"The Dark Side, if you will..."

Clearly writing a book can be perilous to your health. The notorious D.C. madam who had the misfortune of naming Dick Cheney as one of her clients apparently found the potential seven figure deal she was likely to be offered for exposing the details in her little black book so overwhelming that she hanged herself.

Strange because: Palfrey wanted to make public the names of her clients. Meria Heller (meria.net), who interviewed Palfrey in July. Heller claims Palfrey was "vibrant and filled with future plans."

Similarly, David Kelly the British biological weapons expert was also planning on writing a book. He described what Judith Miller, (his undisclosed but longtime collaborator), said he called "Dark Actors" playing games within the Blair government when the pressure of it all suddenly drove him to end his life by severing his ulnar artery.

Paramedics volunteered that there was a surprisingly small amount of blood at the scene for an artery having been severed.

When the forensic pathologist (Dr. Nicholas Hunt) who performed the autopsy testified, he described copious amounts of blood at the scene. He also described scratches and bruises that Kelly 'stumbling around' in the heavy underbrush may have caused. He said there was no indication of a struggle or Kelly having been forcibly restrained.

However, the police made an extensive search of the area and found no indication of anyone, including Kelly, having been in the heavy underbrush.

Surprising Kelly would so end his life because as the Daily Express reports: Dr Kelly was intending to lift the lid on his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South Africa.

US television investigators have spent four years preparing a 90-minute documentary, Anthrax War, suggesting there is a global black market in anthrax and exposing the mystery “suicides” of five government germ warfare scientists from around the world.

Director Bob Coen: ‘‘The deeper you look into the murky world of governments and germ warfare, the more worrying it becomes. We have proved there is a black ­market in anthrax. David Kelly was of particular interest to us because he was a world expert on anthrax and he was involved in some degree with assisting the secret germ warfare programme in apartheid South Africa.”

Curious how guilt ridden the madam and the scientist became once they contemplated exposing the powerful.

Now just when the public was resigned to "move on" thirteen contemplative British doctors are claiming the esteemed Hutton inquiry into Kelly's death was an "utter sham". Apparently it is impossible to bleed to death simply by slicing one's ulnar artery.

But while the D.C. madam's death conveniently avoids causing powerful men embarrassment the silencing of Dr. Kelly suggests there are indeed extremely dark forces contemplating very dark deeds.

Apartheid South Africa had an extensive biological warfare program, code-named Project Coast.
Anthrax was a key focus in Project Coast, genetically modified to make it incurable by any conventional vaccine.

The arsenal also included plague, salmonella and botulism, as well as antidotes for many of the diseases. The weapons were usually modified and packaged in a way that avoided traditional detection mechanisms. The original intent was that this stealth would aid in assassination efforts against opponents of the government, particularly in the black community.

Which makes this fleeting headline from January: Black Death Strikes Al Qaeda camp in Algeria, suddenly much more worrying.

Truthiness, Death and Evidence

On Monday, October 27, 2008 Joby Warrick of the Washington Post wrote:
"Trail of Odd Anthrax Cells Led FBI to Army Scientist"
"The anthrax poisoning case against Bruce Ivins won't be made in court, but it is compelling, the FBI says. Although the late Army scientist's lawyer dismisses the case as “heaps of innuendo,” federal records reveal a far-reaching, exhaustive investigation that required newly invented technology and depended on mutant bacteria.

It took the experienced eye of a career scientist to notice that the strain of anthrax used in the 2001 attacks had strange properties. While most batches have one mutation or none, this one had five, indicating someone had painstakingly cultivated it. Though dozens had access to Ivins' secret stash of that strain, only he had the skills to prepare it, investigators say.

The FBI's bold conclusion had come in response to suspicions voiced by Senator Leahy and several other members of Congress that Ivins was not the only culprit.

Washington Post, Thursday, September 18, 2008; Page A18
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy(D-Vt.) yesterday broke a years-long public silence about the anthrax-mailing case to cast doubt on the FBI's assertion that a bioweapons researcher acted as the lone culprit in the deadly attacks.

The Senator's skepticism was bewailed by Ed Montooth, the FBI special agent in charge of the anthrax investigation and who described the evidence against Bruce Ivins as "overwhelming". Montooth responded to Ivins' "suicide" by saying: "We were truly disgusted after we knew he had killed himself, because we knew the only way we'd have justice was to be in court."

One would think that with all the non-stop hype surrounding 9-11 that the T.V. news mavens would be breathlessly covering the story that had everything-- a potential deadly attack on sitting U.S. senators, a dead FBI scientist and a convenient yet mysterious suicide. But the T.V. chattering heads could barely hide their disinterest.

