be hanged. And in the Egyptian jails, there is a lot of killing and torture. All this happens under the supervision of America."(60)

    One associate of Zawahiri was secretly grabbed in southeast Asia and turned over to Egypt, and a Yemeni microbiologist was seized in Pakistan in October and turned over to Jordan.(61). At the time Ayman Zawahiri was getting his biological weapons program in full swing, his brother Mohammed was picked up in the United Arab Emirates and secretly rendered to Egyptian security forces.(62) According to his recent autobiography, Zawahiri himself reportedly was tortured while imprisoned after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

    The appropriations to these military and security units have prevented Al Qaeda from achieving its aims. Zawahiri discusses this torture, the secret rendering of jihadists, and the US Aid and cooperation with Egyptian and other military and security forces throughout his 2001 book "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner."(63) The people who suggest that Al Qaeda would have had no motivation to send weaponized anthrax to Senators Daschle and Leahy -- because they are liberal -- are mistaken. The main goal of Dr. Zawahiri is to topple President Mubarak. He views the US Aid as the chief obstacle and is indifferent to this country's labels of conservative and liberal. This US Aid to the security forces is his chief complaint against the United States and has been Al Qaeda's main focus since 1998.

Modus Operandi: Egyptian Islamists' earlier WTC letter bombs

    This was not the first time the Egyptian islamists sent letter bombs to newspaper offices in connection with an attack on the World Trade Center. A dozen letter bombs were sent to newspaper offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. in December 1996/January 1997. The letter bombs were sent from Alexandria, Egypt, to the London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices of the newspaper Al Hayat.(64) The paper, owned by a member of the Saudi royal family, is the leading international Arabic-language newspaper.(65)

    Two people were injured when one bomb went off in London. Bombs were also sent to the prison officials at the Kansas prison where the WTC plotters were being jailed. (66) The blind sheik the previous year had given an interview complaining of mistreatment by prison officials and asking that he be avenged. The key WTC bomber imprisoned at Leavensworth had also complained of mistreatment and the conditions.(67)

    One commentator has noted:

    “It has been stated that the tactics of enclosing warnings in the letters shows the attacker did not intend to commit murder. This is nonsense. The death of Robert Stevens was public knowledge before the Senate letters were mailed. The attacker knew full well that he was placing large numbers of people in deadly peril and acknowledged this in the text of the Senate letters. As Brian Jenkins [Deputy Director of Kroll Associates] has famously noted, 'terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead.' The letter tactics were chosen to maximize the scope of terrorism, not to limit or avoid casualties."(68)

     Sending poisonous letter bombs is part of Al Qaeda's modus operandi in that the Al Qaeda operations manual, the most recent version on CD-ROM, had a chapter on "Poisonous Letter." (69) As with the insertion of biologicals into food, the key is mass panic, not mass casualty.

     Al Qaeda is concerned with handling its efforts in such a way as to develop and maintain the Arab hatred of the US and Israel -- and that requires a delicate balance and choice of suitable targets. Zawahiri divines from his religious texts that it is moral to kill American civilians on the grounds that they stood silent as taxpayers while US-bought weapons were used on Palestinians. The al Qaeda shura (policy-making council), however, may deem that Al Qaeda needs to choose the methods of attack carefully so that they are both are effective and calculated to gain the support of others. (Gassing the Kurds ultimately was a public relations debacle for Saddam once the world stopped looking the other way). Just recently Zawahiri was invited to participate by telephone or internet in a conference of islamists in Cairo. The seeds he has planted are bearing fruit. (70) Where there are democratic processes, islamists have made substantial recent gains, to include in Pakistan, Morocco, Bahrain and Turkey.

    When Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad or related egyptian islamist group (led by the blind sheik) sent letter bombs to newspaper offices in Washington, D.C. and NYC in 1997 -- to include the "Parole Officer" and other prison officials where a key WTC bomber was imprisoned -- it apparently was because Al Hayat didn't support the radical islamist cause and because the WTC prisoners had complained of mistreatment. Why would the Islamic Jihad target AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer? Just a dispute with a landlady over a security deposit? (The wife of the AMI owner was the landlady for some of the hijackers). (71) Was there an early first letter to AMI so that the hijackers would be in a position to receive feedback on the effectiveness of the weaponized anthrax? Or had Bat Boy given Bin Laden the finger prior to 9/11? What coverage did those publications give the blind sheik and the WTC bombers? The FBI is investigating and went back to AMI.(72)

Miscellaneous

     1. The FBI's Profile. The FBI profile, according to early reports, concluded that the letter writer is an American but is foreign-born (and not a native english speaker). (73) The emphasis in the press reports, however, has always been on the suggestion that the mailer likely is "domestic" rather than foreign -- a lone, male scientist who works in a lab.

