tagged w/ Bruce Ivins
-
Ivins committed suicide as prosecutors prepared to charge him in killings Tell us why this is interestingIvins committed suicide as prosecutors prepared to charge him in killings Tell us why... more
-
-
I guess they're not lazy after all.
---
The party affiliation of the bio-terror researcher who worked at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) adds a notable twist to the ever increasing questions surrounding the bizarre case following Ivins' reported suicide last week. He was, according to media reports, soon to be indicted for charges related to the post-9/11 terror attacks that rocked the nation and, as Salon's Glen Greenwald has very effectively argued, served as a crucial influence in marching the country towards war with Iraq.
Last week, as the story of Ivins' reported suicide was breaking, The BRAD BLOG excoriated the corporate mainstream media for failing to note that the targets of the multiple post-9/11 terror attacks on American soil were primarily powerful men, perceived as "liberals" by the Republican right wing. Nonetheless, despite two senior Democratic U.S. senators, Tom Daschle of SD and Patrick Leahy of VT, having been the only known governmental targets in the deadly letter campaign which also included perceived "liberal" media figurehead Tom Brokaw, the MSM coverage --- almost uniformly --- failed to note the obvious correlations in the attacks. Most even failed to even mention the names of those who were directly targeted in what was clearly meant to appear as a follow-up attack from Muslim extremists.
I guess they're not lazy after all.
---
The party affiliation of the... more
-
-
WASHINGTON — A few days before the anthrax attacks of 2001, the scientist who has emerged as the suspect in the case sent e-mails with wording that was sometimes identical to the language used in deadly anthrax-laced letters that autumn, according to documents released by the government on Wednesday.
Moreover, the government said, the scientist, Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, was the sole custodian as a microbiologist at Fort Detrick, Md., of the particular strain of anthrax used in the attacks, although he was not the sole person with access to that anthrax.
The e-mails, whose recipients were not revealed, warned that Osama bin Laden’s “terrorists for sure have anthrax and sarin gas” and have “just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans,” according to the documents.
The documents, released on the orders of a federal judge, were made public to bolster the Justice Department’s contention that Dr. Ivins was the only person behind the mailings that killed five people and made at least 17 others ill while the country was still traumatized by the Sept. 11 attacks.WASHINGTON — A few days before the anthrax attacks of 2001, the scientist who... more
-
-
Scientist Bruce Ivins became depressed under the strain of FBI scrutiny, writes Joby Warrick.
For nearly seven years, a scientist, Bruce Ivins, and a small circle of fellow anthrax specialists at Fort Detrick's army medical lab lived in a curious limbo: they served as occasional consultants to the FBI in the investigation into the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, yet they were all potential suspects.
Over lunch in the bacteriology division, nervous scientists would share stories about their unpleasant encounters with the FBI and ponder whether they should hire defence lawyers.
In tactics the researchers considered heavy-handed and often threatening, they were interviewed and polygraphed as early as 2002, and reinterviewed many times. Their labs were searched, and their computers and equipment carted away. The FBI eventually focused on Mr Ivins, whom federal prosecutors were planning to indict when he committed suicide last week.
The FBI believed Mr Ivins had the skills and access to equipment needed to turn anthrax bacteria into an ultra-fine powder that could be used as a lethal weapon. Court documents and tapes also reveal a therapist's deep concern that Mr Ivins, 62, was homicidal.
Yet colleagues and friends of the vaccine specialist remained convinced he was innocent. They contended that he had neither the motive nor the means to create the lethal powder that was sent by mail to news outlets and congressional offices in 2001. Mindful of previous FBI mistakes in fingering others in the case, many are sceptical that the FBI has it right this time.
"I really don't think he's the guy. I say to the FBI, 'Show me your evidence,"' said Jeffrey Adamovicz, formerly of the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. But investigators are so confident of Mr Ivins's involvement that they have been debating since Friday whether and how to close the seven-year-old anthrax investigation. The move would amount to a strong signal that the FBI and Justice Department think they got their man - and that he had died, excluding the possibility of a prosecution.
* * * * *
More at link.Scientist Bruce Ivins became depressed under the strain of FBI scrutiny, writes Joby... more
-
-
WASHINGTON (AFP) — A government scientist who helped law enforcement search for the 2001 anthrax killer has apparently committed suicide just as he was about to be charged with the attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Bruce Ivins, 62, had not been publicly named as a suspect in the case of anthrax-laced letters sent to officials and high-profile journalists that sparked wide-spread fear in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
But the Times reported that Ivins had been informed of "impending prosecution" in connection with the case, citing sources familiar with the FBI investigation.
Five people died after handling the tainted letters in the deadliest bio-terrorism attack in US history.
Ivins worked for 18 years the US biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland, preparing anthrax formulations used in vaccine experiments, the daily said.
He even helped the Federal Bureau of Investigation analyze one of the envelopes filled with anthrax spores sent to a US senator's office in Washington.
His death, with no mention of suicide, was announced to his former colleagues in an email, the Times reported.
"People here are pretty shook up about it," said Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the agency where he worked.
A friend told the Times Ivins died of an overdose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine and a former coworker said he had been treated for depression and had threatened suicide.
Ivins's death comes a month after the government paid a former "person of interest" in the case, Steven Hatfill, almost six million dollars in a settlement over the FBI's public pursuit of him.
Soon after the settlement, Ivins's access to sensitive areas at work were limited, the Times reported, adding that he was to be forced to retire in September.
One of his two brothers, Thomas Ivins, told the Times he was not surprised by the suicide.
"He buckled under the pressure from the federal government," Thomas Ivins said, adding that FBI agents came to Ohio last year to question him about his brother.
"I was questioned by the feds, and I sung like a canary" about Bruce Ivins' personality, Thomas Ivins said.
"He had in his mind that he was omnipotent."WASHINGTON (AFP) — A government scientist who helped law enforcement search for... more
-
