* Did the Pentagon allow its DARPA-funded Ames research to be infiltrated by a committed Salafist and convicted seditionist Ali Al-Timimi?

* Al Qaeda lab lingers in anthrax story

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al Qaeda cave

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 By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY (10/3/11) …

• Fears that al Qaeda had some role in the anthrax letter attacks that killed five and terrorized the U.S. 10 years ago surfaced early in the investigation.
• “THIS IS NEXT. TAKE PENACILIN NOW. DEATH TO AMERICA. DEATH TO ISRAEL. ALLAH IS GREAT,” read the anthrax-laden letter sent to NBC newsman Tom Brokaw on Sept 18, 2001, at the start of the attacks.
•  Those messages likely contributed to one of the more curious endeavors of the nine-year “Amerithrax” investigation into the anthrax murders, the retrieval of a suspected terrorist lab, right down to the pipes of the kitchen sink.
• “While it is undoubtedly true that al Qaeda was seeking to establish an offensive bioweapons program in 2001, Task Force agents were unable to find any link between al Qaeda and the letter attacks in the United States, or even that, at the time of the attacks, any al Qaeda operatives had access to the type and quality of anthrax pathogen used in the 2001 attacks,” says the FBI’s investigative summary of the case.
• The NRC panel, headed by Lehigh University president Alice Gast, however, “consider these data to be inconclusive regarding the possible presence of B. anthracis Ames at this undisclosed overseas site,” according to their report.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/al-qaeda-lab-lingers-anthrax-story/story?id=14650914

* NYT: Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear

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Al Qaeda’s arm in Yemen has openly discussed deploying ricin and other deadly poisons against the United States. “Brothers with less experience in the fields of microbiology or chemistry, as long as they possess basic scientific knowledge, would be able to develop other poisons such as ricin or cyanide,” the organization posted to its online English-language journal, Inspire, last fall, in an article titled “Tips for Our Brothers in the United States of America.”

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This title will be released August 16, 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/Counterstrike-Untold-Americas-Campaign-Against/dp/0805091033/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313229537&sr=1-1

Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear

By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER

Published: August 12, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/world/middleeast/13terror.html

* an interview with David Relman, vice chair of the NAS review committee, reveals clearly that the science cannot prove that Dr. Bruce Ivins is the sole perpetrator or even involved … and, by the way, it seems Al Qaeda had Ames anthrax

listen to the interview at …

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2011/3150060.htm

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Dr. David Relman of Stanford – Vice Chair of the NAS committee

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David Relman, MD, vice chair of the NAS review committee, is a professor of microbiology and immunology and of infectious diseases at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He answered the questions below from Bruce Goldman, a science writer in the medical school’s communications office.

Q: Did your review uphold the FBI’s findings? Is this case still open?

A: Dr. Relman:

• The main conclusion by the FBI and Department of Justice of their scientific investigation was that the Bacillus anthracis in the letters was derived from a flask called RMR-1029, which was located in the lab of Dr. Bruce Ivins at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease in Frederick, Md.

we found some problems and gaps in the scientific investigation

• Although the scientific evidence was supportive of a link between the letters and that flask, it did not definitively demonstrate such a relationship, for at least two reasons.
• it’s possible that the samples gathered by the FBI missed mutants that arose during such runs. This possibility was not given adequate consideration.
• the FBI still might not have found other matches, because there’s no guarantee that the bureau had assembled a comprehensive library of lab strains

The newly revealed, but inconclusive, information

about possible B. anthracis Ames

at an al Qaeda overseas location highlights this issue.

• In addition, the instructions in the subpoena the FBI sent to scientists known to be in possession of the B. anthracis Ames strain lacked specificity, so there’s no certainty that scientists who were subpoenaed submitted samples of all the mutant strains in their possession.
• In light of these and other problems and gaps in the science performed as part of this investigation, our overarching finding was that …

it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion

about the origins of the B. anthracis in the mailings

based on the available scientific evidence alone

read the entire interview at … http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2011/february/relman.html

LMW COMMENT …

• The FBI, under the best possible interpretation, botched the scientific investigation.
• there is thus no science, no forensic evidence and no witness to link Dr. Bruce Ivins to the anthrax mailings
• in addition, much relevant information was not only kept from the public, but also from the scientists who were supposed to be doing the investigation.
• the FBI has not and presumably cannot prove its assertion that Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the attacks, or even involved

The FBI’s investigation must be re-opened

and properly reviewed by someone with the competence to do so

and the subpoena power to obtain the information they need.

