[lit-ideas] Re: Anthrax
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 08 Oct 2006 00:50:33 -0400
Here's an Indymedia site that puts the circumstantial
evidence I cited (and more) with conjecture together. It's
worth the reading time:
________
Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman Zawahiri
Addresses the means, motive, modus operandi and opportunity
of the anthrax mailings, concluding that an islamist who
supports Al Qaeda is responsible.
Al Qaeda, Anthrax and Ayman Zawahiri:
means, motive, modus operandi, and opportunity
In early June 2003, a Central Intelligence Agency
("CIA") report concluded that Mohammed Atta's and Zacarias
Moussaoui's inquiries into cropdusters related to the
contemplated use in dispersing biological agents such as
anthrax. Many people have argued that a US-based Al Qaeda
operative is behind the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings in the
US, and that the mailings served as a threat and warning.
Handwritten notes and files on a laptop seized upon the
capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's #3, included a
feasible anthrax production plan using a spray dryer and
addressed the recruitment of necessary expertise. What your
morning paper did not tell you, however, was that the CIA
seized a similar disc from Ayman Zawahiri's right-hand,
Mabruk, 5 years ago. There is a real danger in
underestimating the progress Al Qaeda made in recruiting the
necessary expertise. Some officials still believe Zacarias
Moussaoui was going to fly a 5th plane into the White House.
In March 2003, Mohammed, however, reportedly said that
Moussaoui was not going to be part of 9/11 but was to be
part of a "second wave." Khalid Mohammed, known as KSM,
explained that his inquiries about crop dusters may have
been related to the anthrax work being done by US-trained
biochemist and Al Qaeda operative, Malaysian Yazid Sufaat.
Al Qaeda has had anthrax, the raw seed product in its
unweaponized form, since at least 1997, when it was
purchased by Bin Laden through the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front ("Moro Front" or "MILF"). Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's #2, is
head of Al Qaeda's biochemical program. The CIA has known of
Zawahiri's plans to use anthrax for a half decade. The
confidante and right-hand man of Dr. Ayman Zawahiri admitted
that Zawahiri succeeded in obtaining anthrax and intended to
use it against US targets. Another senior Al Qaeda member (a
shura or policy-making council member no less) was working
for the Egyptian intelligence services and he confirmed the
report in a sworn lengthy confession. Even Zawahiri's
attorney in 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. A recently released islamist who had been a
close associate of Zawahiri said that Zawahiri had spent a
decade and made 15 separate attempts to recruit the
necessary expertise to weaponize anthrax in Russia and the
Middle East. The US Army recipe was not used, and obtaining
the unprocessed Ames strain of anthrax used does not pose
much of an obstacle or warrant the weight given it by some
press accounts. There was relatively lax control over the
distribution of the Ames strain that was used, especially in
light of the fact that transfers were not even required to
be recorded prior to 1997.
Al Qaeda's anthrax production plans on Khalid
Mohammed's computer did not evidence knowledge of advanced
techniques in the most efficient biological weapons. Under
the optimal method, according to bioweaponeer experts
William Patrick and Ken Alibek, there is no electrostatic
charge. In the case of the anthrax used in the mailings,
there was an electrostatic charge Although there was a
dominance of single spores and a trillion spore
concentration, there were clumps as large as 40 - 100
microns. (Spores must be no bigger than 5 microns to be
inhalable.) As Kenneth Alibek, the former head of Russia's
anthrax production program, explained on March 31, 2003 in
response to a written question, "This anthrax wasn't
sophisticated, didn't have coatings, had electric charge and
many other things." Many point to the trillion spore
concentration as extraordinary. It is far simpler, however,
to achieve a trillion spore concentration in the production
of a few grams than in industrial processing typical of a
state sponsored lab. Until addressed by a November 2002
article by Scott Shane of the Baltimore Sun (which then was
reinforced by his April 11, 2003 story on the results of
reverse engineering at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah), the
"trillion spore" issue was at the heart of a lot of mistaken
theories of the matter concluding that state sponsorship was
necessarily indicated. The reported finding at Dugway
undermines the argument of both the "bomb Iraq" crowd and
the liberals focused on Dr. Steve Hatfill who object to US
biodefense research because they view it as being useful for
offensive purposes.
