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ABC News Articles About Anthrax

http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/abc.html

The government's top labs have run the Daschle anthrax sample through a series of tests. An electron microscope study found the Daschle spores looked "virtually identical" to those found in Iraq by U.N. weapons inspectors in 1994. But after subjecting it to a sophisticated X-ray test last week, the Army concluded it contained no bentonite, a clay comprised of several minerals, including aluminum.

For the Army, no aluminum equaled no bentonite.

"One of its principal ingredients is aluminum," said Maj. Gen. John Parker, overall commander of the military laboratories doing the analyses. "And I will say to you that we see no aluminum presence in the sample."

That assessment may prove correct, but not based solely on the absence of aluminum. ABCNEWS has learned that at least two European chemical companies make a processed, aluminum-free bentonite. Mineralogist William Moll, who has mainly worked in private industry, says these synthetic bentonites are used as "free-flow agents" that give dry powders a "fluid" or "slippery" quality as the particles float through the air. The existence of such bentonite means further tests are needed to rule out the presence of the troubling additive.

One of America's leading experts on mineral clays, Hayden Murray, a professor emeritus of geology at Indiana University, says a company based in Munich, Germany, removes aluminum from bentonite to create a finer, more refined additive than one could make from the bentonite deposits found in Iraq.

Murray says at least two American companies mine such high-quality bentonite, but the German company has a much larger customer base in the Middle East.

Last week, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer confirmed the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology found another additive — silica — in the Daschle anthrax. Like bentonite, silica is used in pharmaceutical powders all over the world and would make the anthrax float through the air more effectively.

Sorry, I shouldn't have posted that, I missed this, and thereby probably have now caused some confusion.

A Followup on Bentonite

On Nov. 1, 2001, ABCNEWS.com ran the report above regarding the U.S. Army's analysis of the anthrax material sent to the office of Sen. Thomas Daschle. The report included the U.S. Army's statement that the sample had been found to contain no aluminum and therefore could be concluded to contain no bentonite.

The story also reported on suggestions that an unnamed German company might make a processed, aluminum-free bentonite. That company has contacted ABCNEWS.com and said that while it does remove some aluminum from bentonite, it does not remove all aluminum.

End of 'dialogue'

Originally published August 24, 2006

Rabbi Morris Kosman is entirely correct in summarily rejecting the demands of the Frederick Imam for a "dialogue."

By blood and faith, Jews are God's chosen, and have no need for "dialogue" with any gentile. End of "dialogue."

Very curious because that dialogue did begin.

http://www.imamyahyahendi.com/Hajj-Hanukkah.htm

(or click on signature)

Quote:

"The get-together was the result of months of talks among members of the three congregations and others. Imam Hendi and members of the Islamic Society of Frederick have been eager to engage Christian and Jewish congregations, and have held a number of joint celebrations, dinners, and holiday observances, both at their masjid, or mosque, on Key Parkway and at churches and meeting halls.

Imam Hendi has been on a public mission to educate Americans about Islam, and he repeatedly stresses the ties of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, the world's major monotheistic religions that each trace their roots to Abraham.

Thursday's celebration was especially poignant because it not only brought together Jews and Muslims in celebration, but also established stronger ties between Frederick's two Jewish congregations, Mr. Sikowitz said. Beth Sholom is Frederick's oldest congregation, led for nearly a half-century by Rabbi Morris Kosman, a scholar and teacher of enormous influence in Frederick's Jewish community. Beth Sholom is nonaffiliated and has a diverse congregation.

Congregation Kol Ami is a much newer, Reform Jewish congregation, led by Mr. Sikowitz, who looks forward to his ordination in New York next May.

Members of both congregations have had contact with members of the Islamic Society of Frederick, and participants from all congregations stressed that the beginning of a dialogue at the Frederick County level is different from the political dialogue in the Middle East. "