    Although the FBI profile has been widely criticized by experts and in editorials in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Washington Post, The Economist, The Weekly Standard, and other newspapers and magazines, it is more flexible than its critics imagine.(74) The Amerithrax profile of a loner with a grudge permits a variety of motivations, including sympathy with the Islamist cause.(75). It is worth noting that the FBI even uses the word "domestic" to refer to Americans sympathetic with an extremist islamic cause. The Washington Post explained in late October:

"Everything seems to lean toward a domestic source," one senior official said. 'Nothing seems to fit with an overseas terrorist type operation.'   The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are considering a wide range of domestic possibilities, including associates of right-wing hate groups and U.S. residents sympathetic to the causes of Islamic extremists."(76)

     Indeed, as Attorney General Ashroft has said, an “either-or matrix” is not useful.(77) By way of example, was long-time Al Qaeda operative and former US Army sergeant Ali Mohamed "foreign" or "domestic"? Are the young men from Buffalo -- most of whom were US citizens and born here -- "foreign" or "domestic"? Domestic terrorism expert Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center has never departed from his view noted last October -- that a domestic terrorist (in the conventional sense of native-born and right-wing) is not responsible.(78)

    The FBI's stock profile concerning anthrax was a lone, unstable individual -- last October, the profilers pretty much just reached into the filing cabinet. Surprisingly, the profilers did not adjust their thinking based on 9/11 or the intelligence that Zawahiri had obtained anthrax for the purpose of weaponizing it for use against US targets.(79) In any event, FBI profiler James R. Fitzgerald, head of FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, can be forgiven his flawed profile in early November because such a profile is far more useful in supporting warrants in the US in connection with a variety of leads that prudently needed to be pursued.

    One intelligence official reportedly has suggested that one reason that the FBI has not emphasized the possibility of a foreign source is that it might require UN involvement in the investigation pursuant to certain biological weapons protocols.(80)

     2. The hijacker Ahmed's blackened leg lesion. One of the hijackers, Ahmed Alhaznawi, went to the ER on June 25 with what now appears to have been cutaneous anthrax, according to Dr. Tsonas, the doctor who treated him, and other experts.(81) Alhaznawi had just arrived in the country on June 8. His exposure perhaps related to a camp he had been in Afghanistan. He said he got the blackened gash-like lesion when he bumped his leg on a suitcase two months earlier. (82) Two months earlier he had been in camp (according to a videotape he later made serving as his last Will and Testament).(83) There are some spiders that on rare occasions bite and cause such a blackened eschar (notably the Brown Recluse Spider found in some parts of the United States).(84)

     The FBI merely says no anthrax was found where the hijackers were.(85) (The FBI tested the crash sites where the planes came down and found no traces of anthrax). No doubt there are some other diseases that lead to similar sores. It is reasonable to credit, though, that it was cutaneous anthrax considering all the circumstances.( 86) Although it may have been unrelated, Atta later came in to a pharmacy with red hands as if he had been working with a chlorine bleach solution, which is used to decontaminate anthrax.(87)

     3. The inquiries about cropdusters. Mohammed Atta and Zacarias Moussaiou reportedly made inquiries about cropdusters.(88) Ahmad Ressam, an Al Qaeda terrorist caught in the United States, revealed that Bin Laden was personally interested in using low flying aircraft to dispense biological agents. (89)

    The CIA, in an October 2002 assessment, reports that, Iraq, for example, "already has produced modified drop-tanks that can disperse biological or chemical agents effectively.  Before the Gulf war, the Iraqis successfully experimented with aircraft-mounted spray tanks capable of releasing up to 2,000 liters of an anthrax simulant over a target area.  Iraq also has modified commercial crop sprayers successfully and tested them with an anthrax simulant delivered by helicopters."(90)

    Anthrax likely can be delivered using the nozzle set-up that some USDA official says Atta imagined (as explained by Secretary Cohen some years ago).(91) Indeed, Secretary Cohen's remarks were found in the Kabul home with papers relating to the aerial delivery of anthrax.

    Some investigators on the team prosecuting Zacarias Moussouai think he wasn't expected to take part in the 9/11 plan as such, but was expected instead to use a cropduster. (French intelligence suggests instead that there was a plan to hijack an international airliner.) It's also unknown what role Atta's roommate, pilot Ramzi Binalshibh, would have played if he had succeeded on one of his four attempts to get into the country. (Ramzi Binalshibh was Atta's former roommate in Germany and was recently captured in Karachi, Pakistan). On the other hand, perhaps the cropdusters related to a chemical or nerve agent. Others reasonably suggest it related to use as a flying fuel bomb. Others even reasonably question that there were ever such inquiries. Based on the interrogation of Famzi Binalshibh, it now appears that the 9/11 planners lost confidence in Moussaoui's discretion, and intended to use him only as a fallback. Whatever the reason for the inquiries -- assuming for the sake of argument they occurred -- perhaps they ran out of pilots (due to Zacarias Moussaiou's arrest and Ramzi Binalshibh's inability to get into the country).(92)

     4. Atta's travels to Prague and the alleged Iraq connection. According to some reports, Atta met in Prague with an Iraqi case handler and obtained the anthrax from Iraq then. (93) The reported transfer of a vial of anthrax, however, is totally unproven (regardless whether the story traces back to Israeli intelligence or instead traces back to Egyptian intelligence). The origin of the story seems to have been based simply on speculation of what might have occurred (at a meeting that has not yet even been established to have occurred).

