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Biological Attack? Inept or Demonstration?

October 9, 2001

MID-EAST REALITIES © - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 10/09: Is someone sending a message that they can do it, a kind of primative, and deadly, deterrence attempt to try to protect themselves? Might this be an "inept attack" as today's TIMES in London suggests in its headline? As the third case of Anthrax in Florida is reported this morning, something seems to be up as the following reports indicate.

At the same time as this Anthrax scare, reports are that four U.N. officials in Afghanistan have just been killed by American bombing, Arafat's army has started shooting its own in occupied Palestine, General Musharraf in Pakistan has purged his army and intelligence services of senior persons and begun arresting top religious leaders, the situation in Saudi Arabia is far more tense than the Saudi government is allowing to be reported, and actual shouting about U.S. relations with Israel has been heard on American TV programs, including CNN this morning, for the first time in memory.

As for Anthrax, AFI Research in London reports that the US produced and stockpiled weapons containing anthrax prior to the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 but has reportedly destroyed them. The Anthrax bacteria, Bacillus anthacis can be introduced through the skin, a cut for example or inhaled into the lungs, the latter, or Pulmonary anthrax is the far more serious variant and can result in toxaemia and septicaemia and death within 48 hours in almost 100% of those infected. The bacteria are resistant to both heat and light and can persist in the local environment for 20-30 years, and an added bonus for the terrorist is that the bacteria can be easily produced in bulk. As a pointer to how seriously the United States is taking the threat posed by the terrorist use of biological and chemical weapons, the first Anti-Terrorist Brigade of 4,800 US Marines will formerly enter service at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on the10th October. It will be made up of Marine Security Force, Marine Security Guard and Anti-Terrorist Battalions, but the most interesting under present circumstances is the highly trained Chemical & Biological Incident Response Force. This force has carried out extensive testing of advanced equipment and techniques in expectation of the terrorist use of these appalling weapons.

CASE #3 OF ANTHRAX NOW REPORTED

"The FBI is also investigating a strangely worded letter...that contained a 'soapy, powdery substance' in the shape of a Star of David."

OUTBREAK POINTS TO 'INEPT' ATTACK ON NEWSPAPER OFFICE

By James Bone
[The Times, UK, 9 October]: THE anthrax outbreak in Florida appears to have been caused by a deliberate but "inept" release into a newspaper office building, according to one of America's leading military experts on biological weapons.

"I do not believe it was accidental," Colonel (retd) Dick Spertzel, who spent 28 years as a US Army biological weapons expert before becoming the chief biological inspector in the United Nations drive to disarm Iraq, told The Times yesterday.

"I cannot conceive of any way that it could be natural. What it does suggest is a somewhat inept person may have released it intentionally into the building and had a mixed bag of small and large particles and did not know what he was doing," he said.

Dr Spertzel explained that a terrorist would try to use anthrax particles one to five microns in size, small enough to enter the lungs. To settle as dust, however, they would be 15-18 microns in size. Particles in between get lodged in the upper respiratory tract.

"You do not expect to find anthrax floating around the air in buildings in a city or even on a farm," he continued. "It's not a natural event. The only thing that makes sense is if it's some kind of intentional release. The implications can be anything from a disgruntled individual who has an axe to grind against an individual or the building, on up to an inept release by sympathisers of Osama bin Laden or my favourite country, Iraq."

The former deputy commander of the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases - the US equivalent of Porton Down - he said that the discovery of particles of anthrax in the Sun tabloid office in Boca Raton, Florida, suggested that the germ agent was released directly into the building rather than from the air.

Dr Spertzel rejected speculation that Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers, dropped anthrax spores from a small aircraft while flying from nearby Palm Beach County Park airport. "I do not buy the theory that Atta released it a mile away because if it acted like gas it would have affected other buildings and you would not have any evidence of it today," he said.

Although the usual incubation period of anthrax is just three to five days, studies of the accidental 1979 release at Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union show that symptoms may not develop for 30-35 days.

