* Congressman Mike Pence & Pulitzer prize winning science writer Laurie Garrett agree on Anthrax Mailings.. Pence: “I don’t know who sent it” — I am afraid we may have missed the off-ramp to the truth.” … Garrett: “I get outraged because the FBI completely botched the investigation on the anthrax.”
Posted by DXer on September 11, 2011
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Congressman Mike Pence & science writer Laurie Garrett
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Brian Francisco | Washington editor – JournalGazette.net (9/11/11) …
- The 2001 anthrax mailings were the work of an Army microbiologist who killed himself in 2008, the U.S. Justice Department concluded last year.
- Health and science writer Laurie Garrett doesn’t buy it.
- “I get outraged because the FBI completely botched the investigation on the anthrax,” she said in a recent interview on NPR’s “Science Friday.”
- “I get outraged because there is so much evidence that al-Qaida was behind the anthrax mailings and that at least as strong a circumstantial case as was made against Bruce Ivins can be made against al-Qaida, even stronge
- Rep. Mike Pence, R-6th, had his doubts about the anthrax source early on. In 2002, he wrote a letter to then Attorney General John Ashcroft to ask why international links weren’t being probed in the mailings that killed five people in three states and Washington, D.C.
- “I am concerned we may possibly have missed the off-ramp to the truth,” Pence wrote.
- Pence, who is running for governor, said in a recent interview he “expressed our frustration periodically” with the anthrax investigation. But he is not ready to try to name a suspect.
- “I don’t know where the weaponized anthrax bacillius came from,” Pence said. “I don’t know who sent it.”
read the entire article at … http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110911/LOCAL1011/309119956/1066/NEWS03
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Read the opening of CASE CLOSED (below) and then buy a copy at …
* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *
* special offer for readers of this blog … purchase CASE CLOSED on Kindle for $5.00
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this is the opening scene of Lew Weinstein's novel CASE CLOSED
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
A report that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri died last month of natural causes was first made and then discussed on Twitter. By going directly to Twitter, a reader will avoid the formatting errors I may introduce by copying and pasting here.
Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
#exclusive #breaking
Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qaeda leader & Osama bin Laden successor, died a month ago of natural causes in his domicile. The news is making the rounds in close circles.
– I realize the issue wt such claims but corroborated it wt sources close to AQ (Hurras al-Din)
1:02 PM · Nov 13, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
·15h
Replying to
@hxhassan
So take this news as you will, but I wouldn’t post it if it’s just a rumor. It is making the rounds in jihadi close circles, and at least some are treating it as confirmed news.
Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
·9h
One source’s information to me has now been corroborated by
@nytimes
Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
· 9h
The 2nd news was what the NYT has just reported. https://nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri-abdullah-qaeda-dead.html…
A friend journalist was chasing story so I held on posting it.
Confidence in the MASSIVE-IF-TRUE news I tweeted earlier about the (natural) death of al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri further boosted by more details from well-informed analysts about the circumstances around Zawahiri.
@Charles_Lister @ToreRHamming @bsarwary @abdsayedd
Replying to
@hxhassan
One of my sources joked the news of Zawahiri’s death would’ve gotten Trump elected. If he indeed died, I wonder if the US knew. I reckon the US would now be asking for urgent confirmation before Trump departs. The news gone viral in Arabic, so this should be confirmed/denied soon
DXer said
‘Hot Zone’ Season 2 on Post-9/11 Anthrax Attacks Ordered at Nat Geo
The first season focused on the origins of the Ebola virus
Tim Baysinger | November 11, 2020 @ 9:12 AM
https://www.thewrap.com/hot-zone-season-2-on-post-9-11-anthrax-attacks-ordered-at-nat-geo/
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
https://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
In the official trailer of the upcoming PBS show
“Gangster’s Gold” on the PBS “Secrets of the Dead”, , I tell my daughter: “Sounds like the plot of a good gangster movie.”
See generally
“Ongoing Search For Dutch Schultz’s Missing Millions”
https://www.treasuretracer.com/dutch-shultz/ongoing-search-for-dutch-schultzs-missing-millions/
DXer said
Pence is positive.
