[ME]: Anthrax update

["Robert J. Hansen" <rjhansen@xxxxxxxx>]

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On tonight's _Nightline_ (an American news TV program, for our
European members--a very serious news program, very well-respected,
one of the only TV news programs worth watching), it was disclosed
that the U.S. government has found that the anthrax definitely
originated in either the United States or Iraq.

Anthrax, by itself, is pretty harmless.  You have to bind the spores
to a powder base, and that powder has to be of a very precise
size--too large and it won't get into the lungs, too small and you'll
exhale it right out again.  The substrate which the anthrax rides on
can be as distinctive as the anthrax itself.  Tonight's _Nightline_
quoted US government officials (a Postal Inspector, if I remember
correctly) who said that the particular substrate had a chemical
which was only present in US, Russian and Iraqi anthrax stockpiles.

A couple of days ago, US officials conclusively ruled out Russian
anthrax strains on genetic grounds; the strain is not one which the
Russians ever developed for weaponization purposes.  (This isn't good
news, BTW.  The Russians declined to weaponize the Ames strain
because Ames simply wasn't lethal enough for them.  Cold comfort,
eh?)  Neither is it of US origin; all US weaponized anthrax was
destroyed by 1973 (source: www.fas.org).

By process of elimination--if the substrate is of Iraqi, American or
Russian origin, and if the bacterium is neither American nor
Russian--we get Iraq as the source of the anthrax that's going
through the United States.

*Please note that this information is still highly speculative*.  In
the last few weeks, the US has had an embarassing track record of
first saying one thing, then the next offering a "clarification". 
*If* the current intelligence regarding the anthrax is correct, then
we may conclude Iraqi origin of the anthrax--but that's a mighty big
if.



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