* What’s on Ayman Zawahiri’s Calendar?
Posted by DXer on July 6, 2011
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Posted by DXer on July 6, 2011
This entry was posted on July 6, 2011 at 12:46 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Tagged: *** 2001 anthrax attacks, *** Amerithrax, *** Dr. Bruce Ivins, *** FBI anthrax investigation, Ayman Zawahiri. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks?
DXer said
In the news today, Dr. Ayman now volunteers that Bin Laden was blind in one eye.
Osama bin Laden was blind in one eye, reveals al-Zawahiri in latest video
http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/world/osama-bin-laden-was-blind-in-one-eye-reveals-al-zawahiri-8998.html
DXer said
The one-eyed Abu Hamza — think Hazmat suit stored in his closet — if off to the US.
Hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza is off to the US
The Independent-Sep 25, 2012
He’s got a glass eye, a hook for a hand, used to preach hate from Finsbury Park … His four other men are accused of involvement with Osama bin Laden in the …
DXer said
http://jamaicaplain.patch.com/articles/scientists-are-testing-odorless-gasses-and-particles-in-the-subway-this-week
Scientists Are Testing Odorless Gasses and Particles on the Orange Line This Week
As part of Homeland Security tests, scientists will be sending odorless gasses and particles through the T. The experiments, which the government says are safe, are aimed at understanding chemical and biological attacks.
• By Chris Helms
• August 1, 2012
You might see lab-coated technicians and scientific equipment on the subways through Aug. 5, as government officials test our understanding of chemical and biological attacks.
Officials say not to be alarmed. They will be releasing odorless gasses and particles at 20 stations in an effort to map how actual pathogens might move through the T and, perhaps, onto the streets of Boston.
Several Orange Line stations are involved in the tests. That’s the main commuting line for JP residents.
These tests are different from previously-announced ones in which a dead bacteria will be released at a handful of Red Line stations to check biological attack sensors. The bacteria-based tests, to be done when the T isn’t running, are scheduled for later this summer.
The gas and particle tests will take place mostly during off-peak hours.
DXer said
Al Qaeda leader’s brother says terror group far from defeated
By Mohamed Fadel Fahmy
By Mohamed Fadel Fahmy
In a modest house on a quiet street in Cairo, Mohamed al-Zawahiri is getting used to being a free man once again. He was released from prison in March, after serving more than a decade for conspiring to overthrow the Egyptian government.
***
“Before you call me and my brother terrorists, let’s define its meaning. If it means those who are bloodthirsty merciless killers then this is not what we are about,” he says. “We only try to regain some of our rights that have been hijacked by Western powers throughout history,” al-Zawahiri told CNN.
Despite the deaths of many senior al Qaeda figures, Mohamed al-Zawahiri does not believe the organization led by his brother is a spent force.
“If you read American literature, now they have understood that the strength of Al Qaeda is not in its leaders but in its ideology. Any person obtains power when his work matches his principles. ”
…
A 1974 graduate of the engineering college at Cairo University, Mohamed al-Zawahiri left Egypt to work in Saudi Arabia. In 1981 – along with his brother – he was one of dozens charged in the conspiracy to assassinate President Anwar Sadat.
…
According to Human Rights Watch, the brothers spent some time together in Sudan in the early 1990s. Mohamed says he last saw his older brother in 1996 in Azerbaijan.
He also spent some time working for the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) as an architect, helping to build schools and hospitals. The IIRO had connections to the Saudi government but would later be accused of links to militant Islamist groups, including al Qaeda, and was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Mohamed al-Zawahiri also spent time in Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, where he was arrested in 1999 and subsequently sent to Egypt.
“The UAE subjected me to horrible psychological and physical torture for four months,” he alleges.
…
Mohamed believes his brother’s growing role in Islamist extremism was responsible for his arrest and secret deportation to Egypt – and says he was interrogated relentlessly about his brother’s whereabouts.
…
Zawahiri says during his time in an Egyptian prison he was tortured by electrocution, sleep deprivation and beatings. He was permitted to shower only once every four months and was kept in a tiny cell with no windows. All the while, his family had no clue whether he was alive or dead. He had simply disappeared.
Eventually – in 2004 – an Arabic newspaper based in London reported he was still alive and held at a high security prison in Cairo, and published a photograph of him. The Egyptian authorities confirmed he was being held.
Despite or maybe because of his long incarceration, Mohamed al-Zawahiri is unrepentant about his beliefs.
“If the West wants to live in peace then they must give the Muslims their rights back. Occupation of our lands is one thing, but interference in our religious beliefs is the worst kind of breach of human rights. We only want to build our Islamic nations the way we like it and want no confrontation with the West as long as they stop occupying our land, killing innocent women and children and above all interfering in our religious beliefs,” al-Zawahiri said.
“We call for fasting, prayers, spreading Allah’s word and Jihad if we are attacked or restricted from practicing our religion. In this case, we invite the oppressor first into the Islamic community to learn our religion. If they refuse, and we are stopped from spreading our religion, then Allah has ordered us to confront them, and this is Jihad.” Al-Zawahiri said.
When asked if he believes the United States is a legitimate target for attack, al-Zawahiri says: “He who kills our women and children should not be sad when I kill his.”….
DXer said
“A missile could strike him anywhere, day or night, at any time,” said psychiatrist Marc Sageman, a former CIA agent in Pakistan and author of “Leaderless Jihad.” “If he waits too long in the same place he runs the risk of being spotted. But if he moves it’s worse, he becomes even more vulnerable. It’s an untenable position.”
Zawahiri, a dead man walking
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/12/zawahiri-a-dead-man-walking/
Comment: This seems illogical. Dr. Sageman, hasn’t the same has been true for the past 10 years?
It seems instead that it is just as likely that Dr. Ayman will succeed in launch the next 9/11, which is expected to cost more innocent lives than the attack on the World Trade Centers.
In terms of calculating the odds and assessing the stakes, the DOJ should not have been allowed to engage in speculative reasoning in Amerithrax. If you think the DOJ ever further assessed the evidence after Dr. Ivins’ death, just look to how lead prosecutor Kenneth Kohl was spending his time.
Director Mueller says that he as much as anyone wants intelligence because he knows that after the attack, the man in his seat will be held accountable.
Here’s a bit of intelligence:
Dr. Ayman’s colleagues announced that he was developing anthrax to use against US targets. Thus the Amerithrax investigation should have focused on who he knew to recruit. Anyone who knew him and abruptly travelled after the denial of Mahjoub’s bail (Mahjoub was #2 of the Vanguards of Conquest) should have undergone close scrutiny despite the political connections.
An Ivins Theory only seemed plausible because of the documents that the DOJ selectively produced. That selectivity — and the withholding of key documents — was a very conscious decision by DOJ and FBI senior management. GAO should obtain the emails to and from J. Peterson at USMRC to see specific examples of documents that DOJ and FBI correspondents asked be withheld.
So Director Mueller, you will not be held responsible for being bested by a strategist of Dr. Ayman’s cunning and commitment. You will be faulted for never ordering FBI to comply and respond to long pending FOIA requests for non-exempt documents. You have no defense to that charge.
DXer said
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/us-secretary-of-state-clinton-warns-of-bioweapon-threat-from-new-gene-assembly-technology/2011/12/07/gIQAfXEsbO_story.html
GENEVA —
The U.S. government has cited efforts by terror groups like al-Qaeda to develop biological weapons as a national security concern.
Comment: What did the top Department of Statement person for Cairo do to get the AUSAs a transcript of al-Najjar’s and Mabruk’s 1998 confessions about Dr. Ayman’s plans to develop anthrax as a weapon? Dr. Ayman’s publicly announced plan (see press in spring 1999) to develop anthrax to use against US targets was a national security concern BEFORE 9/11, right? Why is all of US media totally oblivious to this announcement in 1999 of his intentions — and why do we still read expressions of surprise that the Secret Service made Cipro available to the White House after the planes struck? It had already been publicly announced that using anthrax was part of Dr. Ayman’s plan. See CIA’s publicly available FBIS database.
DXer said
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: And our proposals are aimed at that. The programs that we do through State, Defense, DHS, are designed at providing the kind of security at biological research facilities around the world that will prevent the misuse or the diversion of any of these materials. So that’s an active step against proliferation. We also believe that enhancing a country’s ability to detect early a biological outbreak and to respond effectively is, in fact, a deterrent against the development of biological weapons. If all countries are well-prepared to respond, the value, either to a state or to a terrorist organization, of biological weapons will decline. So it’s a – inherently both a health security measure and a deterrent measure.
Comment:
Prior to 9/11, how much more did the State Department, DIA, CIA, FBI, DTRA and DARPA need than for the blind sheik’s lawyer, Montasser Al-Zayat, to announce that Dr. Ayman was going to develop anthrax as a weapon to retaliate for the rendering of senior EIJ leaders before they studied the blind sheik’s network in the United States so as to screen for access to anthrax?
For example, Ali Al-Timimi, the lead speaker for IANA who was preaching end of times and urging young men in a Frederick park to jihad, was allowed to share a suite with the leading DARPA-funded Ames anthrax researchers Alibek and Bailey. How did this lapse occur? Why did we hear only about paintball games rather than unfettered access to the largest microbiological inventory of the world? My source for the proposition that Ali had unfettered is the JD/PhD, a whistleblower, who was let go two weeks after she started upon her complaining of the totally lax security regarding access to pathogens.
Where is the government accountability?
If the anthrax mailer turns out to be a friend of Montasser for a quarter-century, won’t the USG have proved pretty lame at what it does? To include especially the Department of State person in charge of Cairo who knows all of this?
DXer said
The USG had known of Zawahiri’s plans to use anthrax since July 1998, when the CIA seized a disc from Ayman Zawahiri’s right-hand, Ahmed Mabruk, during his arrest outside a restaurant in Baku, Azerbaijan. At the time, Mabruk was the head of Jihad’s military operations. Mabruk was handed over to Egyptian authorities. A close associate and former cellmate in Dagestan in 1996, Mabruk was at Ayman’s side while Ayman would fall to his knees during trial and weep and invoke Allah. Their captors reportedly did not know the true identity of the prisoners.
After Mabruk’s capture in Baku, Azerbaijan, the CIA refused to give the FBI Mabruk’s laptop. FBI’s Bin Laden expert John O’Neill, head of the FBI’s New York office, tried to get around this by sending an agent to Azerbaijan to get copies of the computer files from the Azerbaijan government. The FBI finally got the files after O’Neill persuaded President Clinton to personally appeal to the president of Azerbaijan for the computer files. FBI Special Agent Dan Coleman would later describe the laptop as the “Rosetta Stone of Al Qaeda.” O’Neill died on 9/11 in his role as head of World Trade Center security. He died with the knowledge that Ayman Zawahiri planned to attack US targets with anthrax — and that Zawahiri does not make a threat that he does not intend to try to keep.
Mabruk claimed that Zawahiri intended to use anthrax against US targets. At the time, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (”DTRA”) set up a program at Lawrence Livermore to combat the Bin Laden anthrax threat. The CIA also snatched Egyptian Al-Najjar, another senior Al Qaeda member (a shura or policy-making council member no less) who had been working for the Egyptian intelligence services. Al-Najjar confirmed Ayman’s intent to use weaponized anthrax against US targets in connection with the detention of militant islamists in a sworn lengthy confession. Even Zawahiri’s friend, Cairo lawyer Montasser al-Zayat, who was the blind sheik’s attorney, in March 1999 said that Bin Laden and Zawahiri were likely to resort to the biological and chemical agents they possessed given the extradition pressure senior Al Qaeda leaders faced. That week, and thoughout that year, Al-Zayat was in touch by telephone with US Post Office employee Sattar and Islamic Group leaders about the group’s strategy to free the blind sheik. An islamist who had been a close associate of Zawahiri later would explain that Zawahiri spent a decade and had made 15 separate attempts to recruit the necessary expertise to weaponize anthrax in Russia and the Middle East.
Mabruk was in regular contact with Mahmoud Jaballah, who was in Toronto beginning May 1996. Although Mabruk changed his location every few months, Jaballah kept aware of his whereabouts through his contacts with Jaballah’s brother-in-law Shehata. Shehata was in charge of EIJ’s “special operations.” When Mabruk was arrested and imprisoned in Dagestan along with Zawahiri, Jaballah was told, on December 13, 1996 that Mabruk was “hospitalized.” That is established code for “in jail” and, for example, is the code used by Zawahiri in emails on the same subject. Jaballah raised funds for Mabruk’s release and coordinated these collection efforts with Shehata. Indeed, it was Jaballah’s brother-in-law Shehata who brought the money to Dagestan to arrange for Zawahiri’s and Mabruk’s release. Correspondence between Mabruk and Jaballah in 1997 reports on Jaballah’s recruitment efforts. Mabruk, EIJ’s military commander, was pleased. Jaballah confirmed with Shehata and Mabruk his view of the reliability of the individuals he had recruited. His recruits were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Zawahiri and the Vanguards of Conquest were seeking to recreate Mohammed’s taking of mecca by a small band through violent attacks on Egyptian leaders. By the late 1990s, Zawahiri had determined that the Egyptian Islamic Jihad should focus on its struggle against the United States and hold off on further attacks against the Egyptian regime.
While I don’t think he could ever be allowed access to classified evidence, I hope they allow Attorney Al-Zayat to participate in Al-Hawsawi’s defense, notwithstanding his regular contact with IG and EIJ leaders.
It will be a sad day for intelligence analysis, to be sure, if ever we learn the correct solution of Amerithrax from the salafi-jihadis instead of the US government.
DXer said
If Dr. Ayman’s motivations for the anthrax mailings need to be any more plain, simply turn to his 30 minute video explaining the reason for the kidnapping of Warren Weinstein.
“Leahy Law” and Appropriations to Military and Security Units
After the assassination of Anwar Sadat, Cairo attorney Montasser al-Zayat first met blind sheik Abdel-Rahman after Montasser had been tortured for 12 hours. He was near a mental breakdown. Abdel-Rahman came over to where he was huddled in a corner of a cell, bent over and whispered: “Rely on God; don’t be defeated.” Mohammed had spoken the words in the Koran. Al- Zayat would become one of Sheik Omar’s most trusted legal advisers and a lawyer on the defense team of El Sayyid Nosair. Nosair was the Egyptian who was Abdel-Rahman’s bodyguard and was tried in New York in 1990 for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane. In March 1999, attorney al-Zayat was representing defendants in a massive prosecution of jihadists in Cairo. He told the press that Ayman Zawahiri would use weaponized anthrax against US targets because of the continued extradition pressure and torture faced by Egyptian Islamic Jihad members. Two senior EIJ leaders then on trial were saying the same thing to the press and in confessions.
The founder of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Kamal Habib (who wrote for the quarterly magazine of the US charity Islamic Assembly of North America) told scholar Fawaz Gerges:
“The prison years also radicalized al-shabab [young men] and set them on another violent journey. The torture left deep physical and psychological scars on jihadists and fueled their thirst for vengeance. Look at my hands — still spotted with the scars from cigarette burns nineteen years later. For days on end we were brutalized — our faces bloodied, our bodies broken with electrical shocks and other devices. The torturers aimed at breaking our souls and brainwashing us. They wanted to humiliate us and force us to betray the closest members of our cells.
I spent sleepless nights listening to the screams of young men echoing from torture chambers. A degrading, dehumanizing experience. I cannot convey to you the rage felt by al-shabab who were tortured after Sadat’s assassination.” When Kamal Habib wrote for the jihad-supporting Assirat, Al-Timimi was on the Board of Advisers.
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. America has a CIA station as well as an FBI office and a huge embassy in Egypt, and it closely follows what happens in that country. Therefore, America is responsible for everything that happens.”
An August 29, 2001 opinion column on Islamway, the second most read site for english speaking muslims, illustrates that the role of “Leahy Law” was known by educated islamists:
“There is an intolerable contradiction between America’s professed policy of opposition to state-sponsored terrorism, exemplified by the Leahy Law, and the U.S. Congress’ continuing sponsorship of Israeli violence against Palestinians.” The article cited “References: CIFP 2001. “Limitations on Assistance to Security Forces: ‘The Leahy Law’” 4/9/01 (Washington, DC: Center for International Foreign Policy) Center for International Foreign Policy Accessed 8/28/01.Hocksteader, Lee 2001.
The next day, in the same publication, there was an article describing the 21-page document released in Ottawa on August 29, 2001, in which the CSIS claimed that Canadian detainee Jaballah had contacts with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Shehata and sought to deport Jaballah. Shehata was in charge of EIJ’s Civilian Branch and in charge of “special operations.” It would be seven more years — not until February 2008 — before the Canadian government for the first time revealed that after coming to Canada in 1996, Jaballah would contact Ayman Zawahiri regularly on Ayman’s Inmarsat satellite phone.
“They [Senators Daschle and Leahy] represent something to him,” says James Fitzgerald of the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. “Whatever agenda he’s operating under, these people meant something to him.” 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 has been the head of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the panel in charge of aid to Egypt and Israel. 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).
Within a couple weeks after September 11, a report in the Washington Post and then throughout the muslim world explained that the President sought a waiver that would allow military assistance to once-shunned nations. The militant islamists who had already been reeling from the extradition of 70 “brothers”, would now be facing much more of the same. President Bush asked Congress for authority to waive all existing restrictions on U.S. military assistance and exports for the next five years to any country where the aid would help the fight against international terrorism. The waiver would include those nations who were currently unable to receive U.S. military aid because of their sponsorship of terrorism (such as Syria and Iran) or because of their nuclear weapons programs (such as Pakistan).
The options being considered in response to the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington included potential cooperation with virtually every Middle Eastern and South and Central Asian nation near Afghanistan. “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists” would be the only test for foreign aid. The “Leahy Law” plays a key role in the secret “rendering” of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Al Qaeda) operatives to countries like Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria where they are allegedly tortured. Richard Clarke, counterterrorism czar during the Clinton Administration, has quoted former Vice-President Gore saying: “Of course it’s a violation of international law, that’s why it’s a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass.” Although humanitarian in its intent, the Leahy Law permits continued appropriations to military and security units who conduct torture in the event of “extraordinary circumstances.”
In an interview broadcast on al-Jazeera television on October 7, 2001 (October 6 in the US) — 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.” (Zawahiri watched the broadcast with Al-Hawsawi, who had the anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop; Al-Hawsawi worked for Dr. Ayman and KSM as part of the media operation, :”The Clouds.”
A month after 9/11, late at night, a charter flight from Cairo touched down at the Baku airport. An Egyptian, arrested by the Azerbaijan authorities on suspicions of having played a part in the September 11 attack, was brought on board. His name was kept secret. That same night the plane set off in the opposite direction. Much of the Amerithrax story has happened at night with no witnesses, with the rendering of University of Karachi microbiology student Saeed Mohammed merely one example. At the time Ayman Zawahiri was getting his biological weapons program in full swing, his own brother Mohammed was picked up in the United Arab Emirates. He was secretly rendered to Egyptian security forces and sentenced to death rendered in the 1999 Albanian returnees case.
Throughout 2001, the Egyptian islamists were wracked by extraditions and renditions. CIA Director Tenet once publicly testified that there had been 70 renditions prior to 9/11. At the same time a Canadian judge was finding that Mahmoud Mahjoub was a member of the Vanguards of Conquest and would be denied bail, Bosnian authorities announced on October 6, 2001 they had handed over three Egyptians to Cairo who had been arrested in July. In Uruguay, a court authorized the extradition to Egypt of a man wanted in Egypt for his alleged role in the 1997 Luxor attack. Ahmed Agiza, the leader of the Vanguards of Conquest (which can be viewed as an offshoot of Jihad), was handed over by Sweden in December 2001.
One islamist, a Hamas supporter, summarized why the anthrax was sent 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!”
The appropriations go to the core of Al Qaeda’s complaint against the United States. (The portion going to Egypt and Israel constituted, by far, the largest portion of US foreign aid, and most of that is for military and security purposes.) Pakistan is a grudging ally in the “war against terrorism” largely due to the US Aid it now receives in exchange for that cooperation. The press in Pakistan newspapers regularly reported on protests arguing that FBI’s reported 12 agents in Pakistan in 2002 were an affront to its sovereignty. There was a tall man, an Urdu-speaking man, and a woman — all chain-smokers — who along with their colleagues were doing very important work in an unsupportive, even hostile, environment. The US agents — whether CIA or FBI or US Army — caused quite a stir in Pakistan along with the Pakistani security and intelligence officials who accompanied them. In mid-March 2003, Washington waived sanctions imposed in 1999 paving the way for release in economic aid to Pakistan. Billions more would be sent to Egypt, Israel and other countries involved in the “war against terrorism.”
The commentators who suggest that Al Qaeda would have had no motivation to send weaponized anthrax to Senators Daschle and Leahy as symbolic targets — 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.
Zawahiri likely was surprised that the plainly worded message of the letters accompanying the anthrax was not deemed clear. Perhaps the talking heads would not have been so quick to infer an opposite meaning if no message had been expressed using words at all. Perhaps the if the sender had relied only on what KSM describes as the language of war — the death delivered by the letters — the pundits would not have been so misdirected. But why was Al Qaeda evasive on the question of responsibility for the anthrax mailings, dismissing the issue with a snicker, and claiming that Al Qaeda did not know anything about anthrax? Simple. Bin Laden denied responsibility for 9/11 until it was beyond reasonable dispute. On September 16, 2001, he said: “The US is pointing the finger at me but I categorically state that I have not done this. I am residing in Afghanistan. I have taken an oath of allegiance (to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar) which does not allow me to do such things from Afghanistan.” Before that, Ayman had denied the 1998 embassy bombings too. On August 20, 1998, coincidentally on the day of strikes on camps in Afghanistan and Sudan, Ayman al-Zawahiri contacted The News, a Pakistani English-language daily, and said on behalf of Bin Laden that “Bin Laden calls on Moslem Ummah to continue Jihad against Jews and Americans to liberate their holy places. In the meanwhile, he denies any involvement in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings.” To Ayman, “war is deception.”
