Watch the Fix

After the first appearances of anthrax at NBC television and the New York Times 10 days ago, sections of the US intelligence community, politicians and experts in the field were quick to see the hand of Saddam Hussein. First among them was the former CIA head, James Woolsey.

-21 October 2001, FOCUS SPECIAL: The Terrorism Crisis: OUTBREAK: So who is terrorising America with anthrax?”, by Ed Vulliamy and Ed Helmore in New York, The Observer.

The next day:

To strengthen Saddam’s position in the Arab world during his 1998 crisis with the U.N., bin Laden established the “World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders.” The Muslim-in-name Iraqi dictator reciprocated by promising secure refuge in Iraq for bin Laden and his key lieutenants if they were forced to flee Afghanistan.

Bin Laden sent a delegation of his top Al Qaeda terrorists to Baghdad on April 25, 1998, to attend the grand celebration that week of Saddam’s birthday. It was then that Saddam’s bloody-minded son Uday agreed to receive several hundred Al Qaeda recruits for terrorist training in techniques unavailable in Afghanistan.

That Baghdad birthday party, according to an unpublished spying report, celebrated something else: Uday Hussein’s agreement with bin Laden’s men to formally establish a joint force consisting of some of Al Qaeda’s fiercest “Afghan Arab” fighters and the covert combatants in Iraqi intelligence unit 999.

-22 October 2001, “Advance the Story”, by William Safire, New York Times.

12 Comments

BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 10:10 am

oh here we go again!!!!! that man should be tried for treason. he is getting to the point I want to puke. all the filthy shit that keeps coming out of his mouth is definately vile and putrid.

BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 10:13 am

Oh and by the way, have we all forgotten this is the same woolsey who signed on the NAC, neocon thingeeee…and he is from the fixer side of the CIA too boot. now ask me if I would believe him if the sky was coming down….

Dean Pajevic on June 18, 2005 at 10:23 am

What a load of baloney!

Fetch me my straw!

BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 10:27 am

we’re going to have to wire your jaw shut, so it stops hitting the table 🙂

BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 11:32 am

to me, America has got to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time and that means to me that we have to begin a draging of the river for the corpes of the ones who fried their own brains on the bad stuff…:o) They[ thoe administraton and the nowcons] actually believe their own shit…and have gotten by with it..what a group of radical shits.

BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 11:34 am

Susan, hesleforth the comment of McGovern on the meetings thing….I think,, once it all comes out in the wash we will be all with our jaws dropped and frctured…:o)

Time Waits for no Woman on June 18, 2005 at 12:13 pm

in that piece by Safire? Just wondering. From the vantage point of today it sounds all made up.

BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 12:30 pm

No. Not one word of it is true. None of it. And Safire didn’t make it up. He was given that information by someone. Who?

Not CIA. Not state. It’s either Rummy’s guys, or straight into the VP’s office.
- afew on June 18, 2005 at 2:27 pm
  
  Or maybe William didn’t need a source, he’s a big boy all on his own.
  
  But who were The Observer’s journalists listening to?
  
  David Rose and Ed Vulliamy, New York
  Sunday October 14, 2001
  
  Observer
  
  (snip)
  
  Leading US intelligence sources, involved with both the CIA and the Defence Department, told The Observer that the ‘giveaway’ which suggests a state sponsor for the anthrax cases is that the victims in Florida were afflicted with the airborne form of the disease.
  
  ‘Making anthrax, on its own, isn’t so difficult,’ one senior US intelligence source said. ‘But it only begins to become effective as a biological weapon if they can be made the right size to breathe in. If you can’t get airborne infectivity, you can’t use it as a weapon. That is extremely difficult. There is very little leeway. Most spores are either too big to be suspended in air, or too small to lodge on the lining of the lungs.’
  
  (snip)
  
  In liquid form, anthrax is useless – droplets would fall to the ground, rather than staying suspended in the air to be breathed by victims. Making powder needs repeated washings in huge centrifuges, followed by intensive drying, which requires sealed environments. The technology would cost millions.
  
  US intelligence believes Iraq has the technology and supplies of anthrax suitable for terrorist use. ‘They aren’t making this stuff in caves in Afghanistan,’ the CIA source said. ‘This is prima facie evidence of the involvement of a state intelligence agency. Maybe Iran has the capability. But it doesn’t look likely politically. That leaves Iraq.’
  
  Scientists investigating the attacks say the bacteria used is similar to the ‘Ames strain’ of anthrax originally cultivated at Iowa State University in the 1950s and later given to labs throughout the world, including Iraq.
  
  (snip)
  
  It was confirmed yesterday that Jim Woolsey, CIA director from 1993 to 1996, recently visited London on behalf of the hawkish Defence Department to ‘firm up’ other evidence of Iraqi involvement in 11 September.
  
  Some observers fear linking Saddam to the terrorist attacks is part of an agenda being driven by US hawks eager to broaden the war to include Iraq, a move being resisted by the British government.
  
  The hawks winning the ear of President Bush is assembled around Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, and a think tank, the Defence Policy Advisory Board, dubbed the ‘Wolfowitz cabal’.
  
  Their strategy to target Iraq was hammered out at a two-day seminar in September, of which the dovish Secretary of State Colin Powell had no knowledge.
  
  (snip)
  
  Administration officials close to the group told The Observer : ‘We see this war as one against the virus of terrorism. If you have bone marrow cancer, it’s not enough to just cut off the patient’s foot. You have to do the complete course of chemotherapy. And if that means embarking on the next Hundred Years’ War, that’s what we’re doing.’
  
  Note that This is prima facie evidence of the involvement of a state intelligence agency.
  