    In contrast to what most of the senior Czech officials have said, the Prague Post quoted the director general of the Czech foreign intelligence service UZSI (Office of Foreign Relations and Information), Frantisek Bublan, denying the much-touted meeting -- and he also now may (or perhaps not) have been joined by the Czech President.(94) But never let it be said the White House has been consistent on the issue either.(95) Until and unless those Czech officials still claiming there was a meeting produce a photo, we are left with a mush of conflicting and inconclusive reports. The bottom-line is that Al Qaeda did not need Iraq to commit this crime and it is more prudent to limit the conclusion to Al Qaeda's involvement absent additional evidence, particularly when going to war is at issue.

    Mr. Pearl, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, says there is "powerful evidence" showing Iraq is giving biological and chemical weapons to Al Qaeda.(96) There are some detailed reports by defectors concerning Al Qaeda's coordination with Saddam on biological and chemical weapons beginning in 1998, but those reports all depend on the reliability of those defectors -- the briefs made by President Bush and Tony Blair lacked a "smoking gun" in this regard.(97) The presence of facilities does not tell you much. Implied threats that biological weapons will be used in defense are to be expected given that the US has said it is going to attack Iraq (based on its worst fears).

     A detailed argument relating to the connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda can be found online in the trillion dollar complaint against Iraq brought by the law firm Kreindler & Kreindler in connection with 9/11.(98)

     5. The "Hatfill Theory". The FBI official in charge of the investigation, Agent Van Harp, has said in a USA Today interactive chat and elsewhere that the speculation about foot-dragging by the FBI has no basis. As explained in a Wall Street Journal article dated March 26, which was based on information provided by the FBI, the reason for the delay has related to the many scientific, safety and security issues implicated.(99) He emphatically denied the suggestion by Dr. Hatch Rosenberg (first made in a BBC interview) that it was a CIA experiment gone awry.(100) He said all the names of the folks submitted by Dr. Hatch Rosenberg and her contacts in the field had been investigated and did not pan out. (Apparently, five acquaintances in the field had reached the same conclusion and Dr. Rosenberg served as their spokesperson.) The recent hoopla has not produced any publicly known evidence relevant to the anthrax mailings that leads to a different conclusion. Evidence relating to polygraphs or use of bloodhounds under these circumstances are inadmissible precisely because they are unreliable.(101)

    Hatfill’s statements were very eloquent, as were the comments of his attorney.(102) The commentary critical of the Rosenberg conjecture and press about Hatfill tends to strike a Richard Jewell theme.(103) Most of all, Dr. Rosenberg's assertion in her February and June analysis that the FBI has determined that an American made the mailing or has excluded a foreign connection is simply mistaken and contradicted by on-the-record statements and real world events (such as the November 1, 2002 press conference given by FBI Director Mueller and marathon month-long interrogation of a top Pakistani surgeon).

     6. Was the letter to AMI the Jennifer Lopez letter? One unresolved question relates to how the anthrax was transmitted to AMI in Florida. (AMI publishes the National Enquirer and other tabloids). Phil Brennan, a conservative commentator who knew the two victims there, reports that he is confident that the letter transmitting the anthrax was sent before 9/11. It consisted, he says, of a goofy love letter to Jennifer Lopez, and included an open soap packet and a cheap Star of David charm.(105) (According to an early National Enquirer report, it also included a cigar).(106) He says Stevens held it up to his face and then put it down on the keyboard (where traces of anthrax were found). Mr. Brennan very well may be right, which would clinch Al Qaeda's responsibility. Note that the publisher's wife was the real estate broker who rented to two of the hijackers. Small world, eh?(107)

    The key expert evidence on this issue of the Jennifer Lopez letter thus far is the New England Journal of Medicine in which Stevens’ doctor concludes that the letter, mailed pre-9/11, but opened 9/19 and resulting in symptoms appear 9/30, evidenced an incubation period consistent with inhalational anthrax.(108) (He refers to the 1979 accidental release in Russia). A recent CDC report discusses a second letter of possible interest thought to have been opened on September 25 by a different woman who was exposed.(109) The jury will have to remain out unless and until there is more information on the letter(s) that transmitted the anthrax to AMI. The FBI now has gone back to AMI.(110) The FBI reports that the letter may have been opened in the mailroom -- with the product falling on copy paper that then contaminating all the xerox machines in the building.(111)