Khalid Mohammed says that Zacarias Moussaoui's
inquiries about crop dusting may have related to Yazid
Sufaat's anthrax manufacturing plans. Although the details
of the documents on Mohammed's computer may (or may not)
point to possible difficulties in aerial dispersal, they are
fully consistent with the product used in the anthrax
mailings. Al Qaeda had both the means and opportunity.
US-trained Malaysian biochemist Yazid Sufaat met with
9/11 plotters and two hijackers in January 2000. Sufaat was
a member of Al Qaeda and a member of Jemaah Islamiah ("JI")
JI has ties with the Moro Front. Sufaat used his company
called Green Laboratory Medicine to buy items useful to Al
Qaeda. (Green symbolizes "Islam" and Prophet Mohammed's holy
war). Zacarias Moussaoui, who had a crop dusting manual when
he was arrested, stayed at Sufaat's condominium in 2000 when
he was trying to arrange for flight lessons in Malaysia.
Yazid Sufaat provided Moussaoui with a letter indicating
that he was a marketing representative for Infocus
Technologies and allegedly provided him $35,000. The crop
dusters were to be part of a "second wave."
After 9/11, Yazid Sufaat traveled to Afghanistan and
Pakistan to work for the Taliban Medical Brigade and to
continue his work with anthrax. As described in US News, a
former reporter from the Kabul Times apparently actually met
Sufaat, without realizing it, while traveling near Kabul in
October 2001, perceiving him as Filipino. The fellow was
carrying papers from Zawahiri and bragging about his ability
to manipulate anthrax. Sufaat was arrested in December 2001
upon his return to Malaysia. Newsweek reported that a
"second wave" involving biological attacks had been thwarted
upon the arrest of Al Qaeda members who had been intended to
provide logistical support.
Various doctors, both foreign and American, are
associated with Al Qaeda leaders or operatives, to include
the doctors Abdul Qadoos Khan, a bacteriologist from
Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and Aafia Siddiqui, PhD, from Karachi,
Pakistan. Microbiologist Abdul Qadoos Khan was charged along
with his son, Ahmed, for harboring the fugitives. As of
March 28, 2003, he was in a hospital for a cardiac problem
and had been granted "pre-arrest bail." Yet all you read
about at the time was the arrest of the son Ahmed Abdul
Qadoos, who received a stipend from the UN for being
officially low-IQ due to lead poisoning.
It was Khalid Mohammed who told authorities about
MIT-trained biologist Aafia Siddiqui, who at one time was
thought to be traveling with a Florida "Atta level" pilot.
All the Pakistani press reported that she was nabbed in
Karachi after being spotted at the international airport on
March 29. It was not until three weeks later that NBC,
relying on an unnamed senior official, first reported her
captured. For the longest time, no US newspaper had yet
reported that she was captured and instead stories continued
to state that the FBI is seeking her for questioning. If the
sources relied upon by these journalists did not even know
(or would not reveal) that Aafia had been caught, why do
these reporters think they know what's going on in the
Amerithrax matter? Amerithrax is a confidential
investigation, notwithstanding the impression that may be
created by Dr. Hatfill's complaint. The Pakistan ISI and CIA
rarely grant press interviews in connection with an ongoing
manhunt. As agent Van Harp, head of the Amerithrax
investigation has said, the information coming from Khalid
Mohammed is classified.
According to the Pakistan reports, Aafia Siddiqui was
spotted at the international airport and detained (after she
was followed to a relative's house). Some reports say she
was coming from abroad, but the original report the others
are all copying say she was coming from "upcountry."
(Karachi is in the south). The reports say she is suspected
of having been a member of Al Qaeda's "Chemical Wire Group."
Perhaps something got lost in the translation, but the
phrase "Chemical Wire Group" has appeared in all the english
Pakistan and India papers.