DXer said
Peggy Noonan says Trump ‘cannot’ lead in a crisis — and calls on Biden to step up
Published: June 28, 2020 at 9:17 a.m. ET
By Nicole Lyn Pesce
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/peggy-noonan-says-trump-cannot-lead-in-a-crisis-and-calls-on-biden-to-step-up-2020-06-26
The conservative columnist also writes that Trump ‘doesn’t understand his own base’
[Trump] hasn’t been equal to the multiple crises. Good news or bad, he rarely makes any situation better. And everyone kind of knows.’
DXer said
Rough polling stretch has GOP operatives asking: Could Trump drop out?
Some GOP operatives are wondering if the president could drop out of the presidential race if his poll numbers don’t improve
By Charlie Gasparino, Andrew O’Reilly, Lydia Moynihan | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-polls-republican-gop-operatives-possible-drop-out
Comment: There are many principled men and women in the Republican party far more qualified than Donald Trump to lead the country. Romney comes to mind but certainly there are lots of others.
IMO, the Republicans would have a much better chance of winning the election by drafting a stronger candidate.
In the next two weeks, his prospects will move inversely to the number of new cases at the jhu.edu website.
His recent mass gatherings — without regard to social distancing and masks — will go down in history as a very selfish and ill-advised act.
Pence, at least, in light of his recent comments in Texas on the subject of masks and social distancing, shows that he is capable of adjusting his course.
It would be worthwhile for people to understand the role of singing, if any, in transmission of the coronavirus. But I’ll let any available data speak for itself.
#realmenwearmasks
DXer said
Liz Cheney posts photo of former VP in face mask and says ‘real men wear masks’
By Caroline Kelly
Updated 6:10 PM ET, Fri June 26, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/26/politics/cheney-face-mask-real-men-wear-masks/index.html
DXer said
Polls deliver more bad news for Trump
Yahoo News
DAVID KNOWLES
Jun 27th 2020 12:44PM
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/06/27/polls-deliver-more-bad-news-for-trump/24538907/
Comment:
President Trump should step aside so that there can be a GOP candidate qualified to lead the country during these challenging times. There are numerous Republicans who would make fine Presidents.
A copy of the Mary Trump book reportedly has now become accessible and so Mr. Trump’s prospects are unlikely to improve.
DXer said
This fellow predicts President Trump will “dump Pence” because of his handling of the coronavirus. While I think it would be a politically astute move for Mr. Pence, I don’t think the pundit’s expressed confidence is warranted.
CNN’s Begala: Trump will ‘dump Pence’ for Haley on day of Democratic nominee’s acceptance speech
BY JOE CONCHA – 03/02/20 04:54 PM EST
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/485562-cnns-begala-trump-will-dump-pence-for-haley-on-day-of-democratic-nominees
But maybe a Trump/Haley ticket will, in fact, go up against a Biden/Harris ticket or a Sanders/Warren ticket. Or a Bloomberg/Hillary ticket. Who knows.
Aside from such speculation, I think Vice President Pence should leave the country’s response to the coronavirus to one of the experts like Redfield or Fauci. They should give the press conferences and make decisions. And, of course, their decisions will be subject to approval.
But it is lose-lose for Mr. Pence for him to be the front man given the nature of the beast….
It really is just a matter of titles. Whatever Mr. Pence does, he will be criticized by the other party. And Mr. Trump is fond of scapegoating.
DXer said
Contrary to what President Trump says, people who have Covid19 should not go to work.
“If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better, and then when you do have a death, like you’ve had in the state of Washington, like you had one in California, I believe you had one in New York,” Trump said on “Hannity.” No deaths have been reported in New York; 11 cases have been confirmed.
Trump’s comments conflict with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says people should not go to work if they are sick.”
https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/03/president-trump-makes-false-claims-about-coronavirus-suggests-you-can-go-to-work-if-youre-sick.html
For Trump not to know this suggests that he should have no role in addressing the matter.
Dr. Fauci, you need to stand up and communicate the best scientific and public health advice.
Dr. Redfield, your legacy, too, hangs in the balance.
There are numerous scientific issues that will need close study and consideration.