     7. The Fort Lee, New Jersey $100,000 processor

    One potential lead reported in the press concerns a $100,000 piece of equipment bought by someone from Pakistan who has pled guilty to a check kiting scheme used to raise the funds used to purchase the processor. (112) A senior expert at the DOD has said that commercially available equipment used to make powdered milk could be used to make powderized anthrax.(113)

     8. The Pakistan anthrax

    The three reported "confirmed cases" in Karachi, Pakistan also are worthy of note. Although there were 100 other hoaxes, including hoax letters sent to other Jang newspaper branches, there was no report about the retesting of letters at the main branch of Jang, Habib International bank and Dell Computer. As of a November 12, 2001, the well-regarded private hospital that had done the lab testing had not yet provided the samples to the Pakistan government for retesting. (114)

Conclusion

    In the anthrax mailings, Dr. Zawahiri appears to have accomplished the attack on the US "structure" he intended.(115) With the planes, Al Qaeda struck the US trade dominance (World Trade Center) and its military might (Pentagon). If you credit Zubaydah (rather than Atta's roommate Ramzi), Al Qaeda was intending to strike the White House with the plane that went down in Pennsylvania.

    With the anthrax he appears to have rounded out the field that he imagines provides support to Israel -- the legislative branch and media. In addition to the Senate majority leader, anthrax was mailed to the position symbolic of the 50 billion in appropriations that has been given to Israel since 1947 (and the equally substantial $2 billion annually in aid that has been keeping Mubarak in power in Egypt and the militant islamists out of power).

    The statement this June by the spokesperson who explained that Al Qaeda had a right to kill 4 million and had the right to use biological or chemical weapons needs to be factored into the bureaucratic reckoning.(116) The potential downside of not discovering the perpetrator is far greater if that turns out to be the motivation.(117)

NOTES

1Jonathan Rauch, "Does Al Qaeda Have Anthrax? Better Assume So," National Journal, June 1, 2002.

"The Anthrax Trail,"Al Qaeda is still a bioterrorist threat," Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2002.

David Tell, "Remember anthrax? Despite the evidence, the FBI won't let go of it's 'lone American' theory," Weekly Standard, April 29, 2002.

Jack Kelly, "Their Faraway eyes", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 14, 2002.

Reed Irvine, "Notes from the Editor's Cuff", AIM Report, August 28, 2002.

"Anthrax probe ignoring foreign links?: Critics question FBI's emphasis on homegrown scientist," WorldNetDaily.com, October 8, 2002.

"Al Qaeda's Anthrax: Is Osama behind the mail attacks?" MIT Technology Review, April 16, 2002.

"Biodefense," at Biodefense Sprectrum, Inc. website.

Phil Brennan, "Alibek Doubts FBI Claims on Hatfill," Newsmax, October 3, 2002.

Littwin: "Anthrax trail on wrong path?" Rocky Mountain News, September 5, 2002.

Cliff Kincaid, "Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda, Anthrax West Nile Virus, and a Scapegoat named Hatfill."

Ely Karmon, "The Anthrax Campaign: An Interim Analysis," ICT.org October 30, 2001.

"Cheney: 'Reasonable' to assume anthrax cases linked to terrorists," CNN, October 12, 2001.

"Gorbachev: Terrorist using anthrax, " CNN, dated October 16, 2001.

"CIA Officer Warns of Terrorist Strikes in U.S.," NewsMax.com, November 25, 2002 .

Bob Woodward, Bush at War, at 248 (2002).

Jennifer Barrett, "Newsweek Poll: Bin Laden to Blame For Anthrax," MSNBC.com

3 Laurie Garrett, "Clash of agencies hampered inquiry into anthrax mystery, " Newsday, July 23, 2002.

See also Dan Eggen, "FBI Working to Replicate Type of Anthrax Used in Last Year's Deadly Mailings," Washington Post, November 1, 2002.

4 David Johnston and William J. Broad, "Anthrax in Mail Was Newly Made, Investigators Say," New York Times, June 22 2002. See also Judith Miller, Fox News interview, July 2, 2002.

5 Eleanor Clift , "Still Looking For Suspects," Newsweek (June 24, 2002 issue).

6. Yousef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America, at 326.

7. "Osama bought a batch for 10G," The New York Post, October 24, 2001.

"Bin Laden Bought Anthrax, E-Coli and Salmonella, Aide Tells Court," The Mirror, October 25, 2001.

Simon Reeve, The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism, at 262 (1999).

8. "Did Bin Laden buy bioterror: trial testimony says he did," San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 2001.

9. "FBI & Bush Administration Sued Over Anthrax Documents," Judicial Watch Press Release, June 7, 2002.