Officials have not publicly confirmed anything about
the detention or interrogation. There still is a very hot
pursuit of the "Atta-level" Florida pilot that Siddiqui is
thought to have known and been assisting. He is said by one
FBI agent to be "very, very, very" dangerous. The United
States truly no longer have time for faulty analysis or
politically-based preconceptions. Nor should we be
distracted by Dr. Hatfill's civil claim against the
Department of Justice.
The media coverage has been seriously confused on the
issue of motive and the reason Senators Daschle and Leahy
would have been targeted-- tending to simplistically view
them as "liberals." Zawahiri likely targeted Senators
Daschle and Leahy to receive anthrax letters, in addition to
various media outlets, because of the appropriations made
pursuant to the "Leahy Law" to military and security forces.
That money has prevented the militant islamists from
achieving their goals. Al Qaeda members and sympathizers
feel that the FBI's involvement in muslim countries like
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the
Philippines interferes with the sovereignty of those
countries. Indeed, the "Leahy Law" had one of its most
well-known applications in Indonesia. Senator Leahy was
Chairman of both the Judiciary Committee overseeing the FBI
and Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of foreign aid to
these countries. In late September 2001, it was announced
that the President was seeking a blanket waiver that would
lift all restrictions on aid to military and security units
in connection with pursuing the militant islamists. This
extradition and imprisonment of Al Qaeda leaders, along with
US support for Israel and the Mubarak government in Egypt,
remains foremost in the mind of Dr. Zawahiri. At the height
of the development of his biological weapons program, his
brother was extradited and executed pursuant to a death
sentence in the "Albanian returnees" case. It's hard to keep
up with the stories about billion dollar appropriations,
debt forgiveness, and loan guarantees to countries like
Egypt and Israel and now even Pakistan -- and those
appropriations pale in comparison to the $75 billion in a
"Supplemental" appropriation relating to the invasion of
Iraq. Al Qaeda had a motive in mind.
In his Fall 2001 book titled "Knights under the Banner
of the Prophet," Zawahiri argued that the secular press was
telling "lies" about the militant islamists -- to include
the suggestion that the militant islamists were somehow the
creation of the United States in connection with expelling
the Russians from Afghanistan. Zawahiri argued instead that
they have been active since the assassination of Anwar Sadat
in Egypt because of the treaty between the Camp David Accord
and the resulting peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The
anthrax letters were sent on the date of the Camp David
Accord and then the date Anwar Sadat was assassinated as if
to underscore the point to anyone paying attention. Most of
the "talking heads" on television, however, knew only that
Daschle and Leahy were liberal democrats and did not know
anything of Al Qaeda beyond what they read in the newspapers.
This tactic of letters is not merely the modus
operandi of these militant islamists inspired by Zawahiri,
it is their signature. The islamists sent letter bombs in
January 1997 to newspaper offices in New York City and
Washington, D.C. in connection with the earlier bombing of
the World Trade Center and the imprisonment of the blind
sheik, Sheik Abdel Rahman. The former leader of the Egyptian
Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya ("Islamic Group"), he was also a
spiritual leader of Al Qaeda. The letter bombs were sent in
connection with the treatment of the Egyptian islamists
imprisoned for the earlier attack on the WTC and a related
plot. The purpose of the letter bombs -- which resulted in
minimal casualty -- was to send a message. (There is an
outstanding $2 million reward). There was no claim of
responsibility. There was no explanation. Once one had been
received, the next ten, mailed on two separate dates, were
easily collected. Sound familiar? Two bombs were also sent
to Leavenworth, where a key WTC 1993 defendant was
imprisoned, addressed to "Parole Officer." Abdel Rahman's
son was captured in Quetta, Pakistan in mid-February 2003.
That arrest in turn led to the dramatic capture of Khalid
Mohammed, Al Qaeda's #3. Mohammed was hiding in the home of
the Pakistani bacteriologist Dr. Abdul Qadoos Khan. (Along
with Zawahiri, Abdel Rahman and his two sons have long had
considerable influence over Bin Laden.) He reportedly
treated them like sons. Zawahiri and OBL are Rahman's
friends; Mohammed is Yousef's uncle.
