Oops! Sorry, wrong post.

Hey, why isn't this on the front page? They better not be demoting you, Glennzilla!

Thanks Glenn for darkening my morning. I love these exposes that no one else seems to care about.

This process of impotent interrogation reminded me of SC's bit the other night:

“So, nation, if you have an interest in being outraged, then you have a great ticket. But if you want to question your leaders…how dare you?”

Link at sig.

What would it take for congress to recover its oversight authority? Do we need to clean out about 65% of the Democrats and replace them with individuals who are willing to take political risks to advance the cause?

If I had been there, I would de-fund the FBI, de-fund the VP Office (too late for that now), freeze all promotions at the pentagon, hold witnesses in the cloak room indefinitely under guard, and remove 10 AGs in a row in 7 days if that is what it takes for them to answer simple questions. Or at least even take the fifth.

I suppose it is a good thing that you can ignore a congressional summons with impunity. We don't want to live in a totalitarian state after all, but I don't think the same rules apply to you and me as they do to someone who has something on Bush or Cheney.

Can anyone recall when they believed what the FBI said? Or when they said it? How many years back? Hoover? I can't remember a high-profile 'case' the FBI ever cracked that wasn't botched, or never done. Hell, they were in on the assassinations in the 60s. No wonder all we got were patsies. Really, the 'secret police' are not on our side.

I'm presuming it's not lost on anybody that the primary targets were often the subject of neocon wrath. Instead of a twitchy lab guy, did the FBI even look at the ideologues stationed at Dugway, or with the CIA?

It was an honest mistake calling the anthax weaponized.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anthrax17-2008sep17,0,1753550.story

Why was this guy used as an expert anyway...

If Mueller comes back after break and for any excuse or reason does not have the specific answers that Leahy requested shouldn't Mueller be immediately arrested (or maybe fined to the maximum amount that the law will allow) for contempt of Congress? Otherwise, Leahy's demand has no teeth? It seems so much more than likely that Mueller will try to tap dance instead of answer. How else other than immediate arrest or fine can he forced to take Leahy and the Senate seriously?

The FBI and Justice are standing around with their pants down, trying to convince everyone that they really are doing their job.

Of course they aren't, and haven't been since day one. For example, recall that the Princeton mailbox was swabbed within weeks of the attacks, but that those swabs weren't tested until summer 2002. Hardly a rapid response.

There has also been a deliberate effort by the FBI to hide the facts of the case, which are that the spores were physically weaponized, but the anthrax strain in question, Ames, was not genetically engineered.

That's where the press has been sloppy or misleading. There are two kinds of biological "weaponization", and the physical weaponization means that the biological material is easily suspended in air and is the right size to be inhaled into the lungs. The Daschle and Leahy letters contained such material, which is how they managed to contaminate mail sorting rooms as well as the entire Hart Senate Office building.

Genetic weaponization means that things like antibiotic-resistance genes have been introduced into the strain itself, meaking it much more dangerous once inhaled. Such modifications have been done by both the U.S. and Soviet biowarfare programs, but were not present in any of the recovered samples.

Finally, the Ames strain is the one used as the "challenge strain" by anthrax vaccine manufacturers, i.e. Emergent Biosolutions and Battelle Memorial Institute in West Jefferson Ohio.

This leads us right to the U.S. anthrax vaccine program, which left-wing and right-wing commentators have roundly ignored - but the details are quite fascinating:

The Pentagon's anthrax vaccine is manufactured by a single contractor, Emergent BioSolutions. It has been plagued with complaints from soldiers and soldiers' advocates, who assert that the vaccine causes myriad debilitating ailments.

The Defense Department was forced to halt mandatory injections in 2004 after a judge ruled that the FDA had not approved the vaccine for its intended use. In 2006, the military resumed mandatory vaccinations after FDA approval, citing letters laced with anthrax in late 2001 as a reason. (at link)

Despite all this, the mandatory anthrax vaccination program is going full speed ahead:

"ROCKVILLE, Md. - Emergent BioSolutions Inc. said today it has a "reasonable chance" to win a bid to sell 25 million doses of a potential new anthrax vaccine to the federal government."

And remember this one? - Associated Press reports that members of Vice President Cheney’s staff took Cipro a week before the first anthrax attack?

Not exactly unusual behavior for Backseat, aka Shooter, is it?

http://www.truthout.org/article/hersh-cheney-plan-creating-false-flag-attack

Until our Congress actually flexes the funding muscle to punish lack of cooperation with its oversight duties, no one in the executive is going to cooperate. This much is clear. So, cut with the self-righteous scolding, and get on with pulling the levers available to you.

Otherwise, this is the crappiest theater I've ever watched.

The review of the scientific data needs several aspects to it. An independent group of qualified scientists needs:

• Access to all raw data generated by FBI scientists and scientists doing work for the FBI. Full documentation of methods employed and all results are needed for the review to be valid.

• The review group needs to have the opportunity to interview the scientists both inside and outside the FBI to find out if the reports emanating from DOJ match the results they generated.

• The review group needs access to RMR 1029, the actual attack material from the Leahy and Daschle letters and reference samples of both non-weaponized and weaponized material from Dugway and South Jefferson so that they can carry out their own independent analysis to confirm the results obtained by and for the FBI. Reference material from any other facility capable of producing the material also should be submitted should a miracle occur and Mueller actually name additional facilities after the break.

As suggested by Glenn, this scientific work should be carried in parallel with, and coordinated with, an independent evaluation of all other evidence generated in the case.