10. "Islamic Jihad 'Confessions' Described" FAS.org, March 6, 1999.

11. Ibid.

12. Scott Baldauf, "The 'cave man' and Al Qaeda: A Pakistani journalist who repeatedly interviewed bin Laden says he's not the terror group's main force," Christian Science Monitor, October 31, 2001.

"Arab elite warms to Al Qaeda leaders," Christian Scientist Monitor, July 30, 2002

13. Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc., at 205-207 (2001) (paperback)

14. Betsy Hiel, "Egyptian Islamic Jihad linked to bin Laden," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 15, 2002.

Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda, at 26 (2002).

15. "The Man Behind Bin Laden," New Yorker, September 16, 2002.

16. Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins, "Computer in Kabul holds chilling memos," Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2001.

17. Judith Miller, "Holy Warriors: Killing for the Glory of God, in a Land Far From Home," New York Times, January 16, 2001.

18. Ibid.

19. "Disturbing scenes of death show capability with chemical gas," CNN, dated August 19, 2002.

"Bin Laden Paid For Bali Bombing," FoxNews, October 20, 2002.

Judith Miller, "Qaeda Videos Seem to Show Chemical Tests," New York Times, August 19, 2002.

"Tapes shed new light on bin Laden's network," CNN, August 19, 2002.

UK: Three Charged Over Terror Plot, CNN, November 17, 2002

20. "Bush Cancels Iraqi Strike," ABCNEWS August 20, 2002.

21. "U.S. Monitors Kurdish Extremists", Foxnews, August 21, 2002.

22. "Bush Cancels Iraqi Strike," ABCNEWS August 20, 2002.

23. Reuters, "Al Qaeda tested germ weapons," New Zealand Herald, January 1, 2002.

24. CBSNews, " Weapons Worries," July 18, 2002.

25. Judith Miller, "Lab Suggests Qaeda Planned to Build Arms, Officials Say," New York Times, September 14, 2002.

Agence France-Presse, "US finds Al-Qaeda lab built to produce anthrax: report," March 23, 2002.

"Al-Qaeda might have stockpiled anthrax spores," Times of India, December 10, 2001.

Tabassum Zakaria, "US: Al Qaeda Tried for Bio Weapons in Afghanistan," Reuters, July 17, 2002.

Jonathan Weisman, "Possible anthrax lab unearthed near Kandahar, USA Today, March 25, 2002.

"Al Qaeda: Alive and Killing," Newsweek, November 25, 2002.

26 "Al-Qaeda: Anthrax Found in Al-Qaeda home," Global Security Newswire, December 10, 2001.

27. Judith Miller, "Lab Suggests Qaeda Planned to Build Arms, Officials Say," New York Times, September 14, 2002.

28. Gary Jones, Mirror, November 19, 2001.

29 Kathy Gannon, "Taliban Showed Interest In Anthrax Research Lab. Scientists Say An Official Paid Frequent Visits" in The Boston Globe, November 22, 2001 (photo caption).

30. "US biological attack imminent - Taliban", iafrica.com, December 12, 2001.

"Walker Lindh: Al Qaeda planned more attacks," CNN, October 3, 2002

31. Peter Waldman et al., "Sergeant Served U.S. Army and bin Laden, Showing Failings in FBI's Terror Policing," Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2001.

Dale Kasler, "Terrorist ruse hurt giving by Muslims" Sacramento Bee, October 25, 2001.

"Ex US soldier admits embassy bombings," BBC News, October 20, 2000.

32. John Sullivan and Joseph Neff, "An al Qaeda operative at Fort Bragg," Raleigh News & Observer, November 14, 2001.

Steven Emerson, American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us , 55-60 (2002)

33. Andrew Higgins, Alan Culli, "Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light On the Roots of al Qaeda Terror," Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2002.

34. www.kreindler.com (trillion dollar 9/11 complaint against Iraq recounts Zawahiri's visits to Iraq)

35. Jeffrey Bartholet, "Terrorist Sleeper Cells: A U.S.-Based Al Qaeda 'Sleeper Cell' Was Poised to Launch a Post-Sept. 11 Attack on a Major Washington Target; Would-Be Terrorists Went Underground or Fled U.S. Evidence Indicates Al Qaeda Had Russian Help Developing Anthrax; Al-Zawahiri Believed Involved in Bin Laden's Biological Weapons Program." Newsweek, December 9, 2001.

See also Ken Alibek, with Stephen Handelman, Biohazard: The Chilling True Story Of The Largest Weapons Program In The World -- Told From Inside By The Man Who Ran It, at 272 (1999) (paperback).

36. "Bravado--and blood--in Taliban territory" US News and World Report, November 12, 2001.

37. "Russia, Iraq and Other Potential Sources of Anthrax, Smallpox and Other Bioterrorist Weapons," Hearings Before the Committee On International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, First Session, December 5, 2001.

