Tuesday October 16, 1:41 PM

US militia, not bin Laden behind US attacks, says Australian expert

SYDNEY, Oct 16 (AFP) -

The anthrax attacks now spreading terror through the United States are unlikely to have had anything to do with Osama bin Laden, Australia's leading authority on terrorism said Tuesday.

Clive Williams, a specialist in terrorism at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, believes the evidence points to right-wing US militia.

"I think the first instances of it, the ones involving media, were more likely to have been caused by extremist militia in the US who have shown an interest in anthrax in the past and tried to acquire it," he told AFP.

"The subsequent instances were basically copy-cat episodes by mentally unbalanced people, I believe."

Williams, widely acknowledged as Australia's leading authority on the subject, is preparing a graduate course in terrorism for the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

Speaking 24 hours after Australia was plunged into chaos and panic because of a series of hoaxes involving "suspicious" packages of white powder, he said Australia, in reality, is in little danger from bio-terrorist attack.

However, up to 16 buildings were evacuated on Monday because of hoax packages and authorities reported dozens more were received on Tuesday.

Williams believes Australia is better prepared than almost any other country to deal with bio-terrorist attack because of the planning and equipment acquired for last year's Olympics in Sydney.

"Australians can rest assured that our government agencies are world class in their ability to react quickly and deal with any potential terrorist bioligical threats. Armageddon is not around the corner."

He believes the US attacks have involved the use of a form of anthrax readily available to scientists and researchers.

"But what is rare is the weaponised version of it which is much more dangerous and has a high lethality rate, but that is not available and is difficult to manufacture," he said.

"In the United States there has only been one instance in which it was alleged there was an airborne spore, but that could have been because somebody touched anthrax and then picked their nose. I'm not convinced that any of the instances in the US involved the weaponised variety."

But he said the only anthrax the US militia groups could have acquired was the type with the potential to cause illness and which is readily treatable with antibiotics.

A photo editor died on October 5 from respiratory anthrax at American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida.

Three other people who have since developed the disease were employees of media companies, triggering suspicions of a bioterrorist campaign by bin Laden, who is blamed for the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

In an article for The Australian newspaper, Williams said few terrorist groups in the world had demonstrated an interest in bioterrorism and fewer still had tried to acquire biological agents.

One that did was Japan's Aum Shinrikyo sect which had among its members biochemists who tried to develop biological weapons using anthrax, but gave up after nine attempts, deciding instead to focus on sarin gas, a chemical agent. The sect's 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo's subway system killed 11 and injured around 5,500.

Williams said it has proved extremely difficult to cause mass casualties with a biological agent although four people had died in one particular incident. A leakage of anthrax in the Soviet Union also caused many deaths decades ago, but that was the weaponised variety, he said.

"So far, no terrorist group has been successful at culturing a virulent agent capable of causing mass casualties and it is likely to be some time before this capability exists," he added.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Answers

What has bothered me about the anthrax letters, is that it is so poorly done. It would get only a few people if any at all. This just doesn't seem like something binLaden would do. He is much more efficient that that. I don't know that I would go so far as to blame extremists here in our own country, but they have been pretty quiet lately.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

beckie, there is the possibility that his operatives are not as educated to handle this type of attack. I would term them idiots compared to the artful thinking of the WTC attack.

Also, it is entirely possible that there were more envelopes involved in the beginning but that were not delivered for several reasons, such as mail machinery shredding them, or possibly returned to sender for inadequate address of recipient. In that case, the letters would go to the dead letter office and be opened there to see if we could determine who to return it to. Glad I don't work in that operation!

I think I prefer to think of these letters as being sent by stupid people who live only to cause such hassles just so they can watch it on the news.

One good thing about this sort of crap is getting people used to being observant and aware of what is going around.

No more ignoring your surroundings lest ye be caught dead in dirty underwear.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Right! But if you believe the Pakistanis (and even some whacked out posters on Timebomb2000) it's the Israelis Mossad that's behind everything!

Kinda hard to see how all these kooks can be correct, eh?

Sometimes the simplest explanations work best...the old saw about things that look & act like ducks - usually turning out to be ducks!

Yes, Virginia, there really are insane fundamentalist Islamic TERRORISTS who do terrible things to unarmed American civilians. Capture, followed by slow & painful public dismemberment would be in keeping with THEIR traditions.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Just thinking here, look at the events that have happened in the last two weeks and more, as in what possibly is the motive. By looking at the events that have already happened, may give a better understanding of the cause.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

What was happening with Bin Ladin before the 9-11 event. What would cause him and his cells here to do it.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

Maggie - while you ask valid questions - in reality there's no need to wring our hands while trying to figure out why these terrorists don't like us...anymore than it was necessary to determine what the motivation of Japan was on Dec. 7, 1941.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

theyaskedforit, I am not wringing my hands, nor cowering in a corner with my knees shaking. Forget my second post and just look at the first one. Just from reading and listening, I don't beleive the anthrax events are from just one source.

Maggie

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Um, theyaskedforit, we don't attack people for their views or feelings here, providing they are courteously expressed. You're new; Maggie has been with the original group for over three years. If we can figure out the cause, we might be able to prevent future problems. This is not to say that we are to blame in any way for the attacks and, if you had been around long enough, you would know that Maggie is no handwringer. Also please bear in mind we are not a debate forum; our purpose is to provide useful and pracical information to help people deal with natural and manmade disasters. Carping does not further that purpose.

Old Git Mother of All Despots

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Git, I agree, I think it is a Know Thine Enemy situation.

There have already been a few arrests for some of the hoax letters. I wouldn't think we would hear all the information relating to the actual anthrax strains. I would like to know more about the process, though, like what is potentially learned during each of the steps of the testing. There appear to be at three, starting with a field test.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

PA knows all tht stuff. Where the hell is he? Must drop him an e-mail. Will try to remember. Sinus med fogs things. I mean even worse than normal.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

fogs everything but your glasses, I dare say, since you are always looking for them.

LOL

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001