The targeted Senators have another connection pertinent to the Egyptian militants. The United States and other countries exchange evidence for counterterrorism cases under the legal framework of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (”MLAT”). Egypt is signatory of such a treaty that was ratified by the United States Senate in late 2000. For example, when the Fall 2001 rendition of Vanguards of Conquest leader Agizah was criticized, the US explained that it was relying on the MLAT. In the prosecution of Post Office worker Ahmed Abdel Sattar, Sattar’s attorney Michael Tigar, at trial in December 2004 explained: “Now, that might be classified, it’s true, but we have now found out and our research has just revealed that on, that the State Department has reported that it intends to use and relies on the mutual legal assistance treaty between the United States and Egypt signed May 3, 1998, in Cairo, and finally ratified by the United States Senate on October 18th, 2000. The State Department issued a press report about this treaty on November 29th, 2001 and I have a copy here.” He explained that “Article IV of the treaty provides that requests under the treaty can be made orally as well as under the formal written procedures required by the treaty, that those requests can include requests for testimony, documents, and even for the transfer to the United States if the treaty conditions are met.
Vanguards of Conquest spokesman Al-Sirri was a co-defendant in the case against post office worker Sattar. In the late 1990s Sattar and he often spoke in conversations intercepted by the FBI. Al-Sirri’s fellow EIJ cell members in London were subject to process under those treaties at the time of the anthrax mailings. Those London cell members had faxed the claim of responsibility which stated the motive for the 1998 embassy bombings. A group calling itself the “Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places” took credit for the bombings listing as among their demands “the release of the Muslims detained in the United State[s] first and foremost Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (the spiritual guide of the Gama’a Islamiya) who is jailed in the United States.” As reason for the bombings, in addition to the rendition recent EIJ members to Cairo and the detention of Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman, the faxes pointed to the detention of dissident Saudi Sheik al-Hawali . Al-Hawali was the mentor of GMU microbiology student Al-Timimi who spoke in London in August 2001 alongside 911 Imam Awlaki (also from Falls Church) and unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator Bilal Philips. Al-Timimi was in contact with Saudi sheik Al-Hawali in 2002 and arranged to hand deliver a message to all members of Congress he had drafted in al-Hawali’s name on the first anniversary of the anthrax mailings to Senator Leahy and Daschle.
DXer said
What the FBI Doesn’t Want You to Know: The Egyptian Scientist In The Library Researching Anthrax As A Water Contaminant In The Summer of 2001
The Canadian government alleged that on the day of the 1998 bombing of the African embassies, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad military commander Mabruk had called Canadian Jaballah from Baku, Azerbaijan and told him to call the London cell members. Mabruk asked Jaballah to tell them they could reach him in the home of Shehata, who was in charge of Special Operations for Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Shehata was Jaballah’s brother-in-law and had been Jaballah’s lawyer in the 1980s in connection with problems with the government. (Shehata was Montasser al-Zayat’s law partner). Jaballah allegedly had been in regular contact with Mabruk, Shehata and the London cell members who faxed responsibility for the 1998 embassy bombings in which over 200 people died. Shehata’s former law partner, Montasser al-Zayat, and military commander Mabruk announced in March 1999 that Ayman Zawahiri was going to use anthrax against US targets in retaliation for the rendering of senior Egyptian Islamic Jihad leaders. Jaballah’s colleague Mahjoub was #2 in Zawahiri’s Vanguards of Conquest. When Mahjoub’s bail hearing was announced in January 2001, one of Zawahiri’s minions threatened to use anthrax if bail was denied. This was the subject of a February 2001 Presidential Daily Brief from the CIA to President Bush. Bail was denied on October 5, 2001. The potent anthrax was mailed to the US Senators the next day.
The government alleges that at one point Jaballah reported to Mabruk that he had recruited individuals who had been members of the Muslim Brotherhood and emphasized that they had been tested and could be trusted.
The government now publicly alleges that Jaballah was regularly in touch with Ayman Zawahiri by telephone. Zawahiri was head of Al Qaeda’s program to weaponize anthrax for use against US targets. The Globe and Mail, quoting allegations made public earlier this week, infers that “The new charges indicate CSIS targeted Mr. Jaballah almost as soon as he arrived in Canada [in 1996]. They make specific references to 1990s-era phone calls, and even include remarks about the suspect’s tone of voice. The documents cite code words Mr. Jaballah is alleged to have used or heard in his phone calls.”
Was Mahmoud Jaballah the Egyptian scientist in the library in Ohio in June 2001 researching anthrax in water? The mailed anthrax was sent to the United Senators the day after bail was denied by the Canadians of his colleague, Mahmoud Mahjoub, who now is revealed to have been the #2 man in the Vanguards of Conquest under Cairo Medical alum Agiza.
Stateside, in Ohio, there was the long-forgotten case of a mysterious Egyptian in the Summer of 2001 associated with the members of an alleged terror cell. The young men worked at a local chicken slaughterhouse and are more commonly known as the “Detroit cell.” In June 2001, they had an angry conversation about the detention of the Egyptian blind sheik Abdel-Rahman. Sometime before 9/11, an older Egyptian man with one of these young men made repeated attempts to obtain maps of the water supply system of Canton, Ohio. At the library, he studied books dealing with disease spread to human by animals such as anthrax. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that after 9/11, a librarian in Canton alerted authorities who called in the FBI. The man had visited the library as many as a half dozen times and asked for detailed maps of Canton’s water system and books concerning microbiology and animal borne diseases. Among the things the man sought were maps of waterlines running under Interstate 77 to Canton’s Mercy Medical Center. The librarian described the man as 50ish, with a slight paunch, and balding. Jaballah reports that he graduated from the University of Zagazig’s Faculty of Biology.
Was the scientist in Ohio in June 2001 ever identified and questioned? According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the man told the librarian that he worked at Case Farms. After 9/11, Case Farms was investigated in connection with allowing illegal immigrants to work without proper identification. The Egyptian reportedly had lived with the young men in Canton for a time in the past year or so, according to the librarian. (Their names were Hanna and Koubriti). The FBI has never confirmed the story. Case Farms doesn’t confirm the story. The librarians won’t confirm the story. A reporter who went to the library in person at my request was shown the door. What news, if any, came out of the trial of members of the Detroit terror cell? Portions of the proceeding were sealed. During the same period, two of the men on trial reportedly had enrolled in a four-week truck-driving course.
The “Detroit defendants” were arrested when the week after 9/11 authorities kicked down the door of the apartment that had the name Nabil al-Marabh on the mailbox. Knowing of his connection to Al Qaeda, the FBI had gone looking for him after 9/11. His lawyer handling a fender bender involving al-Marabh’s taxicab in Boston had a forwarding address for him. In considering how many Egyptians trained in biology taxi driver Nabil Al-Marabh knew, he knew Mahmoud Jaballah. Mahmoud Jaballah was a biology teacher and co-founder, with al-Marabh’s uncle, of an elementary school on the edge of Little Beirut in Toronto. After coming to Canada in 1996, Jaballah would contact Ayman regularly on Ayman’s Inmarsat satellite phone.
Jaballah reports that he graduated at the University of Zagazig from what he described as “the Faculty of Biology.” A January 2008 decision addressed the conditions of Jaballah’s detention (such as whether his son could bring a wireless laptop home, why his apartment had DSL service etc.).
Jaballah was rearrested in August 2001 even though an earlier security certificate was quashed. Why was he rearrested? Were authorities upset had gone off the radar for a matter of weeks? CSIS alleges Jaballah knew Mahmoud Mahjoub who the CSIS now for the first time alleges was #2 in the Vanguards of Conquest. CSIS alleges that Jaballah was in regular contact with both the Vanguards/Egyptian Islamic Jihad head of military operations and the head of special operations — with the latter being both his brother-in-law and lawyer. CSIS alleges that he has had contact for years with Hassan Farhat and Ali Hussein, whom they say were part of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Hassan Farhat was with the Ansar al-Islam. Hassan Farhat was a senior member of Ansar Al Islam, formed in 2001, and was arrested by Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq. Farhat was the Imam of the Salaheddin Mosque in Toronto, which was affiliated with the school founded by Jaballah, from 1997 to 2002. Farhat also lived in Montreal for a time where Jaballah visited him. For an organization that emphasizes cell security, Jaballah was well-connected. Did Hassan Farhat know Montrealer Jdey, who had part of the 911 plot until he pulled back for unknown reasons (that did not include cold feet)?
After Jaballah’ s second arrest, Nabil al-Marabh’ s uncle, Ahmed Shehab, took over as principal at Jaballah’ s school. Shehab and Jaballah had shared control of the school with Jaballah as its co-founders. Was Jaballah the scientist researching anthrax in Canton, Ohio from May to July 2001? The man told the librarian that he had worked at a laboratory in Egypt where he had learned to detect pathogens otherwise not detectable. He said he wanted to help the United States detect pathogens. (The librarian said that his english was so poor, she would expect him to be asking about a green card; but she finally got the word “pathogens” out of him). Jaballah was 40 rather than 50ish. But he otherwise fit the description and from his picture looks older than his age.
Aly Hindy, president of the affiliated Salaheddin Islamic Center, imam of its mosque and a civil engineer in Toronto, described the school to the Wall Street Journal in December 2001. “We had to take our children out” of the public-school system, which teaches about “homosexuality” and allows undue “mixing between boys and girls.” The Wall Street Journal article explains: “Mr. Jaballah helped organize the curriculum at Salaheddin during the summer of 2000 and taught Arabic for a few months. “He wanted to be principal. I told him no,” Mr. Hindy says, because his English wasn’t good enough.”
As likely explained in the still-classified February 2001 Presidential Daily Brief (”PDB”), a threat to use anthrax was mailed to the Canadian immigration minister in late January 2001 if bail was denied. The mailed anthrax was sent to the United Senators the day after a judge denied bail to Jaballah’s colleague, Mahmoud Mahjoub, who now is revealed have once been the #2 man in Vanguards of Conquest.
Amerithrax appears to represent the greatest intelligence failure in the history of the United States. The reason you don’t know that is because some government employees have just wanted to cover their ass and protect their careers.
DXer said
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And, according to NPR, “crop dusting”, too.
DIA needs to check where, and whether more than eight thousand shipped.
Max payload, range 500 to 800 grams.
DXer said
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/05/143144146/drone-technology-finding-its-way-to-american-skies
Look, Up In The Sky! It’s A Drone, Looking At You
December 5, 2011
DXer said
Clinton to address biological weapons conference
(AFP) – 13 hours ago
GENEVA — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will this week seek to rally international efforts against the biological weapons threat at a key meeting in Geneva.
***
Conference secretary general Richard Lennane said ahead of Clinton’s visit: “It’s a reflection of how seriously the US treats the convention. It needs serious attention at the highest levels.”
The meeting takes place every five years and will see signatory states consider updating the convention and discuss the implications of scientific and technological developments.
BugMaster said
Eat more Imuran!
BugMaster said
Back to the future!
DXer said
This Pakistan news report is false. JP Zanders reports from Geneva on the BWPP forum: I can assure you: I am posting this item from the BTWC RevCon meeting room, where delegations are making their opening statements. – JPZ
Divisive issue: Biological Weapons Convention postponed
By Qaiser Butt
Published: December 5, 2011
http://tribune.com.pk/story/302376/divisive-issue-biological-weapons-convention-postponed/
ISLAMABAD: The seventh review conference of the Biological Weapons Convention has been postponed for an indefinite time, Prof Dr Muhammad Masoom Yasinzai, Vice Chancellor of Quaid-e-Azam University, told The Express Tribune.
At the conference Pakistan would have reiterated its calls for export controls on dual-use biotechnologies to be revoked.
The vice chancellor did not explain the reason for the postponement of the conference at the eleventh hour. The International Review conference was scheduled to be held in Geneva from Dec 5-22, with the participation of 165 member states, including Pakistan.
Irfanur Rehman Shami, director of general disarmament at the ministry of foreign affairs, Dr Anwar Nasim, chairman of the International Council for the Life Sciences – Pakistan Chapter, and Prof Dr Muhammad Masoom Yasinzai were scheduled to fly to Geneva to represent Pakistan.
As the side event, Pakistan was to sign a treaty at the conference on the dual-use of biotechnologies in universities.
DXer said
Tthe Biological Weapons Conference Convention sessions will in part focus on the control of dual use technologies and access to pathogens at universities — it is worth considering how the same issue arose in the Amerithrax investigation.
First we might consider what was involved in Aafia Siddiqui’s 6 months in 2002 during which she says she was studying using anthrax as a weapon at Karachi Institute of Technology while working as a lab technician. Perhaps Prof Dr Muhammad Masoom Yasinzai could address that while he clarifies how the news report got botched.
Ari Fleischer explained: “What you have to keep in mind is the difference between knowledge about what type of information you have to have to produce it, and who could have sent it. They are totally separate topics that could involve totally separate people. It could be the same person or people. It could be totally different people. The information does not apply to who sent it.” Ken Alibek, the former head of the Soviet bio-weapons program suggests that ‘If I were a terrorist, I would certainly not use a strain known to be from my country.'” To the same effect, Bruce Ivins would not have used the strain — a special mixture of the US Army strain — for which he was the “go-to” person.
The Washington Post explained in a late October 2008 article: “While some FBI scientists were analyzing genetic mutations, others were scouring the planet for repositories of Ames-strain bacteria. To their surprise, Ames turned out to be quite rare, with only 15 U.S. institutions and three foreign ones possessing live, virulent Ames. Samples of Ames were collected and added to a repository the FBI had established at Fort Detrick. In a process that ended only in late 2006, bureau scientists picked up 1,072 samples of anthrax bacteria and tested each for mutations identical to the ones in the bioterrorist’s letters.”
“Back at the bureau’s Washington field office, agents were reconstructing the history of RMR-1029. A giant flow chart, covering most of a wall, recorded each discovery about the origins of the spores and what Ivins did with them. But the agents wondered: Could others, besides Ivins, have gotten access to the flask of spores?” The Post article continues: “The question drives much of the skepticism about the FBI’s case.”
Although the FBI estimated during the August 2008 that, at a minimum, 100 had access to the flask in Bruce Ivins’ lab, Ft. Detrick scientists pointed out in the media that it used to be stored in a different lab in 1997, bringing the number up to 200-300 people. In the Amerithrax Investigative Summary, the DOJ revised the number up to a maximum of 377 — and that is just at Ft. Detrick. At a news conference in August, bureau officials estimated that as many as 100 people potentially had access to the biocontainment lab where Ivins kept his collections. By the time of the release of the “Amerithrax Investigative Summary” in late February 2010 on a Friday afternoon, the estimate was revised upwards to include up to 377 at Ft. Detrick alone. Frontline recently has ventured, credibly, the more specific “219” (for the bigger “377” number, there was be an overlap of people that had access to Ames at both buildings). Investigators have maintained that other possible suspects were ruled out, but they have never explained how. It is one of the gaps that independent experts and lawmakers have raised since Ivins’s death.”
“We just don’t know how many hands it went through before it got to the ultimate user,” explained Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and once a consultant to the government’s investigation.
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.”
In April 2007, the United States Attorney sent Ivins a letter saying he was “not a target of the investigation.” Ivins’ attorney reports that Ivins was told that the FBI was investigating 42 people who had access to RMR-1029 at the Battelle labs in Ohio. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, commented in February 2009: “The recent inventory issues at USAMRIID highlight the difficulties confronted by the FBI in their efforts to trace the evidentiary material back to its source at USAMRIID, and reinforce our conclusion that samples of anthrax could easily have been removed from the facility undetected.”
The question relevant to an Al Qaeda theory is what access to the US Army strain might have been accomplished by someone with 1) an organization supported by funds diverted from charities backing his play, and 2) a lot of educated and technically-trained Salafists who believe in his Islamist cause.
A former KGB spy master says that the Russians had a spy at Ft. Detrick who provided samples of all specimens by diplomatic pouch. But it seems more likely that Al Qaeda got it directly from a western laboratory. For example, Ayman had a trusted scientist attending conferences sponsored by Porton Down scheduling 10-day lab visit as early as 1999. In the US, he had the support of other scientists (such as GMU’s Al-Timimi) who did advanced research alongside researchers working with the Ames strain under a contract with USAMRIID for DARPA.
The DOJ also has provided a December 5, 1997 letter from a University of Michigan Medical Center scientist to Bruce Ivins. It states
“Dear Dr. Ivins:
It was a pleasure speaking with you the other day. I much appreciate your willingness to work with us concerning our new anti-sporicidal material. We are looking forward to doing it in vitro evaluating or not whether this material against anthrax spores given its efficacy against other species of bacillus spores. These studies would involve mixing the material with the spores for varying lengths of time and then either separating the spores or culturing them directly to determine the viability. We might also do fixation of the spore preparations to determine if there are any ultrastructural changes in the spores that can be oberved with electron microscopy.”
“My technicians are fully trained in the contagious pathogen handling and have experience with level 3 biosafety requirements. They, as I, are willing to undergo the anthrax and plague immunizations, although I was hoping that they might be able to administer the vaccines at the University of Michigan. This might allow us to only make one trip to USAMRID before we begin the studies. If we could either purchase the vaccine from you or from a commercial distributor, we would be happy to administer it and document titers in any way you feel appropriate.
I look forward to the initiation of this work. I believe it could be a very interesting collaboration that could eventually lead to animal studies. On December 19, commensurate with the filing of patents on this material, I will send you additional data on the formulations and our studies concerning the ability of these materials to inactivate spores both in vitro and in vivo.
Sincerely,
____________
_____ Division of Allergy”
The FBI apparently did not obtain the documents from Bruce Ivins relating to the correspondence with the University of Michigan researchers until 2005 — four years after the mailings. At that time, someone using Arthur Friedlander’s telephone number forwarded evidence that Dr. Hamouda and lab tech Michael Hayes had received anthrax and plague vaccinations in advance of coming to work alongside Dr. Ivins in the BL-3 laboratory using virulent Ames. The sender noted that the 20 pages being forwarded had been provided the sender by Bruce Ivins.
The University of Michigan Medical Center letter dated May 10 [1998] to Bruce Ivins
“My colleagues and I would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to both you and Dr. Ivins for the opportunity to work at USAMRIID. Dr. Ivins _______________________ were very helpful and cooperative in facilitating our studies as well as providing excellent technical assistance. Their efforts made our stay at USAMRIID both pleasant and highly productive. In particular, our discussions with Dr. Ivins provided valuable insights which will enable to better define and develop our technology.”
“The data generated in these studies serves to clarify and validate the results which we have seen in our model systems (see attachments). We were able to block growth of both strains of B. anthracis with emulsion incorporated media (Table 1). We also were successful in reducing both Vollum and Ames spore counts by 95% (as assessed by CFU of viable organisms). These reductions were observed at spore concentrations of up to 1 X 10 6/ ml (Figure 1) and were seen even in conditions which limited germination (room temperature incubation). Decreased numbers of spores also were identified microscopically in the media after treatment. In contrast, no reduction in counts was noted with an initial spore innoculation of 1 X 10 8 / ml (Figure 2). …”
“We were pleased with this outcome and the personal interaction that produced them. Given the non-toxic nature of these emulsions, we feel that they may have a role in the decontamination and treatment of agents such as anthrax and alphavirus. We look forward to future collaborative efforts with Dr. Ivins and his laboratory staff. With the diverse nature of our respective programs, we believe that a cooperative approach will serve to accelerate the development of these compounds.”
In a number of patents by University of Michigan researchers in Ann Arbor, Tarek Hamouda and James R. Baker, Jr., including some filed before 9/11, the inventors thanked Bruce Ivins of Ft. Detrick for supplying them with virulent Ames. The University of Michigan patents stated: “B. anthracis spores, Ames and Vollum 1 B strains, were kindly supplied by Dr. Bruce Ivins (USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Md.), and prepared as previously described (Ivins et al., 1995). Dr. Hamouda served as group leader on the DARPA Anti-infective project.
A patent application filed April 2000 by the University of Michigan inventors explained:
“The release of such agents as biological weapons could be catastrophic in light of the fact that such diseases will readily spread the air.
In light of the foregoing discussion, it becomes increasingly clear that cheap, fast and effective methods of killing bacterial spores are needed for decontaminating purposes. The inventive compounds have great potential as environmental decontamination agents and for treatments of casualties in both military and terrorist attacks. The inactivation of a broad range of pathogens … and bacterial spores (Hamouda et al., 1999), combined with low toxicity in experimental animals, make them (i.e., the inventive compounds) particularly well suited for use as general decontamination agents before a specific pathogen is identified.”
In late August 2001, NanoBio relocated from a small office with 12 year-old furniture to an expanded office on Green Road located at Plymouth Park. After the mailings, DARPA reportedly asked for some of their product them to decontaminate some of the Senate offices. The company reportedly had pitched hand cream to postal workers. The inventors company, NanoBio, was initially funded by DARPA.
Dr. Hamouda graduated Cairo Medical in December 1982. He married in 1986. His wife was on the Cairo University dental faculty for 10 years. Upon coming to the United States in 1994 after finishing his microbiology PhD at Cairo Medical, Dr. Hamouda was a post-doctoral fellow at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in downtown Detroit. His immunology department biography at Wayne indicates that he then came to the University of Michigan and began work on the DARPA-funded work with anthrax bio-defense applications with James R. Baker at their company NanoBio.
