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Chirol
Author

Chirol

Date

January 25th, 2010

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12 Comments so far.
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Oh and by the way . . .

The 2001 Anthrax attacks have yet to be solved and the case is still open.

I think this is something some of us know but the details of the article will interest you. For the sake of conjecture, I’d posit there are several possible scenarios here:

1) The FBI simply can’t solve the case. Either the crime was committed too well or the FBI and other government agencies screwed up. No big mystery or conspiracy. Just incompetence. (an all too frequent explanation of government behavior)

2) Someone in the USG knows or has a very good idea who the perpetrator(s) was/were but is unwilling to acknowledge it and is perhaps impeding the investigation due to the ramifications. E.g. it could be another state such as Russia or North Korea in which case the US would have to declare war, or perhaps an alleged ally like Saudi, or rogue elements from within an allied state?

3) The USG wants the public to believe the case is closed while it continues to investigate quietly to avoid embarassment.

Readers, any further theories?

Comments to this entry

Curzon
January 25, 2010
2:06 pm
What? I thought the man widely believed to be responsible, and scheduled to be prosecuted, committed suicide in August 2008 before action could be taken:
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/01/nation/na-anthrax1
Joe Jones
January 25, 2010
2:10 pm
It's all a coverup for the secret gay-Jewish-Mormon alliance that's plotting to take over the world.

[...But seriously, I'm inclined to believe that it's incompetence, plus the fact that they have bigger fish to fry (or rather, not fry, in the case of bin Laden).]
Chirol
January 25, 2010
2:45 pm
I've never trusted the gay-Jewish-Mormon alliance. Finally my fears are justified!

But to make it mroe credible, we should throw a big corporation in there, preferably an oil company.
Chris Swanson
January 25, 2010
8:18 pm
Curzon sounds correct, cause I remember hearing about that at the time.

Failing that, though, I'm guessing the most likely explanation is "stuff happens". Sometimes it can take quite a while to work these things through, but we might still have someone found guilty yet. It took something like 20 years to snag the Green River Killer, but they finally found him, so you never know.
kurt9
January 25, 2010
10:22 pm
Number 1 is most certainly the reason why this case has not been solved. The guy who committed suicide prior to being arrested is unlikely to have been the perp. This guy was an emotionally disturbed individual who was pushed over the edge by a prosecution that went way beyond legitimate bounds in it harassment and persecution of this supposed suspect when they had very flimsy evidence to support their case.

The FBI has screwed up like this before. There was a muslim lawyers here in Portland that the FBI actually tried to frame for the Madrid bombings when it was clear from the evidence given by the Spanish authorities that this guy could not have been involved. This lawyer eventually collected $2 million in a wrongful prosecution suit against the FBI.
Alfred Russel Wallace
January 25, 2010
10:44 pm
But if the 1.4% silicon really does reflect weaonization, that weaponizing process is remarkably effective.... I am uneasy that such a small amount of what I imagine is only a small sample from the Leahy letter should be taken too seriously. I agree it is unlikely to arise from contamination of the growth medium, but what was the silicon content of the letter and envelope?
kurt9
January 25, 2010
10:51 pm
Yes, it did take 20 years to solve the Green River case, due to police ineptitude. We always speculated that the perp had to be some kind of mastermind, or an ex-cop or forensics expert. After all, only a super smart guy could elude capture by two taskforces composed of 22 cops funded with $5 million. Of course, the perp turned out to be some regular guy who had a job painting trucks. Police investigation has improved over the years mainly due to computerization and DNA finger printing.
Bob Harrison
January 26, 2010
4:44 am
Weren't the spores traced back to Fort Detrick? These cases are always frustrating as it is difficult to separate facts from speculation from wild speculation. I prefer the first two.
Brent
January 26, 2010
12:23 pm
Curzon,

You are correct, but I have since seen stories that cast serious doubt on whether that guy really could have been the culprit (as Kurt9 points out). I'd go with number 1 (skilled perpetrator). I would not got with FBI incompetence. I know several current and former FBI agents - they are highly trained, motivated, professional, well funded and intelligent. Really, they are the cream of the crop and we are lucky to have them. So, while I agree that Chirol's "lazy or incompetent government employee" paradigm applies most of the time, it does not (generally) with respect to the FBI.
Curzon
January 26, 2010
1:25 pm
Reading a little more about the case, and the article above, I think the WSJ article is excessive conspiracy-mongering. Kurt9, Brent and other's concerns notwithstanding, even if the case is not solved, the not-quite-formal conclusion (granted, after many, many years of investigation) is that the perpetrator was identified and committed suicide rather than face prosecution.
PaxAmericana
January 27, 2010
9:50 am
Well, if another state, such as Russia might have done it, then it seems at least as likely that the US would have. Cui bono, and all that. What would Russia have gained from the attack?

Those of us from the Machiavelli school of politics expect the worst out of all powerful groups, and that most definitely includes ones in the US. And, this problem of criminality and betrayal within all governments is helping to lead the world to anarchy.
Achariyth
January 28, 2010
12:37 pm
According to the lore of Fort Detrick, the spores were traced to that base. Of course, this is soldier/contractor word of mouth...