38. Ibid. See "Iraqis 'infiltrated UK germ labs'", BBC News, November 16, 2002

39. Richard O. Spertzel, "U.S. Policy in Iraq: Next Steps", Hearings Before the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services," March 1, 2002.

Wendy Orent, "Anthrax in America," The New Republic, October 17, 2001

40. Milton Leitenberg, Biological Weapons and Bioterrorism in the First Years of the 21st Century  (rev. July 10, 2002)" at pp. 23-33.

41. "Anthrax probe hits genetic dead end: Despite promise, gene analysis failing to help investigation," Associated Press, June 19, 2002.

The Institute For Genomic Research, Press Release.

42. Timothy D. Read, et al., "Comparative Genome Sequencing for Discovery of Novel Polymorphisms in Bacillus anthracis," Science, 296: 2028-2033 (May 9, 2002).

43. Dr. C.J. Peters, August 30, 2002 on PBS’ “Searching for Clues.”

44. Mark Schoofs, Gary Fields and Maureen Tkacik, "The Anthrax Probe Ranges Far and Wide As Investigators Scour Tips, Quotes & Research Trash for Leads," Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2001

45. Guy Gugliotta, Gary Matsumoto, "FBI's Theory On Anthrax Is Doubted, Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say," Washington Post, October 28, 2002.

Rick Weiss and Dan Eggen, "Anthrax spores were doctored to be deadlier," The Washington Post, October 25, 2001.

46. John J. Fialka and Gary Fields, "Static Electricity Present in Anthrax Letters Made Spores Cling, May Have Saved Lives," The Wall Street Journal, dated December 3, 2001.

Guy Gugliotta, Gary Matsumoto, "FBI's Theory On Anthrax Is Doubted, Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say," Washington Post, October 28, 2002.

47. Jonathan Rauch, "Does Al Qaeda Have Anthrax? Better Assume So," National Journal, June 1, 2002.

Scott Shane, "Anthrax powder from attacks could have been made simply: single maker a possibility, scientists now theorize", Baltimore Sun, November 3, 2002.

Guy Gugliotta, Gary Matsumoto, "FBI's Theory On Anthrax Is Doubted, Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say," Washington Post, October 28, 2002.

"Powder Used in Anthrax Attacks 'Was Not Routine,' The Washington Post, April 09, 2002.

48. David Johnston and William J. Broad, "Anthrax Sent Through Mail Gained Potency by the Letter," New York Times, May 7, 2002. See also Richard Preston, The Demon In The Freezer, at 165, 171-172 (2002).

49. PBS: Online Newshour, "Camp David Accord" (September 17, 1978)

50. Egypt State Information Service, " October 6, 1973: The Battle of the Crossing."

51. FBI Homepage, 2001 Press Releases, (Anthrax Letters photos).

52. Statement of October 7, 2001 following September 11 attack.

See also "Statement Attributed to Al Qaeda Warns of More Attacks on New York, Washington", FoxNews, November 17, 2002

"Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'," Guardian Unlimited, November 24, 2002.

"Interview with Osama bin Ladin," Frontline. May 1998.

"Interview with Mujahid Usmah bin Ladin." Nida’ul Islam, Oct/Nov 1996.

"Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, World Islamic Front Statement," February 23, 1998.

Statement of September, 1996 after return to Afghanistan.

Al Jazeera TV interview, about October 25, 2001.

Video tape with visiting sheikh, Kandahar area, mid-November, 2001 (www.september11news.com/OsamaSpeeches.htm)

Videotape, December, 2001.

53. Senator Patrick Leahy's homepage, Committee Assignments.

54. Ibid; see also "Figures on US Aid," September 10, 2000.

PBS, Interview Ahmed Sattar, (1999).

55. "Congress asked to waive curbs on 'rogue states' Dawn , September 25, 2001. See " Leahy Law".

See Ayman Zawahiri, "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," (2001).

56. Palestinian Hamas newspaper, al-Risala, Translation by Middle East Media Research Institute, report no. 247, (November 7, 2001);

57. Susan Sachs, "An Investigation in Egypt Illustrates Al Qaeda's Web," New York Times, November 21, 2001.

See also

Roland Jacquard, In the Name of Osama Bin Laden, 108, 248 (2002)

58. PBS video excerpt.

59. "Fighting An Unholy War," Washington Times, August 18, 2002.

60. Summer 2001 Al Qaeda videotape.

61. "US Bypasses Law in Fight Against Terrorism," Washington Post, March 12, 2002.

62. Andrew Higgins, Alan Culli, "Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light On the Roots of al Qaeda Terror," Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2002.

63. Ayman Zawahiri, "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," (2001).

64. Diplomatic Security Service, Department of State, "Letter Bomb Incidents".

65. Robert H. Reid, Associated Press, "Mail bombs sent to Arab newspaper", January 14, 1997.

66. Susan Sachs, "An Investigation in Egypt Illustrates Al Qaeda's Web," New York Times, November 21, 2001.

ENN Daily Intelligence Report, January 13, 1997.