The University of Michigan researchers presented in part at various listed meetings and conferences in 1998 and 1999. The Department of Justice provided a copy of December 1999 article titled “A Novel Surfactant Nanoemulsion with Broad-Spectrum Sporicidal Activity of against Bacillus Species” in its disclosure under FOIA. The article in the Journal for Infectious Diseases states: “B. anthracis spores, Ames and Vollum 1B strains, were supplied by Bruce Ivins (US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases [USAMRIID], Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD) and were prepared as described elsewhere. Four other strains of B. anthracis were provided by Martin Hugh-Jones (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).” Dr. Baker advises me by email that NanoBio’s research with virulent Ames was “done at USAMRIID by a microbiologist under Dr. Ivins’ direct supervision and at LSU under the direction of Dr. Hugh Jones.”
In the acknowledgements section, the University of Michigan authors thanked:
(1) Shaun B. Jones, Jane Alexander, and Lawrence DuBois (Defense Science Office, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) for their support;
(2) Bruce Ivins for supplying virulent Ames;
(3) Patricia Fellows (who is identified as Ivins’ Former Colleague #2 in the Amerithrax Investigative Summary); (Her deposition in Stevens v. United States is required to be shredded).
(4) Mara Linscott (who is identifed as Ivins’ “Former Colleague #1); (Her deposition in Stevens v. United States is required to be shredded). and
(5) Arthur Friedlander, the Army’s top anthrax expert.
He thanked Drs. Fellows, Linscott and Friedlander for their technical support and helpful suggestions in the performance of the initial anthrax studies.
(7) Martin-Hugh-Jones at LSU,
(8) Kimothy Smith, who moved from LSU to Northern Arizona University, where he was a key genetics expert for the FBI typing submitted samples in 2002; and
(9) Pamala Coker, Kimothy’s close associate
who served as the LSU biolevel 3 lab head.
Dr. Hamouda thanked Hugh-Jones, Smith and Coker for supplying the characterized B. anthracis strains and the space at Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge).
The University of Michigan researchers found that their nanoemulsion incorporated into the growth medium completely inhibited the growth of the spores. Transmission electron microscope was used to examine the spores.
The patent explained that “The nanoemulsions can be rapidly produced in large quantities and are stable for many months *** Undiluted, they have the texture of a semisolid cream and can be applied topically by hand or mixed with water. Diluted, they have a consistency and appearance similar to skim milk and can be sprayed to decontaminate surfaces or potentially interact with aerosolized spores before inhalation.”
A March 18, 1998 press release had provided some background to the novel DARPA-funded work. It was titled “Novavax Microbicides Undergoing Testing at University of Michigan Against Biological Warfare Agents; Novavax Technology Being Supplied to U.S. Military Program At University of Michigan as Possible Defense Against Germ Warfare.” The release stated that “The Novavax Biologics Division has designed several potent microbicides and is supplying these materials to the University of Michigan for testing under a subcontract. Various formulations are being tested as topical creams or sprays for nasal and environmental usage. The biocidal agent’s detergent degrades and then explodes the interior of the spore. Funding, the press release explains, was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense.
In a presentation at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) on September 26, 1998, Michael Hayes, a research associate in the U-Michigan Medical School, presented experimental evidence of BCTP’s ability to destroy anthrax spores both in a culture dish and in mice exposed to anthrax through a skin incision. “In his conference presentation, Hayes described how even low concentrations of BCTP killed more than 90 percent of virulent strains of Bacillus anthracis spores in a culture dish.” Its website explains that the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy is the “[p]remier meeting on infectious diseases and antimicrobial agents, organized by the American Society for Microbiology.”
In 1999, LSU researcher Dr.Kimothy Smith, who was thanked for providing BL-3 space for the research by the University of Michigan researchers, moved to the Arizona lab, bringing with him the lab’s first samples of anthrax.”
A University of Michigan Medical school publication, Medicine at Michigan, (Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1999) explained: “In studies with rats and mice in the U-M Medical School under the direction of James R. Baker, Jr., M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of the Center for Biologic Nanotechnology, the mixture, known as BCTP, attacked anthrax spores and healed wounds caused by a closely related species of bacteria, Bacillus cereus. (The letters BCTP stand for Bi-Component, Triton X-100 n-tributyl Phosphate.)
Baker describes the process as follows: “The tiny lipid droplets in BCTP fuse with anthrax spores, causing the spores to revert to their active bacterial state. During this process, which takes 4-5 hours, the spore’s tough outer membrane changes, allowing BCTP’s solvent to strip away the exterior membrane. The detergent then degrades the spores’ interior contents. In scanning electron microscope images, the spores appear to explode.” The rapid inactivation of anthrax bacteria and spores combined with BCTP’s low toxicity thus make the emulsion a promising candidate for use as a broad-spectrum, post-exposure decontamination agent.
***
The research is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense.”
Dr. Baker, by email, advises me that Ivins did the studies involving Ames for them at USAMRIID. He reports: “We never had Ames and could not have it at our UM facilities.” Before September 2001, it’s office was described as in the basement of a downtown bank which seems to describe 912 N. Main St., Ann Arbor, just west of the University of Michigan campus.
An article in the Summer of 2000 in Medicine at Michigan explains:
“Victory Site: Last December [December 1999] Tarek Hamouda, Amy Shih and Jim Baker traveled to a remote military station in the Utah desert. There they demonstrated for the U.S. Army Research and Development Command the amazing ability of non-toxic nanoemulsions (petite droplets of fat mixed with water and detergent) developed at Michigan to wipe out deadly anthrax-like bacterial spores. The square vertical surfaces shown here were covered with bacterial spores; Michigan’s innocuous nanoemulsion was most effective in killing the spores even when compared to highly toxic chemicals.”
An EPA report explains: “In December 1999, the U.S. Army tested a broad spectrum nanoemulsion and nine other decontamination technologies in Dugway, Utah, against an anthrax surrogate, Bacillus globigii. Nanoemulsion was one of four technologies that proved effective and was the only nontoxic formulation available. Other tests against the vaccine strain of B. anthracis (Sterne strain) were conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research.”
As Fortune magazine explained in November 2001 about NanoBio: “Then bioterror struck…. It moved to a bland corporate park where its office has no name on the door. It yanked its street address off its Website, whose hit rate jumped from 350 a month to 1,000 a day.” NanoBio was part of the solution: “in the back of NanoBio’s office sit two dozen empty white 55-gallon barrels. A few days before, DARPA had asked Annis and Baker if they could make enough decontaminant to clean several anthrax-tainted offices in the Senate. NanoBio’s small lab mixers will have to run day and night to fill the barrels. ‘This is not the way we want to do this,’ sighs [its key investor], shaking his head. ‘This is all a duct-tape solution.’ ” James Baker, founder of Ann Arbor’s NanoBio’s likes to quote a Chinese proverb: “When there are no lions and tigers in the jungle, the monkeys rule.”
It’s naive to think that Al Qaeda could not have obtained Ames just because it tended to be in labs associated with or funded by the US military. US Army Al Qaeda operative Sgt. Ali Mohammed accompanied Zawahiri in his travels in the US. (Ali Mohamed had been a major in the same unit of the Egyptian Army that produced Sadat’s assassin, Khaled Islambouli). Ali Al-Timimi was working in the building housing the Center for Biodefense funded by the DARPA and had access to the facilities at both the Center for Biodefense and the adjacent American Type Culture Collection. For example, Michael Ray Stubbs was an HVAC system technician at Lawrence Livermore Lab with a high-level security clearance permitting access; that was where the effort to combat the perceived Bin Laden anthrax threat was launched in 1998. Aafia Siddiqui, who attended classes at a building with the virulent Vollum strain. She later married a 9/11 plotter al-Balucchi, who was in UAE with al-Hawsawi, whose laptop, when seized at the home of a bacteriologist, had anthrax spraydrying documents on it. The reality is that a lab technician, researcher, or other person similarly situated might simply have walked out of some lab that had it.
Among the documents found in Afghanistan in 2001 were letters and notes written in English to Ayman Zawahiri by a scientist about his attempts to obtain an anthrax sample. One handwritten letter was on the letterhead of the Society for Applied Microbiology, the UK’s oldest microbiological society. The Society for Applied Microbiology of Bedford, UK, recognizes that “the development and exploitation of Applied Microbiology requires the maintenance and improvement of the microbiological resources in the UK, such as culture collections and other specialized facilities.” Thus, Zawahiri’s access to the Ames strain is still yet to be proved, but there was no shortage of possibilities or recruitment attempts by Ayman. One colleague of his estimates that he made 15 recruitment attempts over the course of a decade. Dr. Keim observes: “Whoever perpetrated the first crime must realize that we have the capability to identify material and to track the material back to its source. Whoever did this is presumably aware of what’s going on, and if the person is a scientist, they can read the study. Hopefully, the person is out there thinking: When am I going to get caught?”
In June 2001, in addition to the conference at Annapolis organized by Bruce Ivins, a conference was held at Aberdeen Proving Ground (Edgewood) for small businesses that might contribute to the biodefense effort. It showcased APG’s world class facillities that had the full range of relevant equipment, as well as the range of activities and research featured by presenters at such conferences. It was called “Team APG Showcase 2001.″ Edgewood maintains a database of simulant properties. The information and equipment, including spraydrying equipment, is available to participants in the SBIR — promoting small business innovation. Might the anthrax attack have required the learning of a state? Well, to get that, all you needed to do was go to the program that shares such research for the purpose of innovation in the area of biodefense. APG built a Biolevel-3 facility and, according to a Baltimore Sun report, by October 2002 had 19 virulent strains of anthrax, including Ames. A 1996 report on a study done at Edgewood involving irradiated virulent Ames provided by John Ezzell that was used in a soil suspension. Another article discusses Delta Ames supplied to Edgewood by the Battelle-managed Dugway, subtilis, and use of sheep blood agar. Did Battelle have virulent Ames across I-95? Edgewood tested nanoemulsion biocidal agents during this time period, according to a national nanobiotechnology initiative report issued June 2002.
If the United States is going to have credibility in preaching to countries like Pakistan to control dual use technologies and guard against the access to strains and technologies in Universities, then maybe it should have gotten its own house in order a lot sooner than it did. By obfuscating analysis in Amerithrax, the United States avoided international involvement in the investigation — which would have been anathema to the FBI. Perhaps the FBI and Administration thought: It is bad enough to have Senator Grassley meddling in their affairs and second-guessing their judgments. Can you imagine allowing the French a role?
DXer said
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/05/fact-sheet-seventh-review-conference-biological-and-toxin-weapons-conven
he White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate ReleaseDecember 05, 2011
Fact Sheet on the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
“We must come together to prevent, detect, and fight every kind of biological danger – whether it is a pandemic like H1N1, a terrorist threat, or a treatable disease.”
– President Obama, United Nations General Assembly, September 22, 2011
Today, the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) are meeting in Geneva for the start of the Seventh Review Conference (RevCon) of the Biological Weapons Convention to evaluate the implementation of the treaty and chart a course for the coming years. To underscore the importance the United States places on the BWC as a critical tool to help counter biological threats, the President has asked Secretary of State Clinton to lead the United States delegation to the RevCon, where she will deliver the opening statement for the United States on December 7th.
Part of a Broader National Strategy
The BWC is a critical venue for advancing objectives set forth in the President’s National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats, which emphasizes the need for multinational collaboration on concrete activities to help counter biological proliferation and bioterrorism. The three-week BWC Review Conference presents an opportunity for countries to promote real action to improve global response capabilities, reinforce norms against the misuse of biological science, and to help identify and thwart those who would seek to cause harm.
Revitalizing International Efforts to Reduce Biological Threats
The United States believes the BWC should be the premier forum for bringing together the security, health, law enforcement, and science communities to raise awareness of evolving biological risks and how to best manage them. The U.S. believes that revitalized international efforts and a coordinated series of actions can help reduce the threat of biological attacks.
At the RevCon, the United States will seek the endorsement of the BWC States Parties of a work program for the next five years in three broad areas of work that will greatly enhance international efforts to counter biological threats.
• First, the United States is asking States Parties to establish an effort to develop constructive ways to strengthen implementation of the BWC and build confidence that all members are living up to their obligations. The dual-use nature of biological work simply makes it too easy to conceal prohibited activities – so the United States has proposed efforts to promulgate legislative and regulatory frameworks, safety and security measures, outreach to stakeholders, improved annual reporting, and options for addressing compliance concerns.
• Second, the United States is proposing that the RevCon create a working group that will be tasked with taking concrete actions to make the BWC a more robust forum for building global capacities for preventing, detecting, and combating disease outbreaks, regardless of whether they are natural, deliberate or accidental. We need to be prepared, both nationally and internationally, to deal with a biological attack should one occur. The United States seeks to capitalize on synergies between security and public health communities – and to do so through the sort of international cooperation called for in the BWC.
• Third, the United States is asking States Parties to establish a mechanism for assessing developments in science and technology to better understand their potential benefits to the BWC as well as their potential misuse by terrorists or others. It is important for BWC States Parties to have a structured dialogue with the international scientific community on emerging technologies in order to better address the potential for their misuse.
In order to meet these goals, the United States will propose that the BWC RevCon establish a vigorous work program for the next five years that focuses on the common needs and interests of all States Parties in combating biological threats. Pursuing this robust program will help the international community produce concrete results, thereby enabling successful annual Meetings of States Parties and a robust Eighth BWC Review Conference in 2016.
DXer said
http://www.newsmax.com/TawfikHamid/Kidnapped-Aid-Worker-al/2011/12/02/id/419760
Tawfik Hamid
US Must Tread Carefully to Gain Release of Kidnapped Aid Worker
Friday, 02 Dec 2011 10:08 AM
By Tawfik Hamid
12. Ask al-Zawahiri if kidnapping an aid worker who wants to help the weak and sick in Afghanistan fits in his view with what the Koran mentions on how to deal with others even in war situations, and quote the following verse — (Koran 9:6): “If one amongst the Pagans (who are fighting you) ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of the Lord, and then escort him to where he can be secure and feel safe.”
This can put al-Zawahiri in a very difficult situation and discredit him in the eyes of many Muslims as it shows that he is not even aware of or not applying what the Koran actually teaches.
Comment: The anthrax mailer, if it turns out to be a supporter of the blind sheikh, likely will have more respect for the hadiths than Dr. Ayman and likely appreciates that the anthrax mailings violated the hadiths. The mailings foreseeeably injured an infant and resulted in the murder of an elderly woman along with the other innocents. Even Dr. Ayman’s former contemporaries and supporters of the Salafist-Jihadi cause widely recognize that he is a murderous fanatic and that history will record that he did not follow the teachings under the hadiths governing the conduct of warfare.
The United States government would do well to listen to experts such as Dr. Hamid. I read a lot and regularly find he makes a lot of sense.
Dr. Hamid’s brother, who is CAIR-St. Louis, held a conference in St. Louis, covered by Scott Shane for the NYT, and in a radio interview explained that he could not tell tell the FBI about a sleeper cell if he did not know anything about it. By way of some history, the two brothers would go with Tarek Hamouda, a DARPA-funded researcher who was supplied virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins, to a comic store when Tarek would visit from Khartoum, where his mother was an accounting professor. The two mothers had known each other in French school. The brother from St. Louis stopped talking to Tawfik after Tawfik started cooperating with intelligence agencies, decades after having been first recruited by Dr. Ayman. Dr. Ayman regularly recruited at Cairo Medical on Fridays.
I once asked another contemporary of these Cairo medical alumni about Dr. Ayman. One of the first things he pointed to was the hadiths governing the conduct of warfare. He explained that Dr. Ayman was a murderous fanatic. I fully appreciate Dr. Ayman’s commitment to the cause and the points he raises. But if he wants to secure his place in history, then he should follow the religious teachings he purports to follow. Even Montasser Al-Zayat likely would agree that Dr. Ayman was not a religious scholar and appears to have made some serious missteps in his analysis of the hadiths governing the conduct of warfare.
DXer said
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20111202_5065.php
Clinton Moves to Inject New Urgency into Bioweapon Concerns at Geneva Event
Friday, Dec. 2, 2011
By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire
Comment: Mrs. Clinton’s #3 at Department of State — who was in charge of Pakistan and Afghanistan — was head of the DC venture firm Perseus when it invested $30 million in NanoBio, the company co-founded by Tarek Hamouda, the former Zawahiri associate supplied virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins.
Another $20 million was invested after the fellow joined Department of State. (Before the Perseus $50 million, there had been substantial funding by DARPA; DIA did no vetting of foreign nationals working in B3 according to the official report issued after inspection of USAMRIID).
Public posturing is nice, Mrs. Clinton, but doesn’t remotely begin to cut it. It was the financial investment by Perseus that contributed to making the possible lead a third rail that couldn’t be touched.
You and your husband did the same posturing with soda in schools and, frankly, I have less and less patience with politicians.
If USG officials think that the probative documents will not be released, they are deluding themselves and are not in the loop. It is time to get ahead of the curve and not merely spin things.
DXer said
http://tribune.com.pk/story/302376/divisive-issue-biological-weapons-convention-postponed/
Divisive issue: Biological Weapons Convention postponed
By Qaiser Butt
Published: December 5, 2011
The seventh review conference of the Biological Weapons Convention has been postponed for an indefinite time
DXer said
” The International Review conference was scheduled to be held in Geneva from Dec 5-22, with the participation of 165 member states, including Pakistan.
Irfanur Rehman Shami, director of general disarmament at the ministry of foreign affairs, Dr Anwar Nasim, chairman of the International Council for the Life Sciences – Pakistan Chapter, and Prof Dr Muhammad Masoom Yasinzai were scheduled to fly to Geneva to represent Pakistan.
As the side event, Pakistan was to sign a treaty at the conference on the dual-use of biotechnologies in universities.
“Bio safety and security is an important issue for the world community”, Yasinzai said. He would have signed the treaty on behalf of Pakistan and all universities in the country.
The review conference was expected to discuss a highly divisive issue concerning the implementation of Article X of the BWC, which calls for international cooperation in the use of biotechnology for peaceful purposes, including transfers of relevant equipment, materials and know-how.”
Comment:
Consider as a case study the international patent application of the “Microdroplet Cell Culture” method used to concentrate anthrax using silica in the culture medium. Co-inventors were funded by DARPA and were at the Center for Biodefense at George Mason University. One was the famed Russian defector Ken Alibek and the other had been the lead biological weapons threat assessment person, Charles Bailey, who had an office in Building 1425 for years after serving as USAMRIID acting commander. The patent arrived in the inbox of Ali Al-Timimi’s department in-box Spring 2001. Ali would share a suite with the leading DARPA-funded Ames researchers. He had been Andrew Card’s former assistant. One of the applicants on the international application was a leading aerosol consultant decades earlier for the US program. Does the US have its sh** together on dual use technologies within the US? DIA did not even vet foreign nationals in B3 labs within the United States.
DXer said
Ohayou gozaimasu
Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC)
December 2, 2011
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/event/2011/12/1202_02.html
The Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 5 (Monday) to December 22 (Thursday). H.E. Ambassador Mari Amano, Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament, will attend the Review Conference as the head of the Japanese delegation and will deliver a general statement.
Review Conference of the BWC has been held in every five years. At this Review Conference, a wide range of discussions will be held regarding the implementation of the BWC over last five years, as well as ways to further strengthen its operation. The Conference will adopt a final document, which will include the activities of the next intersessional process (2012–2015). Japan believes that adopting a final document containing concrete measures at this Review Conference is vital to enhance the effectiveness of the BWC. Japan has made proposals on the activities of the next intersessional period. In the margins of the Review Conference, Japan will co-host with Switzerland a side-event on education and awareness raising for scientists on dual-use issues associated with the illicit use or misuse of bio-technology and biological agents.
DXer said
Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find attached the first report for the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC).
This report gives some background to the meeting that starts on Monday. This report has been circulated on Sunday night in case the extra time to digest it is of use to some readers. The hard copies will be distribute in Geneva on Monday morning, so the report has been given this date.
The next report will be distributed on Tuesday morning and cover the first day’s proceedings.
Best,
Richard Guthrie
PS Electronic copies of the BWC 2011 Briefing Book are available from <> and printed copies will be distributed to delegates on Monday morning.
=======================================
RevCon report no 1 — Monday 5th December 2011
The Seventh BWC Review Conference: setting the scene
The Seventh Review Conference of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) provides the opportunity for a full review of the purposes and provisions of the BWC, taking into account relevant scientific and technological developments.
The Conference will follow the Provisional Agenda agreed by the Preparatory Committee in April. This draft agenda, together with the draft programme of work have been circulated to States Parties by Ambassador Paul van den IJssel (Netherlands), the President-designate of the Review Conference. These documents have also been published on the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) website <>. Other Conference documents will also be posted here; official documents (those that start BWC/…) can also be obtained from the UN documents server <>. The BWPP daily reports from the 2006 Review Conference, the subsequent annual meetings in 2007 through 2010, and the PrepCom are available via <>.
Organization of the Seventh BWC Review Conference
The Conference is scheduled to start with a video message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and then to meet in general debate for two days. It is then scheduled to enter into an article-by-article review in the guise of the ‘Committee of the Whole’ (CoW). Towards the end of the middle week of the Conference, the ‘Drafting Committee’ is expected to be convened to translate the work of the Conference into a final report and declaration. The Chair-designate of the Committee of the Whole is Ambassador Desra Percaya (Indonesia) and the Chair-designate of the Drafting Committee is Counsellor Judit Körömi (Hungary).
