Login HereAs Glenn Greenwald ably demonstrates this morning, ABC News (and Brian Ross specifically) was instrumental in convincing the American public that the Anthrax sent after 9/11 came from Saddam Hussein (based on the false claim that it contained bentonite, which ABC said was "a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's biological weapons program.")
We now know that the Anthrax was sent by a scientist who worked for the US government, and that alone should be enough to trigger a congressional investigation. But the fact that he was actually involved in the investigation himself should be sending off red flags everwhere, and the bottom line is -- ABC has some 'splainin to do.
They claimed at the time that they had four sources from within the government who confirmed the phony bentonite story. They got played. Now they're refusing to reveal who lied to them. They're not protecting "sources," they're protecting people within the US government who used them to float misinformation that led the public to believe war was necessary, and then hide behind "journalistic privilege."
Brian Ross. He's the new Judy Miller.
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I think the Dixie Chicks I’m Not Ready to Make Nice should be the inauguration theme song
i think it’s been clear for awhile that the mostly likely source of the anthrax was from a gov. lab.
but, as we’ve been discussing on the previous thread, i’m going to need a lot more info before i’m convinced that ivins was involved.
which makes it even more important that brian ross tells us what he knows.
But wait! How could this happen?
“Brian Ross is one of the most honored and respected journalists in the country.”
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=127548
jane, you’re gonna get a kick out of this;
Subpoena!!
It’d be interesting if this was the real culprit; it was obviously a job done from inside the U.S., but clean endings (like the accused’s suicide) may not be the whole story.
Still, the MSM tried so hard to sweep this under the rug (despite being a target themselves) it’ll be fascinating to see where this goes as it re-enters the news cycle.
That’s cold, Jane.
But we’ll know in the next day or so if it’s true. If Ross got played, he’s got about 48 hours to make that clear — and nothing could make it clearer than if he were to name names, or if he forced his sources to reveal their sources and traced the lies backwards.
Off topic: Jane, when will routes start flying to Oxdown?
that is SO MIND BOGGLING it didn’t even register the first time I read it
Bravo!
I so love the Catholic Workers.
This whole thing stinks. This guy could have told us if anyone else was involved. I am sure Naomi Klein would agree that two terrorist acts would lead to more “shocks” than only one by an external threat even as bad as 9/11. Mix this with the fear of Muslims (as Glenn points out) and everyone is willing to give away most freedoms. And the most important witness/perpetrator is now dead. How convenient.
The MSM is doing their best to say that the investigation will now be shutdown and over with.
We need an investigation.
Jane you nailed it.
When will anyone in this administration or the corporate media be held accountable for criminal activity up to and including treason?
The death of Dr. Ivins leaves too many unanswered questions. Perhaps if The Honorable Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would realize that it wasn’t little brown men sending nasty anthrax from Iraq to her counterpart in the Senate, but government employees sending US Government manufactured anthrax, and that she could have just as easily been a target (albeit, killing a Democratic Senator was much higher on the right’s agenda) she might put impeachment back on the table. That it’s possible that deep within the bowels of the current administration there are people capable of sending anthrax through the mails to make a political point should scare the crap out of her.
Ivin’s death is just too tidy, too clean, and much too convenient.
I have no idea what is still being hidden, but I’m certain it’s a lot.
From EPUland:
Well, this just gets curiouser and curiouser. The Smoking Gun has a copy of a restraining order against Ivins by his therapist claiming that Ivins was “homicidal, sociopathic”:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a…..hrax1.html
I just can’t help but think what a tortured soul this man must have been and how difficult all this must be for his family. My condolences to them.
Brian Ross had better be very careful in the weeks ahead. Silence is golden and “accidents” have been known to happen.
It ain’t gonna happen with this congress. After this break no one is going to do anything that could be considered “political”
I’m not at all convinced Ivins killed himself.
Cool!
me too. don’t share their religious beliefs, but i admire them above all other religious folk i’ve known.
Remember the British WMD non-proliferation guy who “committed suicide”. As I recall it was right around the time of the Plame outing, coincidentally.
Ross has no time. He has known for years that the bentonite story was a fabrication but has always refused to reveal the “sources” who fed him these lies.
So which Congress critter is going to investigate this? Would it have to be Intelligence committee folks or can Waxman have at it?
It’s down, puravida.
