This always looked like an inside job to me and didn't look like Mr. Hatfill, whose harassment by the FBI was outrageous.

Besides apparent incompetence by the FBI, this fiasco demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate the press and a gullible public and how little disregard the press has for the public good.

(Another excellent column.)

This got argued about much earlier in the thread, so many apologies for resurrecting it. The timeline in September-October 2001 is that Cheney obsessed about biological attacks forcing everyone to see a movie about smallpox terrorism September 20, the Principals learned about the Campfire Meeting in "early October", the anthrax scare started in mid-October, the alarm went off in the White House signifying contamination in the Situation Room October 18,...Cheney moved into the Continuity in Government bunker October 29 , and began making people take rotations there, where it was all fear, all the time. (sources: Ron Suskind, WaPo, Jane Mayer)

One can argue about which pushed which over the edge, the Campfire Meeting or the Anthrax Scare, but there is no doubt, really, that these two are the origin of the ticking bomb discussions, the torture discussions, the Guantanamo-as-a-legal-black-hole discussions, the TSP program, and the Cheney total paranoia.

Glenn's case that the Anthrax Scare had totally huge consequences on the actions of the government, perhaps more than the actual September 11 attack, seems pretty airtight and hard to argue against.

[The Campfire Meeting was between Bashiruddin Mahmood, Abdul Majid, Ayman al Zawahri and Osama Bin Laden, Kandahar, August 2001. It is significant because the first two were scientists working in A.Q. Khan's nuclear program.]

Blatant narcissism? Afraid of getting scooped? Staying in front of the story? Appealing to his own authority?

You'd think he'd kinda want to lay low, rather than provoke further questioning of his "journalism."

"As near as I can tell, about one quarter of the population has a sociopathic and psychopathic dispositions."

I believe the actual number is about 32%.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/president_bush_job_approval

Your post on page 30 is awesome.

The idea that the anthrax attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government - whether through direct command and control or by leveraging an unstable and highly ideological individual - gains additional credibility in light of Seymour Hersh's recent comments about tactics that were considered for use in drumming up support to begin war with Iran. According to Mr. Hersh, Vice President Cheney contemplated - among other things - the possibility of building fake Iranian speedboats, crewing them with Navy SEALS and having them engage in hostile action with American flagged vessels in the Straits of Hormuz.(1)

Likewise, The New York Times reported that President Bush considered painting an American U2 spy plane in U.N. colors and sending it out to draw fire in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. (2)

This is part of a pattern...

__________________________________

(1) http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/

(2) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html?ei=5090&en=7c30d11fe0c8c923&ex=1301115600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

“Why are "journalists" such as that the last to see the clown costume and painted face they are wearing is visible to most all of us?”

Even though that was probably a rhetorical question, I'm going to try and answer it. There are a lot of reasons that could be cited and have been thoroughly discussed in past threads. The primary reason has to do with that emperor who pranced around without clothes. These clowns got away with their circus act far too long. I was certainly one of the crowd who, for a while, was foolish to think they were good “journalists.” The Internet, especially in the 21st century, has a lot of patriots like Glenn who have yelled, “These guys are clowns and are harming America!”

These TV personality clowns due to their egos and bank accounts have just not opened their eyes to the fact they are playing on a new field and still don’t realize how this exposure is burning them. Look how dumbfounded ABC was when at their presidential primary debate, almost the entire audience knew they were playing horse race, smear politics instead of respecting their audience. Just like Joe Klein made this realization, I think others like Ross will, if we keep doing our Paul Revere job. The influence from corporate bosses is a much more difficult challenge. However, when business drops, these guys wake up as well.

I believe the actual number is about 32%

-- Jebbie

Elehpantdung freely admits that he'll argue that the world is flat because "liberals" claim that the world is round. So a certain percentage of that 32% aren't sociopaths. They just have rocks for brains. Elephantdung seems to fall into both categories. He's a sociopath with rocks for brains.

Try tiny url.

http://tinyurl.com/

Please step into the van, and watch your head, sir.

Until we find out the truth a little rigorous interrogation is in order at the top of the food chain at ABC.

That would be a new oxymoron to add to the list, kinda like "intrepid journalist" and such.

It's time to declare war on the MSM.

I knew the jig was up when bush linked anthrax to saddam

and we never stopped accepting mail from Iraq!

( The mail was the way to vent the anthrax)

http://rawstory.com/news/2008
/Ron_Paul_followers_pose_danger_for_0731.html

:-)

To get an idea of the profile of Bruce Ivins, go to the PubMed database at http://www.ncbi.nih.gov and search with the key:

"Ivins BE"[Author]

Ivins has been a prolific scientific author his whole career, with 44 publications in top scientific journals related to pathology. All of his papers are with numerous other authors. He was popular, at least among government researchers. If his was the profile of the anthrax culprit, then it is time to bury the entire government in a deep canyon and under a deep impenetrable mountain.

Sorry Obama, there is nothing out there to salvage

Sorry I don't know how to link to it, but it is titled "Anthrax Suspect Known for Quiet Research, Odd Behavior."