Issues relating to the Seventh BWC Review Conference
Issues that may be raised at the Conference fall within a number of headings: the ISU and its future; the most recent inter-sessional process and what may follow on from it; advances in science and technology (S&T); the peaceful uses of the life sciences; Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), compliance/verification; and universality.
The ISU, established in 2006, is seen as having had a positive impact and so far there have been no suggestions that its mandate not be renewed. In considering this mandate beyond 2011, the Conference is likely also to consider whether it should be kept to three staff as at present and whether its mandate might be redrafted. The past inter-sessional processes — the programmes of annual meetings that happen between recent Review Conferences — have both been seen as successful, with some feeling the second, post-2006, was more productive. There will also be discussions about whether this form of approach is optimum and whether there might be modifications, such as having on-going working groups, allowing more flexibility in deciding the topics to be discussed each year or allowing the annual meetings to make decisions or recommendations to be followed by States Parties. The changing S&T context, and in particular the rapid advances in the life sciences, can lead to changes in the nature of risks and threats the regime should counter, as well as providing new opportunities for peaceful uses. The issue of access to the life sciences for peaceful purposes is covered by Article X of the Convention and is seen as part of a bargain in which the renunciation of biological weapons and the control of the hostile uses of the life sciences has to be implemented in such a way as to allow for unhindered use of the life sciences for peaceful purposes. There is a divergence of opinion between States Parties about what Article X really means and whether further implementation of it is required. The system of CBMs under the Convention provides for returns to be provided by States Parties on certain relevant activities and facilities. While numbers of returns have been rising, there has been wide recognition that participation in CBMs could be improved further and perhaps that their scope could be redefined. This might, for example, be a specific topic for a meeting in a follow-on inter-sessional process. Compliance/verification is perhaps the most divisive collection of issues, with some States Parties supportive of the implementation of new legally binding measures while others remain implacably opposed. The membership of the BWC stands at 165, with the addition of Mozambique and Burundi during 2011. This level of membership is lower than in the comparable nuclear and chemical treaties.
Conference documents already circulated
Before the opening of the Review Conference, 8 background information documents and 22 working papers had been formally issued as Conference documents and were available on the ISU website, together with the annual report of the ISU (BWC/CONF.VII/3). Three further working papers were only available as unformatted ‘advance copies’.
The background documents relate to: the history and operation of the CBMs (BWC/CONF.VII/INF.1); compilation of information from States Parties regarding compliance (INF.2); new relevant S&T developments (INF.3 contains information from the ISU and INF.3/Add.1 contains information from States Parties); developments in other relevant international bodies (INF.4); additional understandings and agreements reached by previous Review Conferences, listed by article (INF.5); common understandings reached during the 2007-2010 inter-sessional process (INF.6); status of universalization [prepared before the accession of Burundi] (INF.7); and implementation of Article X (INF.8).
Of the working papers, seven relate to options for possible future inter-sessional processes (UK, BWC/CONF.VII/WP.1, 2, 10; Australia/Japan/New Zealand, WP.11; Australia/Japan, WP.12; South Africa, WP.18; and USA, WP.23); and six relate to Confidence-Building Measures (Belgium, WP.6; Germany/Norway/Switzerland, WP.9; Germany, WP.14; South Africa, WP.19; Norway/Switzerland/New Zealand, WP. 21; and Canada, advance copy). Two papers deal with ISU issues (South Africa, WP.17; and Japan, WP.22); two relate to the process of review of relevant scientific and technological developments (India, WP.3; and Australia/Japan/New Zealand, WP.13); and two relate to implementation of Article X (South Africa, WP.16; and Cuba/NAM, advance copy). Other papers covered the following topics: convergence between biology and chemistry (Poland, WP.4); BWC implementation (Iraq, WP.5); biorisk management standards (Belgium, WP.6); biothreat preparedness (Finland, WP.8); a proposal for an ‘Intersessional Bureau’ (Germany, WP.15); and strengthening the effectiveness of the Convention (China, advance copy). Further working papers are expected to be issued during the Review Conference.
As can be seen from the topics chosen, there are common threads running through many of the contributions of these various States Parties. Similar problems are identified and similar solutions are proposed. While the papers on related themes, such as the follow-on inter-sessional process or CBMs, may have some differences in emphasis, there are no substantial contradictions between them. However, later papers may raise other issues.
This is the first report from the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention which is being held from 5 to 22 December 2011 in Geneva. The reports are designed to help people who are not in Geneva to follow the proceedings. Copies of these reports and those from the earlier meetings are available via <>. The reports are prepared by Richard Guthrie on behalf of the BioWeapons Prevention Project (BWPP). The author can be contacted during the Conference on +41 76 507 1026 or <>.
DXer said
Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find attached the second report for the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) which covers events on the opening day.
Best,
Richard Guthrie
PS Electronic copies of the BWC 2011 Briefing Book are available from <> and printed copies will be distributed to delegates in Geneva on Monday morning.
=======================================
RevCon report no 2 — Tuesday 6th December 2011
Sinterklaas and statements: the first day of the Review Conference
The Seventh Review Conference of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) opened on Monday morning, as scheduled, with Ambassador Paul van den IJssel (Netherlands) preparing for his role as the President of the Conference. However, the morning started with a pleasant surprise for delegates as 5th December is a special day in the Netherlands — the celebration of Sinterklaas. A traditional gift for those celebrating Sinterklaas is a chocolate letter and delegations arrived to find a large chocolate letter on their desks that was the initial of the name of their country.
Administrative proceedings
The Conference started with the routine administrative decisions such as the adoption of the agenda, the programme of work, and the rules of procedure. The position of Ambassador Van den IJssel as President of the Conference was formally confirmed, as were those of the Chairs of the committees. Ambassador Eric Danon (France) and Ambassador Gancho Ganev (Bulgaria) were appointed as Vice-chairs for the Committee of the Whole, chaired by Ambassador Desra Percaya (Indonesia), and Dr John Walker (UK) and Mr U.L.M. Jauhar (Sri Lanka) were appointed as Vice-chairs for the Drafting Committee, chaired by Counsellor Judit Körömi (Hungary). Mr Mário Duarte (Portugal) and Mr Vipul (India) were appointed as Chair and Vice-chair, respectively, of the Credentials Committee. [The role of Credentials Committees at inter-governmental conferences is sometimes perceived as a simple, if perhaps boring, administrative process. However, there is an important purpose in checking that those present and participating in decision making have the relevant authority to be doing so. Without confidence in that authority there might, one day at some conference on some subject, be doubt in the legitimacy of the decisions.]
Initial presentations
Following the decisions on administrative arrangements, the Conference activities started with a video message from the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, followed by presentations from two scientists. While the UN Secretary-General has either spoken in person to earlier Review Conferences or transmitted a message in written form, this is the first time a video message has been used. The two scientists presenting were at contrasting stages in their careers — Professor Indira Nath from India is co-chair of a committee overseeing an international project on Science Responsibility and Research Integrity and Esther Ng from Singapore is a PhD student studying at the University of Oxford and the winner of an essay competition. Both spoke of the need for the responsible conduct of science and for practising scientists to be more involved in promoting the norms embodied in the Convention.
The BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU) has indicated it will place the video message and the two scientists’ statements on its website <>.
General Debate
The general debate provides the opportunity for States Parties to make plenary statements in public session. Where copies of statements or presentations have been provided by those who delivered them, the ISU will place these on its website. Statements were made in the morning (in the following order) by Cuba (on behalf of the NAM States Parties to the BWC), Kazakhstan, Belarus (on behalf of the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO]), Burundi, Mozambique, France, Germany, India, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Malaysia and China. Statements after lunch were given by Turkey, Serbia, Spain, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada (on behalf of the ‘JACKSNNZ’ — [an informal grouping of Japan, Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand]), Switzerland, South Africa, Norway, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Philippines, Denmark, Brazil and Peru. The United States, which normally endeavours to speak on the first day of Review Conferences, did not make a statement as the US contribution to the general debate will be made by Secretary of State Clinton on Wednesday. Also scheduled for Wednesday is a speech by the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands. Some of the speeches made on Monday were made at Ministerial level, such as those by the United Kingdom and by the Russian Federation. Corridor discussions indicated that many delegates were pleased that the Review Conference was attracting attention at this political level.
With a number of further statements to be made in the general debate on Tuesday, it is perhaps too early to try to identify themes or common threads as it there may be an element of chance as to whether the States Parties interested in a particular aspect happened to all speak on one particular day or another. A notable feature was the level of detail in the Cuba/NAM statement. In earlier BWC Review Conferences, the opening NAM statement has normally been phrased in much more general terms with detailed NAM positions on relevant aspects being developed over the following few days. This implies that the NAM states are much better prepared collectively than at earlier Review Conferences.
New working papers
Three working papers were made available in official versions during Monday. A paper on possible approaches to education and awareness-raising among life scientists was issued in a revised form and so now carries the number BWC/CONF.VII/WP.20/Rev.1. Two of the papers that had previously only been available as advance versions were circulated as official documents with the paper by Canada on Confidence-Building Measures becoming WP.25 and the Cuba/NAM paper on implementation of Article X becoming WP.26.
***
This is the second report from the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention which is being held from 5 to 22 December 2011 in Geneva. The reports are designed to help people who are not in Geneva to follow the proceedings. Copies of these reports and those from the earlier meetings are available via <>.
The reports are prepared by Richard Guthrie on behalf of the BioWeapons Prevention Project (BWPP). The author can be contacted during the Conference on +41 76 507 1026 or .
DXer said
Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find attached the third report for the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) which covers events on the second day.
Best,
Richard Guthrie
=======================================
RevCon report no 3 — Wednesday 7th December 2011
The Second Day: themes from the general debate
The Seventh BWC Review Conference continued on Tuesday with further general debate. Before the formal proceedings, the General Committee (also known as the Bureau) which deals with administrative arrangements, met for the first time. The President, Ambassador Paul van den IJssel (Netherlands), informed the Conference that the Bureau had agreed with his plan to hold informal plenary sessions on cross-cutting issues in between sessions of the Committee of the Whole which will do the article-by-article review. He proposed that the final document should follow the three-part format used in 2006 and indicated a desire to circulate a first draft of the final document, in the name of the President, on Thursday 15 December, although this would depend on progress in the relevant meetings.
There was an opportunity for non-governmental organizations to address the Conference in an informal session on Tuesday afternoon. A total of 17 statements were made during this session. For space reasons these will be reported in the next daily report.
General Debate
Although the scheduling for the general debate usually makes a distinction between contributions from States Parties, Signatory States and observer organizations, some flexibility in the sequence of statements made more effective use of time as some presenters were only available at certain times for reasons such as travel arrangements. Statements were given by: Algeria, Estonia, Argentina, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Republic of Korea, Chile, Pakistan, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Madagascar, Iraq, Ecuador, Egypt (as a Signatory State), European Union (as an observer organization), and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. After lunch, this continued with: Kuwait, Ireland, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the International Committee of the Red Cross, Colombia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
There are a number of common and contrasting themes within the statements made on Monday and Tuesday. Many of the themes overlap, such as when there were suggestions that Article X implementation be regularly on the agenda of any new inter-sessional process.
Most statements made some reference to the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) and its future, many indicating how useful it had been. No suggestions were made to let its mandate lapse. Much was made of the possibilities of expanding its role, however this would inevitably mean additional staff. If the ISU was to be expanded, a number of statements, particularly from NAM states, stressed the issue of geographically equitable spread of staff. Any change of the size of the ISU would be linked to definitions of tasks to be undertaken — much of which may be heavily dependent on what was within the new inter-sessional process.
On the inter-sessional process, there were statements by some states that this activity was appropriate for some subjects that had been topics of meetings, but not others. Most notable in this latter category were compliance issues. The suggestion of working groups within a new inter-sessional process was not explicitly opposed. The suggestion of inter-sessional meetings being empowered to take decisions was raised by some while others expressed caution about delegating such powers.
On developments in science and technology (S&T), there were numerous statements calling for a more regular review, suggesting five years between Review Conferences is too long, with some statements calling for annual meetings on the subject.
On peaceful uses of the life sciences/Article X there were calls within many statements, primarily those from NAM countries, for better implementation and the desire for an implementation mechanism of some form. Some statements from Western countries recounted activities carried out that were relevant to Article X. It was noted many times that capacities to deal with infectious disease have benefits for humanity against both naturally occurring and deliberately induced disease.
On Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs), more statements mentioned the potential for simplifications of the CBM forms to make them easier to fill in, and therefore less burdensome on governments, than mentioned revisiting what should be reported within the CBM arrangements. Some statements noted that while CBMs can be used to build trust, they are not the same as a compliance system and cannot be used to judge compliance.
In relation to compliance/verification issues there were many calls for legally binding measures of one form or another. Some statements recognised such measures could not be negotiated immediately but indicated an interest to have the ‘importance’ of negotiations reflected in the final document. Some statements took a pragmatic approach in trying to work on what might be achievable in the foreseeable future. Many statements encouraged enhanced national implementation of the Convention’s provisions.
On universality, there were statements of regret that the Convention did not have more States Parties and many messages of welcome to the most recent countries to join — Mozambique and Burundi. Some statements made reference to efforts undertaken to encourage specific countries to join. In relation to the conference to held in 2012 on the possibilities for a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, there were a few calls for countries in the region that were not already parties to the BWC to join before that conference.
Side Events
Three side events were held on Tuesday. The first, held in the breakfast slot, was entitled ‘Germ Gambits: Lessons for BWC Compliance Drawn from the UNSCOM Inspections in Iraq’. A presentation was given by Amy Smithson (James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies), based on her book ‘Germ Gambits: The Bioweapons Dilemma, Iraq and Beyond’.
Two side events were held during the lunch break. One consisted of back-to-back presentations; the first set of which were organized by the Inter-Academy Panel (The Global Network of Science Academies) on the report that resulted from a 2010 workshop in Beijing on trends in science and technology issues. A presentation on the report was given by Rod Flower, with panelists Ralf Trapp (consultant) and Katherine Bowman (US National Academy of Sciences) and Andrej Gorski (Polish Academy of Sciences) in the chair. The report is available from <>. This was immediately followed by the launch of the University of Bradford report on ‘Key Points for the Seventh Review Conference’. Short presentations were given by Kathryn Nixdorff (INES), Nicholas Sims (LSE), Malcolm Dando (Bradford), Graham Pearson (Bradford), Filippa Lentzos (LSE) and Angela Woodward (VERTIC). The report is available from http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/sbtwc .
The other lunchtime event was convened by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael http://www.clingendael.nl/ on their new book ‘The Future of Biological Weapons Revisited’. Presentations were given by the authors, Koos van der Bruggen and Barend ter Haar on developments since the first edition of the book in 1991.
This is the third report from the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) which is being held from 5 to 22 December 2011 in Geneva. The reports are designed to help people who are not in Geneva to follow the proceedings. Copies of these reports and those from the earlier meetings are available via http://www.bwpp.org/reports.html.
The reports are prepared by Richard Guthrie on behalf of the BioWeapons Prevention Project (BWPP). The author can be contacted during the Conference on +41 76 507 1026 or richard@cbw-events.org.uk .
DXer said
Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find attached the fourth report for the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) which covers events on the third day.
Best,
Richard Guthrie
=======================================
RevCon report no 4 — Thursday 8th December 2011
The Third Day: start of the detailed work
The Seventh Review Conference of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) continued with four further statements as part of the general debate, before starting the article-by-article review and finishing with the first informal plenary.
General debate
The statements made to the Review Conference on Wednesday morning as part of the general debate were by the Netherlands, the United States, Nigeria and Iran. Two of these attracted more than usual attention; the first being given by Minister of Foreign Affairs Uri Rosenthal and the second by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Minister Rosenthal stated that the Netherlands was honoured to presiding over the Review Conference. Secretary Clinton announced a ‘Bio-Transparency and Openness Initiative’ with few details provided at this stage, but otherwise said little that was new. [Perhaps more notable than anything that was said was what was not said. Most high-level US Government statements regarding the BWC over the last decade have been ideologically driven and of a style that can hinder debate. This statement was different in tone. Secretary Clinton’s presence had one particular impact — it raised the political profile of the BWC without bringing with it any significant politically divisive baggage.]
***
DXer said
“Dear friends and colleagues,
Please find attached the sixth report for the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) which covers events on Friday.
Best,
Richard Guthrie
=======================================
RevCon report no 6 — Monday 12th December 2011
One Week Completed: a positive atmosphere, but a long road still ahead
The Seventh Review Conference of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC/BTWC) completed its first week of activities on Friday.
The proceedings started with two statements from international organizations that were technically a continuation of the general debate. The statements were made by Interpol and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).”
***”
oldatlantic said
One way to avoid the posting to smaller boxes is if you want to continue put a footnote box. So you have posted a couple things in a thread and you realize you want to add something, then in that thread you post an identifier, like Thread of 222 pm Oct 1 Continuation 1a. Then in a new box, you say this is a continuation from Thread 222 PM Oct 1 Continuation 1a. Then we can read it in the new box and still know what thread it is logically part of.
DXer said
“You are dead! Bang”: Ayman’s Plan To Use Charities And Universities As Cover In Weaponizing Anthrax
Among the correspondence written by Rauf Ahmad seized in Afghanistan, there are handwritten notes about the plan to use NGOs, technical institutes and medical labs as cover for aspects of the work, and training requirements for the various personnel at the lab in Afghanistan.
Two Pakistani nuclear scientists founded Ummah Tameer-e-Nau in June 2000. “Reconstruction of the Muslim Ummah,” or “UTN,” an Islamabad-based organization whose stated purpose was to conduct relief and development work in Afghanistan. UTN built a flour mill in Kandahar and purchased land in the Kandahar region. UTN business cards from the organization carry the motto “Build to Help, Help to Build.” After the fall of the Taliban, coalition forces and the media began to search UTN facilities in Kabul. It was in November that it was reported by The Economist that the “House of Anthrax” had been found.
Documents found by journalists in November 2001 at a villa in Kabul occupied by UTN suggested brainstorming seminars on anthrax had been held to include diagrams suggestive of a plan to use a helium-filled balloon to disperse anthrax across a wide area. The nondescript two-story villa occupied by the Pakistani aid group was in a quiet residential neighborhood of Kabul where a number of international charities were located. One downloaded document had the picture of former Secretary Cohen holding up a 5 pound bag of sugar. There were details about the U.S. military’s vaccination program downloaded from a Defense Department site on the Internet and other Defense Department documents relating to anthrax. There were 10 copies each of most of the documents. On the floor, there was what appeared to be a disassembled rocket alongside a helium canister, as well as two bags of powder. A detailed diagram scrawled in black felt tip pen on a white board shows what appears to be a balloon rising at various trajectories, alongside a fighter jet that is apparently shooting at the balloon. Beside the jet are the words, “You are dead, bang.”
There were also pictures of ground missiles linked by lines to the balloon. Mathematical calculations indicated the height at which the balloon would fly, the distance from which it would be shot down and the area over which its contents would be dispersed. Beside one of the balloons is the word “polystyrene” and beside another the word “cyanide.” Loose sheets of paper containing scribbles of missiles and balloons were strewn around the house, indicating those attending the seminar had been taking notes and doing calculations.
Although people can reasonably disagree on the conclusion to be drawn of the drawing on the white board showing aerial dispersal of anthrax by balloon, the drawings should be understood in the context of Ayman’s research and reading on the subject. One email from Ayman to Atef lists Peace or Pestilence as one of the books he had read. (The author argued that said science should combat disease, not find devious ways to spread it. That book included a description of the Japanese research on anthrax leading up to downloaded from a Defense Department site on the Internet and other Defense Department documents relating to anthrax. There were 10 copies each of most of the documents. On the floor, there was what appeared to be a disassembled rocket alongside a helium canister, as well as two bags of powder. A detailed diagram scrawled in black felt tip pen on a white board shows what appears to be a balloon rising at various trajectories, alongside a fighter jet that is apparently shooting at the balloon. Beside the jet are the words, “You are dead, bang.”
There were also pictures of ground missiles linked by lines to the balloon. Mathematical calculations indicated the height at which the balloon would fly, the distance from which it would be shot down and the area over which its contents would be dispersed. Beside one of the balloons is the word “polystyrene” and beside another the word “cyanide.” Loose sheets of paper containing scribbles of missiles and balloons were strewn around the house, indicating those attending the seminar had been taking notes and doing calculations.
Unit 731 experimented extensively with anthrax bombs and hot-air balloons filled with the deadly disease. In late 1944, aerosol scientists at Ft. Detrick (then known as Camp Detrick) were alarmed when news of some large balloons, as large as 150 feet around, had been sighted silently floating over populated areas. Within a few months, over 250 balloons had been discovered in nine western states. The balloons are known only to have been armed with an incendiary device and killed and injured only a very few people.
A senior CNN producer who visited many UTN and Al Qaeda houses in Afghanistan, found the documents linking UTN to Jaish e Muhammad, the Army of the Prophet Mohammad, the Pakistani militant group that had been listed as a terrorist organization by the US on October 12, 2001. Other documents linked UTN to the Pakistan-based Saudi charity WAFA Humanitarian Organization and Al Rashid Trust, two other non-governmental organizations with ties to al-Qaeda that were designated on September 23, 2001 as supporters of terrorism. The New York Times reported on the search of the home by US personnel. A group of men armed with pistols, reportedly Americans, wearing gas masks, rubber gloves and boots, then came to remove powdered chemicals. The men had instructed the guards posted by National Alliance to not go in the home because the chemicals could be dangerous. The room that had been littered with papers was empty and had been swept or vacuumed by the Americans.