Digg it here:
http://digg.com/politics/ABC_s.....udy_Miller
If, as it appears, this is another right wing terror attack, I am not terribly surprised.
An issue missing from the dialogue these days is how the right wingers go from being trembling lipped, moist eyed patriotism cheerleaders while in power to bomb-throwing anarchists and jack-booted conspiracy theorists when their hands are off the reins.
The fact of the matter is that Tim McVeigh got his great idea of bombing the feds from the likes of Rush Limbaugh. That dumb SOB who shot up the Unitarian church is the same. The right has so effectively vilified the left in this country that stepping over the lines and actually killing them is a difference of degree and not kind. They are sorry losers and WATB’s when they don’t get their way. Expect increased violence if and when rationality begins to prevail.
Greenwald hints at a spectacular conspiracy in this anthrax saga. To put it into English, there is a possibility, if not a likelihood, that the anthrax mailer was working from the administration’s script. The script diverted our outrage and horror from the Saudis who attacked us on 9/11 to Iraqis, more specifically Saddam Hussein. Killing a few liberals is the price they had to pay (willingly, I am sure).
Or, and this seems more likely to me, the government wasn’t sure about who did the sending, but saw in the anthrax mailing an opportunity to blame iraq for it. They capitalized ruthlessly and remorselessly.
Chilling.
bent honnête
I have thought since almost the beginning — that is to say, since about December, 2003, than the attacks were an inside job. Given the timing and the targets, they sent my paranoimeter off the scale. David Kelly’s ’suicide’ the following spring the same, only more so. After what we’ve seen and heard what the monsters running our government can do, I put nothing past them. Re: Bilmon’s post today over at the Orange Satan.
OT: hi to you all from Barbados. Internet connection up and running again.
One thing is for certain, the sources are those who most benefited by linking it to Hussein…you know, the way people like that like to link Borat speedboats to Iran, and fake UN airplanes getting shot at to a way to go to war with…ta da…Hussein.
Who would think of stuff like that…who would “do” something like that…who would leak to reporters stuff like that..
done, thanks for the link.
Thanks Jane.
Patrick Leahy’s office received one of those anthrax letters, and I can’t imagine him sitting back if there’s something odd about this.
As chair of the Judiciary Committee, he’d also have the pull to make things happen if he wants to.
This is grist for any conspiracy theorist. What we have is not one but two blown investigations of a terrorist attack which was used to gin up the case both for the war on terrorism and the Iraq war.
Try this:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a.....hrax1.html
I would dearly love to know this SOB’s reading materials, political affiliations, etc.
First guess: About the same as that Tennessee SOB that shot up the church.
Ben, honnête? Malhonnête je dirais.
Leahy also sits on the appropriations commitee, including these subcommittees:
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science
Subcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations (Chairman)
Subcommittee on Interior
Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing and Urban Development
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
The three listed in bold strike me as groups that would be greatly interested in how a govt scientist at a military research facility could have done what Ivins is alleged to have done.
Hi Knut. From the USA!
bent as in tordu
Brian Ross won’t say anything. If he really does know something, then he risks pissing off the very people whom he knows about. Those people, if you will, have been known to kill capriciously.
I realize that my recent reading material has made me just a bit more paranoid and prone to accept conspiracy theories right now. I just finished James Elroy’s The Cold Six Thousand. Understanding fully that the book is 100% fiction, the scenarios described do not go beyond the possible. It’s all too easy to co-opt a nut-job and pressure him to do something really bad.
Besides, all those unwarranted, illegal wiretaps and reading of everyone’s email certainly could have found something daunting enough to flip a somewhat troubled, brilliant scientist.
Can we just impeach them all now? Please.
Hope you like how I titled the Digg entry. ;-)
hope someone who knows how makes a screen grab of all ABC bentonite stories.
’cause I’d hate to lose gems like this . . .
Does this send up red flags with anyone else, or is it just me? He’s been making “homicidal threats, actions, plans…” since “his graduate days”? Really? And he’s been working in a high-security bioweapons facility for years and years? Something’s really not right here.
And can everyone Digg this one too:
http://digg.com/2008_us_electi.....Hates_Bush
Please pass it around!! Thank you.
or do something really bad and then blame the nutjob
Woo…let’s not let McCain’s involvement in linking anthrax to Iraq go either — note carefully what he says:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/.....hrax-iraq/
Jean C Duley — the social worker whose petition may be found at the smoking gun — makes a truly strange assertion:
IIRC, Ivins was 62. His grad school days woyld have ended over thirty years ago. I wonder how old Duley is — and how Ivins (or any patient) coould have symptoms so severe they’d need theraspy for three decades, yet despite that severity, wouldn’t have been referred for more intensive treatment with psychiatrsts and or psychologists?