DXer said
Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest GOP allies, called the president a ‘handful’ and suggested he may support impeachment if new evidence comes out
Rosie Perper 3 hours ago
https://www.insider.com/lindsay-graham-axios-trump-impeachment-opinion-may-change-new-evidence-2019-10
• Speaking to “Axios on HBO” on Sunday, Graham said that he was openminded to supporting the impeachment process if evidence of a “quid pro quo” emerges.
• “Show me something that is a crime,” he told Axios. “If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing.”
• Graham also called Trump a “handful” and “an equal opportunity abuser of people.”
Comment:
Senator Graham,
New evidence is going to come out.
Now, for example, the bribes paid to the mafia in connection with the demolition Bonwit Teller may be old news.
But a sensible observer knows that new evidence is going to emerge.
President Trump should resign because he is not temperamentally suited — not fit — for the office.
See also
Wall Street firm predicts stock market would rally if Trump resigned
BY JUSTINE COLEMAN – 10/20/19 12:28 PM EDT 908
21,932
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/466636-wall-street-firm-predicts-stock-market-would-rally-if-trump-resigned
DXer said
Treasury Officials Pressured I.R.S. on Trump Tax Audit, Whistle-Blower Alleges
Oct. 3, 2019
WASHINGTON — An Internal Revenue Service whistle-blower filed a complaint alleging that senior Treasury officials tried to exert influence over the mandatory audit of President Trump’s tax returns, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Comment:
This needs to be promptly addressed. If the underlying facts were to prove to be true, under usual circumstances, President Trump might ordinarily resign. But that perhaps will never happen because he then very likely would be indicted for this and that.
It seems that the Republicans should step up their contingency planning if they want to maintain power. GOP could field any number of candidates highly qualified to run. It would not indicate a lack of support for the current President, it would simply be prudent. One should be prepared.
DXer said
Ezra Cohen Watnick:
Vice President Pence has an opportunity to learn what happened in Amerithrax — if Attorney General Sessions does the right thing.
Mueller allowed a mess to be made of Amerithrax by being fixated on Hatfill (according to investigators). Samples from overseas lab were not collected for two years!!
That’s not how a competent investigation goes about collecting evidence relating to an investigation that centers on determining whether a bad guy had access to the dangerous pathogen.
Indeed, did Dr. Ayman’s infiltrating scientist Rauf Ahmad attend the 2001 conference in Maryland organized by Bruce Ivins?
Here is a picture and identification of the regular attendees that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri sent Rauf Ahmad to infiltrate in connection with the annual anthrax conferences being held in England.
Posted by Lew Weinstein on November 15, 2014
Peter Turnbull, working with Ames at Porton Down, came to advise Amerithrax and had organized the UK conferences infiltrated by Rauf Ahmad
Posted on March 22, 2011
The FBI did not provide the list of attendees at the June 2001 Annapolis International Anthrax Conference pursuant to FOIA even though a Zawahiri infiltrator Rauf Ahmad attended the conferences for Zawahiri in 1999 and 2000.
Posted on March 22, 2011\https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/the-fbi-did-not-provide-the-list-of-attendees-at-the-june-2001-annapolis-international-anthrax-conference-pursuant-to-foia-even-though-a-zawahiri-infiltrator-rauf-ahmad-attended-the-conferences-for/
Anthrax, Al Qada and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
World News | Fri Feb 3, 2017 | 2:32am EST
Pence to attend Munich Security Conference, organizers say
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security-usa-idUSKBN15I0Q4
Over the past five decades, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) has become the major global forum for the discussion of security policy. Each February, it brings together more than 450 senior decision-makers from around the world, including heads-of-state, ministers, leading personalities of international and non-governmental organizations, as well as high ranking representatives of industry, media, academia, and civil society, to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.
https://www.securityconference.de/en/about/about-the-msc/
In addition to its annual flagship conference, the MSC regularly convenes high-profile events on particular topics and regions and publishes the Munich Security Report. All its activities aim at offering the best possible platforms for a frank and open exchange of ideas and opinions.
In 2017, the MSC was once again named “Best Think Tank Conference” in the world by an extensive University of Pennsylvania study.