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Al Qaeda’s 2001 Threat To Use Mailed Anthrax In Connection With Jailed Vanguards Of Conquest No. 2 Leader And Former Bin Laden Sudan Farm Manager Mohammad Mahjoub
On January 23, 2001, a Canadian court held that the Court did not have jurisdiction to decide the constitutional and Charter issues raised by detainee Mahjoub, thought to be #2 of the Vanguards of Conquest, and dismissed that part of the motion. A letter was received January 30, 2001 at the Citizenship and Immigration Office threatening to use anthrax. It was sent to Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan who had co-signed the detention certificate. Mahjoub had been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in 1999 by Egyptian authorities for his involvement in Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Now, he was being detained without charges under an order co-signed by Immigration Minister Caplan and threatened with deportation. The postmark has never been publicly identified. Separately, hoax letters were also sent to American businesses and a Walmart in Saanich, British Columbia. Mahjoub had been in regular contact with a man named Marzouk, who had trained the 1998 embassy bombers and was captured in Baku, Azerbaijan in August 1998.
Suspecting Mahjoub of being a shura member of the Vanguards of Conquest and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Canadian intelligence officials alleged Mahjoub had significant contacts with persons associated with international Islamic terrorism including Osama Bin Laden, Ahmad Khadr, Essam Marzouk, Vanguards founder Ahmed Agiza, and Osama Bin Laden’s principal procurement agent for weapons of mass destruction Mubarak Al Duri.
When the letter was received in January 2001, the letter was sent by Department of National Defence jet to the Canadian Science Center for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg for examination. Authorities also sent the filters from the Jean Edmonds building’s ventilation system. Authorities said they were treating it as a possible terrorist act against the department and noted that it “was the first time a government department has been targeted in this way.” The Ottawa alert came after one of the employees working in the Minister’s office opened a plain white envelope at 11:15 a.m. The employee discovered powder and a piece of paper in the envelope. Police refused to reveal from where it had been mailed. One source said the letter was unsigned and “mostly gibberish.” Indeed, the Fall 2001 letters might be described as mostly gibberish, and certainly the “JLo letter” — talking about Jennifer Lopez’ planned wedding — was. An internal government memo distributed to staff said “an initial analysis of the envelope revealed some traces of bacteria.”
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September 10, 2001 “Risk Assessment of Anthrax Threat Letters”
After the January 2001 anthrax threat, a Canadian research team undertook to assess the risk. The report titled “Risk Assessment of Anthrax Threat Letters” issued September 2001. The Canadian study found considerable exposure to those in the room resulted when such a letter was opened. Bacillus globigii spores (in dry powder form) were donated by the US Department of Defense (Dugway Proving Ground, Utah). Stock concentration powder was -1 x 10 11 cfu/gm. The anthrax sent to the Senators had a smaller particle size –tending toward a uniform 1 micron, subject to clumping that easily broke apart. Bacillus globigii (BG) spores are routinely used as a simulant for Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) spores. “The letter was prepared by putting BG spores in the center of a sheet of paper, folding it over into thirds, placing the folded sheet into the envelope and sealing using the adhesive present on the envelope. The envelope was then shaken to mimic the handling and tumbling that would occur during its passage through the postal system.” The aerosol, produced by opening the BG spore containing envelope, was not confined to the area of the desk but spread throughout the chamber. Values were almost as high at the opposite end of the chamber, shortly after opening the envelopes. 99% of the particles collected were in the 2.5 to 10 µm size range. The report explained: “In addition, the aerosol would quickly spread throughout the room so that other workers, depending on their exact locations and the directional air flow within the office, would likely inhale lethal doses. Envelopes with the open corners not specifically sealed could also pose a threat to individuals in the mail handling system.”
More than 80% of the B anthracis particles collected on stationary monitors were within an alveolar respirable size range of 0.95 to 3.5 µm. Thus, the simulant performed very well. Those who continue to argue that the Daschle product was so advanced beyond what the US could do are mistaken. The CIA and CSIS apparently feared that the Vanguards of Conquest would use the good stuff.
The CIA knew EIJ intended to use anthrax — from the proclamations of Jaballah’s friend, the captured military commander Mabruk and Jaballah’s brother-in-law’s former law partner al-Zayat. Authorities knew Al Qaeda was getting technical assistance from scientists — and that many of the senior Egyptian leaders had advanced or technical degrees. The specifications provided by Dugway perhaps involved treated fumed silica and a spraydryer (with a last critical step reserved to be done at Dugway) may have been based on what Al Qaeda might send with a little help from their friends.
Canadian officials explained they e-mailed the study to the CDC soon after reports of the discovery of anthrax at the American Media Inc. headquarters in Florida. The e-mail, however, was never opened, reports the lead CDC anthrax investigator, who regrets that he never read the email. “It is certainly relevant data, but I don’t think it would have altered the decisions that we made.” At one point, about 2,000 CDC employees were working on the anthrax matter. This Canadian report was perhaps the single most important scientific data point for the CDC to take into account. It certainly was one of the most important reports for the FBI to take into account.
Bail was denied by decision on October 5, 2001. Then highly potent anthrax was sent the next day just as had been promised. But Ayman apparently had returned to the target of his greatest interest — rather than a Canadian immigration minister, he and Shehata and their colleagues targeted the minister who oversaw the Department of Justice and appropriations to Egypt and Israel, and who gave his name (”the Leahy Law”) to the law that permits continuing appropriations to Egypt in the face of allegations of torture. Zawahiri never makes a threat he doesn’t intend to try to keep.
Bill Patrick, who often worked with George Mason University students in northern Virginia, had written a report in 1999 for a consultant SAIC at the request of Dr. Steve Hatfill. As one bioterrorism expert commented about the report: “Anytime you pick something up like this, and it seems to layout the whole story for you months or years before the fact, your immediate response is to step back and say ‘whoa, something may be going on here. “Our attacker may very well have used this report as something of a — if not a template, then certainly as a rule of thumb.”
The Canadian experiments in 2001 showed that if anthrax spores were finely powdered, a letter could release thousands of lethal doses of the bacteria within minutes of being opened. Furthermore, large amounts of material leaked out of sealed envelopes even before they were opened. By then, more than two dozen federal government employees knew of the Canadian studies, which showed that a real anthrax threat letter was a far more dangerous weapon than anyone had believed. Within days, a dozen more people were informed of the now highly relevant experimental findings. Over the course of the next decade, one FBI investigative squad was focused on people who may have known of the study — such as William Patrick’s friend, Dr. Steve Hatfill. Another squad would be focused on the usual suspects and their friends. For the next seven years, the investigation would be shrouded in great secrecy. Then in 2008, the new prosecutors and investigators totally screwed the pooch.
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Taliban Interest In The Anthrax Vaccine Laboratory
In October 2001, the Taliban emissary to Pakistan denied any involvement in the anthrax mailings, saying “We don’t even know what anthrax is.” The Taliban had long denied having any interest in biological or chemical weapons research. The next month, however, reporters were tipped off by a senior official of the Northern Alliance to check out the Institute of Veterinary Vaccine Production in Kabul run by the Minister of Agriculture. The lab was repeatedly targeted by bombers but the closest of 13 B-52 bombs landed 50 feet away, causing craters. There was a walk-in incubator to develop bacteria. The equipment used to make vaccines was taken away the day before the bombardment began. The cement walls of the building were cracked. Doors were blasted off their hinges. Shards of glass were strewn on the floor. At the end of one corridor on the second floor a reporter and photographer from The Mirror (UK) were led into a small office. The word “anthrax” was scribbled on an unbroken test tube. A sign read “to be safe than sorry” — the word “better” had fallen off. When AP journalist Kathy Gannon and a photographer stood in front of a glass bottle labeled in English “anthrax spore concentrate” in the two-story building, the photographer’s reflection shone back.
The scientists explained that their work at the lab was intended only to develop animal vaccines. Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “the one place where the only vial that had English on it said ‘anthrax’ kind of gives you pause.” Testing showed that it was an avirulent strain used in developing animal vaccines. The scientists complained that much of the anthrax vaccine on hand had expired and that they were having trouble getting the supplies they needed to produce more. Before 9/11, private companies in India and Iran had been their main suppliers. Shipments were halted after Sept. 11, and the laboratories had to rely on their stocks.
Mullahs oversaw the anthrax vaccine laboratory much to the consternation of the scientist in charge of the lab. The mullahs had ordered that the lab be moved to Kabul so that they could oversee it. According to one British press report, much of the laboratory staff had disappeared some months before 9/11 and their whereabouts were unknown. The Institute once had a staff of 45 and one of Afghanistan’s most modern buildings. The scientists gathered before an AP journalist and photographer pointed to a large clear container that held concentrated anthrax spores. The scientists explained that the Taliban had taken a keen interest in their work. Although he was famed for his ability to recite the koran and not scientifically inclined, the Minister of Agriculture would come and inspect what they were doing. The head of the lab explained, “He and his Taliban superiors were interested in the technical detail of what happened here, although they had no background in science.” The International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization provided the scientists technical help. The head of the lab noted that the Taliban could have obtained the knowledge to handle and develop anthrax.
The Taliban Minister of Agriculture hated the West. “We’d rather have been running the labs on our own,” the lead scientist explained. “But the mullahs were in charge of everything and we couldn’t stop them learning about our activities. There was always a danger information could get into the wrong hands.” The lab was first built in a northern province in 1993 with equipment from India. Scientists infected three sheep to study the results in developing new vaccines. They told a reporter from the Mirror that they buried the carcasses 30 feet down away from any water supplies. “This was very dangerous work, though we knew what we were doing. We developed the technology of how to keep anthrax bacteria and how to develop it for use in vaccines.” “I would be suspicious of the anthrax research and any research during the Taliban (period) because they were under the control of Osama and al-Qaida,” the deputy head of Northern Alliance military intelligence, told the
Associated Press. “We have strong evidence of their involvement in chemical weapons,” he added. “We believe that they were using government facilities, like the Ministry of Agriculture, to do their research in terrorism.”
A source who worked at the factory told the Mirror (UK): “There’s no doubt the Taliban were planning chemical or biological warfare against the West. I believe anthrax might have been first on their list.” It was the American Taliban John Walker Lindh who reported the battlefield rumor that the next wave would be a chemical or biological attack.
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Hambali, Anthrax Lab Tech Yazid Sufaat And The Anthrax Bomb Maker
George Tenet in his May 2007 In the Center of the Storm says Sufaat was “the self-described ‘CEO’ of al-Qai’da’s anthrax program.” Tenet reports that “Sufaat had impeccable extremist credentials” and “[i]n 2000 he had been introduced to Ayman al-Zawahiri personally, by Hambali, as the man who was capable of leading al-Qai’da’s biological weapons program.”
The 9/11 Commission Report explained:
“Hambali played the critical role of coordinator, as he distributed al Qaeda funds earmarked for joint operations. In one especially notable example, Atef turned to Hambali when al Qaeda needed a scientist to take over its biological weapons program. Hambali obliged by introducing a U.S.-educated JI member, Yazid Sufaat, to Ayman al Zawahiri in Kandahar. In 2001, Sufaat would spend several months attempting to cultivate anthrax for al Qaeda in a laboratory he set up near the Kandahar airport.”
Participants at a key meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 included Hambali, Yazid Sufaat, two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almidhar, Cole planner Attash aka Khallad, and others. Tawfiq Bin Attash was a long time Bin Laden operative. The Yemeni first went to Afghanistan in 1989. He came to lead Bin Laden’s bodyguards and was an intermediary between Bin Laden and those who carried out the bombing of the Cole in October 2000. Attash also had been a key planner in the 1998 embassy bombings, serving as the link between the Nairobi cell and Bin Laden and Atef. Khalid Almhidhar, one of the 9/11 hijackers, was from Saudi Arabia but was a Yemeni national. Almhidhar was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui. Al-Hindi, who along with Jafar the Pilot would later case the NYC landmarks, had gone to Kuala Lumpur with Attash. While not at the meeting with the hijackers, they met Hambali shortly after.
Zacarias Moussaoui was alleged, at least initially, to have received his money from Yazid Sufaat, under the cover of a company managed by his wife named Infocus Tech. A legitimate company, the company has eight employees and virtually no connection to the US. The company was an importer of US computer software and hardware. After authorities found a letter signed by Yazid Sufaat purporting to authorize Zacarias Moussaoui as its marketing representative, authorities went looking for Sufaat. But by then, he had left for Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to his wife, he went to Pakistan in June 2001 because he wanted to do his doctorate in pathology at the University of Karachi. Dursina had attended Sacramento State with Sufaat. It was her mother who encouraged Yazid’s religious studies. According to his wife, Sejarhtul Dursina, “He had planned to set up a medical support unit in Afghanistan, near Kandahar.” Kandahar is where Al Qaeda established its anthrax lab and where extremely virulent (but unweaponized) anthrax, according to author Suskind, was found at a home identified by Hambali after his capture.
Sufaat graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 1987. He received a bachelors degree in biological sciences, concentrating on clinical laboratory technology, with a minor in chemistry. Sacramento State biological sciences professor Robert Metcalf taught Sufaat a food microbiology class in the spring of 1986. The first lesson in class was to teach students how German physician Robert Koch proved that anthrax was caused by a specific bacterium. “All of my students know how to isolate anthrax in soil samples,” Metcalf told the Chicago Tribune. “Anthrax was the first organism we talked about.” Sufaat joined the Malaysian army, where he was a lab technician assigned to a medical brigade. After five years, he left the service with the rank of captain and worked for a civilian laboratory. In August 1993, he set up his own company, Green Laboratory Medicine. The 9/11 Commission Report notes that Sufaat started work on the al Qaeda biological weapons program after he participated in JI’s December 2000 church bombings. In December 2001, Sufaat was arrested upon returning from Afghanistan to Malaysia where (his wife says) he had been serving in a Taliban medical brigade.
Malaysian officials sought to minimize Sufaat’s role. Sufaat merely was a foot soldier who provided housing and false identification letters and helped obtain explosives. “I would put it this way: If Hambali [Al Qaeda’s point man in Southeast Asia] was the travel agent, Sufaat was the guy at the airport holding up the sign.”
Sufaat admits to having purchased 4 tons of ammonium nitrate to build a truck bomb for the Singapore cell. The Malaysian officials report that they believe that Sufaat had no knowledge of what the hijackers who stayed at his condominium or Zacarias were planning. That is consistent with the principles of cell security ordinarily followed — also evasion in interrogation. At a minimum, however, the established facts relevant to the Amerithrax investigation show that in the Summer and Fall of 2001 an Al Qaeda supporter who had assisted in the 9-11 operation — and who was a lab technician working with anthrax — was in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Was he the fellow perceived as Filipino who the journalist met in Afghanistan in the Fall of 2001 bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax? According to Sufaat’s attorney, Sufaat gave two FBI agents no fresh evidence during a 30-minute interrogation finally conducted in November 2002 (where they mainly wanted to know how he knew Zacarias). The U.S. has asked for his extradition in connection with hosting of the two 9/11 hijackers, but Malaysia refused. President Bush reports that US officials did not fully appreciate Sufaat’s role in Al Qaeda’s anthrax program until after KSM’s capture in March 2003.
As described in US News, a former reporter from the Kabul Times actually may have met a Filipino carrying papers from Zawahiri and bragging about his ability to manipulate anthrax. The man may have been Hambali’s lieutenant, Muklis Yunos, who had been Hambali’s right-hand man and was in charge of special operations for the Philippine Moro Islamic Liberation Front (“MILF”). British reporter Philip Smucker explained that the Afghan reporter working with him spoke fluent Arabic and made regular undercover trips into Afghanistan from Pakistan. He had visited three functioning al Qaeda camps at grave risk to his life. Smucker explains that his colleague had landed in a Kabul hotel with a Filipino scientist who had a signed letter from al Qaeda’s number two, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, authorizing him to help the network develop biological weapons. The man at the hotel had described his own efforts to develop an “anthrax bomb.” Filipino Muklis Yunos was an explosives expert who had participated with Yazid Sufaat in the December 2000 church bombings. Upon his arrest in May 2003, Philippine intelligence said he had received anthrax training in Afghanistan.
Perhaps he was who the journalist encountered.
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The Mid-February 2003 Capture of Al Qaeda WMD Committee Member Mohammed Abdel-Rahman And Related Capture Of KSM
Authorities closed in on KSM in Spring 2003. When arrested, US citizen and NYC resident Uzair Paracha said he had met in February 2003 a chemistry professor who was supposed to help Al Qaeda with biological and chemical weapons. It was a big break, therefore, when the son of the imprisoned blind sheik, Abdel Rahman, was captured in Quetta, Pakistan in mid-February 2003. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman from Afghanistan spoke alongside Ali Al-Timimi at IANA conferences in 1993 and 1996. The blind sheik’s son Mohammed Abdel-Rahman had recently had been in contact with Khalid Mohammed, Al Qaeda’s #3. Two weeks after Mohammed’s capture, authorities raided microbiologist Ali Al-Timimi’s townhouse in Alexandria, VA, and searched the residence of a couple of PhD level drying experts in Idaho and Upstate NY, along with various others associated with IANA. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman then provided information that led authorities to the home of the bacteriologist who had harbored KSM. Anthrax spray drying documents were found, both on a computer and in hard copy.
In June 2003, a UN report explained that Al-Qaeda has a “WMD Committee,” which according to the report, “is known to have approached a number of Muslim scientists to assist the terrorist network with the creation and procurement of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.” Mohammed Abdel Rahman, a member of the 3-member WMD committee, knew Ali Al-Timimi. Ali Al-Timimi conducted a summer camp at a park in Frederick, Maryland over the years. The kids liked the outdoors and ponds. Ironically, the FBI searched the park’s ponds more than once claiming that Dr. Hatfill had once suggested that someone could weaponize anthrax and discard the equipment in a pond.
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“Operation Imminent Horizon” : The Late February 2003 Raid Of Ali Al-Timimi and Other IANA-Affiliated Supporters Of Bin Laden’s Sheik al-Hawali
In 2000, IANA announced that it had signed a cooperative agreement with the Cairo based publisher and distributor Dar Al-Manar Al-Jadeed. “Jointly they will publish in Cairo and distribute around the world the quarterly Al-Manar Al-Jadeed magazine.” The IANA website explained that the magazine was “devoted to addressing the religious, social, and civil matters. …The editor in chief is the well-known writer, [G]amal Sultan.” Al-Manar Al-Jadeed magazine was published in Arabic and available online. The Cairo-based Gamal Sultan had previously written for the Pittsburgh-based Arabic-language Assirat Almustaqueem magazine, which also was connected to IANA. There had been a close connection between (1) Ann Arbor, MI (2) Syracuse, NY, (3) DC-Falls Church, VA, (4) Moscow, Idaho-Pullman, Washington, (5) and Cairo, Egypt.
On February 26, 2003, at the same time the FBI was searching the residence of PhD candidate Ali Timimi, searches and arrests moved forward elsewhere. In Moscow, Idaho, FBI agents interviewed Nabil Albaloushi. They searched his apartment at the same time they searched the apartment of Sami al-Hussayen, who they had woken from bed at 4:00 a.m. (6:00 a.m. EST) Albaloushi was a PhD candidate expert in drying foodstuffs. His thesis in 2003 was 350 pages filled with charts of drying coefficients. “I live in this country, my children were born in this country, I love this country.” In Syracuse, they arrested an animal geneticist and food researcher as a material witness. Probers exploring a possible terror connection focused on Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a 34-year-old computer scientist and doctoral candidate who was researching cyber-intrusion techniques at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
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March 2003 Arrest Of Bacteriologist Dr. Abdul Qadoos Khan
On March 1, 2003, authorities announced that Khalid Mohammed had been captured 400 miles from Quetta, in Islamabad. A walk-in to the CIA, the Egyptian said he was upset that Al Qaeda had attacked the United States. An unnamed Egyptian reportedly received $25 million for providing the information about Khalid Mohammed. Authorities said he had been in the car that drove KSM to a safe house that night. Agents quickly raced him back through the streets as he made out landmarks, leading them to KSM, who was being harbored in the home of bacteriologist Abdul Qadoos Khan.
Khalid Mohammed had hands-on responsibility for planning 9-11. Reports of the arrest described his role in various operations over the years, including the thwarted “Operation Bojinka” in the Philippines in 1995. At that time, Philippine authorities searching a seized laptop computer found a letter signed by “Khalid Shaikh Bojinka” that threatened to attack American targets “in response to the financial, political and military assistance given to the Jewish state in the occupied land of Palestine by the American government.” The letter, apparently written by Mohammed and his associates, threatened to not only attack aircraft, the principal plot underway, but threatened to launch a chemical attack if an imprisoned co-conspirator was not released from custody. Khalid Mohammed reportedly played a substantial role in trying to build Al Qaeda’s expertise in biological and chemical weapons. It turned out that he knew quite a bit about the process for weaponizing anthrax.
The Dr. Abdul Qadoos Khan ran a respected cardiology institute called Hearts International
Dr. Khan and his wife, according to early accounts, had been at a wedding in Lahore. The family reports that at 3 a.m on Saturday, a squad of around 20 officers burst into the home.
The day after the raid of the Khan’s home, authorities also detained another of the microbiologist’s sons for questioning, a major in the Pakistan Army, though he was not arrested. Pointing at a large cage of blue and green budgies on the patio, Mrs. Khan, Ahmad’s mother, said: “These are his life. Ahmed is a very simple person. He had no job, he hardly went out, just to the mosque to pray. He never traveled and his main thing was pets. He loved pets. “Ahmed can’t be a terrorist,” a neighbor who was a Colonel in the Army said. “He’s a goof, simple in the head.” The son reportedly receives a stipend from the UN’s Farm and Agriculture Organization for having a low IQ due to lead poisoning.