Unless Duley really is old enough to have been able to see Ivins for a few decades and has been practicing in Ivin’s vicinity the whole time, her representation to the Court would appear to contain a significant false assertion.
Brian Ross won’t say anything. If he really does know something, then he risks pissing off the very people whom he knows about. Those people, if you will, have been known to kill capriciously.
Which is why he should do it very, very publicly.
Ta hell with protecting “sources”. Once you’ve been
“kissed”fucked, it’s time to tell.It is well past time to Man Up, Brian Ross.
ding!
One other possible venue for a congressional investigation would be the Senate Armed Services Committee — chaired by Carl Levin (D-MI) with Ranking Member John McCain.
This could be a very interesting setting for a hearing. Many of the GOP members are either retiring (like Warner-VA) or in danger of being forcibly retired (like Wicker-MS, Dole-NC, and Collins-ME, just to name the top three). And I wonder: would McCain show up if Levin called a committee meeting to look into this?
Was Mr. Ivins dressed up as an Iranian naval officer when they found him?
-G
Brian Ross won’t say anything. If he really does know something, then he risks pissing off the very people whom he knows about.
Ross isn’t talking. Like virtually all journalists nowadays he wants to keep his access, even if this means protecting the identities of those lying to him. Tim Russert was the epitome of this kind of “new” journalism when he said during the Plame trial that he just assumed that anything anyone told him was not for attribution.
that’s a mighty big gorilla right there
Hmmm. . . . Just a trip down the B-W Parkway. . . . Do you think he was in the D.C. Madam’s Phonebook?
just now thinking of you -
what happens if your Gov does take the VP slot with McScum ? I ask because your Lt Gov is running against Young in the primary
do they both get to keep their current jobs if they lose ?? who is next in succession for Gov after them ?
There were all those Florida anthrax cases too…the following site has a lot of speculation and facts, etc., very interesting:
http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/Florida.html
and this news is surprising, why? The FBI told the good Dr that he was a “person of interest” That is really smart, tell the person that you suspect that he is about to be charged. I wonder just who the idiot was who thought up that idea. The FBI had to pay 5.8M$ to the last person whom they thought was a “person of interest” and they did the same back when they named the wrong person for the olympic bombing-and leave us not forget the Chinese Dr at Los Almos who the FBI “thought” was a spy for China, that too cost the govt millions. I always called them-when I worked for the fedgov-the Fumbling Bunch of Idiots-to their faces-whenever I had to interact with them, because their list of embarrassments and arresting the wrong person is very very long. It was only because of J Edgar and his sense of public relations-and the networks needing programming-that made the FBI into what the public thinks it is today. Which they are not, by a long shot. In the intel circles in orher countries, if you mention the FBI and CT(Counter Terrorism) or CI(counter intelligence) in the same breath, you will have people rolling around on the floor, laughing. What agency do people in other countries want to investigate CT or CI crimes? Try Scotland Yard. They have a really great rep all over the world. Now, even the FBI lab is treated somewhat as a joke. All of FBI upper mgt-the ones who refused to put forward anything from what the local offices found out prior to 911, should all have been fired-Civil Service rules do not apply to the FBI(big surprise there-J Edgar wanted to be able to fire any who did not toe his line)
c’mon you guys, this guy has been making homicidal threats with impugnity for at least 8 years
And that they were going to go for the death penalty….
The tabloid photo editor who approved the picture of the young, seemingly drunk and cigarette wielding Jenna Bush was the first casualty of anthrax.
Surely a coincidence.
-G
I think this is just badly written. The repetition of the word “action” indicates two separate categories: i.e. that he had a long established pattern of threats and actions toward others, including “threats & actions towards [his current or recent] therapist.”
repeated and anotated without comment for impact
You’re kidding.
No, I guess you’re not.
Lets see …..
Someone wanted to paint a airplane to look like a UN plane and have Saddam shoot it down….
Cheney wanted PT boats built to look like Iranian boats with Navy Seals in Iranian uniforms to create a situation to start a war with Iran…..
