ANTHRAX - Intelligence failure again

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Economist

In the house of anthrax Nov 22nd 2001 | KABUL From The Economist print edition

Chilling evidence in the ruins of Kabul

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AMERICAN officials increasingly believe the anthrax attacks since September 11th were not carried out by people connected to al-Qaeda, but may have been the work of a lone American madman. To avert future attacks, though, perhaps they should look harder.

They might start, for example, in a nondescript house in the wealthiest district of Kabul, where a Pakistani NGO called Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN) once had its offices. UTN's president is Bashiruddin Mahmood, one of Pakistan's leading nuclear scientists and a specialist in plutonium technology. Last month Mr Mahmood was arrested by the Pakistani authorities and interrogated on his links to the Taliban, with whom he has had frequent contact for, he insists, humanitarian reasons. Mr Mahmood was released again soon afterwards. The Taliban has denied any “abnormal” links between Mr Mahmood and Mr bin Laden, and he himself says he has never met the man.

In public, UTN helped Afghans with flourmills, school textbooks and road-upgrading schemes. But its offices suggest that this may have been a cover for something far more sinister. According to their neighbours, the Pakistanis who lived and worked there fled Kabul along with the Taliban, but the evidence they left behind suggests that they were working on a plan to build an anthrax bomb.

An upstairs room of the house had been used as a workshop. What appeared to be a Russian rocket had been disassembled, and a canister labelled “helium” had been left on the worktop. On the floor were multiple copies of documents about anthrax downloaded from the Internet, and details about the American army's vaccination plans for its troops. The number of copies suggests that seminars were also taking place there.

One of the downloaded documents featured a small picture of the former American defence secretary, William Cohen, holding a five-pound bag of sugar. It noted that he was doing this “to show the amount of the biological weapon anthrax that could destroy half the population of Washington, DC.”

On the floor was a small bag of white powder, which this correspondent decided not to inspect. It may have contained nothing more deadly than icing sugar, but that could be useful for experiments in how to scatter powder containing anthrax spores from a great height over a city, or to show students how to do this. The living room contained two boxes of gas masks and filters.

On a desk was a cassette box labelled “Jihad”, with the name of Osama bin Laden hand-written along the spine. Most chilling of all, however, were the mass of calculations and drawings in felt pen that filled up a white board of the sort used in classrooms. There were several designs for a long thin balloon, something like a weather balloon, with lines and arrows indicating a suggested height of 10km (33,000 feet). There was also a sketch of a jet fighter flying towards the balloon alongside the words: “Your days are limited! Bang.” This, like the documents, was written in English.

Since UTN was run by one of Pakistan's top scientists, a man with close links to the Taliban and, it is said, close ideological affinities with Mr bin Laden, the circumstantial evidence points to only one conclusion. Whoever fled this house when the Taliban fell was working on a plan to build a helium-powered balloon bomb carrying anthrax. Whether it was detonated with a timer or shot down by a fighter, the result would have been the same: the showering of deadly airborne anthrax spores over an area as wide as half of New York city or Washington, DC.

After the September 11th attacks, it was generally agreed that western intelligence agencies had failed through lack of “human intelligence”—men on the ground, as opposed to spy satellites and computers monitoring phone calls and e-mails. This failure was to be rectified. Yet since the fall of Kabul on November 13th, journalists have been fanning out across the city. They have stripped houses such as this one, and others directly connected to the al-Qaeda network, of all sorts of documents and other valuable evidence. These have included the names and addresses of al-Qaeda contacts in the West. For the West's intelligence agencies, September 11th was Black Tuesday. There may be no words with which to describe their failure in the week since the fall of Kabul.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001

Answers

They have stripped houses such as this one, and others directly connected to the al-Qaeda network, of all sorts of documents and other valuable evidence. These have included the names and addresses of al-Qaeda contacts in the West. For the West's intelligence agencies, September 11th was Black Tuesday. There may be no words with which to describe their failure in the week since the fall of Kabul.

And the reporters are doing this and giving the government the evidence?

I suppose kite flying in Wash., DC will be outlawed shortly, and only outlaws will have kites. [and balloons]

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001


Yes, Barefoot. As soon as I read your post, I have a vision of John Ashcroft banning kite flying during an afternoon press conference; that's the sort of thing I can picture him doing.