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** Lew’s web interview 2-7-11 … mostly about the anthrax case

* CASE CLOSED – opening scene … the DIA re-investigates the FBI’s failed case

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

* U.S. Intel Officials Warn Wall Street Execs of Al Qaeda Plot … including potential anthrax attack

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NBC News reports (2-1-11) …

• NBC just reported news about planned terrorist attacks on Wall Street execs that have been identified by the FBI.
• Al Qaeda in Yemen is said to have mentioned Wall Street figures in discovered documents. The FBI warns they may be planning bomb or anthrax attacks.
• The Feds are working with Wall Street mailrooms and the NYPD to prevent the attack.

http://www.businessinsider.com/al-qaeda-may-be-targeting-attack-at-wall-street-execs-fbi-warns-2011-2#ixzz1CiFxvKEf

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FoxNews reports (2/1/11) …

• U.S. intelligence officials reportedly have warned executives at major Wall Street banks that they may be targeted in a terror plot by Al Qaeda militants based in Yemen.
• Large financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, and others have been briefed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and New York Police Department about the nature of the threats, WNBC-TV reported late Monday.
• There was “no indication of a targeted assassination plot,” an unnamed official told the station, explaining the threats were general in nature. However, there are still fears that the names of certain Wall Street executives have been discussed by terrorists based overseas, the report said.
• Intelligence analysts said they were concerned Yemen-based militants may try to send package bombs or biological or chemical agents to bankers in the mail, a threat that has led authorities to urge the companies to increase security in and around their mailrooms.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/01/report-bank-execs-warned-al-qaeda-plot/#ixzz1Ch5CLw9u

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CASE CLOSED is Lew Weinstein’s novel

about the FBI’s failed investigation

of the 2001 anthrax attacks

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read the opening scene of CASE CLOSED …

* CASE CLOSED – opening scene … the DIA re-investigates the FBI’s failed case

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* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

 

* from DXer … Ayman’s use of “school” in May 2001 in explaining merger with Al Qaeda

.

The New York Times says the FBI’s anthrax case has “too many loose ends.” Find out where some of those looses ends might have originated in my novel CASE CLOSED. Sure it’s fiction, but many readers, including a highly respected member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, think my premise is actually “quite plausible.”

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon *

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* al-Qaeda was seeking anthrax; in Ames, Iowa, anthrax samples were destroyed; is there a connection? text of the new YouTube video

why the FBI failed to solve the 2001 anthrax case

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon

* VIDEO – introducing CASE CLOSED

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al-Qaeda was seeking anthrax; in Ames, Iowa, anthrax samples were destroyed; is there a connection?

Before the anthrax attacks, Al-Qaeda was looking for anthrax. Immediately after the anthrax attacks, in Ames Iowa, samples of anthrax perhaps related to the attack anthrax were destroyed. Is there a connection between those two events? Lew Weinstein, author of CASE CLOSED, a fictional account which explains why the FBI failed to solve the anthrax case, maintains a blog which has become a vibrant form for discussion of the actual anthrax case.

Here is the text of the video posted on YouTube …

Hi. My name is Lew Weinstein. I’m the author of a novel called CASE CLOSED, which presents a fictional scenario to explain why the FBI failed to solve the 2001 anthrax case. To promote my novel, I started a blog, and the CASE CLOSED blog has become a host for vibrant discussion and argument over the anthrax attacks and the FBI’s subsequent investigation.

This video suggests a possible connection between two major topics that have been discussed on our blog in the past week or so.

• in 1999 al-Qaeda was looking for anthrax spores and the means to weaponize them.
• in 2001, in Ames Iowa, just days after the first anthrax victim died, hundreds of samples of anthrax were suddenly destroyed.
• is there a connection between those two events?

Jobi Warrick, in an article in the Washington Post, wrote of a man name Abdur Rauf, an al-Qaeda operative who reported to the #2 al-Qaeda Commander, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

• In December 2001, a set of documents was found by coalition soldiers in Afghanistan. Highly redacted portions of these documents were provided by the DIA – Defense Intelligence Agency, were recently published on the CASE CLOSED blog.
• The documents provide evidence of Abdur Rauf’s mission and his possible success. “I have successfully achieved the targets,” Rauf chillingly stated in a letter to al-Zawahiri.

These documents are tantalizing … but there’s much more to be revealed … many questions to be answered.

Now let’s switch our attention to Ames Iowa.

• In October 2001, literally days after the death of the first anthrax victim, a large number of anthrax sampleswere destroyed in Ames Iowa.
• Some of these samples belonged to Iowa State University
• others, according to a report in Coen and Nadler’s recently published Dead Silence, belonged to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operated labs near the university and interacted frequently with university scientists and students.
• The destroyed anthrax probably included samples of what has become known as Ames strain RMR-1029 which was the very strain the FBI says was used in the anthrax attack letters.

The destruction of anthrax in Ames Iowa is unique

• there are no other known instances of post-attack destruction of anthrax samples in any other research lab in the U.S.
• The people who directed the Ames Iowa autoclave destruction were presumably scientists who presumably understood the forensic value of the DNA in those samples for tracing of the origin of the anthrax used in the attack letters.
• the FBI was aware of the intended Ames destruction and did not object
• although claims that the FBI actually ordered the destruction have not been confirmed.

Is there a connection between Abdur Rauf and Ames Iowa? Well … there could be.

