Mr. Twain (may I call you Mark? Thanks!) If "Do we want to know" is the question, the answer is undoubtedly contained in Mr. Mapes letter on the preceding page. Read it, follow a few of the links (a few, no need hurting yourself) and then ask yourself that question.

Did the process of sorting letters at high speeds "weaponize" the anthrax?

They sort letters at high speed? Then why do they always take so long to get there? High speed, my foot!

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j022202.html

this is from 2002 and goes into various aspects of the history of the anthrax attacks. Raimondo, btw, is a libertarian, not a liberal.

further, he notes--

"There is an ominous and telling parallel with the 9/11 investigation here: that's another instance in which the authorities are being extra careful not to dig too deeply, at least in public. For the anthrax sub-plot was almost like an afterthought to the main mystery of 9/11: how did an underground terrorist network manage to operate in the US for as long as five years, and perhaps more, without being detected by law enforcement agencies? Multiple agencies of government were laden with multi-billion dollar budgets earmarked for "anti-terrorist" activities, yet they knew nothing of this operation, had not even a hint."

Raimondo goes on to note how gleeful the neocons were that anthrax was going to lead to the invasion of Iraq...which was their goal long before Bush.

No. This is yet another Gulf of Tonkin bullshit moment. The bad thing for them is that it takes less time for some truth to come out... and the timeliness of the attacks in relation to 9-11 naturally lead to questions for anyone who has followed this lying bunch for 8 years (actually more... in the 1970s they were lying about the USSR -- and continually failed upward.)

Whenever democrats are in power, a little bit more of the nefariousness gets revealed.. the Church Committee hearings, the CIA's "family jewels." -- it's far too naive to think this wasn't a planned attack, esp. considering someone was already trying to frame an Egyptian doctor from the first.

I'm going to echo a suggestion Jim White made earlier and recommend a thread that Marcy Wheeler has on this subject at Fire Dog Lake. The link can be found by clicking on my screen name. It sounds to me that there are others equivalently knowledgeable to yourself speculating on some of the same things of concern to you.

And, echoing Little Brother, thanks for your thoughtful comment here.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/08/02/ivins-and-the-anthrax-investigation/

I clicked your signature and learned so much more about our old friend. Last time I checked FTW he was back on the west coast and had his dawg. I hope he someday fully regains his health.

We could sure use his expertise on this current matter, but he deserves to live in peace. We must do our best to follow the map he gave us.

Thank you again for the link.

As BradBlog (linked in signature) points out, Ivins worked only with liquid anthrax, and had no access to the dry powdered anthrax used in the attacks. Any attempt to convert would have been detected.

Thank you for yohr excellent column! It seems doubtful that a man who was so concerned about Roman Catholic dogma would commit suicide. Perhaps there is yet more to this story to be revealed at time goes by.

Since you have professional knowledge let me ask you a question regarding this quote from the AP:

"Client has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, plans and actions towards therapists," Duley wrote in court documents last week, adding that his psychiatrist had described him as homicidal and sociopathic."

The first part of that statement is obviously taken from some sort of historical record on Ivins. Let's leave aside the fact that we'll all require substantial proof of that record before we believe it, and also leave aside the stretch it takes to believe the FBI vetting process for a high security clearance misses that record until recently.

The record implys a pattern - threats to more than one therapist -- and certainly sounds homicidal and sociopathic.

What are the chances that someone who has exhibited a pattern like that in their early twenties would be able to keep it from manifesting for 30 years before it resurfaced? While much of that time handling deadly chemicals?

-You had to come around, just when my new life was getting off to a good start. You couldn't maybe give me another year or two before exposure? Please?-

Ha!

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days

Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made

And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings

Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves

What country you been living in? It's a new paradime! Don't be an eleatist!

I remember Bush's speech regarding the corporate scandals in which he intoned "mal-fee-ance" three times.

Later that day Lou Dobbs was beside himself as he refered with pride to Bush as "our first MBA president."

Re bentonite, I haven't read all the responses to this article, so I don't know if anyone has mentioned this. Bentonite, though it is a word unknown to many, basically refers to a type of clay used in many products and processes (see Wikipedia and other sources for info re bentonite.) One person who would have known a lot about bentonite was VP Cheney. Halliburton owns Bentonite Performance Minerals LLC (BPM), "a world leader in the production of Wyoming bentonite, the benchmark in the global sodium bentonite industry." See http://www.bentonite.com/

Practically every Anthrax story leads with "A possible end to the anthrax case?" as if it is over ... case closed .... stay tuned for more Britney coverage ...

Also, they don't bring up the fact WHO were targeted - people NOT on board for the Patriot Act (LOL, patriot act).

This things stinks so bad you have to be practically deaf and dumb to not be overtaken by the stench. Unfortunately for America that still means 10 or 20 percent or so, which, amazingly, still seems to be enough.