* Did AUSA Lieber and Agent Montooth understand Dr. Ivins’ trips to the “AR” from the hot suites as trips to a locked cabinet in “Animal Resources” to get the Ketamine and Euthasol needed to anesthesize and euthanize moribund mice and rabbits? See DEA (part of DOJ) Controlled Substance log.
Posted by DXer on December 11, 2011
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CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks? 
DXer said
The animal protocol B1-11 produced to me on November 14, 2013 states that:
“Rabbits that become moribund after challenge will be sedated with ketamine and zylazine and euthanized with Euthasol via i.v. injection.”
DXer said
Why did Ken and Rachel and Ed Montooth find it suspicious that Dr. Ivins went to the Animal Resources Room in connection with his tending to the animal experiment being conducted in the B3?
DXer said
There is coming to be a wide consensus that US Attorney Taylor was incorrect on the central scientific points he made.
For example,
… everyone agrees that his claim that Dr. Ivins used a lyophilizer to make the mailed anthrax was not plausible.
… the documentary evidence shows that Dr. Ivins was in the lab for his work on animals. The documentary evidence was in the possession of the USG.
… and the pre-printed envelopes were in fact not unique to Dr. Ivins’ Frederick Post Office.
At the same time as his press conference, the first counselor, Judith McLean, who now explains that she thought she was being pursued by nasty murderous astral entities attached to her clients and controlled by an alien who had implanted a chip in her butt, painted Dr. Ivins as murderous.
United States Attorney General Holder has made the point that senior DOJ officials are dependent on what they are being told by subordinates.
GAO, what was United States Attorney Taylor told about use of the lyophilizer, what the documents showed about Dr. Ivins work with the animals, and the pre-printed envelope?
Was US Attorney Taylor responsible for the mistakes or was he misinformed?
1/ TAYLOR: … as a renowned expert in the production and purification of anthrax spores, Dr. Ivins was one of a handful of scientists with the capability to create spores of the concentration and purity used in the attacks. The affidavits allege that, not only did Dr. Ivins create and maintain the spore batch used in the mailings, but he also had access to and experience using a lyophilizer. A lyophilizer is a sophisticated machine that is used to dry pathogens, and can be used to dry anthrax. We know others in Dr. Ivins’ lab consulted him when they needed to use this machine.
2/ TAYLOR: … the days leading up to each of the mailings, the documents make clear that Dr. Ivins was working inordinate hours alone at night and on the weekend in the lab where the flask of spores and production equipment were stored. A review of his access records revealed that Dr. Ivins had not spent this many “off hours” in the lab at any time before or after this period. When questioned about why he was in the lab during those off hours prior to each of the mailings, Dr. Ivins was unable to offer any satisfactory explanation.
3/ TAYLOR: I’ll conclude with one more point. The envelopes used in the attacks were all pre-franked envelopes, sold only at U.S. Post Offices during a nine-month window in 2001. An analysis of the envelopes revealed several print defects in the ink on the pre-printed portions of the envelopes. Based on the analysis, we were able to conclude that the envelopes used in the mailings were very likely sold at a post office in [the] Frederick, Md., area in 2001. Dr. Ivins maintained a post office box at the post office in Frederick, from which these pre-franked envelopes with print defects were sold.
DXer said
Before being euthanized with Euthasol, I believe Dr. Ivins (pursuant to the protocol) would anesthesize the rabbits with ketamine and xylazine. Like Eurasol, Ketamine is a class III controlled substance and was subject to the same DEA Controlled Substances reporting requirements. And so for every day that Dr. Ivins pushed a syringe into a bunny rabbit, mouse or guinea pig, I believe there should have been a corroborating log with his initials and the date. This DOJ-required documentation should have been relied upon by the AUSAs and investigators in reconstructing Dr. Ivins’ activiities — and not his recollections from many years earlier about what he was doing on a particular nights.
DXer said
I believe under the protocol, for anesthetization, Dr. Ivins injected the rabbits with a 1:1 (v:v) mixture of ketamine (100 mg/ml) and xylazine (20 mg/ml) at a dose of 0.3 to 0.8 ml/kg body weight. He injected the ketamine and xylazine mixture into a caudal thigh muscle. He administered anesthetic agents using a 22 to 25 gauge, 1/2 to 1 inch needle on a 1 to 5 cc syringe. Speaking generally, Dr. Ivins’ former assistant, Mara, estimated that it was a 1-person job and would take a couple of hours.
GAO: Where is the FBI’s scientific evidence indicating that Dr. Linscott’s general estimate is mistaken? The time needed to anesthesize and euthanize “x” rabbits or mice or guinea pigs on a given day is amenable to controlled and repeated experiment.
DXer said
Under the protocol, if serum from surviving rabbits was requested by investigators of other Divisions, rabbits were to be exanguinated — the blood would be drained. Were surviving rabbits exanguinated? If so, how many rabbits were exanguinated, who did it, when and how long did it take?
Any rabbits exanguinated were to be reported in the “no pain” category.and might be ascertained from the report under the protocol regarding the pain suffered by the animals.
The length of time it takes to bleed a rabbit (it may be done via a carotid cannula) is susceptible to scientific evidence. The prosecutors and investigators offer us only their unsupported assertion that Dr. Ivins had no reason to be in the lab — a claim that is contradicted by the documentary evidence.
DXer said
AUSA Lieber in her Amerithrax Investigative Summary agrees that the mice were in the hot suite. How many of those mice inject with Euthasol each of the 5 days in late September that AUSA Lieber reports Dr. Ivins was tending to the mice?
(see Amerithrax Summary)
His former lab assistant, Dr. Linscott, estimates that it was a 1-person job that would take a couple of hours. (see uploaded 302 interview statement)