Ahmed Qadoos’ mother was an activist for the ladies’ wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s biggest religious party. Ramzi Binalshibh, the 9/11 plotter arrested in Karachi, and Abu Zubaydah, were both found in houses belonging to JI members.
The bacteriologist’s father’s role came to be all the more important when the documents relating to the weaponization of anthrax were found on Khalid Mohammed’s laptop computer (which allegedly had been seized at the microbiologist’s home). On March 28, 2003, the father, at a hospital receiving treatment for his heart condition, was granted “pre-arrest bail,” which was confirmed the next day in court upon his arrest. Dr. Abdul Qadoos Khan, a bacteriologist with access to production materials and facilities, previously worked in Sudan for the UN’s World Health Organization. According to his family, he retired in 1985 after heart bypass surgery. “His career speaks about his honesty, and he has never been involved in any clandestine activities,” his counsel successfully argued in seeking pre-arrest bail. Al Qaeda was based in Sudan from 1992-1996. The 78-year-old microbiologist was reported in Pakistani press to be a leader of the Jamaat-i Islami, a fundamentalist group in Pakistan.
Documents in UTN’s “House of Anthrax” in Kabul indicated a connection to Jamaat-I-Islam. Jamaat is part of the United Action Council, the coalition of fundamentalist religious groups that controls the provincial government of the Northwest Frontier Province and about one-fifth of the seats in the Federal parliament.
There has been no mention of the arrest of Abdul Qadoos Khan or the disposition of his legal matter since he was granted pre-arrest bail.
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Capture of Hawsawi and Laptop With Anthrax Spray Drying Docs Capture of Hawsawi and Laptop With Anthrax Spray Drying Docs
On March 23, 2003, the Washington Post reported on documents allegedly discovered at the Abdul Qadoos Khan residence — on a seized laptop — relating to biochemical weapons. The documents indicated that Al Qaeda leaders may already have manufactured some of them. The documents at the Qadoos home reveal that Al Qaeda had a feasible production plan for anthrax. Confronted with scanned handwritten notes on the computer, Mohammed reportedly began to talk about Al Qaeda’s anthrax production program. KSM, however, denies that it was his computer. He says it was the computer of his assistant, Mustafa Hawsawi, who was captured at the home the same day. In 2001, before departing for the UAE, Al-Hawsawi had worked in the Al Qaeda media center Al Sahab (Clouds) in Kandahar. The letter containing the first anthrax went to the American Media in Florida had blue and pink clouds on it.
Hawsawi worked under KSM who in turn worked for Zawahiri. Al-Hawsawi was a facilitator for the 9/11 attacks and its paymaster, working from the United Arab Emirates. He sent thousands of dollars to Bin Al-Shibh the summer of 2001. After 9/11, he returned to Afghanistan where he met separately with Bin Laden, Zawahiri and spokesman Abu Ghaith. KSM worked closely with al-Hawsawi. The fact that the anthrax spray drying documents were on that computer, however, and that Al-Hawsawi had worked for Al Sahab in Kandahar in 2000, serves to suggest that the undated documents predated 9/11, particularly given that extremely virulent anthrax was later found in Kandahar. Al-Hawawi in turn worked with Aafia Siddiqui’s husband-to-be, KSM’s nephew Al-Baluchi, in the UAE in the summer of 2001. The two provided logistical support for the hijackers.
Hawsawi worked as a financial manager for Bin Laden when he was in Sudan. Egyptian Islamic Jihad shura leader Mahjoub was Bin Laden’s farm manager in Sudan. Mahjoub was the subject of the anthrax threat in January 2001 in Canada, upon announcement of his bail hearing. The day after Mahjoub’s bail was denied on October 5, 2001, the potent stuff was sent to US Senators Daschle and Leahy.
The Washington Post explained that “What the documents and debriefings show, the first official said, is that “KSM was involved in anthrax production, and [knew] quite a bit about it.” Barton Gellman in the Post explained that Al Qaeda had recruited competent scientists, including a Pakistani microbiologist who the officials declined to name. “The documents describe specific timelines for producing biochemical weapons and include a bar graph depicting the parallel processes that must take place between Days 1 and 31 of manufacture. Included are inventories of equipment and indications of readiness to grow seed stocks of pathogen in nutrient baths and then dry the resulting liquid slurry into a form suitable for aerosol dispersal.” The documents are undated and unsigned and cryptic about essential details.
In addition to establishing him as paymaster for the hijackers, Al-Hawsawi’s computer disks reportedly also included lists of contributors worldwide, to include bank account numbers and names of organizations that have helped finance terror attacks. In press accounts, one unnamed government official confirmed that the information has yielded the identities of about a dozen suspected terrorists in the US. In his substituted testimony in the Moussaoui case, Al-Hawsawi says he became part of Al Qaeda’s media committee in Afghanistan in about July 2000. Hawsawi lived at the media office. For about 4-5 months in 2000, Hawsawi worked as a secretary on al Qaeda’s media committee. Hawsawi’s role “was to copy compact discs and reprint articles for the brothers at the guesthouse in Qandahar. After 2000, Hawsawi worked at the direction of Sheikh Mohammed, transferring funds, and procuring goods.” KSM joined the committee in February 2001.
The first time that Hawsawi was asked to become involved in operational activities was about March 2001, when he took his second trip to the UAE. Although Sheikh Mohammed did not use the word “operation,” Sheikh Mohammed told Hawsawi that he would be purchasing items, receiving and possibly sending money, and possibly meeting individuals whom Hawsawi would contact or who would contact him.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed told Hawsawi that Hawsawi would be in contact with individuals called ‘Abd Al-Rahman (Muhammad Atta) and the “Doctor” (Nawaf al-Hazmi). Atta called Hawsawi four times while in the US. Hawsawi says he was never in contact with Hani or Nawaf while in the US. On September 9, Ramzi bin Shibh told him the date of the planned operation and urged that he return to Pakistan. He flew out on 9/11 and after a night in Karachi, flew on to Quetta. Hawsawi stated repeatedly that he never conducted any activity of any type with or on behalf of Moussaoui and had no knowledge of who made Moussaoui’s travel arrangements.
Documents, however, reportedly show that al-Hawsawi worked with the Dublin cell to finance Moussaoui’s international travel. Hamid Aich was an EIJ operative there who once had lived with Ressam, the so-called millennium bomber, in Canada. The indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui named al-Hawsawi as an unindicted co-conspirator. Moussaoui unsuccessfully tried to call KSM and Hawsawi as witnessses. Microbiologist Ali Al-Timimi had spoken with Bin Laden’s sheik about helping with Moussaoui’s defense.
Hawsawi has said that it was Qahtani who was to have been “the 20th hijacker” rather than Moussaoui. Qahtani, Hawsawi said, had trained extensively to be one of the “muscle hijackers.” Atta went to pick Qahtani up at the Orlando airport but immigration officials turned Qahtani away. Al-Hawsawi said he had seen Moussaoui at an al-Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan, sometime in the first half of 2001, but was not introduced to him and had not conducted any operations with him. At Moussaoui’s trial, the government pointed to FAA intelligence reports from the late 1990s and 2000 that noted that a hijacked airliner could be flown into a building or national landmark in the U.S. Such an attack was viewed “as an option of last resort” given the motive of the attack was to free blind sheik Abdel Rahman. Flying a plane into a building would afford little time to negotiate.
Zacarias Moussaou was in Karachi with anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat on February 3, 2001 when they bought air tickets through a local travel agency for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They left on a flight for KL on February 8, 2001. Moussaoui began at the Norman, Oklahoma flight school on February 26, 2001. KSM says that Moussaoui’s inquiries about cropdusters may have related to Hambali and Sufaat’s work with anthrax.
Another reason not to overlook Hawsawi’s possible role in an anthrax operation is his contact with al-Marri. Al-Marri, who entered the country on September 10, 2001, was researching chemicals in connection with a “second wave.” Al-Marri was also drafting emails to KSM. Although al-Marri denies being in contact with Hawsawi, phone records show otherwise. E-mail evidence also confirms messages drafted by al-Marri to KSM. An article by Susan Schmidt in the Washington Post on al-Marri notes that al-Marri picked up $13,000 in cash from al-Hawsawi. Al-Marri made the mistake of opening the briefcase containing the money in bundles and peeling off a few hundred dollars to pay his bail after being stopped on a traffic charge a couple days after 9/11.
In applying to school, he would not provide a home address or sign the application. “He was a very pugnacious individual,” the administrator told the Post. He was calling students. A number of people reported him as acting suspicious in the heightened sensibilities after 9/11. One student from whom he sought help was the local mosque imam, graduate student Jaloud. Jaloud curiously reports that he did not remember him as the fellow he had taken to the airport 90 minutes away in the summer of 2000, or the fellow he had argued about shipping the computer, or the fellow who had then put him to the expense of shipping the computer to Washington. Jaloud reports when questioned in 2005, he told the Saudis that he did not remember the address in Washington where he sent the computer.
DXer said
2003 Capture Of Hambali And Sufaat’s Assistants And The Reported Seizure Of “Extremely Virulent” (But Unweaponized) Anthrax
Muklis Yunos was arrested on May 25, 2003. Agents reportedly became suspicious when an ambulance pulled over and delivered Yunos, who was wearing a plaster cast on a leg as part of a disguise. According to other reports, he was also wearing facial bandages. An Egyptian missionary accompanying him, Al Gabre Mahmud, was apparently on an international terrorist watchlist. Authorities became suspicious when the two went to the wrong gate (and did not go to the one typically used for medical transport). The pair then objected when officials wanted to remove some of the mummy-like bandages. AP reported that a police intelligence dossier describes him as “a fanatic of the extreme fundamentalist movement” who received training in an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, including lessons on the use of anthrax as a biological weapon. He is described as about five foot three and with the features of a Japanese-Korean. According to one report, Yunos initially was cooperating with authorities over a bucket of spicy Kentucky Fried Chicken, complaining about the arrogance and unhelpfulness of MILF leadership.
Hambali was arrested in mid-August 2003 in Thailand. Hambali had fled Malaysia with his wife, Lee, not long after 9/11. His wife and her sister had studied at the school of Bashir, JI’s religious leader. He told his mother they were moving to Thailand. Hambali worked and his wife studied Arabic. Over the next two years, he also spent time in
Cambodia and Myanmar. Soft-spoken and polite, the neighbors said he kept to himself in the apartment building.
His wife, an ethnic Chinese Malaysian who converted to Islam, was also detained. After being shipped to Jordan, where he was harshly interrogated, Hambali eventually began providing information about Al Qaeda’s anthrax production program. He told interrogators that the terror network had what author Ron Suskind describes as an “extremely virulent” strain of anthrax before the September 11 attacks. In the autumn of 2003, Suskind claims, U.S. forces in Afghanistan found a sample of the virulent anthrax at a house in Kandahar. Pulitzer Prize winning author Ron Suskind writes: “One disclosure was particularly alarming: al Qaeda had, in fact produced high-grade anthrax.
Hambali, during interrogation, revealed its whereabouts in Afghanistan. The CIA soon descended on a house in Kandahar and discovered a small, extremely potent sample of the biological agent.”
Suskind wrote:
“Ever since the tense anthrax meeting with Cheney and Rice in December 2001, CIA and FBI had been focused on determining whether al Qaeda was involved in the anthrax letter attacks in 2001 and whether they could produce a lethal version that could be weaponized. The answer to the first was no; to the second, ‘probably not.’ Though the CIA had found remnants of a biological weapons facility — and blueprints for attempted production of anthrax — isolating a
strain of virulent anthrax and reproducing it was viewed as beyond al Qaeda’s capabilities.”
Suskind continued:
“No more. The anthrax found in Kandahar was extremely virulent. What’s more, it was produced, according to the intelligence, in the months before 9/11. And it could be easily reproduced to create a quantity that could be readily weaponized.”
“Alarm bells rang in Washington. Al Qaeda, indeed, had the capabilities to produce a weapon of massive destructiveness, a weapon that would create widespread fear.
Based on the additional information being provided in 2003, authorities also captured two mid to low level technicians — an Egyptian and a Sudanese. President Bush has explained that these mid-to low level technicians were part of a Southeastern Asian based cell that was developing an anthrax attack on the United States.
In Fall of 2006, President Bush explained:
“KSM also provided vital information on al Qaeda’s efforts to obtain biological weapons. During questioning, KSM admitted that he had met three individuals involved in al Qaeda’s efforts to produce anthrax, a deadly biological agent — and he identified one of the individuals as Yazid. KSM apparently believed we already had this information, because Yazid had been captured and taken into foreign custody before KSM’s arrest. In fact we did not know about Yazid’s role in al Qaeda’s anthrax program.
Information from Yazid then helped lead to the capture of his two principal assistants in the anthrax program.”
DXer said
Did Dr. Ayman succeed in his plan to infiltrate universities as part of his plan to use anthrax against US targets?
Access To Ames Strain
Dr. Claire Fraser-Liggett told the panel assembled by the National Academies of Sciences in July 2009 that she began her work to find a match began in late 2001 — a successful method was not completed until 2007, when agents report that they began to seriously investigate Ivins. “I was hopeful that perhaps genomics would provide sufficient amount of information to be able to track the material to its source, but I then, and have always, asserted that in no way did I ever believe that this kind of genomics-based investigation was ever going to lead to the perpetrator,” Fraser-Liggett said. “That was going to require much more traditional police investigation.”
Fraser-Liggett, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the University of Maryland Institute for Genome Sciences and an adviser to the FBI on Amerithrax, asked, “What would have happened in this investigation had Dr. Hatfill not been so forceful in his response to being named a person of interest. What if he, instead of fighting back, had committed suicide because of the pressure? Would that have been the end of the investigation?” It was Fraser-Liggett’s genetic analysis of the anthrax spores in the letters that led to Ivins’ flask, and the other 7 isolates with the same genetic profile. “The part that seems still hotly debated is whether there was sufficient evidence to name Dr. Ivins as the perpetrator,” Fraser-Liggett says.
According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Scanning electron microscopy of the spores used in the Senate office attack showed that they range from individual particles to aggregates of 100 [microns] or more. Spores were uniform in size and appearance and the aggregates had a propensity to pulverize (i.e., disperse into smaller particles when disturbed).”
In October 2001, LSU and University of Michigan were subpoenaed. A DARPA Program Manager at the time privately told a friend of mine that they knew where the attack Ames came from and even the machine used to make it. What was the machine? The corona plasma discharge? A sonicator?
According to Richard Hidalgo, assistant to the dean of the school of veterinary medicine at LSU, the DOJ asked the school to provide by Oct. 23 a log of all visitors and employees at the Hugh-Jones Special Pathogens Lab since Jan. 1, 2000, including their Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The subpoena also asked for information on shipments of pathogens to and from the lab. “Besides Dr. Hugh-Jones and his lab director, only three others have been in the lab” during the time in question.” Why did the FBI limit the October 2001 subpoena of LSU Special Pathogens Lab to visitors after January 1, 2000. The DARPA research involving virulent Ames supplied by Bruce Ivins prior to that. Dr. Tarek Hamouda and lab tech Michael Hayes had worked with virulent Ames with Bruce Ivins in May 1998.
Newsday reported:
“A subpoena also was delivered to the University of Michigan, according to a source who asked not to be identified. ” …”LSU’s Hidalgo said the FBI appears to be looking for any breach in the strict handling procedures for anthrax and other select agents. It could not be determined yesterday how many institutions have received subpoenas. In some cases, the FBI has made investigative inquiries without court orders.”
American Type Culture Collection (“ATCC”) has written me to say that as a matter of policy, they will not address whether their patent repository (as distinguished from their online catalog) had virulent Ames prior to 9/11. Although ATCC did not take the opportunity to deny it, one can infer from the FBI’s affidavit in connection the search of Ivins’ residence that no lab in Virginia is known by the FBI to have had virulent Ames. (FBI, in its “Ivins Theory,” was working on he understanding that ATCC did not have Ames in its patent repository.)
Work with virulent Ames for the GMU Center for Biodefense funded by DARPA was done by the Southern Research Institute in Frederick, which in 2000 was announced as the subcontractor under DARPA grant to Advanced Biosystems. Bruce Ivins’ former colleague, Patricia Fellows, who worked with Ames from Flask 1029, left USAMRIID to head the BL-3 lab at SRI.
A large amount of Ames anthrax made by Dr. Ivins’ assistants is missing. The DOJ appear to have agreed to shred the depositions of the two assistants in a civil matter that was recently settled.
FBI’s “Ivins Theory” is rife with uncertainties even on the central question of the distribution of Ames.
DXer said
http://www.hopestar.com/topstories/x1439488144/Questions-linger-over-attack
Based upon an internal investigation by the CIA in the immediate aftermath of the attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman in the Khowst region of Afghanistan; and published accounts stemming from the investigation, along with the publication earlier this year of excerpts from a book, “The Triple Agent,” by Joby Warrick, the deaths of Wise and six other people connected with or contracting for the CIA, were determined to be the culmination of a plot by al-Qaeda using a 32-year old Jordanian doctor as bait in the hunt for Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
..
Rather, it was the intense determination to accomplish the mission that influenced the judgments that were made.”Among the six “key areas that deserve greater focus” outlined by Panetta are the need to “Require greater standardization of security procedures… Enforce greater discipline in communications, ensuring that key guidance, operational facts, and judgments are conveyed and clearly flagged in formal channels… and, Apply the skills and experience of senior officers more effectively in sensitive cases.”
Comment:
Proponents of an Ivins Theory tend not to be informed about or care about the operations orchestrated by Dr. Ayman involving triple agents sent to kill US citizens.
Opponents of an Ivins Theory have gone dumpster diving with proponents to learn about semen stained panties.
Maybe proponents should similarly inform themselves before more people die needlessly.
A scientist should not be put in charge of WMD for FBI or CIA unless he makes a point to know as much about Al-Najjar’s and Mabruk’s interview statements in 1998 — and has read a translation — as he does about microencapsulation (and the fact it does not relate to floatability and nonetheless does relate to “weaponization”) Ask Dr. Majidi or Dr. Smith about the Al-Najjar and Mabruk interview statements and ask them if they have seen translations — and if not, why not.
When did CIA Cairo first get a copy of the translations of the confession of Al-Najjar and Mabruk about anthrax (and Dr. Ayman’s plans) in 1998 to the FBI? Al-Najjar was a member of the EIJ shura council and was secretly cooperating with Egyptian security against Dr. Ayman.
Stateside, the recent report explains that DIA did nothing to ensure that foreign nationals worked in B3 labs.
Why did DIA/DTRA not make it priority after the intel in 1998 about Dr. Ayman’s plans? Those plans then were reported in the world press in Spring 1999.
Ask Ames researcher Dr. Charles Bailey, who shared a suite with seditionist Ali Al-Timimi, why DIA did not respond to Dr. Ayman’s announced intentions by vetting foreign nationals in US labs working with virulent anthrax.
DIA does read the newspapers, doesn’t it? see CIA FBIS database for the news stories in which it is reported that Dr. Ayman’s close colleagues announce his intention to use anthrax against US targets to retaliate for the rendering of senior EIJ leaders.
DXer said
If you look at the archived internal newsletter of Lawrence Livermore, you’ll see that DTRA launched a program to combat the perceived Bin Laden anthrax threat in the Summer of 1998.
Those same people failed to vet foreign nationals working with anthrax in US labs.
That’s negligent.
Why invest all that money in development of a decontamination agent, for example, when basic common sense precautions designed to thwart Dr. Ayman’s plans should have been taken?
DXer said
What’s the CIA doing at NYPD? Depends whom you ask
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/17/ap/business/main20121188.shtml
Comment: Hopefully, helping NYPD overcome the FBI’s CYA circle-the-wagons mentality. There’s no way that Cohen should credit the FBI’s closing of Amerithrax on the evidence the FBI has presented– all of which is flatly contradicted by the documentary evidence that has come to light.
As the former Jordan station chief, in his hunt for Dr. Ayman maybe the person has learned from his personal experience with the triple agent who killed all those CIA officers.
Maybe that’s all a motivation a person needs.
DXer said
Bioterrorism Report Card: U.S. unprepared
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/12/us/us-bioterrorism-report-card/
By Jim Barnett and Mike Ahlers
updated 4:51 PM EST, Wed October 12, 2011
The threat isn’t simply hypothetical, the report says. Ayman Zawahiri, the presumed leader of al Qaeda following the death of Osama bin Laden, is a medical doctor with a known interest in bioterrorism, having started a bio-weapons program in Afghanistan and Malaysia in 1999, the report notes.
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Congress still may be unprepared for a terrorist strike
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress-still-may-be-unprepared-for-a-terrorist-strike/2011/10/10/gIQAbbP5aL_story.html
Discusses report recommending a constitutional amendment permitting appointment of members of the House of Representatives if they are all killed in an attack (such as exists for Senators).
DXer said
Bomb plot using toy planes alleged
5:30 AM Friday Sep 30, 2011
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10755325
I recently threw out a large stack of toy airplane magazines from 2001 because they were mostly advertisements and my daughter wasn’t expressing an interest. But it was interesting to learn on the internet that, as I recall, for $1 I think you can get take-off and landing rights at a field for such airplanes.
Question: where is the field nearest the Pentagon, the Capitol, and Langley?*
The difficulty is that a remote controlled airplane is less likely to draw attention near such a strip.