For further information on the MSC’s evolution since its foundation in 1963 as “Internationale Wehrkunde-Begegnung”, also read the essay “Towards Mutual Security: From Wehrkunde to the Munich Security Conference” by Wolfgang Ischinger, published in 2014 in the book “Towards Mutual Security – Fifty Years of Munich Security Conference”.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
A potential new role in biodefense for Mike Pence may be his most important yet
By Tom Daschle, opinion contributor – 01/11/17 05:20 PM EST
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/313842-a-potential-new-role-in-biodefense-for-vice-president
Our number one recommendation is to provide the vice president with both the executive and budget authority to provide this critical leadership in all three contexts.
***
As we look to the challenges our country faces in the months and years ahead, given the tragic inevitability of either a natural or malicious biological catastrophe, there can be no better role for our next vice president than this.
Tom Daschle is a former United States Senate Majority Leader and a panel member of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Vice President-elect Pence could direct the FBI and CIA to expedite the pending FOIA requests so that history can be written — so that history may judge whether the FBI took a wrong turn somewhere.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/11/24/trump-intelligence-briefings/94373872/
“A team of intelligence analysts has offered to give Trump daily briefings since his election victory but so far he has turned them away, the Post reported. Mike Pence, on the other hand, has made time for the briefings every day since the election.
Members of Trump’s team say the president-elect has been focused on the transition and selecting the members of the administration’s Cabinet and said he still has plenty of time to get up to speed on the international affairs and security threats before he takes office.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who is also a senior member of Trump’s transition team, told the Post that he is not concerned.”
DXer said
Who will Donald Trump for Director of National Intelligence? Will he choose Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess?
What are Lt. Gen. Burgess’ views of the intelligence relating to Al Qaeda’s anthrax program in 2001?
Politics should have no role in true crime analysis.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithraxwordpress.com
Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, remains in charge of intelligence hiring, and his record harkens back to a GOP establishment focused on powerful espionage and influence on the world stage. He’s reportedly favored to be the new director of National Intelligence, replacing James Clapper.
In other words, there’s still a chance the spies will be just fine.
Burgess’s 38-year military career has reassured some former spies and intelligence experts that the administration might not devolve into amateur-led chaos.
***
“Burgess is a fairly well-known figure and … a fairly conventional one,” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, wrote in an email to The Intercept.
***
“Boy, I don’t know a member of the [intelligence community] that has been more direct, more straightforward, and given us better briefings over the years than General Burgess,” former Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in 2007. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democratic ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, also lauded Burgess’s leadership in 2011 on the 50th anniversary of the DIA.
“We must always tell our leaders at all echelons what they need to know not what they want to hear,” Burgess said when he retired as DIA director. “As our nation’s intelligence professionals we have a non-negotiable obligation to the American people to call it the way we see it.”
***
Earlier in his career, Burgess served as the director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Southern Command …
DXer said
It was an odd weekend. Law enforcement asked that I charge a man with trespass who they say went to my door. A reporter (I asked) told me that a police scanner reported that the drivers license of a “disturbed drunk individual” had been recovered.
The man was apprehended — identified perhaps with a helicopter using to track him through woods, and then later by a canine unit — and then kept for the longest time in a cruiser in front of my house.
A law enforcement officer — police, deputy, or Trooper, it’s hard in the dark and bright lights to know — came to the door and asked me to come to the cruiser and asked if I could identify him.
(It was about 8:30 p.m. — I had just settled into a nap in my bedroom.)
White male. Brownish beard. Not young, not old. Not big. I didn’t recognize him — don’t know him. (When first questioned upon being spotted on the property, he said he lived here.)
But, cuffed inside the car, it was clear that he was extremely angry — yelling “F— Y—“ to the law enforcement officers. According to some reports, he was trying to kick the windows out of the law enforcement vehicle.
One of the officers later explained that the man was very violent and had a long history of instances of hatred of law enforcement. I’ve been waiting to see a news report.
A Trooper (I think he was a trooper but maybe a sheriff) later came to the house and said that if I didn’t prosecute him for trespass then they might not be able to transport him and they would have to release him there in front of the house.
Given I hadn’t even seen the guy on the property, I’m not sure that I could submit a statement other than I looked at him in the cruiser and didn’t recognize him, don’t know him.