I have my doubts about this material that has been "left behind." It's possible that they could've have been looking into these topics, but doesn't anyone think that they wouldn't have taken this stuff with them? Why let the US know their plans? This is planted disinformation, methinks.

Then again, I know enough "distracted" ME males who can't keep track of their keys or wallets (they make women do that), who would possible leave behind a lot of important notes.

My question is how widespread was this? Not all ME males are ditzy. Since they used houses plural, I suspect disinformation.

One other thought: anthrax manufacture requires a solid grasp microbiology and the related lab techniques. Dirty nuke manufacture requires more knowledge of physics and one doesn't need to be as deft during the manufacturing. Guess which would probably appeal to a young guy who spent a lot of hours learning engineering and mathematics?

I still think Carl has it right: our anthrax attacks are the work of an American disgruntled loner.

Any subsequent nuke attacks will be the work of OBL's minions.

Chemical attacks will originate with Saddam, who I don't believe is just lying low. I think he is bidding his time for an opportunity.

Obviously, I hope that none of the above comes to pass, but if it does, those are my suspects.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001


It could be that they were rushed out of the houses with all the bombing going on and the NA invading. It could be that they had evacuated the houses long before and set them up that way.

Hopefully we will learn the truth of this soon.

As for the lone disgruntled American, it does seem the most logical right now. Considering the targets...

I wonder if the answer is right in front of us. Take the AMI letter as the first. Check the stories that reporter was involved in, specifically ones that made light of someone's problem, complaint, or whatever. Then see if anything involved those senators that received the letters there. See if there is any connection with them like a committee or something. See if said committee was connected to anything that AMI ran a story on, and if the same story was done by those other networks.

I'm sure this is all being checked out, right?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001


Evening everyone.

I thought that the first fellow down in FL had rented an apartment to two of the 9/11 hijackers. I'd swear that I'd read an article to that effect - his widow came out a week(?) or two after his death and mentioned this to reporters.

The evidence does seem to point to one U.S. loner, but it's so confusing, now with this other letter originating from Europe, I'm not sure what to think...

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001


NYPost

FEDS FEAR KILLER DELIVERED SPORES

By MURRAY WEISS

November 23, 2001 -- The twin mysteries of how two women - one a hard-working Manhattan hospital clerk, the other a frail Connecticut retiree - contracted inhalation anthrax have raised the specter of the saboteur delivering the lethal doses in person, instead of by mail.

Law-enforcement sources told The Post they fear the mysterious killer behind the anthrax crisis has launched a new wave of attacks that are more effective and terrifying than earlier rounds.

After the first series of attacks, FBI profilers theorized "there would be a break in time between the incidents, and he would then find a way to direct deliver it," one investigator said.

The unexplained infection of 94-year-old widow Ottilie Lundgren on the heels of the baffling case of 60-year-old storeroom worker Kathy Nguyen - neither of whom had any connection to the postal system - is heightening those fears.

From the beginning of the outbreak, profilers told investigators the "loner" suspect would attack in stages - and each stage would get bolder and more lethal.

The feds believe the first wave consisted of a low-grade form of anthrax being mailed to news organizations in mid-September.

The result: two cases of inhalation anthrax - one of them deadly - and at least four cases of less-dangerous skin anthrax.

That was frightening enough, but the count was about to get higher.

After the media was targeted, the culprit ratcheted things up a notch, mailing much finer - and deadlier - samples of anthrax to Capitol Hill politicians in early October.

At least five Washington mail handlers contracted inhalation anthrax as a result, and two of them died. In addition, two New Jersey postal workers who survived inhalation anthrax may have been infected by those same letters.

When Nguyen was killed by the bacteria, probers immediately looked to the mail, her home, her workplace and even her subway commute as possible sources - but came up empty.

A scenario in which the killer singled her out and somehow delivered the dose in person became a possible explanation for how only she, in a city of millions, was sickened.

When Lundgren, who lives alone in a tiny town in rural Connecticut, was diagnosed with anthrax, investigators began to discern a possible new pattern.

"It's hard to see the link," one source conceded, but added that the Lundgren case could shed light on the Nguyen mystery.

"There is the strong possibility she got dosed," the source said of the Vietnamese refugee.

How and when that happened is a new conundrum facing investigators, one as vexing as the question confronting the public: Who's next?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001



Independent, UK

Bin Laden's private life revealed amid rubble

War on Terrorism: Bin Laden

By Richard Lloyd-Parry in Jalalabad

24 November 2001

Osama bin Laden's underpants were hanging up to dry in the bathroom of his house outside Jalalabad. They were striped grey and black cotton boxers, with a label reading Angelo Petrico, a size XXL ­ large for such a lean-looking man.

