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New Scientific Evidence Emerges In Anthrax Case
sciencehabit writes "A Science Magazine investigation uses clues from a key document unveiled last week to reconstruct the trail that led the FBI to Bruce Ivins. Among the revelations: Anthrax fingerprinting was not critical to the investigation, as many reports have suggested. Rather, brute-force genetic sequencing, with the help of the J. Craig Venter Institute, helped crack the case. New potential motivations by Ivins are also revealed."
For those who aren't yet aware of it, Glen Greenwald at Salon.com has been making a rather thorough analysis of the holes in the DOJ's case against Ivins, and is not sparing the media coverage, either.
Read and judge for yourself.
I can see the fnords!
Well, from the evidence I've seen, whatever may tie Ivins to this crime, I've seen nothing to indicate that Ivins acted alone. The fact that they can't place him in the Princeton, NJ area at the time the letters were mailed is a huge problem in that regard, as is the question of who fed false information suggesting Iraqi involvement to ABC's Brian Ross. These facts are not consistent with the FBI's seeming desire to close this case based upon Ivins being the sole culprit.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
But Kemp said more than a hundred people had access to the flask
The flask? What is up with this? How in the hell can you chase the wrong guy for five years and then go back and get "The flask". WTF do they mean by this? I don't know anyone who has a single "flask" to maintain a culture. "The flask". I've been in this business for 15 years. I know of frozen culture stocks kept in cryo vials, or transferring a culture from several flasks to another several flasks (you'd be an idiot to have just one flask for a stable culture) indefinitely, etc. Also, it looks like you could keep a stable stock in an envelop if you really think about it (or else you couldn't have the anthrax attacks themselves). But "The Flask", like there is only one--this is pure ignorance or just made up for drama. I'm not saying anything about this case except that the language used to talk about it in the media and by the FBI is sophomoric. I wonder if the language is any indication of their understanding of the science behind this case?
Just callin' it like I see it.
I wonder if the language is any indication of their understanding of the science behind this case?
The anthrax attacks are what the administration used to make the Iraq connection. John McCain himself was one of the people shopping that idea around the news media. You think this bunch would worry about a few post office employees or mail room people dying? So, yeah, the flask is as convenient as it is inexplicable. Dude committing suicide before the feds had a chance to question him, equally convenient. That the politicized Justice Dept. spent so much time stubbornly pursuing the wrong suspect, convenient. Now all this evidence that looks so obvious in one convenient package. That all the agents working this case in the last seven years either didn't see or didn't put together? Talk about straining credibility.
Incompetence raised to a high enough level is indistinguishable from malice. We know they're incompetent and it certainly isn't straining credibility to think this bunch would be capable of doing it deliberately.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I was thinking this same thing: the wording seems odd. After reading several other posted stories (such as http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93381622) I think that the phrase "The Flask" seems to be casual lab term that was used to relay the information from the investigators on the ground to those that report the story to the news and courts etc. In the same way that a mechanic might casually refer to a window regulator that was replaced on a car. It's not common terminology, but specific to those who work on those systems, and despite our vocabularies, it's a very handy way to refer to the motor and stuff that makes your window go up and down.
These sites:
http://www.bellcoglass.com/searchcategoryresult.aspx?keyword=culture%20flask
and
http://iai.asm.org/cgi/reprint/58/2/303.pdf would support my statements to some extent. I can't yet find anything noteworthy about there being only a single flask of this culture. It seems like a single flask is identified because of the four markers found in all the attack samples and the flask Ivins had control of. There were probably many flasks of the spores but only this one matched to the spores used in the attacks. At least that is how I read all this, despite the questions that remain unanswered.
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If the envelopes were pre-paid, they contain watermarks that has information about the post-office they were sold from etc. No reason to do fancy glue chemical analysis :)
Coffee-driven development.
Five seconds of Googling find some juicy cases of suicide by IRS. The first link: here.
So unfortunately, it's not just in movies.
Now, remember, I am not saying that the evidences cited in TFA are fake or incorrect. I am just citing precedent to show what is at stake here.
Fantasy: http://ferrisfantasy.blogspot.com/
Glenn Greenwald reports that the alleged timeline of Ivins' activities on the day the anthrax was mailed seems to rule him out as the one who sent the letter from Princeton. He attended a meeting he couldn't have made it back for in time if he had driven to Princeton and mailed it late enough that the letter was postmarked for the following day.
I'd take the time to refute you, but someone else has:
www.lolloosechange.co.nr
Also, my personal favorite:
www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons
Oh, but your comment about thermate is hilarious. I'll give you points for that one.
---- Liquid was a patriot ----
Enough codeine tends to suppress breathing (Codeine: toxic dose about 240 mg).
LD50 for codeine is 800mg
Weaponizing anthrax involves having is maintain its infectious properties, while also being dispersable as an aerosol. Ideally, this means casual contact with the spores should result in having them billow into a ultra-fine cloud. Inhalation is required for infection.
Now, pledge allegiance to your PATRIOT act.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
'Weaponizing' anthrax means taking the spores from the mold and making them into uniform bits that are small enough to get into the alveoli in human lungs. This generally involves culturing the anthrax, then freezing it with an adulturant (such as bentonite), then shaving particles off carefully -- 'carefully' so that they are very small particles with no clumps, and also because you're creating a spray of fine particles that will kill you.
This is a very different process from creating a vaccine, but none of it is very difficult if you know the process. An immunologist would know how to culture the anthrax, and he could figure out the adulturation and grinding process without too much trouble.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
A weaponized anthrax spores have the following features which will aid its effectiveness as a weapon:
a) Normally the spores will clump together like dough. However, to allow easy dispersal of the spores, the spores will be ground down into very small particles and covered in a special chemical which will prevent the clumps from forming.
b) The each such spore will be given a weak electrical charge so that the spores repel each other. Again, this is to prevent the clumping together of the spores.
c) The strain used will be far more agressive and virulent to maximize the damage it does.
d) The strain will also be made resistant to many available vaccines.
None of these can be done without very specialized equipment which is not available on order. These are custom designed equipment developed specifically for the bioweapons program. It is very unlikely that Ivins could have done any of these things himself.
I can't find the link to the article I read now, but it has been claimed the FBI found the preparation made it more deadly, not anything done genetically to the anthrax. The preparation powder was perfectly milled as opposed to random flakes. The anthrax was also coated with silicate and slightly negatively charged. The end result is this would suspend the anthrax in the air longer, encourage it to disperse further, and it would more readily attach to lung tissue.