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• Tuesday, August 5, 2008 04:40 PM

  Set a fire and get paid to put it out? Was that the original motive?

  Great work, Glenn. Honestly, I've been quietly fuming about this for years. This last bit is just too much, though.

  As far as this:

  Does the fact that some of the letters were sent from Princeton NJ mean anything to you in light of this - or is it worthless coincidence?

  http://www.battelleventures.com/

  Battelle Ventures LP

  Battelle is the $220 million, Princeton, N.J.-based Battelle Ventures fund's sole limited partner and Eastern Tennessee business leaders back the $35 million, Knoxville, Tenn.-based IVP fund.

  Yikes! is the first thought that comes to mind. Actually, what has been always bothersome is how the anthrax was transported to the mailbox from the lab where the letters were loaded. (No "Q" samples on the envelope or tape points to a clean lab loading of the letters). No idea there.

  However, if I was the FBI I'd at least want to interview every single person affiliated with Battelle Ventures, NJ, and see what their travel schedules were on the 9th and the 18th. As far as "Eastern Tennesse business leaders?" Ummm... Oak Ridge Tennessee, the massive nuclear research/production facility operated by a joint public-private partnership between Battelle and the University of Texas? The region's federal pork chop, the DOE gift that keeps on giving? Oh dear... and that's where Richard Lambert went after playing his role from 2002-2006 as head of Amerithrax...

  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/26/knoxville-fbi-division-looks-back/

  "Over the past century, the FBI has evolved and adapted to meet an ever-changing array of threats to our nation's security," said Richard Lambert, special agent in charge of the Knoxville division. "As we begin our second century of service, the FBI remains committed to upholding our mission of protecting America's freedoms."

  We can also note that a Bechtel spinoff, the Bechtel Jacobs Co., is the DOE contractor for environmental management at Oak Ridge, which is also pulling in its fair share of new Project Bioshield and Homeland Security contracts. Coincidence?

  I don't know. I really have no idea. Where's the FBI? Right.

  What I do know is the background. Laurie Garrett, well-known medical science writer, wrote this in her book "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (2000)", in the BioWar chapter:

  "Among recent events that had escalated U.S., European, and United Nations concerns about biological weapons were UN inspector's findings in Iraq, recent innovations in biotechnology that streamlined genetic manipulation of microbes, elucidation of the scope of Russia's Biopreparat program, and evidence that some of its former scientists may have moved their expertise and products onto the international arms market. Though most of these elements for concern had been known to experts before, it was only in 1997 that the full picture- the sense of threat- coalesced in Western military, intelligence and some scientific circles."

  Laurie Garrett then speculates abut rogue states and cults - but now, amazingly enough, it is clear that the first modern bioterror attack has been carried out by individuals associated with our own "biodefense" program - probably not Ivins or Hatfill, the FBI's "people of interest."

  On a side note, the FBI has just now taken over the investigation of my sort-of-nearby neighbor's firebombed house, by the way. Interesting, huh? I'm trying to keep my paranoia in check, tho. Battelle Ventures. Right. Hi-G-Tek. Active RFID spy chips. Great. Better go cut down those pot plants, I guess. Keep up the good work, anyway.

  —CargoCult Read CargoCult's other letters
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