I think supporters of salafist-jihadis in the US have reached the point that things were for the KKK at one time — when an estimated 1 out of 3 was either an informant or undercover agent. see James Ridgeway’s excellent Blood in the Face.
While I admire the dedication of someone operating undercover (and their courage), it seems like it would be simpler if as a country we just avoided pissing off so many people by having invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. etc.
I don’t know of many people who think that either action made the world a safer place. and that should have been the goal.
*I include Langley only because that was brainstorming by KSM in the mid-1990s.
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Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense, Edited by Katz and Zlinskas (John Wiley & Sons 2011)
Index:
Click to access 0470508930-72.pdf
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Zawahiri’s #2, a Libyan, is reported killed.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/08/27/pakistan.rahman.profile/
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The documents in the possession of Ayman Zawahiri and his associates illustrate the dangers of scientific openness and the lack of merit to the DOJ’s suggestion that it was not foreseeable that a terrorist might steal liquid anthrax in order to turn it into a weapon, upon drying, for use against the United States.
In 2005 or so, the Defense Intelligence Agency provided me various documents and citations in the possession Ayman Zawahiri and his associates, including a number relating to selective culture medium, in order to share with you the dangers of scientific openness.
The Al-Qaida documents were discovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in Fall 2001. The subject was addressed in correspondence between Ayman Zawahiri and his military commander Mohammed Atef in the Spring of 1999. Vice President Cheney was briefed in December 2001. He explained to the CIA and FBI at the time that it was critical that they fully cooperate in order to determine whether there was any connection between these documents and the anthrax mailings in the US.
As the FBI WMD Chief explained in August 2008, the silica could have been in the culture medium.
The documentary evidence pointing to Dr. Ayman’s success in connection with the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings was laid out to the GAO in the 120 pages that are viewable here:
http://www.blurb.com/books/2327692
Selected Document References:
Darlow, HM, and Pride, NB. (1969). Serological diagnosis of anthrax. Lancet
ii(7617):430.
Doi, H, et al. (1996). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) subtype prevalence in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, and identification of novel subtypes of HCV major type 6. J. Clin. Microbiol.
34(3):569-574.
Green, DM, and Jamieson, WM. (1958). Anthrax and bone-meal fertilizer. Lancet ii:153-
154.
Hobbs, G, Roberts, TA, and Walker, PD. (1965). Some observations on OS variants of
Clostridium botulinum type E. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 28(1):147-152.
Mangold, T, and Goldberg, J. (1999). Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological
Warfare. MacMillan, Great Britain.
Morris, EJ. (1955). A selective medium for Bacillus anthracis. J. Gen. Microbiol.
13:456-460.
Pearce, TW, and Powell, EO. (1951). A selective medium for Bacillus anthracis. J. Gen.
Microbiol. 5:387-390
Roberts, TA. (1965). Sporulation of Clostridium botulinum type E in different culture
media. J. Appl. Bacteriol 28(1):142-146.
Roberts, TA, and Ingram, M. (1965). The resistance of spores of Clostridium botulinum
type E to heat and radiation. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 28:125.
Semple, AB, and Hobday, TL. (1959). Control of anthrax: Suggestions based on survey
of imported hides. Lancet ii (3 October): 507-508
Stanley, JL, and Smith H (1961). Purification of factor I and recognition of a third factor
of the anthrax toxin. J. Gen. Microbiol. 26:49-66.
Thorne, CB, and Belton, FC. (1957). An agar-diffusion method for titrating Bacillus
anthracis immunizing antigen and its application to a study of antigen production. J. Gen.
Microbiol. 17:505-516.
Wang, CH, et al. (1996). Immune response to hepatitis A virus capsid proteins after
infection. J. Clin. Microbiol. 34(3):707-713.
Selected Supplementary References from Handwritten Notes Recovered on Site:
Ajl, SJ, Kadis, S, and Montie, TC. (1970) Microbial Toxins. Academic Press, New York.
Anderson, RM, and May, RM. (1991). Infectious Diseases of Humans: Dynamics and
Control. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Batty, I and Walker, PD. (1965). Colonial morphology and fluorescent labelled antibody
staining in the identification of species of the genus Clostridium. J. Appl. Bacteriol.
28:112.
Brachman, PS, Plotkin, SA, Bumford, FH, and Atchison, MM. (1960). An epidemic of
inhalation anthrax: The first in the twentieth century. II. Epidemiology. Am. J. Hyg. 72:6-
23.
Clarke, R. (1968). We All Fall Down: The Prospects of Biological and Chemical
Warfare. Penguin Books, London.
Hodgkiss, W, and Ordal, ZJ. (1966). The morphology of the spore of some strains of
Clostridium botulinum type E. J. Bacteriol. 91:2031-2036.
Keppie, J, Cocking, EC, Witt, K, and Smith, H. (1960). The chemical basis of the
virulence of Pasteurella pestis. III. An immunogenic product obtained from Past. pestis
that protects both guinea pigs and mice. Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 41:577-585.
Knisley, RF. (1966). Selective medium for Bacillus anthracis. J. Gen. Microbiol. 13:456.
Knisely, RF, Swaney, LM, and Friedlander, H. (1964). Selective media for the isolation
of Pasteurella pestis. J. Bacteriol. 88:491-496.
Miller, JK. Human anthrax in New York state. N.Z. Med. J. 61:2046-2053.
Murphy, S, Hay, A, and Rose, S. (1986). No Fire, No Thunder: The Threat of Chemical
and Biological Weapons. Pluto Press, London.
Proceedings of the Conference on Airborne Infection. (1961). Bacteriol. Rev. 25:173-
382.
Riemann, H. (1969). Botulism Types A, B, and F in Foodborne Infections and
Intoxications. Edited by H Rieman. Academic Press, New York.
Roberts, B. (1993). Biological Weapons: Weapons of the Future. Significant Issues
Series XV(1). Center for Strategic and International Studies. Washington, DC.
Rothschild, JH. (1964). Tomorrow’s Weapons. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Smith, H (1988). The development of studies on the determinants of bacterial
pathogenicity. J. Comp. Pathol. 98:253-73.
Walgate, R. (1990). Miracle of Menace? Biotechnology and the Third World. The Panas
Institute, London.
William, P, and Wallace, D. (1989). Unit 731: The Japanese Army’s Secret of Secrets.
Hodder and Stoughton, London.
World Health Organization (1970) Expert Committee on Plague, 4th Report. World
Health Org. Tech. Rep. Ser. (no. 447).
DXer said
In sentencing, the Court explained:
“understand she subsequently married and, to my understanding
but unsubstantiated, is married to today.
After [her husband 9-11 plotter] Al Baluchi’s arrest by the Pakistani
intelligence, Dr. Siddiqui apparently moved to Karachi.
According to the defense memo, she had claimed that a short
time after moving there a man named Abu Lababa issued a Fatwah
for her to do biological research in order to develop defenses
for her country should Pakistan be attacked by an enemy. And
she did this for approximately six months.”
DXer said
Case: 10-3916 Document: 83-1 Page: 116 05/10/2011 285932 168
Defense counsel argued at sentencing:
“Well, her neuroscience background, she wrote her
thesis — she wrote her Ph.D on how children learn; cognitive
science. She is not a biologist, she is not a chemist, and
there is nothing about her studies that indicate or have been
shown that she has any special expertise on chemical warfare.
In fact, if you read the writings that the government refers to
and the claims of all of the scientific information that she
has presented in her writings, we have the writings of a person
who is mentally ill. There was no such thing as viruses that
can attack only adults and not children. Hang gliders flying
into public buildings is hardly what anyone who is sane or
competent thinks can be an efficient form of a terrorist act.
I mean, we read her ramblings.
Dr. Kucharski points it out, Dr. Rosenfeld points it
out, we’ve pointed it out, I have asked the world to read what
she has written; it is incoherent, it cannot be corroborated as
good science, it is the writings of a woman who is mentally
ill.”
Comment: Defense counsel seems unaware that Ali Mohammed’s mentee, Dahab, the Cairo Medical dropout recruited by Mohammed and Dr. Ayman in the early 1980s, was actively training in the 1990s with a hang glider to free shura members imprisoned in Egypt. The plan was to fly into the prison yard dropping bombs, pick up the detainees, and escape. If counsel and psychiatrists are going to comment on such matters, they might inform themselves with the history of hang gliders and with Al Qaeda’s anthrax planning.
For example, aerial dispersal of anthrax can just as easily be done by a hang glider as a helicopter — in fact, without the disruptive dispersal by the helicopter blades.
DXer said
As another example, the documentary evidence points to Al Qaeda anthrax planning involving balloons.
Drawing from Al Qaeda anthrax training seminar – “You are dead, bang.”
Anthrax letter – “You die now.”
Title: Piles of papers on biological weapons found at abandoned villa , Chicago Tribune (IL), Dec 01, 2001
Database: Newspaper Source
Piles of papers on biological weapons found at abandoned villa
KABUL, Afghanistan-Neighbors say they noticed nothing particularly unusual about the comings and goings at the shabby, two-story villa occupied by a Pakistani aid group and located in a quiet residential neighborhood of Kabul favored by a number of international charities.
But items found at the house since the Taliban fled from Kabul suggests that the Islamabad-based Ummah Tameer e Nau, or Foundation for Construction, may have been interested in something other than helping Afghans rebuild their country.
Piles of documents containing detailed information about the use of anthrax in biological warfare, boxes containing gas masks and diagrams suggestive of a plan to use a helium filled balloon to disperse anthrax across a wide area were found in the house by journalists. The president of the charity on whose premises the evidence was found was one of Pakistan’s leading nuclear scientists, Bashiruddin Mahmood, who had been detained by Pakistani authorities, along with another retired nuclear scientist, in October and questioned about his links with the Taliban amid concerns that he may have shared Pakistan’s nuclear secrets with Osama bin Laden.
Mahmood, who had founded the aid group after retiring from his job at Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Agency in 1998, denied ever meeting bin Laden and insisted his frequent contacts with the Taliban had taken place solely because of his involvement in the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Mahmood and his associate, Chaudry Abdul Majeed, were detained for questioning again last week after the discoveries at the house, although Pakistan still insists it has found no evidence he was involved in wrongdoing. “There is no linkage established at all with any anthrax-related capability,” said Pakistani government spokesman Maj. Gen Rashid Qureshi.
Pakistan has also denied Pakistani newspaper reports that Mahmood had been involved in the development of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb. Nothing was found at the house to suggest any link to nuclear weapons or efforts to acquire nuclear expertise, and nor was there anything directly linking the house to Osama bin Laden, apart from a newsletter published by the al-Qaeda organization.
But someone either living at the house or visiting it had taken a close interest in anthrax and in studying ways of delivering biological weapons.
In one upstairs room there were dozens of copies of documents about anthrax, including details about the U.S. military’s vaccination program downloaded from a Defense Department site on the Internet and other Defense Department documents relating to anthrax. One, entitled “The bacteria: what you need to know” contains the statement that anthrax “spores can easily be spread in the air by missiles, rockets, artillery, aerial bombs and sprays.”
There were 10 copies each of most of the documents, suggesting some kind of seminar or perhaps a brainstorming session had been held in the room for a group of people.
On the floor, there was what appeared to be a disassembled rocket alongside a canister labeled “helium,” as well as two bags of powder, which journalists have refrained from inspecting.
An elaborate diagram scrawled in black felt tip pen on a white board of the kind used in classrooms, depicts what appears to be a balloon rising at various trajectories, alongside a fighter jet that is apparently shooting at the balloon. Beside the jet are the words, “You are dead, bang,” which appear to have been added later because they are written in a different color.
There are also pictures of ground missiles linked by lines to the balloon. Mathematical calculations indicate the height at which the balloon would fly, the distance from which it would be shot down and the area over which its contents would be dispersed. Beside one of the balloons is the word “polystyrene” and beside another the word “cyanide.” There is no mention of anthrax on the diagram, but the impression is of a plan to deliver biological agents by packing them into the gondola of a balloon that would be shot down by a jet or a missile. Loose sheets of paper containing scribbles of missiles and balloons similar to those on the board were found among the documents, indicating those attending the seminar had been taking notes, or elaborating on the calculations.
The significance, if any, of the findings is difficult to establish. It is conceivable that the entire setup was a hoax, designed to play on U.S. fears in the wake of the anthrax attacks in America. U.S. officials have said they believe a lone domestic terrorist, not an international organization, was behind the attacks. If it was a hoax, however, it was an elaborate one. The photocopied documents are faded, suggesting they have been there a while. Western diplomats in Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they have no reason to believe the evidence was planted, although they say they have not had a chance to study it.
“We know there were a lot of houses like this, and many that have been found by journalists in very similar circumstances,” said one diplomat.
Investigators know that al-Qaeda had been trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, he said. “It’s a question of whether they have the availability, and there’s no evidence yet that they do have the availability or the capability,” said the diplomat. “The evidence is inconclusive.”
Neighbors say the house had been occupied by three Pakistani men, their wives and their children, and said they had no reason to believe they were engaged in anything other than charitable work. The house is next door to the British charity Save the Children and just a few doors down from the offices of the United Nation’s refugee agency. Local children begging on the street said they used to receive second-hand clothing from the occupants.
Those living in the house left abruptly after September 11, leaving behind just one man, who fled on the night the Taliban withdrew from Kabul to Kandahar, according Faizuddin, the door keeper of the Save the Children organization next door.
“It didn’t seem to be the kind of charity that made projects to help people,” he said. “All they did was give clothes to some children in the neighborhood.”
DXer said
Page 1936 of Aafia Siddiqui trial transcript:
“That same night she was arrested, July 17th, 2008,
Governor Usman of Ghazni Province called up Caleb Threadcraft*
and he went over to the Provincial Coordinating Center where
Caleb Threadcraft worked and he gave him a purse and he told
Mr. Threadcraft this purse came from the woman who was arrested
that night. When Caleb Threadcraft saw those items, he was
alarmed. He looked through them. They mentioned attacks on
the United States. They mentioned chemical and biological
weapons. In his eyes that was a threat.”
*He was a US Army captain and liaison officer in Ghazni at the time.
DXer said
Aafia trial transcript, at page 1959, Lavigne summation
“The documents also deal with chemical and biological
compounds with weapons. You know the defendant has a
background in that. You know that from her time at MIT and her
time at Brandeis. What do these documents show? These
documents show on July 18th when defendant was in that room,
when she saw that M4 rifle right by the curtain, her intent,
her motive was to harm those soldiers.”
DXer said
Aafia Siddiqui trial transcript, Summation Ms. Moreno, p. 1975
“From the opening statement by the prosecutor in this
case, the very first piece of evidence she discussed were
documents referring to chemical and biological weapons. You
heard it again from Mr. LaVigne just now, trying to scare you.
Dirty bombs. Aafia Siddiqui is not charged in this proceeding
with any crime having to do with any kind of biological or
chemical warfare. You are here to decide only the seven
charges in this indictment: Attempted murder and armed
assault, period. So, let’s leave the fear behind, and let’s
talk about what the evidence tells us.”
DXer said
Aafia Siddiqui trial transcript, p. 923
THE COURT
“I will go along with the protection of the following 19 exhibits: GX 5A and B, which are photos of various individuals in Afghanistan, GX 123, GX 126, GX 127, GX 128, GX 131, GX 132, 21 GX 134, GX 135, GX 137, GX 141, GX and GX 142.These exhibits either contain photos of individuals in a war zone, and I do think it is appropriate to protect their identities and/or they contain instructions for biological warfare, chemical warfare, dirty bombs, and making various explosive device.”
DXer said
Case: 10-3916 Document: 84 Page: 117 05/10/2011 285933 165
Barry Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist who examined Aafia Siddiqui for the defense, scoffs at the papers that Aafia Siddiqui and suggests, without citation to authority, that it is not possible to alter a virus so as to only harm children.
He writes:
“For example; she claimed “viruses can be altered in many ways, such as altering a virus
so that it only attack [sic] adults and not children.” However, she acknowledged her “research
was outdated since it had been so long since she studied biology, so she did not believe any of
the research she provided would successfully create such a virus.” Given the suggestion, by other
evaluators, that Dr. Siddiqui has indeed attempted to assist in the creation of biological weapons
to be used against the U.S., and that her presentation during the past two years is a deliberate
(and sophisticated) attempt to evade prosecution, the contrast between her pre-morbid
functioning and the information found in her possession appears particularly noteworthy.”
DXer said
Aafia Siddiqui trial transcript, Court instruction, pp. 352-353.
“Dr. Siddiqui is not charged in this proceeding with
any crimes involving attempted bombings, assassinations,
chemical or biological warfare or with providing material
support to any terrorist organizations. She is charged only
with the counts contained in the indictment.”
DXer said
Case: 10-3916 Document: 74-3 Page: 25 05/10/2011 285923 49
The government had the material sealed at the trial level:
“In the event any documentary materials recovered from the defendant are
admitted, the Government requests that they be introduced as evidence at trial but that they be
received under seal, such that they would not be accessible to members of the public who may
want to obtain copies of them. The reason for this request is that the materials contain detailed
instructions and commentary about the construction of chemical and biological weapons.”
DXer said
Case: 10-3916 Document: 74-3 Page: 37 05/10/2011 285923 49
In briefing at the trial level, the government explained:
“Regarding Siddi~i as suspicious, A&P officers
searched her handbag and found numerous documents describing
the creation of explosives, chemical weapons, and other weapons
involving biological material and radiological agents.
Siddiqui’s papers included descriptions of various landmarks in
the United States, including in New York City.
In addition, among Siddiqui’s personal effects were
documents detailing United States military assets, excerpts
from the Anarchist Arsenal dnd a one gigabyte digital media
storage device, or thumb drive.
D. Siddiqui was also in possession of numerous
chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in
bottles and glass jars.”
DXer said
So in looking at Agent Steele’s code, the starting point is to realize that the “T” is not in fact double-lined and thus the theory implodes.
Let’s consider the evidence relating to code as behind a salafist acting as part of Dr. Ayman’s network.
Atta’s “Jenny” Code and the Jennifer Lopez Letter
The goofy letter sent to the publisher of the National Enquirer and Sun tabloids in Florida sought to dissuade Jennifer Lopez from a planned marriage. “Wedding” is known Al Qaeda-speak for “event” or “attack.” In the Summer of 2001, Mohammed Atta was communicating with a terrorist contact in Germany. He used tradecraft code in these contacts — he used the code “Two sticks, a dash and a cake with a stick down” to convey to his contact the intended date of the 9/11 attack. In sending these emails to Germany, Atta pretended to be writing to an imaginary girlfriend named “Jenny.” Khalid Mohammed used a similar code in communicating with Ramzi Binalshibh during the period, instructing Binalshibh to send “the skirts” to “Sally”. (The 9/11 Commission Staff noted that “Sally” was Zacarias Moussaoui.) KSM admits that upon the death of military commander Atef, he came to supervise the cell planning on attacking the United States with weaponized anthrax. In 2003, after the interrogation of regional operative Hambali, “extremely virulent” anthrax was found at a house in Kandahar that could be readily weaponized. Al Qaeda had it prior to 9/11.
Stevens noted at the time it was especially odd given that the Sun did not deal with celebrities, which was the subject of the sister-paper Globe. Stevens’ fellow photo editor Roz Suss was looking over his shoulder: “With that Bob says to me, ‘Hey, I think there’s something gold in here. It looks like a Jewish star sticking out of the powder.’ I walked up behind him and reached over his shoulder. I pulled this little star out of what looked like a mound of powder in this letter.” “It looked like something from a Cracker Jacks box,” she says. She picked it out of the powder and tossed it in her wastebasket. Stevens’ colleague Bobby Bender recalls opening a large envelope to Jennifer Lopez, care of the Sun. In it was a cigar tube containing a cigar, a small Star of David charm, and somethiing that seemed like soap powder. According to an early National Enquirer, Stevens held it up to his face and then put it down on the keyboard (where traces of anthrax were found). The publisher’s wife was the real estate broker who rented to two of the hijackers. Small world, eh? KSM’s assistant in supervising the anthrax cell was Hambali, who along with two colleagues considered attacking an Israeli restaurant, with a Star of David above it, in the Khao San Rd. backpacker area in Bangkok.
Jennifer Lopez’ fame had withstood a number of underperforming movies, to include the movie “The Cell” in the year 2000. In the movie, following a trail of bodies, an FBI agent tracks down and captures a disturbed serial killer. Before the killer can reveal the whereabouts of his next victim (a woman trapped in a cell on the verge of drowning), he falls into a coma. Enter FBI psychologist Lopez, who uses a radical link to the killer’s brain that could destroy her own sanity. “Her mission: Find the cell’s location before time runs out, and avoid getting trapped inside the killer’s head.” How apt.
Mrs. Stevens explained:
“They get strange letters sometimes, and the consensus seems to be that if Robert wasn’t wearing his glasses and if it was something funny, he would hold the letters up to his face. They think perhaps that’s how he got it. Just bad luck.”
The CIA knows that wedding is Al-Qaeda-speak for an event. That, according to New York Times journalists, is why the CIA got so anxious to have the Buffalo boys arrested. Apart from an email about a “big feast,” they had started talking about a planned wedding. Interpreting such code is not without risk. The CIA kicked down the door in Bahrain and dragged him away from the altar to the horror of his bride-to-be.
What does the J.Lo letter tell us about the sender, or senders? J.Lo is what they used to call a “sex bomb” – and the biggest one at the time. She had international fame. The vehicle had a “weird” love letter, a Star of David, maybe a cigar. Who has “issues” and weird obsessions with women, sex (with a cigar being a crude symbol) and Jewish symbolism? Atta, for example, had strict instructions in his will about what women would be allowed to do at his funeral. Follow the anomalies.
