Suicide (?) of Anthrax Investigation Scientist

[HackneyE9]

apparently he might have been a grade a nutjob and was undergoing therapy.

Maybe.

And maybe the smearing has started now he can't answer back or stand trial.

 

[HackneyE9]

To be fair they only say it may solve the mystery. In reality, even if the guy who topped himself was the only person involved, his suicide will ensure questions remain in the minds of some.

We were always likely to get an inadequate sense of closure on this one.

"To be fair" they also unthinkingly upgrade it to suicide in the intro, when what's happened is he's been found dead. Schoolboy error by the journalist.

 

[elbows]

"To be fair" they also unthinkingly upgrade it to suicide in the intro, when what's happened is he's been found dead. Schoolboy error by the journalist.

Well thats quite normal, unfortunately. Apparent suicide is sometimes cover for murder, but determining when this is the case is not very easy, and most journalists arent gonna bother trying. I cant say I blame them when it looks like a clearcut overdose, or when the family & friends of the deceased do not question the feasibility of suicide.

Meanwhile Daschle isnt satisfied with the FBI:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jK3ePTDtVA2aNAzOUN_AzsD8ScdgD92ATLVO2

 

[elbows]

OK looking into the 'smears' against the dead suspect, here are the main sources so far:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0801081anthrax1.html

http://www.startribune.com/nation/26212859.html

Duley: As far back as the year 2000, the respondent has actually attempted to murder several other people, either through poisoning — he is a revenge killer when he feels that he's been slighted or has had, especially towards women, he plots and actually tries to carry out revenge killing. He has been forensically diagnosed by several top psychiatrists as a sociopathic, homicidal killer.

Now then, if what Duley is saying is true, then it raises some rather large questions about the checks the US government do on that state of mind of employee's who are in sensitive positions. And why it took the FBI so long to charge him. And why he was allowed to be released from mental facilities before being charged. And why he wasnt already in jail for previous attempts at revenge killing.

 

[HackneyE9]

Before we go into it or disagree - isn't this a strange claim for a counsellor to make?:

Duley: As far back as the year 2000, the respondent has actually attempted to murder several other people, either through poisoning — he is a revenge killer when he feels that he's been slighted or has had, especially towards women, he plots and actually tries to carry out revenge killing

I mean "he is a revenge killer"? On the fact that he may have attempted to kill people.

 

[Darios]

It's really important to put this in the context of the previous smears against the previous suspect, Steven Hatfill. - see Greenwald's piece on this - scroll about 1/3rd of the way down to get onto the section regarding Hatfill.

Hatfill also had the advantage of still being alive to protest his innocence.

 

[elbows]

Well a lot of the files have been unsealed. Here is one particular document that seems to contain a rather large amount of detail about Dr Irvins:

http://www.usdoj.gov/amerithrax/07-524-M-01 attachment.pdf

Lots of snippets from emails from the man himself. Interesting stuff.

 

[DJ Squelch]

BBC link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7545398.stm

A US scientist who killed himself last week was the sole person responsible for the deadly anthrax attacks in 2001, new FBI papers allege.

Dr Bruce Ivins alone controlled flask RMR1029, used in the attack, could not account for unusual overtime in labs and issued death threats, the FBI says.

The anthrax-laced letters killed five people, made another 17 sick, and unsettled a nation traumatised by 9/11.

Dr Ivins, 62, died shortly after being told he was about to be charged.

The FBI had been under pressure since his death to reveal the details of the investigation and its papers were unsealed by a judge on Wednesday.

FBI director Robert Mueller briefed the victims and their families about the case before publication.

In a news conference later, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey Taylor, said: "We consider Dr Ivins was the sole person responsible for this attack."

Overdose

The papers say Dr Ivins had possession of anthrax spores with "certain genetic mutations identical" to those used in the sole deadly biological attack on US soil.



Attorney Jeffrey Taylor says Dr Bruce Ivins was the "sole suspect"
The letters were sent to media offices and politicians a few days after 9/11.

Mr Taylor said flask RMR1029 was "created and solely maintained" by Dr Ivins and that no-one could have had access to it without going through him.

Mr Taylor set out a number of other points of evidence against Dr Ivins, including:


He worked inordinate hours at night in the lab at the time of the attacks, could not account for the work and had not done similar overtime before or since
He sent a threatening email to a friend involved in the case and threatened in counselling sessions to kill people
He sent defective anthrax samples when taking part in the investigation into the attacks
He was a frequent writer to the media and often drove to other locations to disguise his identity as the sender of documents
Print defects in envelopes used in the attacks suggest they may have been bought at a post office in 2001 in Frederick, Maryland, where he had an account
After one search, he discarded a DNA coding book under surveillance
The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington says that although there is some hard scientific evidence, such as the flask, much of the case against Dr Ivins set out here is circumstantial.

Dr Ivins worked at the army biological weapons laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

The investigation initially centred on one of Dr Ivins's colleagues, Dr Steven Hatfill. He later sued the justice department and won a $5.82m (£2.94m) settlement this June.

 

[fela fan]

The bloody lies these government sorts put out.

"Mr Taylor said flask RMR1029 was "created and solely maintained" by Dr Ivins and that no-one could have had access to it without going through him."

Then it would have been easy as pie to know exactly who was responsible all along, right from the beginning.

Bullshit.

This man never killed himself in a month of sundays.

As for the family who don't complain, why would they too want to be 'suicided'?

 

[butchersapron]

A damning case you argue there fela.

 

[kyser_soze]

So do any of these links actually point to a paper trail of evidence, or is it an endless round of speculation with people mentioning Sibel because that's mandatory?

 

[rhod]

No autopsy? Hmmmmm.....nothing to see...."lone nut suicide"....move along now....

 

[MikeMcc]

Before we go into it or disagree - isn't this a strange claim for a counsellor to make?:

Duley: As far back as the year 2000, the respondent has actually attempted to murder several other people, either through poisoning — he is a revenge killer when he feels that he's been slighted or has had, especially towards women, he plots and actually tries to carry out revenge killing

I mean "he is a revenge killer"? On the fact that he may have attempted to kill people.

If these stories about him are true how on earth did he pass the security vetting that he would have had to go through to be able to work with Anthrax?

 

[fela fan]

A damning case you argue there fela.

Sarcasm aside, that was not my objective. I'm hardly an investigator on the case now am i...

Do remind yourself mate that different people have different reasons for posting.