April 08, 2002

Wake up and smell the

Wake up and smell the anthrax

Unfortunately, I think Sullivan is probably right about the latest info on the Leahy anthrax, which, according to this report, is indeed 'a “weaponized” form of the bacterium more sophisticated than any previously known.'

Whoever did it, he or she was a real pro. My suspicion is that it was a warning from Iraq that any attempt to disarm Saddam would lead to an immediate chemical or biological response in the U.S. I'm sorry, but that's still my suspicion. I'd be happy and relieved to be disproved, but so far, the signs are nothing but ominous.

The "lone American looney" theory on the anthrax letters played well in the European press, but I've never found it remotely convincing. At the time, it seemed to me like the perpetrators were conducting a kind of field experiment, periodically sending letters containing different grades of anthrax to different sorts of prominent people in order to observe, through keeping tabs on media coverage, the response in each case.

There's no way of telling what these people were/are up to, but for some reason I still have a hunch that that's what was going on. As a bio-attack, the anthrax mail campaign was a miserable failure. Yet the idea that the people capable of producing such sophisticated weapons would be so inept at delivering them seems fairly dubious. Unless they had other immediate motives than trying to infect people, such as judging the response of law enforcement and disease control authorities, or calculating a rough "panic per spore" ratio with regard to the public. Obviously, the "experiments" ceased. Because the FBI inadvertently caught the "researchers" in a sweep? Or because they learned all they needed to know, and are waiting for the proper time for phase II? I suppose I should insert the obligatory "I know I'm paranoid" disclaimer here; but as Sullivan says, the signs are nothing but ominous.

Posted by Dr. Frank at April 8, 2002 12:49 PM | TrackBack