Two of the hijackers had subscriptions to AMI publications, as did at least one other Al Qaeda operative in contact with Atta in the summer of 2001. The same folks who played hide the ball as to the reason Dr. Ivins was in the B3 on all those nights — and suggest that every minute needs to be explained — in the next breath argue that Dr. Ivins would hang out there reading newspapers to include the National Enquirer in the B3!
(2) “School”
“Greendale” School is the return address of the anthrax letters to Senators Daschle and Leahy — two Senators who played key roles in both appropriations to Israel and Arab secular regimes and the rendering of senior Egyptian Islamic Jihad leaders. In December 2002, the Arabic paper London Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that correspondence on Zawahiri’s computer (which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal) shows Zawahiri uses “school” as code for Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The letter was found on Al Zawahiri’s computer. The letter was designed to look innocent. It was dated 3 May 2001 and signed “Dr. Nour, Chairman of the Company.” Nour was one of Zawahiri’s aliases. In this context, it was Egyptian Islamic Jihad, not Al Qaeda, of which he was Chairman.
“We have been trying to go back to our main, previous activities. The most important step was the opening of the school. We have made it possible for the teachers to find openings for profitable trade.”
The letter read:
“To: Unknown From: Ayman al-Zawahiri Folder: Letters Date: May 3, 2001
The following is a summary of our situation: We are trying to return to our previous main activity. The most important step was starting the school, the programs of which have been started. We also provided the teachers with means of conducting profitable trade as much as we could. Matters are all promising, except for the unfriendliness of two teachers, despite what we have provided for them. We are patient. [This apparently refers to an internal dispute with two senior London Egyptian islamists].
As you know, the situation below in the village [Egypt] has become bad for traders [jihadis]. Our Upper Egyptian relatives have left the market, and we are suffering from international monopolies. Conflicts take place between us for trivial reasons, due to the scarcity of resources. We are also dispersed over various cities. However, God had mercy on us when the Omar Brothers Company [the Taliban] here opened the market for traders and provided them with an opportunity to reorganize, may God reward them. Among the benefits of residence here is that traders from all over gather in one place under one company, which increases familiarity and cooperation among them, particularly between us and the Abdullah Contracting Company [bin Laden and his associates]. The latest result of this cooperation is … the offer they gave. Following is a summary of the offer:
Encourage commercial activities [jihad] in the village to face foreign investors; stimulate publicity; then agree on joint work to unify trade in our area. Close relations allowed for an open dialogue to solve our problems. Colleagues here believe that this is an excellent opportunity to encourage sales in general, and in the village in particular. They are keen on the success of the project. They are also hopeful that this may be a way out of the bottleneck to transfer our activities to the stage of multinationals and joint profit. We are negotiating the details with both sides.”
The full message, decoded, is thought to say:
“We have been trying to go back to our military activities. The most important step was the declaration of unity with al-Qaeda. We have made it possible for the mujahideen to find an opening for martyrdom. As you know, the situation down in Egypt has become bad for the mujahideen: our members in Upper Egypt have abandoned military action, and we are suffering from international harassment.”
But Allah enlightened us with His mercy when Taliban came to power. It has opened doors of military action for our mujahideen and provided them with an opportunity to re-arrange their forces. One benefit of performing jihad here is the congregation in one place of all mujahideen who came from everywhere and began working with the Islamic Jihad Organization. Acquaintance and cooperation have grown, especially between us and al-Qaeda.”
Dr. Jean Rosenfeld, a researcher associated with the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, and an expert on the symbolism of religious extremist movements, wrote me: “Greendale’ to me signified a conscious choice to use the symbolic color of Islam.” She continued: “The franked eagle on the envelope of the anthrax letters was identical to the one I caught on a documentary that showed a one-second shot of the site where Sadat was assassinated — the huge eagle above the podium where he was when he died. That assassination was of great significance to Egyptian Jihad and produced the pamphlet by Faraj that justifies “fard ‘ayn”/individual duty as the basis of jihadist doctrine.” She explained that “AQ is rooted in Egypt and Salafism, not Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Al-Zawahiri, I believe, is intensely nostalgic for the Nile Valley.”
The CIA factbook explains that the color green — such as used by anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat in naming his lab “Green Laboratory Medicine” , and by the mailer who used the return address “Greendale School” — is the traditional color of islam. Green symbolizes islam, Mohammed and the holy war. In its section on Saudi Arabia, and the “Flag Description:,” the CIA “Factbook” explains that the flag is “green with large white Arabic script (that may be translated as There is no God but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God) above a white horizontal saber (the tip points to the hoist side); green is the traditional color of Islam.”
“Green is the color of the prophet Mohammed who himself declared it his favourite color and who’s cloak and turban were green. Even today only his direct successors – the Kaliphs – are allowed to wear a green turban. The Holy Banner – the most precious relic of Islam – is green with golden embroidery. Mohammed supposedly carried this very banner into the holy war which resulted in conquering Mecca. Green is also the predominating color in Paradise where it stands for flowery fields and eternal oases. Green is the color of the Arabic League and many Arabic countries have included green in their national flags as it symbolizes the unity of all arabic nations. Green is also the life-giving color of all desert peoples.”
Al Qaeda anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat and Zacarias Moussaoui used the name Green Laboratory Medicine as the name of the company that he used, for example, to buy 4 tons of ammonium nitrate, and that he used to cover his anthrax production program. In a Hadith the Messenger of Allah explains that the souls of the martyrs are in the hearts of green birds that fly wherever they please in Paradise.
Green dale refers to green “river valley” — Egypt, Cairo, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and/or Egyptian Islamic Group. Put it all together and you have their new official name (though the American press does not use it) — Qaeda al Jihad. For what it is worth, at the Darunta complex where jihadis trained, recruits would wear green uniforms, except for Friday when they would be washed.
A similar type of coded talk was used around the same period between Atta and Binalshibh as they approached the zero hour of 11 September. Code phrases included:
Faculty of Fine Arts/arts = Pentagon Faculty of Town Planning = World Trade Center Faculty of Law = The Capitol politics = White House White Meat = Americans Terminal = Indonesia Market = Malaysia Hotel = Philippines Village = Egypt
In the conversations that the blind sheikh’s spokesman, Sattar, had with people like Taha, al-Sirri, and the sheikh’s son, Ahmed, they used the same language found in emails between Zawahiri and the Yemeni cell. If a brother was in the hospital, it meant he was in prison. If he had an accident, it meant perhaps that Egyptian security services had killed him.
Given that using the same address helps the second recipient receiving the letter to identify it and avoid opening it, the perp would have no reason to use the same address unless he was communicating something and wanted to draw attention to it.
On the return address, Greendale School purported to be in Franklin Park where fugitive Adnan El-Shukrijumah worshipped along with others who now have been indicted. The pilot El Shukrijumah is said to be at the level of Mohammed Atta and is thought to have been associated with Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT-trained biologist. Mohammed Atta lived 11 miles away from this mosque across from Franklin Park. Holy Cross hospital — where Dr Tsonas treated Flight 93 hijacker Ahmad al-Haznawi for a suspicious leg lesion that he and other experts think was due to cutaneous anthrax — is only 7 miles from the mosque. Al-Haznawi had just come from Kandahar where the “extremely virulent” anthrax had been found and where Sufaat’s anthrax lab was located. Is it all a coincidence? Possibly. Certainly, it is speculative and the relevant information is classified. Sufaat’s two principal assistants, a Sudanese man and an Egyptian man, were captured in 2003.
The coded e-mail Faris wrote back to KSM suggesting that the idea of removing bolts from the span of the Brooklyn Bridge was not a viable idea was but one of many examples of the simple codes used by Al Qaeda operatives. Sometimes it might be Iyman Faris’ reference to the weather or Ramzi Binalshibh’s “shirts” for Sally. Sometimes the code might be as simple as Adham Hassoun’s “stuff” for the local soccer team in places like Bosnia or his references to a young man who wanted to go out and get some “fresh air” [go join the jihad]. Sometimes it might be a reference to Greendale School or a marriage proposal to Jenny such as in the case of the anthrax mailings.
But putting aside this question of nuptials, impending or annulled, the fact remains that the sender of the anthrax letters would have had no reason to use the same address on the second letter unless he was communicating something. That identical return address, in fact, helped authorities locate and intercept the letter to a Senator.
(3) “In The Hearts Of Green Birds” (Inside Green Birds)
It was widely published among the militant islamists that martyrs go to paradise “in the hearts of green birds.” The stamp used in the anthrax mailings was designed by artist Michael Doret. Mr. Doret advises me that the color of the eagle is a “teal” or greenish-blue.
In the very interview in which they admitted 9/11, and described the codes used for the four targets for the planes, KSM and Ramzi Binalshibh admitted to the Jenny code, the code for representing the date 9/11, and used the symbolism of the “Green Birds.” Osama Bin Laden later invoked the symbolism in his video “The 19 Martyrs”, describing a hijacker as “A man of worship who enjoined good and forbade evil. His body was on earth but his heart roamed with the green birds that perch beneath the Throne of the Most Merciful.”
9-11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh a few months earlielr in his interview with al-Jazeera, in a lengthy and articulate essay “The Nineteen Lions” published by Azzam Publications on December 2002, explained:
“One of the explanations of the Quranic verse [3:169] in which Allah says that the shuhadaa (martyrs) are not dead, is that as well as their souls being inside the hearts of green birds, they are alive because the shaheed (martyr) gives life to those around him. Indeed evidence of this is apparent throughout the Ummah today.”
Peter Finn of the Washington Post explains the symbolism:
“Around 7 one evening during Ramadan in 1998, the believers filed down a long corridor leading to the prayer room of the Al Muhadjirin mosque here, placing their shoes on the dark brown shelves before stepping onto a carpet the color of turquoise, a mixture of green for Islam and blue for heaven. Among the worshipers was a small group of men who clustered around a severe, slight Egyptian named Mohamed Atta. ..
In the [9/11/2002] interview with al-Jazeera, Binalshibh, said that Al-Shehhi, even before he learned of the operation, used to have beautiful visions that he flies in the sky with huge green birds and crashes into things.”
A FAQ on Al Qaeda’s website, the Azzam Publications website, explained that “In the Hearts of Green Birds” refers to what is inside: “The actual Arabic word used in the Hadith is not Qalb (heart) but it is Jowf which can mean any of interior, inside, or heart (as in center).” There was a video based on the hadith with the title “In The Hearts of Green Birds” about foreign mujahideen that had been martyred in Bosnia. The audiocasette was created in August 1996 and its 3rd edition was released in January 1997. The azzam.org website selling the “In the Hearts of Green Birds” audiocassette was shut down after 9/11 because authorities thought it might contain codes and instructions to militants.
Azzam.com posted an exclusive interview with Ayman al-Zawahiri and stressed the importance of cash donations and gas masks and chemical-resistant suits. Ibn Khattab, the Arab Chechnyan fighter who was Bin Laden’s good friend, had told his public that azzam.com was highly recommended and that only the two charities identified by the website should be used to route donations — announcing in 2000 that Benevolence International Foundation was one of the charities that should be used. The other was the Islamic Assembly of North America (“IANA”). Ibu al-Khattab, the late Arab-Afghan commander of foreign mujahideen in Chechnya (who in March 2002 was killed by a poison letter), expressly endorsed Azzam Publications.
Azzam.org had “no bricks and mortar address, but operates a post office box in London, and bill[ed] itself as “an independent media organisation providing authentic news and information about jihad and the Foreign Mujahideen everywhere.” One posting datelined from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and was a message to Muslim youth from top terror suspect Bin Laden. A farewell message from Azzam Publications .. exhorts “Muslims all over the World (to) render as much financial, physical, medical, media and moral support to the Taliban as they can.” Azzam also urged those with computer expertise to mirror the website so as to keep it up after authorities took it down. One can access old websites as they existed on past dates through http://www.archives.org and its wonderful Wayback Machine.
British and US intelligence sources suspected that some of Azzam.com’s jihad photos and graphics contain messages embedded with a technology known as steganography. The code instead perhaps was there separately for all to see on the stamps of the lethal missives being sent.
A man formerly known as Paul Hall, was arrested in Phoenix on a federal criminal complaint in March 2007 and agreed to be removed to District of Connecticut for further prosecution where there has been investigation of Azzam Publications website located on a server there He is alleged to have provided classified information to the London-based Azzam Publications about a U.S. Navy battle group as it traveled from California to the Persian Gulf region in 2001. He allegedly “described a recent force protection briefing given aboard his ship, voiced enmity toward America, praised Osama bin Laden and the mujahedeen [and] praised the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole.”
Even Zarqawi invoked the imagery in a 60-minute audio message:
“The martyrs rejoice in the bounty provided by God. Their souls are inside the bodies of green birds that fly in heaven.”
In Fall 2004, the federal authorities indicted the fellow behind Azzam Publications selling “Green Birds,” Babar Ahmad, pointing, in part, to the “distribution of videotapes and compact discs depicting fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya and elsewhere, and the eulogizing of dead fighters, for the purpose of recruiting individuals and soliciting donations to support the mujahideen in Afghanistan and Chechnya.” Of Pakistani descent, Ahmad is a British computer specialist. He is associated with KSM, who had anthrax production documents on his laptop and admits to having headed the cell (after Atef’s death) planning to use weaponized anthrax against the United States. Ahmad is also the cousin of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, who was arrested mid-2004 in Pakistan. Khan’s computers carried detailed surveillance of five financial buildings in New York, Newark and Washington and once prompted the Department of Homeland Security to elevate the threat alert level to orange.
In an affidavit, an FBI special agent and computer investigative specialist, alleged that a New Brunswick, NJ man, Mazen Mokhtar, assisted Babar in maintaining the continued operation of the Azzam sites, through the use of mirror sites, when the administrators of Azzam sites shut down the Azzam.com site down after 9/11. The mirror sites, http://www.qoqaz.net and http://www.waaqiah.com, allegedly routed people trying to access http://www.azzam.com. The affidavit alleges that Mr. Mokhtar is listed as the administrative contact for the mirror sites. He also operated minna.com. A friend reports: “He said he used to run a hosting service four or five years ago that used to resell Web hosting services to people. He said he didn’t know those guys (mentioned in court papers) and he is not involved in anything like that.” An Egyptian-born imam and political activist, he is a supporter of Palestinian cause and frequent speaker before groups in Brooklyn and the Bronx. He is said to be nice and seems a man of peace.
Of course, given that the symbolism used in this regard in the anthrax mailings had an origin in religious writing, there is no direct tie with the website — the tie could be with the hadith. The webmaster has said that the FBI allowed it to remain up (while it moved from server to server) for another year hoping to get leads on supporters.
Bin Laden was using “Green Birds” in the same way he used the repeated phrase “Looming Tower” to hint of what was to come with the planes attack on the World Trade Center. He would say:
“Wherever you are, death will find you, even in the looming tower.”
On October 7, 2001 in a prerecorded tape aired October 7, Bin Laden said “The winds of faith have come.” This would be enough to keep Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell up at night — or when he does sleep, to keep him dreaming about green birds.
(4) KSM and Clouds (Al-Sahab)
In admitting that he had taken over supervising the development of anthrax for use against the US, Khalid Mohammed separately noted that “I was the Media Operations Director for Al-Sahab or ‘The Clouds,’ under Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The flagship of American Media, Inc. described the letter sent AMI as follows:
“Bobby Bender came around the corner with this letter in the upturned palms of his hands,” said photo assistant Roz Suss, a 13-year Sun staffer.
“It was a business-size sheet of stationery decorated with pink and blue clouds around the edges.”
(5) Allusion to Both Atta and Genomic Sequencing of Ames Strain
The writing of the text of the letter is also interesting in that the “As” and “Ts” are double-lined — to suggest ATTA, the lead hijacker.
When the US Centers for Disease Control first identified that the Ames strain had been used in the mailng to Florida in October 2001, Dr. Paul Keim and his colleagues at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) had nearly finished a project to sequence Bacillus anthracis— specifically, the chromosome of an anthrax isolate from a laboratory in Porton Down, U.K. Ayman had a microbiologist attending Porton Down-sponsored conferences at which presentations were made about the sequencing of Ames. The Defense Intelligence Agency provided me the correspondence between the scientist and Zawahiri. And, sure, enough, the letter writer appears to have even double-lined A’s and T’s in the letters possibly to simultaneously allude to Atta and the genomic sequence. The hazmat courier who delivered anthrax to Dr. Keim’s lab emailed me this past week to say that he was interviewed twice — once in March 2002 and then in January 2003. It was in January 2003 that the FBI had come to be fixated on whether any middle eastern man had come to have access to anthrax at the lab. The FBI thus apparently has been clued into the code used in the letter years ago.
As explained at the Porton Down conferences attended by Ayman’s operative Abdur Rauf, Keim’s research team eventually discovered 60 new ‘markers’ in the Bacillus anthracis genome—DNA sequences that may vary from one isolate to another. These include insertions or deletions of DNA, and short sequences that are repeated at different lengths in the genome known as VNTRs (variable-number tandem repeats). A decade earlier, it had been determined that one of three proteins comprising anthrax toxin, and the first nucleotide sequence to be reported from B. anthracis (by USAMRIID authors no less), had a consensus TATAAT sequence located at the putative -10 promoter site. It is all greek to me but apparently something with meaning to the person who drafted the letter. Perhaps the sender was saying that the bacteria was pathogenic unlike what had been sent to the Canadian immigration minister six months earlier when a bail hearing was announced for the manager of Bin Laden’s farm in Sudan. The man was a shura member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
This and the other coding together may have served to tell the world, for example, that Mohammed Atta and the others were going to fly to paradise on a green bird and that the anthrax was courtesy of Zawahiri’s Vanguards of Conquest. Ayman simultaneously framed the US Army and UK biodefense establishment while telling them who did it. DNI McConnell, in acknowledging at the recent conference that he perceives this threat, seems to be abiding long-honored inside-the-beltway code: CYA.
DXer said
Sen. Lieberman: ‘The threat of a bioterrorism attack keeps me up at night’ Congressional leaders discuss the nation’s most significant security threat By Leischen Stelter – 07.05.2011
WASHINGTON—The consequences of a biological terrorist attack are nearly unimaginable and the possibility of such an attack remains frighteningly high, agreed several current and former Congressional members during a panel discussion entitled, The Threat of Bioterrorism: Improving America’s Response Capabilities. Several participants said that a biological attack is the most significant threat facing the country today, during the event, which was held at the Homeland Security Policy Institute and the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center at George Washington University on June 14.
“The threat of a bioterrorism attack is real,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman. “The threat of a bioterrorism attack keeps me up at night.” The reason, he said, is that the resources and means to make a biological weapon of mass destruction are broadly available. It is relatively easy to bring such weapons in the country or to manufacture such a weapon here.
Therefore, the country must continue to build its resiliency and response capabilities to a biological attack. Former Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) said it’s hard for the government to prevent such an attack, so the focus must be on response efforts. “An effective response system will limit the number of deaths if this attack does occur,” Talent said. “But also it’s a form of deterrence because whoever is thinking about doing this believes if they do it, the U.S. is so well prepared the effect will be limited, so they’re not likely to do it.”
Raising awareness of the issue was one of the center’s earliest initiatives. While the threat of nuclear attack is very real, former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) said that biological weapons are more likely to be used and could be more devastating. “[A] conservative estimate of deaths resulting from successful biological attack is 30,000,” said Sen. Talent. “And if they reload, because you can stockpile these weapons, and hit one city one week and another the next week, the consequences throughout the country is unimaginable. The economy would just stop.”
Part of the center’s goal was to evaluate how prepared the country was at securing against such biological attacks. The center issued a report card in 2010 and gave out several failing grades, said Graham. “The most significant ‘F’ we gave was to the question: ‘How well is America prepared to respond to an attack of bioterrorism?’ We think this is a serious national security risk.”
Despite the likelihood of a biological attack, it remains off the radar for many Americans and political leaders. “It’s been hard to bring attention and focus to this problem,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI). He also emphasized that just because Osama bin Laden is dead, the threat from Al-Qaeda to turn to biological weapons remains very real. “Nothing has been abandoned and just because we’ve taken a significant player off the battlefield does not mean aspirations go away,” he said.
Lieberman discussed legislation that he intends to introduce in the next Congressional session, which builds on legislation he introduced to the House in 2009, that didn’t pass. The new bill will include a mandate to develop a national biological defense strategy, he said. A recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office found that the country has an uncoordinated biodefense program.
The bill Lieberman plans to introduce will also include provisions to strengthen the detection of biological weapons, improve law enforcement training on biological weapons of mass destruction, including decontamination and recovery methods from such an attack. The bill could possibly include creating a special assistant to the president specifically for biodefense, however, Lieberman said he still contemplating that provision.
Comment: It only takes about 1 hour to look at the documentary evidence that conflicts with the FBI’s “Ivins Theory.”
Many influential people have taken an approach that would substitute spending — which resulted in the proliferation of labs and made the problem worse — for research and reading by qualified intelligence analysts.
Relatedly, investigative journalism does not consist of reading a bunch of documents released by the FBI and interviewing FBI investigators and scientists about their theory.
Nor does it consist of interviewing Bruce Ivins’ prom date and finding that he didn’t try to kiss her.
It involves interviewing people who don’t want to speak with you — and are trying to hide things rather than to spin them.
It relates to interviewing people knowledgeable about Dr. Ayman’s plan to infiltrate US biodefense using the cover of universities and charities.
http://www.blurb.com/books/2302695