I respectfully disagree on the officer’s assessment of the legal issue (whether they had legal authority to transport him away from my house). I told the officer if he was disturbed and violent, I didn’t want to make him angrier. If he feels that way about police, imagine how he feels about prosecuting witnesses.
(EMS was called because the man may have become in need of treatment due to his agitated state and law enforcement response; the man initially may have been too agitated to safely treat.)
If the matter involves a DWI up on Route 81, as I believe it does, then it becomes a matter of proof whether the man, no longer in the vehicle, was the driver. If his license was found in the car, that seems a really good start.
Law enforcement certainly doesn’t have an easy job.
The last thing I want to do is make a dangerous, unstable person angry. Now Dr. Ayman Zawahiri is different. He may be a mass murderer but he knows that if I’m mistaken, my intentions were good and I tried always to remain very evidence-based. (I think Yazid Sufaat was the Al Qaeda anthrax lab director and Adnan El-Shukrijumah was the anthrax mailer).
The last fellow who I suspected entered my garage coincidentally was dead within a few weeks — of a brain aneurysm or something. Tragically fell dead in front of my neighbor and friend visiting him. The night of the burglary, I had come up to the fellow in an adjacent parking lot in the dark (it was 2 a.m. or something) with a baseball bat but never got off a swing — heeding the wisdom of not bringing a baseball bat to what might turn into a gun fight.
So I hope this most recent fellow has any help he needs to overcome any substance abuse and anger issues. Most of all, he should never drink and drive or do drugs. Because life is already far too short.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Vice-President-elect Pence said in 2011 that he didn’t know who sent the anthrax in the Fall 2001. (I don’t either although El-Shukrijumah is my candidate). Mr. Pence said that he is afraid that we missed the off-ramp to truce. He has led the transition team. Through his choices and directions, he has the ability to see if we can allow for greater clarity on the issue — so that the history can be written.
Before Ayman Zawahiri writes it.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
If Donald Trump picks Mike Pence, I believe pundits feel it would shore up Trump’s conservative credentials and give him someone with experience on Capitol Hill.
Brian Howey: The strange bedfellows named Trump and Pence
http://www.tribstar.com/opinion/columns/brian-howey-the-strange-bedfellows-named-trump-and-pence/article_565ff16f-bc4f-568a-9ed2-f96ae9b730e3.html
DXer said
Then a Congressman, Mike Pence wrote a letter to Attorney General Ashcroft in June 2002 asking for an update:
Request for Update on FBI Anthrax Investigation (Letter from Rep. Mike Pence to Atty. Gen. Ashcroft)
Rep. Pence’s web site ^ | June 11, 2002 | Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)
Posted on 6/15/2002, 1:53:31 PM by Mitchell
Request for Update on FBI Anthrax Investigation
The Honorable John Ashcroft
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear General Ashcroft:
As you may recall, I was one of three members of the House of Representatives whose offices were contaminated with anthrax in October 2001. As a result, I am often approached by my colleagues in the Congress inquiring as to the status of the anthrax investigation.
As a Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, I am troubled by the apparent lack of progress in the FBI’s current investigation. Accordingly, I am writing to request an update on the status of the FBI’s investigation of anthrax attacks on the media, government and the American public that took place soon after September 11.
These anthrax attacks not only endangered my family and staff, disrupted our federal government, and panicked thousands, but they also resulted in the deaths of five Americans. Despite the enormous cost of the anthrax attacks, to my knowledge, months of FBI investigations have produced no suspects and few leads.
In updating me on the progress of the investigation, I would also greatly appreciate an answer to at least one question: Why has the FBI apparently concluded that the source of these anthrax attacks was domestic when there is significant evidence to suggest an international source for these materials?
The following facts support the assertion that the anthrax attacks may have been connected to international terrorism:
1) The letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was dated 9-11-01 and included the phrases “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Allah is Great.”
2) Evidence suggests that one or more of the 9-11 terrorists visited doctors to be treated for anthrax-type infections.
3) The material found in my office and in others on Capitol Hill was finely milled weapons grade anthrax that had been genetically modified to increase its virulence.
4) So that they could be better aerosolized, anthrax spores were coated with a chemical not commonly used by scientists in the United States.