A sender purporting to be islamist sent cyanide in both
2001 and 2002 in New Zealand and ingredients of nerve gas in
Belgium in 2003. There's even a chapter titled "Poisonous
Letter" in the Al Qaeda manual. Just because Al Qaeda likes
its truck bombs and the like to be effective does not mean
they don't see the value in a deadly missive. As Brian
Jenkins once said, "terrorism is theater."
The mailer's use of Greendale School is revealing.
Documents establish that Zawahiri used "school" as a code
word for Al Qaeda in his correspondence. Green symbolizes
Islam and was the Prophet Mohammed's color. By Greendale
School, the anthrax perp was being cute, just as Yazid
Sufaat was being cute in naming his lab Green Laboratory
Medicine. "Dale" means "river valley." Greendale refers to
green river valley -- i.e., Cairo's Egyptian Islamic Jihad
or the Islamic Group. The sender is announcing that he is of
Jihad-al Qaeda, which is actually the full name of the group
after the 1998 merger of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al
Qaeda.
Finally, a number of additional miscellaneous leads
in the investigation are consistent with Al Qaeda's
responsibility. The issues are marked by conflicting
evidence. But all of the issues are consistent with Al
Qaeda's responsibility, to include:
b. Hijacker Ahmed's Blackened Leg Lesion
The hijacker Ahmed Alhaznawi appears to have contracted
cutaneous anthrax in Afghanistan. It's reasonable to credit
his statement that he got the lesion after bumping into a
suitcase he was carrying at a camp in Afghanistan. The
lesion is further evidence of Al Qaeda's anthrax production
program in Afghanistan.
c. Inquiries About Cropdusters
The reported inquiries about cropdusters demonstrate what is
at stake. In early June 2003, a CIA report concluded that
the reason for Atta's and Zacarias Moussaoui's inquiries
into cropdusters was in fact for the contemplated use in
dispersing biological agents such as anthrax. It has long
been known Osama Bin Laden was interested in using
cropdusters to disperse biological agents (since the
testimony of millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam).
e. Fort Lee, New Jersey $100,000 Processor
One potential lead concerned a Fort Lee New Jersey $100,000
processor possibly of a type that could have been used to
weaponize the anthrax. The processor was paid for in cash
after a check-kiting scheme. The processor was delivered to
a business front in Ft. Lee at 215 Main St. The address was
1 mile from pilot Nawaf al-Hazmi at 96 Linwood Plaza, one of
the two hijackers who had attended the January 2000 meeting
with anthrax technician Yazid Sufaat.
f. Suspected Pakistan Anthrax
The "confirmed cases" of anthrax in Karachi, Pakistan,
unless a "false positive," have always pointed to the
Karachi connection also evidenced by the time spent there in
the Fall of 2001 by Khalid Mohammed's and Yazid Sufaat's
time there.
g. Presence of Silica in the Spore Mixture (but not as a
Special Coating)
The presence of silica in the spore mixture is notable in
light of Al Qaeda's recommendation of using a silicone
sealant to wipe the inside of the envelope in sending a
"Poisonous Letter." Former Russian bioweaponeer Dr. Alibek
-- along with Harvard's Dr. Meselson -- have opined that
there was no special silica coating and that the silica
served no special purpose in "weaponization." Dr. Alibek and
Dr. Meselson have explained that while silica was, in fact,
detected, anthrax spores have an unusual tendency to pick up
silica from their environment. Alibek says that silica may
have been a byproduct of the spraydrying process, presumably
used as a drying agent. But it is worth noting that the Al
Qaeda manual specifically instructed to wipe the envelope
with a silicone sealant -- containing up to one-third
treated fumed silica -- so as to not kill the mailman.
j. Know Not Just Your Enemy, But Who He Knew: Zawahiri's
Travels to the US
Zawahiri's mission in the United States in 1995 was to do
spadework for terrorism, not fundraising. He traveled under
an alias and was accompanied by a US Army sergeant. What
mosques exactly did they visit and who did they meet?
Greendale School at Franklin Park: The Return to Fort
Lauderdale and 9/11
For the detailed support and linked citations supporting
these conclusions, please go to:
www.anthraxandalqaeda.com
Hatfill has been a dangerous distraction.
complete article at:
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/80810/index.php
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