• Suppose one of the locations redacted in the Abdur Rauf materials turns out to be Iowa State University or the nearby USDA labs in Ames Iowa.
• Suppose … in the midst of the nationwide panic after the anthrax attacks, scientists in Ames Iowa realized that Abdur Rauf had visited their labs. Suppose these scientists knew or suspected … or at least feared that anthrax spores were received or stolen by Rauf during the course of such a visit.
• Suppose … the inventory records in Ames Iowa were so poor it was impossible to tell if any lethal anthrax had gone missing.
• and finally … suppose the physical and personnel security at the Ames lab locations, including the strip mall location — yes, the leased strip mall storefront location — used as a laboratory by the USDA, suppose security was so inadequate that transfer or theft of anthrax spores would not have been difficult to accomplish.
• In the absence of full disclosure of where Abdul Rauf went and why the Ames anthrax was destroyed, all of the above suppositions must be considered open questions.

In fact, despite the FBI’s claim that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the anthrax attacks, the CASE is definitely not CLOSED.

These open questions, and many more, are what prompted me to write my novel CASE CLOSED which presents one fictional scenario to explain why the FBI failed to solve the anthrax case.

And it’s why the participants of the CASE CLOSED blog are continuing their efforts to extract and publish information relevant to the 2001 anthrax attacks.

You’re welcome to join us.

• Just do a simple three word web search — case … closed … Weinstein — and click on any of the blog articles you will find.
• watch … or participate … as we seek to learn the truth about America’s unsolved case of mass murder by anthrax
• Welcome to our blog.

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to see the video click >>>

* VIDEO – Al-Qaeda seeks anthrax; Ames Iowa destroys it

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* Tracing the path of Abdur Rauf … did al-Qaeda acquire anthrax capabilities? when? where?

why the FBI failed to solve the 2001 anthrax case

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon

* see CASE CLOSED VIDEO on YouTube

* win a free copy of CASE CLOSED (until July 6)

Tracing the path of Abdur Rauf …

did al-Qaeda acquire anthrax capabilities? when? where?

"I successfully achieved ..."

"equipments and glassware ..."

Ayman al-Zawahiri

^^^ click small images to enlarge ^^^

A previous post on this blog published a 1999 letter from Abdur Rauf to Ayman al-Zawahiri, (obtained by a FOIA request by a CASE CLOSED blog participant) in which Rauf wrote  … “I have successfully achieved my targets during my visit to …???…” Unfortunately, the lab where Abdur Rauf apparently completed his mission was redacted from the released document. (see thumbnail above left)

According to an article by Joby Warrick in the Washington Post (10-30-06) … Abdur Rauf, using his membership in a prestigious scientific organization to gain access, had traveled on a quest to obtain anthrax spores and the equipment needed to turn them into highly lethal biological weapons. Abdur Rauf reported directly to al-Qaeda’s No. 2 commander, Ayman al-Zawahiri

Another 1999 letter (see above right) from Abdur Rauf to Ayman al-Zawahiri reveals that Abdur Rauf was looking to acquire lab equipment. (see thumbnail above right)

… connecting the dots ???

Marcia Chambers, in a series of posts on this blog, raised issues relating to the destruction of Ames anthrax strains at Iowa State University (ISU) just days after the first anthrax attack letters were mailed. No one denies that these strains were in fact destroyed.

Authors Bob Coen and Eric Nadler, writing in “DEAD SILENCE:  Fear and Terror on the Anthrax Trail” report (page 29) … “The USDA (in Ames, Iowa) ran a laboratory not far from the (Iowa State) university but had to retrieve its anthrax collection from a storage closet it rented in a local strip mall under less than standard biohazard safety levels. These samples — crucial baseline samples for “Amerithrax” detectives — were also destroyed (with, astonishingly enough, the approval of the FBI), making it impossible for investigators to compare them when it seemed possible later that the anthrax in the letters may indeed have been linked to Ames,Iowa as well as to the Ames strain.”

Consider …

• ISU’s USDA BL-3 lab would be a perfectly logical choice for Abdur Rauf to visit given its agricultural orientation.
• ISU and the FBI have yet to put forward a coherent explanation for the destruction of its Ames anthrax samples.
• Perhaps what ISU is not reporting is that they had let Abdur Rauf, Zawahiri’s al-Qaeda operative, visit their lab.

QUESTIONS … QUESTIONS … QUESTIONS

• Did the FBI ever follow-up leads regarding Abdur Rauf’s trips?
• Did the FBI ever follow-up leads from Marcia Chambers?
• Who authorized the destruction of the Ames strains at Iowa State University in 2001? Why?
• Did the FBI consult a genetics expert when they were asked if it was okay to destroy the inventory?
• Which lab(s) did Abdur Rauf actually visit?

America needs Congressman Rush Holt’s ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION COMMISSION … write to your Representative!

Related CASE CLOSED blog posts …

• What lab did Abdur Rauf visit? … what-bl-3-lab-did-abdur-rauf-visit/
• Marcia Chambers’ story (7 installments) … marcias-story/
• Anthrax Investigation Commission … do-you-want-the-anthrax-commission-to-happen-heres-how-you-can-help/

* DXer: documents in the possession of Ayman Zawahiri and his associates illustrate the dangers of scientific openness

DXer said (5-17-09) …

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 fact, as Dr. Michaels explained, that it was absorbed in the spore coats, points to this use in the culture medium suggested by the FBI.

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).