Because the letter in question was allegedly sent in 1983 and the FPN archive only goes back as far as 1997...

Great point. Thanks for the comment.

The sorter version as I got it: if a man is delusional, he will not know it and therefor would not complain of the delusions in an e-mail.

Because the subject was apparently KKG sorority hazing, and there is no Ivins letter in the archives published by the FNP that appears to address this matter:

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=78274

In today's partial disclosure by the Government, Dr. Ivins now is tagged with the following self-diagnosis, allegedly set forth in an e-mail:

"I get incredible paranoid, delusional thoughts at times, and there's nothing I can do until they go away, either by themselves or with drugs."

Uh, there's a big problem with that, Doc (or whomever composed this so-called compelling 'circumstantial' evidence).

The problem is that people actually suffering from delusional disorder (formerly "paranoia") are completely unaware that they are, in fact, suffering from any delusions. Just one of of those quirky psychological conditions that tells the victim he is not sick. Here's some more from the experts:

http://www.psychiatryonline.com/content.aspx?aID=9161&searchStr=paranoid+disorders

Oh, and with those handwritten letters accompanying the anthrax mailings, where is the Government's handwriting expert's affidavit, purportedly tying the "Death to America" notes to Dr. Ivins?

Another question. If the FBI was looking for material in Dr. Ivins' home on the subject of "how to defeat a polygraph" (Item 16, Attachment to Affidavit, Dellaferra Affidavit in Support of Search Warrant, 07-529-M-01, October 31, 2007), does this mean that this obviously ill and troubled gentleman passed a polygraph? How about all the other individuals who had access to the anthrax?

7-529-M-01 search warrant affidavit.pdf

Page 15 - last redaction

[?]CW-2 was living in Gaithersburg, Maryland at the time the letter to the editor was published. [?]CW-2 has known and communicated with Dr. Ivins for the past 30 years [unreadable text] shortly after its publication in the paper [it?] denied writing [the?] [unreadable text] News-Post and complained The [paper?] informed CW-2 that...

It says "Frederick News-Post".

I have only review the first affidavit. I am trying to focus on the means that Ivins would have had to mail the letters from NJ. Here are the parts that relate to that:

Information gathered to date suggests that all of the lethal anthrax letters were mailed from a single street collection box located at 10 Nassau Street, in Princeton, New Jersey. The letters were postmarked on either September 18,2001 or October 9,2001 at the same Hamilton Township Regional Postal Facility in Hamilton, New Jersey. The collection box on Nassau Street was identified through forensic biological swabbing of every U.S. Postal Service drop box that collects mail to be processed at the Hamilton facility. Further forensic examination of the contaminated mailbox recovered a number of Caucasian human hairs from inside the box, which are suitable for comparison. P. 6-7.

The investigation examined Dr. Ivins's laboratory activity immediately before and after the window of opportunity for the mailing of the Post and Brokaw letters to New York which began at 5:00 p.m. Monday, September 17,2001 and ended at noon on Tuesday, September 18, 200 1. Beginning on Friday, September 14, Dr. Ivins worked the following three consecutive evening shifts prior to the mailings with time spent in Suite B3: [Sept. 14, 15 and 16, 2001, 2h 15min each night in B3]. P. 8.

The investigation further examined Dr. Ivins's laboratory activity before and after the window of opportunity.for the mailing of the Daschle and Leahy letters to Washington, D.C. which began 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 6, 2001, and ended at noon on Tuesday, October 9, 2001. Beginning on September 28, Dr. Ivins worked eight consecutive nights which consisted of the following times in building 1425 with time spent in Suite B3: [Sept. 28 through Oct. 5, 2001, times ranging from as little as 20 minutes (Oct. 1) to 3h 59min (Oct. 5) each night in B3]. P.9

Although these exerpts discuss his access to the laboratory, there is nothing in the affidavit even suggesting that Ivins made any trips to NJ to mail any letters. Although the amount of time spent in the lab prior to each attack appears suspicious, without anything tending to show that he was in NJ during the possible times the letters were mailed, the late nights at the lab are meaningless. None of the subsequent affidavits, including the most recent affidaivt of July 11, 2008, contains any indication that the FBI can show that Ivins would have been in NJ during either of the windows for mailing the letters containing the anthrax.