It it therefore impossible to determine whether the anthrax release in Florida took place before, after or at the same time as the September 11 attacks. Some have speculated that, as with other attacks, the release may have been a trial run for a larger operation. "I have heard some people say 60 days (incubation period), but I find 60 days pushing the limit," Dr Spertzel said. "But 30-35 days prior to onset of symptoms is possible."

The US has two laboratories equipped to study the DNA of anthrax spores to determine the particular strain.

ANTHRAX OUTBREAK

By KEITH KELLY and LARRY CELONA

[New York Post - 9 October 2001] -- An anthrax scare gripped the nation yesterday as a third employee of a supermarket tabloid was said to be exposed - and the FBI probed frightening reports of an odd e-mail from a departing intern about "a little present" that he left behind.

The FBI announced it had taken over the investigation as a possible criminal - or terrorist - attack.

Three employees of American Media, which publishes The National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids out of Boca Raton, Fla., told The Post that the FBI wants to question a summer intern who left the company recently after sending out an e-mail to employees saying thank you and "I left you all a little present."

A top executive at the company said the intern was believed to be from Sudan and was on an exchange program at a local college.

At the time, no one thought anything of the intern's e-mail, but in the wake of the anthrax scare, employees are now concerned, they said.

The FBI is also investigating a strangely worded letter received by the company that contained a "soapy, powdery substance" in the shape of a Star of David, Newsweek has reported. The letter was handled by two of the people who contracted anthrax, the magazine said.

All employees and people who were in the building in the last 60 days were told to take antibiotics for the next two months to fight off infection. They were also asked for all their computer passwords so investigators could probe their hard drives.

One employee, 63-year-old photo editor Bob Stevens, died last week of inhalation anthrax, while a second, identified by sources as mailroom worker Ernesto Blanco, was found to have a small amount of anthrax in his nose.

David Pecker, the president of American Media, told The Post that a woman librarian at the office building already being treated for pneumonia tested positive for anthrax exposure, in addition to the other two cases.

Florida health officials said late yesterday that only two people had come into contact with the bacteria.

Health experts say it is extremely unlikely that such a transmission - two men working in separate areas in an office building - could be accidental.

"You have to really, really reach to come up with a scenario where this is unintentional," said Professor Thomas Johnson, the director of the Division of Respiratory Therapy at Long Island University.

The building where the staffers worked - which houses The Globe, The Sun, The Star, The National Enquirer, and Weekly World News - was ordered sealed yesterday.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Boca Raton case "could become a clear criminal investigation" as the feds dig deeper.

Officials cautioned they have no evidence to suggest a criminal or terrorist act - but they aren't taking any chances.

"We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not," Ashcroft said.

Officials did not consider foul play in Stevens' death until a test swab on the nostrils of another employee, presumably Blanco, turned up the anthrax bacteria.

Officials said the mailroom worker has not contracted any symptoms of the disease - a very important and encouraging sign.

Hundreds of frightened workers lined up at a Palm Beach County health facility to get tested for the bacteria and receive antibiotics.

Part of their fear stems from news accounts that terror ringleader Mohamed Atta took flying lessons about a mile from Stevens' Lantana, Fla., home. Atta and some of the other hijackers also lived in Florida cities not far from American Media.

"To tell you the truth, I'm terrified," said Globe reporter Felicia Levine.

"We're in an area surrounded by the terrorists, and this is a coincidence? The name of our company is American Media. I'm scared." Health officials tried to reassure the company and the community, saying there was no public health threat. "The risk is low," said Dr. John Agwunobi, Florida secretary of health.

Pecker said all the publications had shifted to temporary locations in a rush to put out their next editions, which went to press yesterday. Employees were also asked to fill out questionnaires explaining how often they came into contact with the photo or mailroom areas, and if they've noticed anything unusual around the building since Sept. 11.
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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/10/450.htm