From CNN and MSNBC to the big three broadcast networks few offered more than sporadic seconds to the anthrax investigation. In fact a viewer of CNN or MSNBC the day after the FBI/DOJ presented their initial "evidence" fingering Ivins would have seen and heard no mention of the anthrax story. Which we now know was not only flimsy but perhaps a complete fabrication.

Source: The Raw Story
Poisonous anthrax that killed five Americans in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks doesn't match bacteria from a flask linked to Bruce Ivins, the researcher who committed suicide after being implicated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a scientist said.

Spores used in the deadly mailings ``share a chemical 'fingerprint' that is not found in the flask linked to Bruce Ivins,'' wrote Roberta Kwok citing Joseph Michael, a scientist at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Michael analyzed letters sent to the New York Post and offices of Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, and found a distinct "chemical signature" not present in the flask known as RMR-1029, which Ivins could access in his laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

``Spores from two of those show a distinct chemical signature that includes silicon, oxygen, iron, and tin; the third letter had silicon, oxygen, iron and possibly also tin,'' Kwok wrote. ``Bacteria from Ivins' RMR-1029 flask did not contain any of those four elements.''

[Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Anthrax_spores_dont_match...]

Sheila Casey points the finger at the NYTimes for pushing the FBI's fraudulent case against Ivins. Dissident voice, Sheila Casey, February 26th, 2009

Back in 2001, just months after the anthrax attacks that killed five people, several articles came out in mainstream newspapers that pointed clearly to the CIA and Army as the most likely sources of the weaponized anthrax. Articles in The Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald, Washington Post and New York Times laid out the facts that incriminated Battelle Memorial Labs in West Jefferson, Ohio, and the Army’s lab at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah as the only logical sources for the anthrax. These facts, as reported in 2001, include:

1. For over a decade, Army scientists at Dugway have been making weapons-grade anthrax that is “virtually identical” to the anthrax used in the attacks.

2. The anthrax used in the 2001 attacks was extremely concentrated, with a trillion spores per gram. The Dugway anthrax had a similar concentration.

3. The FBI was increasingly focused on US government bioweapons research programs as the source of the deadly anthrax.

4. Both the lab in Utah and the lab in Ohio received anthrax samples from the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, although USAMRIID deals only with wet anthrax and ships it wet.

5. The investigation was focused on the Dugway anthrax, and Dugway was described as the only facility that was known to be weaponizing anthrax.

6. One FBI official said that the CIA’s anthrax was “the best lead we have at this point.”

7. Army officials said that Fort Detrick did not have the equipment for weaponizing anthrax.

The FBI has never explained what became of this initial focus on the labs in Utah and Ohio. Instead, after the death of Fort Detrick anthrax researcher Bruce Ivins in July, 2008, the FBI attempted to make the case that Ivins was the murderer and all other suspects had been cleared of suspicion.

"The FBI has never explained what became of this initial focus on the labs in Utah and Ohio. Instead, after the death of Fort Detrick anthrax researcher Bruce Ivins in July 2008, the FBI attempted to make the case that Ivins was the murderer and all other suspects had been cleared of suspicion.

Since Ivins’ death, the media have, with very few exceptions, passively swallowed the line dispensed by the FBI, and have acted as little more than stenographers in parroting the hollow arguments presented by the FBI that Ivins is guilty.

On December 12, 2001, The Baltimore Sun published a seminal article by Scott Shane that clearly laid out just how strong the evidence was against the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Subtitled “Organisms made at a military laboratory in Utah are genetically identical to those mailed to members of Congress,” Shane’s article also includes this eyebrow-raising line: “Scientists familiar with the anthrax program at Dugway described it to The Sun on the condition that they not be named.”

Casey concludes: "Apparently (NYTimes journalist), Shane has forgotten all that he reported seven years ago. Now with The New York Times, Shane’s latest piece, published January 4, 2009, raises troubling questions about the independence of The Times, and the memory hole that Shane must have used to shunt away all that he once knew about the case the FBI code-named Amerithrax.

All of which at best adds up to say that when the press and members of Congress are feeling intimidated by a government's "Executive Power" (let us not forget that along with Leahy and other high profile Democratic senators-- Tom Brokaw, NBC and the NYPost also received the deadly letters) the Truth is most likely to die in its crib, a scorned and unwanted orphan.

The Anthrax Mystery (updated 8/5/08)

"On the night of the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House Medical Office dispensed Cipro to staff accompanying Vice President Dick Cheney as he was secreted off to the safety of Camp David, and told them it was "a precaution," according to one person directly involved."

