* FBI’s circumstantial anthrax case doesn’t add up

August 8, 2008 … Identifying the Anthrax Killer – New York Times Editorial

The F.B.I. seems convinced that it has finally solved the long-festering case of who mailed the anthrax letters that killed five people in 2001. 

Yet its description of the evidence pointing to a mentally disturbed Army bioweapons expert as the sole culprit leaves us uncertain about whether investigators have pulled off a brilliant coup after a bumbling start — or are prematurely declaring victory, despite a lack of hard, incontrovertible proof. 

None of the investigators’ major assertions  have been tested in cross-examination or evaluated by outside specialists. It is also critical for officials to explain more fully how they eliminated the many other people with access to the material. 

The investigators came up with lots of circumstantial evidence to bolster their case.

… But there is no direct evidence of his guilt. 

… No witness who saw him pouring powdered anthrax into envelopes.

… No anthrax spores in his house or cars.

… No confession to a colleague or in a suicide note.

… No physical evidence tying him to the site in Princeton, N.J., from which the letters are believed to have been mailed. 

Because Dr. Ivins killed himself before he could be indicted, there will be no opportunity for an adversarial testing of the F.B.I.’s conclusions. 

The bureau, unfortunately, has a history of building circumstantial cases that seem compelling at first but ultimately fall apart. Congress will need to probe the adequacy of this investigation — and to insist that federal officials release as much evidence as possible, so the public can be assured they really did get the right person this time.

read the entire editorial at … http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/opinion/08fri2.html?scp=1&sq=Identifying%20the%20Anthrax%20Killer%20%20august%208%202008&st=cse