Ok…. pulled my tinfoil hat out of the closet……
Just prior to the vote in a DEMOCRATIC Senate. the Judiciary committee was about to move the patriot act to the senate floor that magically Senator Daschle (senate majority leader) & Senator Leahy (chairman of the SJC) who were in charge of moving the patriot act out of committee and onto the floor of the vote BOTH received Anthrax infected letters…….
hmmmm ….just a coincidence right?
I think I need to run to Costco and get myself the supersized Tinfoil dispenser….
Eeek.
Hmmm…now that brings to mind that woman W supposedly raped or was involved with in Houston…who then…after pressing charges…supposedly committed suicide…I always forget her name..Schl….somthing.
Bushco doesn’t mess around. They have no problem killing people…just look at the Iraqis…and the troops..
Chimpy says he sleeps very well at night. 1 million or so dead Iraqis, notwithstanding.
-G
If Palin runs with McCain and wins, and Lt. Gov. Parnell runs for U.S. House and wins, third in line is Atty. Gen. Talis Colberg, a close friend of mine.
Palin will not leave her job as Governor of a state with a projected 11-plus billion dollar surplus, to become the losing running mate of John McCain. Parnell is not looking that great in the three-way GOP primary race for the AK-AL seat. It hasn’t been polled in a few weeks, but Young seems to be hanging in there. In an Alaskan sort of perverse way, Stevens’ indictment may just help the GOP rally around Young on August 26.
Fear as a Control Mechanism
In the last thread it was pointed out that the DOJ manual says that Grand Jury witnesses should be informed if they are a “target” of investigation. This seems a little bizarre to me in a terrorism investigation. I would expect the “target” not to be called but for prosecutors to present evidence to a GJ without calling the “target” and then proceeding from there to an arrest.
http://www.opednews.com/thorea.....uicide.htm
i was just trying to look up when he got his phd - because this seemed odd to me too.
all i’ve found so far is that he had worked at USAMRIID for 35 years (bbc).
something else - i don’t know how things work at ft. detrick but i’d think a senior researcher wouldn’t spend much time (if any) at the bench. that would be for more junior scientists.
too many unanswered questions…
Hi All,
Punaise: You’re thinking of David Kelly, a microbiologist, who before his death said that dark games were being played. (paraphrased)
I made a post earlier at Marcy’s place:
Click through the link for embedded links in the comment:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake......ment-90804
Just a thought but for someone who worked in a high security area with deadly biological you would think that there would be periodic psych evals to determine their stability working in that field & area…..
But then….. we live in the don’t regulate anything unless people die…. Oh they did didn’t they…..
BTW on Randi Rhodes…… the guy who was the person of interest just had his law suit settled for more than $5 million….. and Florida Supreme court just allowed the law suit to go forward brought by the family of the tabloid reporter.
Considering that Tom Brokaw was one of the targets, I would characterize Brian Ross is a “person of interest.”
That’s possible: I certainly hope the hearing judge took the time to tease out the precise meaning, rather than just relying on the poor phrasing.
In LA County Mental Health Court, the judge would have handed me my ass for phrasing like that before the patients’ advocates ever had a chance to.
Randi Rhodes is interviewing the lawyer of the tabloid reporter on her radio show right now…….
Yet another example of why we will never have worthwile journalism in this country until unnamed sourcing is outlawed.
Yes, you heard me OUTLAWED!!!!!
And here’s why.
thanks Prof. kinda knew that, especially about Palin, but that whole thing with feathers perched in the soul overtook me :D . . .
but would his current therapist know about something that happened so long ago? it would make more sense to me if the accusation was just based on recent events.
Audrey, thanks for that name, David Kelly. I was trying to look it up. Very interesting link you have there.
Not just me, then.
Nope.
selise,
added aside
Philip Zack, per ET’s reference - apparently long after he was fired, he and other former employees were allowed back in to the labs after hours and on week ends to work on projects.
apparently they thought of themselves as some groovy academic community and not the planet’s largest repository of deadly pathogens
Link
Kirk might know more but I would think it would depend on how he entered therapy (was he directed into it?), his file (private or through facilities at Ft. Detrick), and the purpose of his therapy (monitoring for his job).
That’s what I was thinking, too. But then you must remember I’m not convinced Paul Wellstone’s plane tumbled out of the sky.
Info on Bob Stevens who worked for American Media Inc on of the Anthrax victims….