The story literally disappears until Newsweek mentions it in passing in a profile of Cheney from 2006. The article claims that "knowledgeable former officials" had recently revealed that a "mysterious letter" had turned up at the vice president's mansion three weeks after 9/11. Except, as Judicial Watch notes in its suit against the White House it had been widely reported that Cheney and his staff had received their doses immediately after the attacks.

Now with a new administration looming we learn that "one of the nation's top biodefense researchers has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailing"

"Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who for the past 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Md., had been informed of the impending prosecution, people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and with the FBI investigation said.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after having ingested a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague who declined to be identified out of concern, he said, that he would be harassed by the FBI."

The death -- without any mention of suicide -- was announced to Ivins' colleagues at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, through a staffwide e-mail.

Suddenly a string of baffling murders that seemed impossible to solve is put to rest with barely a question.

This is how the AP reports the response of the victims:

"Closure for families of anthrax attack victims"

But is that assertion even close to the truth? Let's see what a few local papers are reporting about the victims' reactions: "There is no closure " Burrus said. "It's still an open issue. If the government decides to go forward with a complete review of the evidence and a final decision as to who was responsible, we'll weigh that as it's presented."

Survivor Patrick O'Donnell: "It seems like it just never ends," he said. "This is the last thing I wanted to hear. I do not want to say anything bad. This [Ivins] family is going through enough."

For reasons that appear more and more disturbing ever since November of 2000, the Associated Press, like the Washington Post and the NYTimes, feels free to concoct a story that is fundamentally backwards.

How does Ivins committing suicide square with the rest of his story.

Anthrax slip-ups raise fears about planned biolabs

"Bruce Ivins was troubled by the dust, dirt and clutter on his officemate's desk, and not just because it looked messy. He suspected the dust was laced with anthrax.

In 2001, a scientist opens a letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy that contained anthrax.
And he was in a position to know. Ivins, a biodefense expert, and his officemate were deeply involved in Operation Noble Eagle — the government's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans and the anthrax attacks that killed five more less than a month later.

It was December 2001. Ivins, an authority on anthrax, was one of the handful of researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md., who prepared spores of the deadly bacteria to test anthrax vaccines in animals. He knew enough to grow alarmed when his officemate complained, as she had frequently of late, about sloppy handling of samples coming into the lab that could be tainted with anthrax.

"I swabbed approximately 20 areas of (her) desk, including the telephone computer and desktop," Ivins later reported to Army investigators. Half of the samples, he found, "were suspicious for anthrax," betraying the clumpy brown appearance of anthrax colonies under a microscope."

"If he in fact was the correct person, he was actually put in charge of analyzing the evidence of his own crime," said ABC News consultant Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent who worked on the anthrax case until his retirement from the bureau last year.

"All of the scientists there who worked with us were supposed to have been investigated and given polygraph tests," Garrett said....

Friends there say he [Ivins]was well known to be susceptible to deep depression and was concerned he would be falsely linked to the anthrax attacks.

"They took an innocent man, a distinguished scientist, and smeared his reputation, dishonored him, questioned his children and drove him to take his life," said one outraged colleague, who asked that his named not be used for fear "the FBI will come after me."

Why the Cover-Up?

If the FBI was truly interested in a criminal investigation it would have had to ask the primary question -- cui bono?

September 1998-- A small government lab in Michigan developing an anthrax vaccine is bought for $24.8 million by a secretive group calling themselves BioPort. These investors include George Bush Sr, James Baker III, and Frank Carlucci under the name of the Carlyle Group. It also includes Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., former chair of the joint chiefs of staff under Reagan who also served as US ambassador to Britain under President Clinton. According to Maj. Glenn MacDonald USAR, Crowe abetted the sale of anthrax to Saddam Hussein in the hopes Iraq would use the deadly disease against Iran.

A major stockholder is Fuad El-Hibri, a man known to be close with the wealthy bin Ladens. El-Hibri became BioPort's CEO. El-Hibri ran a vaccine manufacturing company called Porton Products International of Porton Down in the 1990's, located in the UK. One of the anthrax strains originating from Ft. Detrick and related to the isolates used in the anthrax attacks is called the Porton strain for the Porton lab. Timothy Read, provides evidence that a potential route for the anthrax that ended up in the 2001 attacks was via Porton Down.

Later that Sept-- BioPort wins a contract from the Dept. of Defense worth $45 million to produce an anthrax vaccine. The DOD agrees to pay three times the cost of the original contract, upping payment for vaccine from $3.50 a dose to $10 a dose.

November of '98-- Crowe and Bush, Sr. travel to Saudi Arabia where they meet with members of the bin Laden family.

Between 1997 and Oct of 2001-- BioPort repeatedly fails to pass FDA inspections. These inspections were termed by experts to be "an unmitigated disaster," expose contamination, sloppy record-keeping and careless procedures.

