Imagine making this argument in the days of panic:

"Even if the anthrax did come from an Iraqi weapons program, that wouldn't indicate any official involvement. It could have been a lone scientist."

Can you hear them shouting you down? Insisting that such a thing would be impossible? Insisting that we must invade?

Where does that line of reasoning leave us now?

yep..

I also recall CNN and many other networks pushing Rummys' "avian flu" antidote of Tamiflu stories nightly for months..

How convenient Rummy was on the board and had worked for Eli-Lilly (I think) that makes Tamiflu..

more grist for the mill...

Howsabout Ivins was one of the sources and knew who told him to say bentonite and that was no suicide?

Even that last harmless comment will be deleted by the mods.

James T. Kirk

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Mr. Kirk, if your comments are being deleted, there is probably a good reason, as stated above.

I usually complain about your postings. Perhaps (although I have no way of knowing this) they agreed with me. Perhaps my complaint only brought your comments to their attention. I have no way of knowing.

A right wing Christian scientist pretends to be an Al Quada-ist, sends anthrax which sickens and kills, escapes justice for 8 years. Government higher-ups at the same time warn of some kind of biological attack. Coincidence? Or organized beyond the lone ... gunman?

It looks like another government provocation, in a long list of them.

Glenn, I don't know whether you watch ABC's 6:30 "World News" on a nightly basis, but it seems to me Charles Gibson's alleged newscast has been getting away with murder for many moons with its remarkably supportive coverage of the Bushies, and that this has now morphed into its present strong pro-McCain, anti-Obama bias, usually underhanded enough that it may take a week's watching to get the full picture. Might be worth some of your time. George Stephanopoulos can be credited with an assist, but Gibson carries most of the water -- very willingly, I'd say.

Tangentially, the timeline around torture is germane. Valtin, a clinical psychologist who has been investigating and reporting psychologists' role in government torture, has just posted the most comprehensive time line to date of government and psychologist torture involvement, and that activity takes off from where the point in time that the anthrax story trails off. Link at my name.

Fascinating -- and disturbing -- stuff

to this story: the Rove targeting of Siegelman, the subversion of the DOJ, the long list of "dirty tricks" played for political gain.

I have always been suspicious of any of the 9/11 conspiracy theories, but I think we need to know what happened here no matter what. I would donate money to a campaign to publicize and uncover the truth of this matter. This as everyone has noted is very serious. Nixon's Watergate was a ripple on a pond compared to what this might imply.

Glenn Greenwald: brilliant work.

Thank you Mr Greenwald for your seventh straight posting of that snippet. My post was about how, in essence, it's self serving to claim that all these dark conspiracies are real w/o once ever producing any real evidence regarding them.

I know, heady stuffy, my mistake. I'm sorry if that was offensive, inflammatory or in any way a violation of the rules of the road here. I will endeavor to only agree with the majority opinion and champion it strenuously from here on in.

Back in 2006 Brian Ross was probably the greatest single voice in the media spreading propaganda about how torture is an effective tool in the run-up to the passage of the highly controversial Military Commissions Act. Ross was so popular in spreading his inside, multi-sourced, information about how the torture/waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed provided "very valuable information" that the ABC News investigator even appeared on Fox News "The O'Reilly Factor":

Ross: "In the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed the information was very valuable, particularly the names and addresses of people who were involved with al-Qaeda in this country and in Europe, and in one particular plot that would involve an airline attack on the tallest building in Los Angeles known as the Library Tower."

O'Reilly: "Are you 100% sure that what these anonymous sources told you is true?"

Ross: "Yes"

O'Reilly: "100 percent"

Ross: "100 percent. We have enough sources."

O'Reilly: "I believe you. You've been around and you are the best in the business I think. So I believe you."

PROBLEM IS that the plot to break up the attack on the Library Tower in Los Angeles was derailed before Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was arrested. Thus, Ross was spreading a lie that that a basic Google or Wikipedia search would have cleared up.

I wrote Ross at the time and never heard back or saw them issue a correction. Oh, and the Bush administration got the Military Commissions Act - with its torture provisions - passed.

Here's a video mashup I made showing the absurdity of Ross's claims: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SYyBUCDOU8

More on Ross here: http://www.hotpotatomash.com/2007/07/say-it-isnt-so-.html

Given that Irvins committee suicide, we should pressure ABC to do a straight (if they can manage that burdensome journalistic task) report on what happened, including if they were led astray and by whom. We should target the media in the same manner we target the Blue Dog democrats. Or FAIR (Fairness in Accuracy in Reporting) should take it up and post an alert.

This story is too important to let die here at salon.