They may, it is true, have belonged to one of his bodyguards, sons or advisers who lived with him in a maze-like compound 20 minutes outside the town ­ but I lifted them from the clothes line anyway, a souvenir from a place full of more sinister and deadly objects.

Since the retreat of their Taliban protectors a fortnight ago, fascinating relics of al-Qa'ida's network have been discovered in their former camp and hideout ­ exercise books full of scribbled notes on nuclear and chemical materials, weapons manuals and many tons of live explosives. There are items here that tell a more personal story of the private lives of the al-Qa'ida family.

Within the high mud walls of this compound,members of Mr bin Laden's clan lived ­ including at least one of his wives and her children. According to the men who now guard it, anti-Taliban mujahedin of Jalalabad's ruling council, Mr bin Laden was seen here a few days before the bombing campaign began on 7 October, when he escorted his wife and household away. He may even have been here on 11 September. Unconfirmed reports from Jalalabad say he was seen in the city as recently as 11 days ago, just 24 hours before the Taliban peacefully pulled out with all their military forces.

But the house in the place known as Ghulam Dog, 20 minutes' drive from the city centre, had intermittently served as one of his bases for years.

Ahmad Shah, the commander whose men guard the house, said: "I saw him myself so often, so what I tell you I witnessed with my own eyes. I first saw him here before the Taliban came. His bodyguards lived here with him ­ they slept in the mosque at the front of the house ­ and he kept his family here, including his wife. That is why it has so many rooms."

The compound, nicknamed "Families", is about 500 yards by 200 yards, with round turrets at its corners. Inside, it is indeed a warren, a tightly packed arrangement of rooms connected by narrow alleyways. In the outer courtyards is the characteristic jumble of most abandoned al-Qa'ida premises, a mixture of the deadly, decaying and mundane. A pile of desiccated loaves of flat naan bread sits next to the cold ashes of an oven. On the other side are cases of unspent machine-gun ammunition next to a dust-covered ping-pong table.

It was in a house like this, in this area, that an Italian and a Spanish journalist described finding boxes containing bottles of sarin nerve gas, the day before they were ambushed and executed on the road to Kabul.

Through another low door, and down an alley littered with antique seven-inch floppy discs, is a small room covered with books and ironware. There are printed circuit boards; a pile of tubes for photographic film, all empty; screws and hooks; and dozens of books, most in English.

"Operator's manual for: detonating mine, portable, metallic and non-metallic" reads one title, close to books on logarithms and calculus. There is a catalogue of electronic switches published by the Japan Aviation Electronics Industry and an empty box that once contained a kit for building a toy lorry.

The only photographs I have seen of Mr bin Laden's children show them posing with Kalashnikovs, and finding evidence of authentic childishness is unexpected. In the centre of Jalalabad four days ago, I visited a house where two al-Qa'ida commanders lived. Inside were telephone directory-sized books written in Arabic and describing the operation of every kind of infantry weapon.

But far more interesting was the conversation I had with an Afghan boy named Ashok playing outside. He described the five al-Qa'ida children who lived in the house opposite his. "If they went outside the door, they were punished by their father," he said. "And nobody was allowed to talk to the adults, not even a kid. I wanted to talk to the children, but they didn't speak our language and they had furious faces."

Many of the rooms in the bin Laden house are completely bare. On its far side, however, there are items showing these are the women's quarters. There are materials for cooking ­ a flat pan for bread and jars of spices and herbs. Here, too, are objects I have found in every one of half a dozen terrorist bases or houses in Jalalabad ­ empty tins of Hedge brand tomato paste and packets of macaroni. Osama bin Laden's Arabs had a passion for pasta.

There is an unused hypodermic needle on the floor and a selection of pills and medicine bottles. But now the guards are hurrying us out.

I nip to the last room and there they are, where they must have been hanging for the past fortnight ­ baggy, sagging a little in the elastic, but undeniably a collectors' item.

Many before me have seen his guns, his plans and his weaponry, but how many can claim to own the underwear of the world's most wanted man?

-- Anonymous, November 23, 2001


Yes Deb, except the wife was the one who did the renting. The premises were search [again] with a special emphasis on Anthrax, but none was found.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2001

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