There is a new panel report (pdf) that looks at the psychological makeup of the anthrax suspect.
A panel of psychiatrists who studied the medical records of Bruce E. Ivins found that the F.B.I.’s case that he mailed the anthrax letters in 2001 was persuasive, and that Dr. Ivins’s decades-long history of mental problems should have disqualified the Army microbiologist from getting a security clearance or working with dangerous pathogens.
Since there will be no trial for Dr. Ivins, who killed himself in 2008 as prosecutors prepared to charge him, the independent panel’s review of all the F.B.I.’s investigative documents may be the closest the case will come to being decided.
Next they will bring in a panel of psychics. Why do they even bother trying to legitimize their findings? No one cares. I don’t think they solved the case. They might have identified the right guy. But I don’t think they’re really sure. All I know is that my mail-sorting center was knocked out of service for over a year and I was told to wave my mail around outside to disperse any potential spores before I brought it inside my house. When someone sends a biological weapon through your mail system, you tend to take it personally. Whoever did it didn’t care whether they killed me or not. I remember stuff like that.
But I feel like I’m the last person in America who still gives a damn about solving the anthrax crime. I bet they could come out tomorrow with an entirely different story, with a different suspect, and the response would be a collective yawn.