5) This anthrax was so powerful that five people, including two postal workers and two elderly women, died solely from coming into contact with cross-contaminated mail. This suggests that professionals in an organized, large-scale research facility, not a troubled individual in a basement lab, manufactured the anthrax used in these attacks.
6) DNA evidence shows that this anthrax originated from the Ames strain, a strain of the anthrax bacillus originally developed at Fort Detrick, Maryland, which was later sent to England’s Porton Down research facility.
7) In 1988, Iraqi germ warfare scientists attempted to obtain Ames strain anthrax from England, as part of a larger mission to create biological weapons. Iraq succeeded in obtaining at least two other strains of anthrax and likely also obtained the Ames strain.
8) European governments and CIA officials reported meetings between al Qaeda members and Iraqi officials before September 11.
9) The 9-11 terrorists attempted to rent crop dusters, presumably as delivery vehicles for biological or chemical weapons.
10) According to UN weapons inspector Richard Spertzel, Iraq has conducted military exercises to explore the possibility of dispersing anthrax using crop-dusting aircraft.
As I am certain you will agree, if the anthrax attack did have a foreign source, then it is vital that the FBI and the CIA conduct a coordinated and comprehensive investigation.
For these reasons, I am requesting an update on the FBI’s handling of the current investigation. I understand that this investigation is ongoing and I would be open to a private briefing by Justice Department officials on these matters. However, I do believe this issue must be addressed if we hope to avert further deadly attacks on American citizens. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Mike Pence
Member of Congress
DXer said
Mike Pence’s letter, which I posted on July 10, is quoted above here and is fairly and squarely addressed by David Willman the article linked below.
Donald Trump’s running mate once peddled conspiracy theories about anthrax and Saddam Hussein, David WIllman, July 17, 2016
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pence-anthrax-20160717-20160715-snap-story.html
Mr. Willman is an investigative reporter. Hopefully, he’ll now focus on obtaining and declassifying the investigative summary by former lead Amerithrax Richard L. Lambert.
NYT interview of former lead Amerithrax investigator Richard Lambert: “a staggering amount of exculpatory evidence” regarding Dr. Ivins remains secret
Posted on April 9, 2015
https://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/nyt-interview-of-former-lead-amerithrax-investigator-richard-lambert-a-staggering-amount-of-exculpatory-evidence-regarding-dr-ivins-remains-secret/
Department of Justice is consulting over production of the Table of Contents. Given Mr. WIllman’s stature as a Los Angeles journalist, a request by him might cause production of the 2000+ page memo to be expedited.
I’ve always been disappointed that Mr. Willman never acknowledged that a key witness he relied upon in accusing Bruce Ivins had written a book explaining that she was psychotic and delusional at the time of of her part-time counseling gig where she met Bruce Ivins. She perceived murderous astral entities attached to her clients that were trying to murder her. And so it is not surprising that she deemed Bruce Ivins to be a murderous fiend.
Yes, Mr. Pence made a mistake in connection with a letter some staffer just as likely wrote. And Mr. WIllman made a mistake in a book that he sells that he wrote accusing a dead guy of murder based on an unreliable witness — a man driven to commit suicide by what people were saying. (Ivins was especially exasperated at this counselor, according to his emails).
Mr. Willman should at least now pursue the very best documentary evidence. He owes it to the Ivins family and to history. (The psychiatrists, too, failed to correct their representations, even though they had been submitted to and relied upon by a federal district court judge; the consulting psychiatrist even sold the book.)
“Bad science” results when people arrogantly refuse to disclose the evidence that contradicts their assertion or to correct their errors when they are pointed out in good faith.
DXer said
On all the substantive sub-issues, Dr. Vahid Majidi is simply provably wrong. He seems not to have had access to the investigative documents that have been provided by USAMRIID under FOIA over these past years.
“I am afraid we missed the offramp to the truth.” — Mike Pence
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Apple Juice and Arsenic: Dr. Besser vs. Dr. Oz
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/dr-richard-besser-dr-mehmet-oz-debate-arsenic/story?id=14526426
Dr. Oz is noting the levels of naturally occurring arsenic in apple juice — which are below the 10 ppb limit for drinking water.
