Drudge is carrying a link to a Times of London report in Tuesday's newspapers saying that the anthrax spores in the Boca Raton office where the two people have come down with anthrax were deliberately released. Robert Waldrop in OKC printable flyers

TUESDAY OCTOBER 09 2001 Outbreak points to 'inept' attack on newspaper office http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001350003-2001351549,00.html FROM JAMES BONE IN NEW YORK THE anthrax outbreak in Florida appears to have been caused by a deliberate but “inept” release into a newspaper office building, according to one of America’s leading military experts on biological weapons.

“I do not believe it was accidental,” Colonel (retd) Dick Spertzel, who spent 28 years as a US Army biological weapons expert before becoming the chief biological inspector in the United Nations drive to disarm Iraq, told The Times yesterday.

“I cannot conceive of any way that it could be natural. What it does suggest is a somewhat inept person may have released it intentionally into the building and had a mixed bag of small and large particles and did not know what he was doing,” he said.

Dr Spertzel explained that a terrorist would try to use anthrax particles one to five microns in size, small enough to enter the lungs. To settle as dust, however, they would be 15-18 microns in size. Particles in between get lodged in the upper respiratory tract.

“You do not expect to find anthrax floating around the air in buildings in a city or even on a farm,” he continued. “It’s not a natural event. The only thing that makes sense is if it’s some kind of intentional release. The implications can be anything from a disgruntled individual who has an axe to grind against an individual or the building, on up to an inept release by sympathisers of Osama bin Laden or my favourite country, Iraq.”

The former deputy commander of the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases — the US equivalent of Porton Down — he said that the discovery of particles of anthrax in the Sun tabloid office in Boca Raton, Florida, suggested that the germ agent was released directly into the building rather than from the air.

Dr Spertzel rejected speculation that Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers, dropped anthrax spores from a small aircraft while flying from nearby Palm Beach County Park airport. “I do not buy the theory that Atta released it a mile away because if it acted like gas it would have affected other buildings and you would not have any evidence of it today,” he said.

Although the usual incubation period of anthrax is just three to five days, studies of the accidental 1979 release at Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union show that symptoms may not develop for 30-35 days.

It it therefore impossible to determine whether the anthrax release in Florida took place before, after or at the same time as the September 11 attacks. Some have speculated that, as with other attacks, the release may have been a trial run for a larger operation. “I have heard some people say 60 days (incubation period), but I find 60 days pushing the limit,” Dr Spertzel said. “But 30-35 days prior to onset of symptoms is possible.”

The US has two laboratories equipped to study the DNA of anthrax spores to determine the particular strain.

Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This s

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), October 08, 2001

Answers

Inept or a "test"??

The writer, above, is saying a lot with no solid information, and using some really "clumsy" logic.

If the report on Nightline was correct, then there is little doubt that this was an intentional act.

1 -- spores found not "naturally produced" 2 -- spores found on many other surfaces in the newsroom, other than the key board. 3 -- given No. 1 and 2, there is VERY little chance this could be the work of the odd kook or even a small group. (their expert's conclusion, not mine)

This is with the results of the FBI/CDC investigations NOT known/released.

JB

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), October 09, 2001.