March 1999-- testimony presented to Congress reveals the company's sordid history, an Army cover-up of negative responses elicits questions about the anthrax vaccine. Over 50 adverse symptoms are substantially linked to the subjects of the vaccine regimen. The report also reveals that the ONLY veterans of the first Gulf War not displaying symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome were the French -the LONE population among Gulf War soldiers who did not receive the vaccine.

Gulf War vets appeal to Congress
February 17, 2000-- Congressional report recommends terminating anthrax vaccine program due to BioPort's mismanagement and injury reports.

July, 2000-- Congressional hearings are held on BioPort which reveal that the company has engaged in Enron-style accounting, manipulating earnings projections and drawing secret funds directly from the Pentagon violating official recommendations.

November, 2000-- The Hartford Courant reports that BioPort has failed to track deadly reactions in people receiving its anthrax vaccine, including deaths. Approximately 1,200 servicemen and women have had severe reactions, with some deaths traceable to the vaccine. US Rep. Chris Shays of Ct. accuses BioPort of indifference

July 2001-- FDA gives BioPort the go-ahead to use quarantined lots of anthrax vaccine on the public in the event of an attack -giving the company carte blanche to dump questionable, perhaps dangerous vaccines onto the public.

August 2001-- News leaks that the White House has started passing out Cipro to staff. Recipients include both George Bush and Dick Cheney.

September 2001-- the Associated Press suggests that Battelle Memorial Institute in West Jefferson, Ohio is engaged in a secret project in which "a new and highly lethal strain of anthrax" was being developed at its labs. Meanwhile Battelle hires anthrax expert, William C. Patrick III, to test the possibility of mailing powdered anthrax through the post. Battelle is said to have a "working relationship" with BioPort.

September 20, 2001-- The first anthrax attack kills photographer Robert Stevens in Florida.

October 2001-- BioPort fails another FDA inspection.

October 2001-- Bush sends the national guard to "protect" BioPort 24/7. No such protection is provided for nuclear power plants or other facilities engaged in biological warfare research.

October 2001-- Donald Rumsfeld presses to get BioPort approved despite FDA objections

November 2001-- Manuals from BioPort are discovered in an Al Qaeda hideout in Afghanistan -the report promptly disappears from the mainstream news within hours.

January 2002-- Bush administration gives BioPort go-ahead to begin shipping anthrax vaccine.

Given these facts lets ask the hard questions:

1) why was Ivins, presumably a prime suspect, put in charge of the anthrax investigation?

2) Why did ABC consistently report the White House's false claim that the anthrax strain had conclusively come from Saddam Hussein?

3) Why of all his targets would Ivins' first victim be the very Florida photographer who just happened to have snapped embarrassing pictures of Bush's daughters?

4) And how did a homicidal psychopath under psychiatric treatment manage to retain his top security clearance in a bio-weapons lab?

5) And just how does a first-year social worker with an associate's degree learn the details of a terrorism case before it even makes it to a grand jury-- and why is she in hiding?

Interestingly, it would not be first time an insider ended up committing "suicide" after running foul of Rumsfeld and Cheney. The circumstances surrounding Olsen's death are eerily similar.

For twenty-two years, the only information the Olsons had was that, a week prior to Frank Olson’s death, he had returned home in a depressed mood from a meeting at a mountain retreat with Camp Detrick colleagues. He said that “something bad’ had happened at the meeting, but he would tell his wife, Alice, only that ’I made a terrible mistake.” Olson left for the office on Monday morning expressing doubts about his work and planning to resign. The next thing Alice Olson knew, her husband had been sent to New York, ostensibly to see a psychiatrist.

Four days later, his mood had improved and he was eager to come home the following day. But six hours later he plunged to his death from a window on the thirteenth floor of the Hotel Statler (now the Hotel Pennsylvania), across Seventh Avenue from Pennsylvania Station.

In 1975, as this information was exposed, the government paid $750,000 restitution to Army biochemist Dr. Frank Olson's family, after admitting the CIA slipped Dr. Olson LSD days before his 1953 fall from a New York City building. When the Ford administration finally came clean, they promised they'd revealed everything. Yet key officials, including White House aides Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, pushed to continue to conceal information. "The family has learned that the Ford administration was keeping information from the family," the Baltimore Sun reported in 2002. "Among those who advocated keeping quiet were Dick Cheney and Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the vice president and defense secretary, the Olsons learned from memos and other papers received last year from the Gerald R. Ford Library."

Perhaps one day when we've finally exposed a few of the disinformation specialists infecting our news media we will learn the truth.*

*Latest: Bruce Ivins Wasn't the Anthrax Culprit