67. "Letter bombs found in Washington area and federal prison in Kansas:FBI considers link to World Trade Center bombing," CNN January 2, 1997.

68. Paul De Armond, "Insider Diversion: profiling the anthrax attacks," (June 2002 rev.) online.

69. " Evidence suggests al Qaeda pursuit of biological, chemical weapons," CNN, November 14, 2001.

BBC, dated October 28, 2001 (remarks of Vice President Cheny on training and manuals relating to these kinds of substances).

70. "9/11 mastermind invited to Cairo Islamic seminar," Reuters, September 2, 2002.

71. Phil Brennan, "FBI Rejects Link Between Anthrax, 9-11 Terrorists, Newsmax, August 16, 2002.

72. Kathy Bushounse, and Kevin Krause, "FBI scouts back issues of tabloids in search for anthrax motive," Sun-Sentinel, August 30, 2002.

73. Guy Gugliotta, Gary Matsumoto, "FBI's Theory On Anthrax Is Doubted, Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say," Washington Post, October 28, 2002.

74. Editorial, "Still Waiting For Answers, New York Post April 29, 2002.

Editorial, "The Deepening Anthrax Mystery," The New York Times, May 11, 2002

Wall Street Journal, dated September 5, 2002 ("The FBI persists in pursuing the yellow brick road theory of a lone madman laid out by Barbara Hatch Rosenberg of the Federation of American Scientists.")

Robert Bartley, "The Hatfill Case: Essential Background," Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2002.

Editorial, "Al Qaeda is still a bioterrorism threat," Wall Street Journal, dated March 26, 2002.

FBI Profile Disputed," Global Security Newswire, dated December 6, 2001.

Edward Jay Epstein, "FBI Overlooks Foreign Sources of Anthrax," Wall Street Journal,

75. November 9, 2001, Amerithrax Press Briefing.

See also anthrax-profiler.com .

76. "Anthrax attacks linked to US extremists," Washington Post, October 28, 2001.

77. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Press Conference, October 18, 2001.

78. Ron Martz, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Experts doubt anthrax a domestic plot," October 19, 2001.

See also Brian Levin: Militias and bioterrorism, CNN, October 17, 2001.

79. "Did Bin Laden buy bioterror: trial testimony says he did," San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 2001.

80. "Who's Behind the Anthrax Attacks," Newsmax, November 19, 2002

81. "Al Qaeda-Anthrax Link?", CBS News, March 23, 2002

82. "Memo on Florida Case Roils Probe," The Washington Post, March 29, 2002, Friday, Pg. A03;

See Cutaneous anthrax images.

Thomas W. McGovern, MD, Cutaneous Manifestations of Bioterrorism: Anthrax

83. Sarah El Deeb, "Hijacker farewell video found," Associated Press, April 15, 2002.

84. Map showing distribution of Brown Recluse Spider.

85. "Memo on Florida Case Roils Probe," The Washington Post, March 29, 2002, Friday, Pg. A03.

"Hijacker's lesion deepens mystery: U.S. official cautions against linking anthrax and Sept. 11 attacks," Baltimore Sun, March 24, 2002.

86. "Report Linking Anthrax and Hijackers Is Investigated," The New York Times, March 23, 2002.

87. "Coz: Mohamed Atta Spotted With Possible Anthrax Symptoms," Newsmax , October 12, 2001.

88. Michael Y. Park, "Bioterror Threat: Myth or Reality?" Foxnews, September 25, 2001.

89. "Bin Laden's Biological Threat," BBC, October 28, 2001.

90. "Face to face with Atta," ABCNews.

91. Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs, October 2002.

92. Report: Moussaoui tied to 9/11 plot, CNN, November 20, 2002

"Moussaoui's 9/11 Role Doubted?" CBSNews, July 20, 2002.

Toni Locy, "Moussaoui case doesn't hinge on role in 9/11," USAToday

Edward Jay Epstein, Question of the Week, online.

93. "FBI Overlooks Iraq's Connection to Anthrax Attacks," Newsmax

"Following the trail of powder," f2 network, October 20, 2001.

94. Edward Jay Epstein, "The Fog of Scoops."

"Mohammed Atta in Prague FAQ"

"Czechs retract Iraq terror link," UPI, October 20, 2002.

"Prague Discounts an Iraqi Meeting," New York Times, October 21, 2002.

95. Bob Drogin, Paul Richter and Doyle McManus, "White House says Sept. 11 skyjacker had met Iraqi agent," Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2002.

96. Pearle warns: 'Powerful' evidence of Iraq-Al Qaida WMD ties World Tribune.com, July 15, 2002.

97. "Blair's statement to MPs on Iraq," CNN, September 24, 2002.

