Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Homeland Security -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jill who wrote (32)	10/25/2001 7:33:07 PM
From: RocketMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 827

My pure guess is that the contamination came from a letter sent to the State Dept, first processed at Brentwood (shaking up its contents), then resorted at the Sterling facility. The employee probably inhaled the anthrax a week or two ago, and is just now showing symptoms. I doubt if it was secondary infection from the Daschle letter, for if it was, a lot of other intermediaries would have already come down with anthrax.

To: Jill who wrote (32)	10/25/2001 10:27:16 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 827

Anthrax bacteria likely to be US military strain Yesterday's news, the article referenced is already woefully inaccurate: newscientist.com (Article dated 24 Oct 2001- yesterday) There have been charges over the past week that the sophistication of the anthrax suggests that it was produced with the backing of some government, such as Iraq. But neither the strain nor the physical form of the anthrax is particularly sophisticated, say bioweapons specialists. Except less than 24 hours later we are finding that there is indeed a high level of sophistication apparent from the studies of anthrax samples still underway. The attacks have caused relatively few inhalation cases so far, which suggests that the spores were not blended with anti-caking chemicals to promote airborne spread, which Alibek [former deputy head of the Soviet bioweapons programme] calls the real secret of weaponising anthrax. Except the latest factual evidence is that indeed the spores were somehow treated in order to produce clump-resistant material. And the number of inhalation cases is creeping up to the cutaneous number. Amazing how 24 hours invalidates the musing of a scientist. He suspects the attackers don't have much material to work with. His other conclusions are invalid, so we should throw this one out too. The Soviets did not mass-produce Ames, says Alibek. He did not say "did not produce". Iraq favoured the Vollum strain, which has been identified in samples from its Al Hakam bacterial fermentation plant. Favoured does not mean "did not produce". So in summary, the writer and interviewee are saying that the Anthrax is: - strain is US in origin (likely but only identifies original source) - not a sophisticated end product (false) - not very dangerous (false) - not produced by sophisticated processes (false) - produced only small batches (unknown) - not from former Soviet Union (unknown) or Iraq (unknown) and in essence, article is trying to lay the groundwork for a conclusion that a relatively unsophisticated domestic group is behind it. Except the facts known to date don't take us there. Period.