One of the more interesting things would be to get the FBI to release their SW affidavits aimed at Dr. Hatfill. There's quite a bit made about Ivins access and visits to a certain room. One wonders what access and visits Hatfill had to the room that caused the FBI to be so certain he was the suspect. In fact, how similar where the things they were seeing in Hatfill to what they are now seeing in Ivins.

Please make your arguments without trying to disclose personal information about other participants here. I'm reposting your comment in full with only that last part deleted (if you want, I'll also delete the name and address you left at the end):

_________________

Serious flaws in the genetic analysis are evident in the FBI documents:

From the Overview:

1) At the time of the attacks, he was the custodian of a large flask of highly purified anthrax spores that possess certain genetic mutations identical to the anthrax used in the attacks.

First, the attacks never reached the attention of anyone at USAMRIID until Oct 15th, 2001, when the Daschle letter arrived. There is no reason anyone would have been tracking what researcher had what flask, and the strain was spread among at least five labs, and, as the FBI has previously claimed, “quite common.”

The FBI report does confirm the presence of silica, however (NOT bentonite):

“Microscopic examination of the evidentiary spore powders recovered from all four letters identified an elemental signature of Silicon within the spores.”

Oddly enough, there is no mention at all of the initial analysis of the spores carried out by Paul Keim and others from Northern Arizona (the recognized experts in the field). This was reported, also by the Washington Post, back in Dec 16 2001:

The Washington Post December 16, 2001 Sunday

Capitol Hill Anthrax Matches Army's Stocks; 5 Labs Can Trace Spores to Ft. Detrick

Rick Weiss and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post Staff Writers

Genetic fingerprinting studies indicate that the anthrax spores mailed to Capitol Hill are identical to stocks of the deadly bacteria maintained by the U.S. Army since 1980, according to scientists familiar with the most recent tests.

Although many laboratories possess the Ames strain of anthrax involved in this fall's bioterrorist attacks, only five laboratories so far have been found to have spores with perfect genetic matches to those in the Senate letters, the scientists said...

...Those matching samples are at Fort Detrick; the Dugway Proving Ground military research facility in Utah; a British military lab called Porton Down; and microbial depositories at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Northern Arizona University. Northern Arizona University received its sample from LSU, which received its sample from Porton Down. Dugway and Porton Down got their samples directly from USAMRIID...

The FBI's investigation into the anthrax attacks is increasingly focusing on whether U.S. government bioweapons research programs, including one conducted by the CIA, may have been the source of deadly anthrax powder sent through the mail, according to sources with knowledge of the probe. The results of the genetic tests strengthen that possibility. The FBI is focusing on a contractor that worked with the CIA, one source said...

The genetic fingerprinting finding was made by a research team led by geneticist Paul Keim at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which has been comparing the Ames strain bacteria found in the Senate letters to other Ames strain samples retrieved from nature and from various university and government laboratories.

Where did all that work go? Not relevant? When you get to pick and choose the documents you release, you can paint any picture you want. Also, in 2005, the Washington Post printed this statement by the FBI:

In addition, the strain of anthrax used in the attacks has turned out to be more common than was initially believed, the officials said.

Here, however, is the real point: the FBI analysis claims to have used four genetic markers to identify the anthrax - but Paul Keim and his group used something like FIFTY - and that is confirmed, meaning Keim's analysis was much more sensitive than the FBI's. For references:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/294/5548/1810

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v413/n6857/full/413657a0.html

That means that for some reason the FBI used a less sensitive technique than Keim et. al to try and attach this flask to Ivins. Why not use the more sensitive technique?

What that means is that the only real evidence tying Ivins to the anthrax is bogus - in all likelihood, hundreds of other people had access to the very same Ames strain, as it was spread around to at least five labs and possibly more - and the quality of the spore preparation pretty much proves he couldn’t have prepared it on his own using a lyophilizer.

Ike Solem

ike_solm@hotmail.com