I tested bottled waters (many dozens) from across the country for arsenic and found that Topo Chico exceeded the legal limit for water by a factor of two — in three out of three tests done by the local certified lab. (Dr. Ayman tried to use cyanide to poison the CIA embassy workers in 2002 so I was curious what people were drinking in the US).
(As I recall, arsenic is associated with volcanic rock.)
The company (it is owned by one of the two large soda companies) hired a NYC lawyer — and he wrote to say that the company had a single test of 9 ppb, just under the legal limit of 10 ppb, and he provided it. He declined to do a second test because it was against his client’s interest.
His candor was refreshing — disarming. You’ve got to respect a bad guy who smiles because he knows the US government isn’t effective enough to safeguard the US public.
When the industry had placed its top scientific expert as FDA Commissioner, they had every reason to be confident on such issues, despite the occasional setback and criminal conviction.
If Dr. Ivins turns out to be innocent, it wouldn’t help the mailer even if the mailer were the brother of the chief egyptian prosecutor and it was the lead amerithrax prosecutor (moved over from the CIA) who screwed the pooch.
Because the data is the data and now there have been 10 years of eavesdropped conversations.
Dr. Oz should test Topo Chico from a chain grocery store and if the results are positive, notify the store and ask them to do testing on a random sample. Wegmans is loads more effective than the FDA on such an issue.
As I recall, the many dozens of benzene tests I did cost $65 a pop — but I think arsenic may only cost $10-15 (though I don’t recall offhand).
DXer said
Former FBI agent says truth of 9/11 remains hidden
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14892377
comment: Given that everything redacted by the CIA had been cleared by the FBI, it is not likely to be that sensitive. I found the wikileaks state department cables disclosures to be pretty dull reading — to include the SECRET NOFORN. That’s the scariest thing of all — that the counterintelligence officials don’t actually know what’s going on and are just scratching their head.
The CIA should defer to the FBI vetting and allow the revised and fuller version of Mr. Soufan’s book to be published. Alternatively, the powers-that-be that oversee such a question should direct that the material be declassified.
DXer said
Mr. Soufan doesn’t understand why the January 2000 meeting in Kuala Lumpur at the condo of anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat is still classified — and many of the redactions relate to that.
But I don’t see that Ali S. conducted any interrogations of participants of that meeting.
The real harm is that the classification prevents others — who have knowledge about the meeting that AS lacks — from coming forward.
DXer said
September 14, 2011
Questioning Ali Soufan
Posted by Amy Davidson
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2011/09/ali-soufan-frontline-live-chat.html#ixzz1XxewVDDY
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2011/09/ali-soufan-frontline-live-chat.html
1:37
Comment From Jack
Regarding the failure of the CIA to refer info to the FBI…..Lawrence Wright has reported that a CIA officer named Doug Miller saw an FBI cable, and drafted a memo asking his superiors permission to tell the FBI of the Al Mihdhar’s and al Hamzi’s intentions to come to the U.S. That permission was denied by the deputy chief of the agency’s bin Laden unit or Alec Station Tom Wilshire. When did you become informed of this?
1:38
Ali:
Doug Miller is an FBI Agent, not CIA, and as we now know he was ordered not to share information with his own organization (the FBI). I only learned about this after 9/11.
DXer said
god help the fool who routed info about amerithrax to alec station.
DXer said
Anthrax attacks rehash favors chronology over complexities
By Suzanne Koven
September 12, 2011
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/09/12/american_anthrax_details_post_911_bacteriological_attacks_in_us/
DXer said
Sep 12, 2011 1:24pm
Tommy Thompson: Anthrax Attacks Could Happen Again, 10 Years Later
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/tommy-thompson-anthrax-attacks-could-happen-again-10-years-later/
DXer said
DXer said
Updated 09/09/2011 02:16 PM
Man part of Triangle terrorist cell linked to possible 9/11 threat
By: News 14 Carolina Staffhttp://triad.news14.com/content/top_stories/646548/man-part-of-triangle-terrorist-cell-linked-to-possible-9-11-threat/
DXer said
On the House Committee on International Relations, Rep. Pence has served on the Subcommitee on the Middle East and Central asia and on the House Committee on Crime Terrorism and Homeland Security.