Sebastian Rotella, "Allies Find No Links Between Iraq, Al Qaeda," Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2002

98. www.kreindler.com (trillion dollar 9/11 complaint against Iraq recounts Zawahiri's visits to Iraq)

99. Mark Schoofs and Gary Fields, "Anthrax Probe Was Complicated By Muddled Information, FBI Says," Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2002.

100. Transcript, "Ask The FBI: The anthrax investigation," USA Today, March 26, 2002.

See also Dan Eggen and Guy Gugliotta, FBI Secretly Trying to Re-Create Anthrax From Mail Attacks," Washington Post, November 2, 2002.

101. "FBI's use of bloodhounds in anthrax probe disputed. Techniques: The three California handlers brought in by the bureau are viewed skeptically by many in their field," Baltimore Sun, October 29, 2002.

102. Hatfill's First Statement .

Hatfill's Second Statement.

Victor Glasberg's statement and Q and A session

103. Robert Bartley, "The Hatfill Case: Essential Background," Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2002.

"Circle of suspicion: Is the 'evidence' against an undeclared anthrax suspect just coincidences and a colorful past?" US News, August 26, 2002.

Rachel Smolkin, AJR, "Into The Spotlight", November 2002.

Editorial: "Person of Interest", Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2002.

Editorial, Blacklisting Steven Hatfill, Washington Post, September 5, 2001.

David Tell, "Remember Anthrax?" Weekly Standard April 29, 2002.

Fred Reed, "Steve Hatfill, Anthrax, and Bushwah," online.

104. "FBI Ignored Letter in Anthrax Probe," Newsmax August 15, 2002.

105. National Enquirer. .

106. Phil Brennan, "FBI Rejects Link Between Anthrax, 9-11 Terrorists," Newsmax, August 16, 2002.

107. "FBI Ignored Letter in Anthrax Probe," Newsmax August 15, 2002.

108. Larry M. Bush, Barry H. Abrams, M.D., Anne Beall, B.S., M.T., and Caroline C. Johnson, M.D., "Index Case of Fatal Inhalational Anthrax Due to Bioterrorism in the United States," New England Journal of Medicine, 345:1607-1610, November 29, 2001.

109. MS Traeger et al., " First case of bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax in the United States, Palm Beach, Florida, 2001," Emerg Infect Dis , October 2002.

110. Kathy Bushouse, and Kevin Krause, "FBI scouts back issues of tabloids in search for anthrax motive," Sun-Sentinel, August 30, 2002.

111. John Murawski, "Anthrax at AMI traveled via copiers," Palm Beach Post, September 15, 2002.

112.  David Tell, "Who is Syed Athar Abbas," Weekly Standard, July 17, 2002.

Rocco Parascandola, "Guilty Plea in Fraud Case But Feds Fear Pakistani's Purpose for buying Food Mixer," Newsday , July 15, 2002.

113. Air Force Journal, May 2002.

Guy Gugliotta, Gary Matsumoto, "FBI's Theory On Anthrax Is Doubted, Attacks Not Likely Work Of 1 Person, Experts Say," Washington Post, October 28, 2002.

Timothy P. Carney, "Milling Anthrax: Just a Click Away?" Human Events, October 29, 2001.

"Tracking Anthrax," PBS, October 17, 2001.

114. Hannah Bloch, "Some More Spores?: Suspicious packages raise prospect that Pakistan may be the latest target of bioterrorists", TIME, November 12, 2001.

"Pakistan, other US allies grapple with anthrax scares," Christian Science Monitor, November 5, 2001.

"Anthrax attacks in Pakistan as US strikes raise tensions," Middle East Times November 2, 2001.

"Anthrax Found in Pakistan News Office, " ABCNews, November 2, 2001.

"US Firm in Pakistan Gets Anthrax Letter," rediff.com October 24, 2001.

"Pakistan reports anthrax exposures," CNN, November 2, 2001.

"Pakistan to test 3 people for anthrax exposure, " CNN, November 3, 2001.

Ghulam Hasnain, "Lethal Weapon: With three confirmed cases of anthrax exposure so far, offices in Karachi begin to gear up to face the new threat" Newsline (November 2001).

"No anthrax in Pakistan: minister," Dawn.com (reporting on 100 hoaxes and confirming that three cases at issue had not yet been retested; urging no need to panic).

115. Ayman Zawahiri, Knights Under the Prophet's Banner, (2001).

116. "'Why We Fight America': Al-Qa'ida Spokesman Explains September 11 and Declares Intentions to Kill 4 Million Americans with Weapons of Mass Destruction," Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch Series - No. 388 June 12, 2002 No.388.

117. "Federal advisers say U.S. unprepared for biological attack," By Laura Meckler, Associated Press, August 27, 2002.