Since the press is no longer independent, we should oppose any laws that protect journalists from being forced to disclose their sources. The MSM has become the propaganda arm of the Bush administration. Everything that you say in this story seems to point to the Bush administration as probably being behind these attacks. Obviously, had if it had anyone outside of the administration, ABC would have been waterboarded by now to disclose their sources. The fact that nothing like this happened indicates that it is the government feeding these stories to the press. And by way, since dead don't speak, how do we know whether Ivin's death is not a coverup to hide the culprits in this story. At least his death can be used to say: we found the perp, there is no need to pursue this.

Below are a sampling of documents contained in the the Army's 361-page report on the 2002 breach of containment.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/special_sections/detrick/related_docs.htm

I am looking for the full report.

some letters at the ABC News site are getting through(for now) .. everyone has to keep it up

In case this hasn't been mentioned, I wonder if all the Beltway class popping Cipro created more resistant bacteria which ultimately affects us all?

So, there was never any bentonite found in the anthrax. This is interesting. The first question I asked myself was, "Why not just put the bentonite in there? It's a pretty ubiquitous clay material used in drilling mud." But then, if you don't have access to Iraqi bentonite, why would you put Wyoming or any other kind of bentonite in the anthrax? Specifically, why would you want to leave a chemical or isotopic trace of anything except Iraqi bentonite? Well, the answer to that is that you can't get your hands on Iraqi bentonite, so it would have just been easier to lie to the press about Iraqi bentonite being in the anthrax.

So, what does that line of reasoning mean? I'm thinking that someone in our government or inside an oil or drilling company (ie, Halliburton) has Iraqi bentonite. That's just a hunch, but if they did, why not put it in there? Well, because again, it was probably easier to just lie to the press, plus if the FBI always suspected a domestic source, the last thing you would want to do is throw in a rare ingredient that would implicate more people in and outside the government.

Hope that helps. Keep digging Glenn!

This episode has an eerie resemblance to an earlier "suicide" of a Ft. Detrick scientist, with an interesting connection to Dick Cheney.

In 1953, Frank Olson, a biochemist at Ft. Detrick, was found dead after falling from the window of a New York hotel. He had allegedly traveled there seeking help for depression, and his death was ruled a suicide.

In the 1970s, news stories were published about an Army scientist who had been given LSD, without his knowledge, under the MK/ULTRA program, and the effects then drove him to suicide. Olson's family sued the CIA. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, White House aides at the time, advised President Ford to offer a settlement, because a trial might reveal national security secrets related to Olson's work at Ft. Detrick. The family accepted the $750,000 and dropped the suit.

In the 1990s, the family had the body exhumed and examined; the conclusion was that Olson had been struck on the temple with a blunt instrument, then pushed out the window. In other words, it was murder, not suicide. Some speculate that Olson was considering going public with some aspect of his research that troubled him, and the "suicide" was to silence him.

The fact that Ivins was committed to a facility for depression just a week or so ago, plus his letters to the editor where he admiringly mentions Quakers and others who act according to their conscience, appear to be striking parallels to this earlier "suicide" at Ft. Detrick. Is it possible that Ivins knew something about ABC's sources among his coworkers who helped point the finger at Iraq, and so our Vice-President suggested a replay of a scenario he remembered from his past?

Till we know, we should start with, "who benefitted?" and work our way back to who done it.

Besides, why would islamo-fascist-terrorists send anthrax to Leahy and not Cheney, anyhow?

Until we find out the truth a little rigorous interrogation is in order at the top of the food chain at ABC. And all the rest of the MSN for that matter.

Don't mistake the MIC-controlled mass media for anything other than what it truly is: The propaganda arm of the government.

"Here's how it works: The president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home ... Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know -- fiction!"

-Stephen Colbert

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

-Joseph Goebbels

click sig for linky

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/01/blooper-hannity-punks-himself-on-anti-mccain-campain-ad/

Apologies for the O/T, but truly, this was too good not to share...

click through to GG's link to "ABC in full denial mode" (or something) in the update for a fuller analysis of your query.

Yes, I wrote about Frank Olson earlier. His story should be remeber in this context and the context that the CIA should not be trust. Why do Fort Detrick scientists become depressed and then kill themselves at criticial junctures? Ivins seems like another cover of a cover.

I live in upstate New York, near the huge reservoirs that supply NY City with water. I clearly remember the anthrax scare, as the authorities who police the water were on high alert.

The people most likely to be behind ths Anthrax thing are Cheney, John Bolton, Rove and Bush. When it first came out I felt that way and I still do, and likely always will.

To my knowledge no other country has ever used biological weapons on America but the Repubs have. Not even the hated Russian Communists have used biological weapons on America. Sometimes I get the vague and profoundly disquieting sense that the Russians are not the worst evil on the planet.

Could it be as Sinclair Lewis said something like: 'when tyranny comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross'. He said that back in the thirties. WOW, how he saw this happening even way back then is staggering to me. And tothink that my religionis one of those who are at the very core of this happening is way far beyond belief.

Repubs are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the worst behaviors that humans can display. If Bush were to drop a nuclear device on half of the USA Repubs would still support him. That he/they sent around some Anthrax to intimidate others should come as no surprise to anyone.

These kinds of people hate America and will stop at nothing to achieve their pecuniary and political interests. They are Satanic. Satan owns them and he does it by the simple expedient of dangling money in their faces. Their debauchery knows no limits or depths.

That the religious right cannot see through this is of continuing amazement to me, and I include my own religion, Catholicism, in that assessment. The religious right is guilty of the basest of sins, the sin of Pride; setting oneself equal to God in thought or in action. By hooking up to the Repub party the RR has sunk to their levels of depravity.

The Commandment says; Thou shalt not kill, but they do. The Commandment says; thou shalt not steal, but they do. The Commandment says: thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods, but they do. The Commandment says: thou shalt not bear false witness, but they do.

Jesus clearly admonished us to not merge church and state when He said: "Render unto caesar...but they do.

'nuff said.