  I’m not sure what to think of that.
  - BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 3:15 pm
    
    evidence. But since the anthrax has been traced back to our own secure labs, it is not clear what state intelligence agency is could be besides one of our own.
    
    Of course, an operation like the anthrax one could easily be carried out without the knowledge or authority of one of our intelligence agencies, but it still would require someone with significant security clearances, and a ton of balls.
    
    Three things make the anthrax scare suspicious. The timing, the attempt to pin it on Saddam by Woolsey, and the lack of a serious investigation.

bood abides on June 18, 2005 at 12:35 pm

You mean all these years I thought it was William ‘Satire’…?”

Aw, man… how embarrassking…

Gooserock on June 18, 2005 at 4:57 pm

–William Safire

BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 10:10 am

oh here we go again!!!!! that man should be tried for treason. he is getting to the point I want to puke. all the filthy shit that keeps coming out of his mouth is definately vile and putrid.
BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 10:13 am

Oh and by the way, have we all forgotten this is the same woolsey who signed on the NAC, neocon thingeeee…and he is from the fixer side of the CIA too boot. now ask me if I would believe him if the sky was coming down….
Dean Pajevic on June 18, 2005 at 10:23 am

What a load of baloney!

Fetch me my straw!
- BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 10:27 am
  
  we’re going to have to wire your jaw shut, so it stops hitting the table 🙂
BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 11:32 am

to me, America has got to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time and that means to me that we have to begin a draging of the river for the corpes of the ones who fried their own brains on the bad stuff…:o) They[ thoe administraton and the nowcons] actually believe their own shit…and have gotten by with it..what a group of radical shits.
BrendaStewart on June 18, 2005 at 11:34 am

Susan, hesleforth the comment of McGovern on the meetings thing….I think,, once it all comes out in the wash we will be all with our jaws dropped and frctured…:o)
Time Waits for no Woman on June 18, 2005 at 12:13 pm

in that piece by Safire? Just wondering. From the vantage point of today it sounds all made up.
- BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 12:30 pm
  
  No. Not one word of it is true. None of it. And Safire didn’t make it up. He was given that information by someone. Who?
  
  Not CIA. Not state. It’s either Rummy’s guys, or straight into the VP’s office.
  - afew on June 18, 2005 at 2:27 pm
    
    Or maybe William didn’t need a source, he’s a big boy all on his own.
    
    But who were The Observer’s journalists listening to?
    
    David Rose and Ed Vulliamy, New York
    Sunday October 14, 2001
    
    Observer
    
    (snip)
    
    Leading US intelligence sources, involved with both the CIA and the Defence Department, told The Observer that the ‘giveaway’ which suggests a state sponsor for the anthrax cases is that the victims in Florida were afflicted with the airborne form of the disease.
    
    ‘Making anthrax, on its own, isn’t so difficult,’ one senior US intelligence source said. ‘But it only begins to become effective as a biological weapon if they can be made the right size to breathe in. If you can’t get airborne infectivity, you can’t use it as a weapon. That is extremely difficult. There is very little leeway. Most spores are either too big to be suspended in air, or too small to lodge on the lining of the lungs.’
    
    (snip)
    
    In liquid form, anthrax is useless – droplets would fall to the ground, rather than staying suspended in the air to be breathed by victims. Making powder needs repeated washings in huge centrifuges, followed by intensive drying, which requires sealed environments. The technology would cost millions.
    
    US intelligence believes Iraq has the technology and supplies of anthrax suitable for terrorist use. ‘They aren’t making this stuff in caves in Afghanistan,’ the CIA source said. ‘This is prima facie evidence of the involvement of a state intelligence agency. Maybe Iran has the capability. But it doesn’t look likely politically. That leaves Iraq.’
    
    Scientists investigating the attacks say the bacteria used is similar to the ‘Ames strain’ of anthrax originally cultivated at Iowa State University in the 1950s and later given to labs throughout the world, including Iraq.
    
    (snip)
    
    It was confirmed yesterday that Jim Woolsey, CIA director from 1993 to 1996, recently visited London on behalf of the hawkish Defence Department to ‘firm up’ other evidence of Iraqi involvement in 11 September.
    
    Some observers fear linking Saddam to the terrorist attacks is part of an agenda being driven by US hawks eager to broaden the war to include Iraq, a move being resisted by the British government.
    
    The hawks winning the ear of President Bush is assembled around Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, and a think tank, the Defence Policy Advisory Board, dubbed the ‘Wolfowitz cabal’.
    
    Their strategy to target Iraq was hammered out at a two-day seminar in September, of which the dovish Secretary of State Colin Powell had no knowledge.
    
    (snip)
    
    Administration officials close to the group told The Observer : ‘We see this war as one against the virus of terrorism. If you have bone marrow cancer, it’s not enough to just cut off the patient’s foot. You have to do the complete course of chemotherapy. And if that means embarking on the next Hundred Years’ War, that’s what we’re doing.’
    
    Note that This is prima facie evidence of the involvement of a state intelligence agency.
    
    I’m not sure what to think of that.
    - BooMan on June 18, 2005 at 3:15 pm
      
      evidence. But since the anthrax has been traced back to our own secure labs, it is not clear what state intelligence agency is could be besides one of our own.
      
      Of course, an operation like the anthrax one could easily be carried out without the knowledge or authority of one of our intelligence agencies, but it still would require someone with significant security clearances, and a ton of balls.
      
      Three things make the anthrax scare suspicious. The timing, the attempt to pin it on Saddam by Woolsey, and the lack of a serious investigation.
bood abides on June 18, 2005 at 12:35 pm

You mean all these years I thought it was William ‘Satire’…?”

Aw, man… how embarrassking…
Gooserock on June 18, 2005 at 4:57 pm

–William Safire

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