Anthrax victim’s widow breaks four-year silence
Jean Duly is supposedly the name of Ivins’s counselor. I can’t find anything about her, other than stuff related to the supposed suicide.
The fact that Brian Ross had four different government sources for the Iraqi connection to the anthrax, and yet, so far, he has not deigned to comment upon it, is indicative of how embedded the media is with the Bush crime organization.
Anyone who buys the AP/official version of this story is thick and deluded.
And why would he keep Ivins as a patient for 30 years with Ivins making “homicidal” threats at him or anyone else…..why, he just liked his company? He was just a dedicated masochist? He thought he could cure him? Manage him?
This just doesn’t make any sense. All along knowing that his “patient” was dealing with biological warfare materials???? I don’t think so… Knowing that anthrax from that particular lab was probably the culprit…7 years ago? I don’t think so….
You’ve covered it nicely. The only two routes are direct and ancillary.
The ancillary (not directly from the patient) data is less persuasive than the direct data.
In LA’s Mental Health Court (?99), the judges really hammered this distinction, and justly so….
This stinks of lax security. Security clearances should have been revoked and access to premises denied. You don’t need to be a security expert for these kinds of things just have more than 4 working neurons.
The silence speaks very loudly.
The same way the anthrax attacks were systematically erased from memory with the saying: No attacks on US soil since 9/11.
It is all very disconcerting.
Brian Ross is a mole.
-G
hugh and kirk - thanks. then i’ll cross that one off my list of questions.
Wasn’t it Brian Ross who broke the Iranian boats/Borat story too?
-G
Ding Ding Ding…..
With that scenario….. WHY was Ivan STILL working with biologicals?
Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick.
ABC is getting a bit of pushback in the comments attached to their story about Ivins. A sample:
So far from ABC?
*crickets*
Could the patient have had a file?
Hot Zone
October 14, 2001:
” A secret list of targets uncovered by intelligence experts also includes Disney World in Florida and Sears Tower in Chicago, America’s tallest skyscraper.
The revelation came as American Vice-President Dick Cheney confirmed the FBI is investigating possible links between bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network and the spate of anthrax cases.”…..
” And in another disturbing development, the wife of the British- born editor of The Sun newspaper in Florida - the centre of the main outbreak - was revealed to have had business links with the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center.
Gloria Irish, wife of editor-in-chief Mike Irish, runs Pelican Properties, which supplied the flat where three of the hijackers lived.
Mrs Irish even drove Hamza Algahmdi, who hijacked United Flight 175, and two other hijackers around the Florida resort of Delray Beach looking at flats. Meanwhile, security has been stepped up at Disney World, Disneyland and the Mall of America in Minnesota - another target on the terrorists’ hit-list. A senior aide to President Bush said investigators had found sketches and reports describing the five targets among the possessions of the suicide hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
Surveillance satellites have also intercepted secret messages from bin Laden telling his fanatics to launch further attacks in the US. The new threats came as America was gripped by fear of bioterrorist attacks. From coast to coast dozens of anthrax scares - some later dismissed as hoaxes - were reported .”
http://findarticles.com/p/arti....._n14540593
Jean Duley is a BSW, CSC-AD. That is, she has a Bachelors of Social Work and is a Ceritified Supervised Counselor for Drugs and Alcohol within the State of Maryland.
Dr. Ivins psychiatrist was David Irwin, MD who is a respected psychiatrist within the Washington DC region, and recognized by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of “Washington’s Best”. One item of note is that Dr. Irwin performed his residency at Letterman Army Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
If he was known to have homocidal and sociopathic tendencies, what doctor would have prescribed painkillers for him? Where did Dr. Ivins find sufficient painkillers to snuff himself?
If he was known to have homocidal and sociopathic tendencies how did he obtain and keep his Security Clearance???
Something just smells funny, and it’s not the 3 day old clam dip that’s been out in the sun.
Anyone else finding anything on Jean Duley online? I’m not turning up much. Social workers have to take a lot of shit, but dealing with a homicidal maniac who’s about to be charged with 5 counts of murder is a bit much, even for a social worker. I’d totally understand if he/she wanted to keep a low profile, but I’d really like to know that this person really exists.
You’d think he might just swallow some anthrax.
Let’s not forget how Brian Ross was going to reveal all about the DC Madam’s telephone records and then, suddenly, there was nothing there to report.
Yeah, and no DC Madam either.