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a fascinating interchange between Ed Lake and DXer
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Ed writes: We don’t know that the photocopier examined by the FBI was the same photocopier that was there in September and October of 2010.” DXer responds: The way one would test the photocopy toner is to compare the documents copied during the Fall 2001 to the anthrax letters. Ed, have you read the literature relating to photocopy toner examination?
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Ed writes: We don’t know that cleaning or replacing parts of the photocopier couldn’t have made the photocopier different from the way it was September and October of 2001.” DXer responds: Ed apparently has not read the literature.
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Ed writes: Ivins could have used some other photocopier. The one at AMI wasn’t the only photocopier in the entire world, nor the only photocopier within a hundred miles. Therefore, Ivins could have used another photocopier.” DXer responds: Ah, yes, the acknowledgement that there is no evidence he used the photocopier — instead just the unsupported assertion he did. See also lyophilizer and a dozen other issues where the same approach is used.
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Ed writes: “The fact that it couldn’t be proven that Ivins used the photocopier at Ft. Detrick proves absolutely nothing in the Ivins case.” DXer responds: Ah, but it does. You agreed we would consider the evidence against Dr. Ivins and on the photocopy issue, you agree that there is none to support the claim he is photocopied the letters.
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Ed writes: From page 13 of the FBI Summary Report: “Three “trash marks,” or copy imperfections, of forensic value were found on the letters to Senators Daschle and Leahy, but not on the letters to the New York Post and Brokaw. These trash markings were compared to letters maintained in the FBI Anonymous Threat Letter File and to 1,014 photocopier exemplar sets collected from copy machines located inside or near the vicinity of every known biological laboratory that possessed virulent Ames anthrax in 2001. No matches were found.” “So, the photocopier in the library at Ft. Detrick was just one of 1,014 photocopiers tested. None matched the senate letters.” DXer responds: Ed, not having read the literature, is grossly confusing two separate issues — one has to do with “trash marks” and one has to do with photocopy toner. One is specific to a machine – one is specific to the range of machines of a particular brand and model.
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Ed writes: “Do you agree the AUSA implied that the photocopier was used — given the words stated in the footnote?” No, I do not agree. Here is the sentence that had the connection to the footnote: In the 69-hour window in which the second mailings could have been made, Dr. Ivins could account for only a few hours that weekend. He had no alibi for the remaining time. DXer responds: The footnote merely says that the time Ivins spent in the library during those 69 hours does not establish any kind of alibi for the time of the mailings.
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Ed writes: But, that may explain why it was necessary to mention that the photocopier in the library could not be shown to be the photocopier used for the senate letters. DXer responds: Ed is confused again. The FBI has not stated that. They have nowhere addressed this key of photocopy toner. The marks are entirely different.
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Ed writes: Ivins was in the library during that critical 69 hours, so jurors would want to know if the photocopier had been tested to see if it matched the senate letters. Yes, it had been tested. It didn’t match. DXer responds: VOILA! See how easy that was! The FBI knows the perp used a photocopier model of a certain range of brands and can exclude the photocopiers at USAMRIID! The FBI should say that.
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Ed writes: So, Ivins either used a different photocopier, or the photocopier in the library had been fixed or repaired making it worthless for match testing. DXer responds: Ed has not read the literature and has no basis for this suggestion. As I mentioned, testing is done using other exemplars from the Fall 2001 period.
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Ed writes: And we now know what the photocopier was mentioned. It would have been mentioned in court that Ivins time in the library didn’t provide an alibi. The photocopier was in the library. It was one of 1,014 tested. It didn’t match the senate letters. Ivins evidently used a different photocopier. DXer responds: Ed confuses “evidence”; with all the issues he needs to use the word “evidently” in reporting his assumptions made necessary due to the lack of evidence.
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DXer concludes:
There is relevant admissible evidence and that evidence,
being withheld by the FBI,
shows that there is no basis for the DOJ’s innuendo
that the USAMRIID photocopiers were used.
There has been a travesty at justice.
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CASE CLOSED is a novel
about the FBI’s failed investigation
of the 2001 anthrax attacks
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read the opening scene of CASE CLOSED …
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 