Maine Owl

What was the source of the REAL anthrax Iraq DID possess?

Obviously the terror-inducing U.S. anthrax attacks during the fall of 2001 fit in nicely with what the U.S. was doing to portray Iraq as the most dangerous regime in the world. Here's President Bush whipping up hysteria concerning Iraq and bioweapons on October 7, 2002 in his famous Cincinnati speech, given as he was pressuring Congress to pass the Iraq War Resolution:

President Bush: ... the regime was forced to admit that it had produced more than 30,000 liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents. The inspectors, however, concluded that Iraq had likely produced two to four times that amount. This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions. ...

We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States. And, of course, sophisticated delivery systems aren't required for a chemical or biological attack; all that might be required are a small container and one terrorist or Iraqi intelligence operative to deliver it. ...

Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists. Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints. ...

Now, news about the investigation into the October 2001 "anthrax by mail" attacks in the U.S. is hot again after the death by suicide of the latest FBI candidate for the culprit, another scientist within the U.S. military's own bioweapons program. The latest is that the suspect, the late Bruce Ivins, was some kind of whacko with an obsession with a college sorority.

Glenn Greenwald has been all over this story, with several posts focusing on media contributions that helped President Bush falsely pin the anthrax threat on Iraq. Greenwald has his doubts about Ivins's guilt. THIS Democracy Now! segment suggests that the case should be far from closed, despite Ivins's suicide.

As Greenwald suggests, "extreme skepticism" should be the rule when dealing with any government or media claim concerning anthrax. I agree. Why might certain U.S. authorities want to keep the lid on the truth and the public diverted and confused? Perhaps it is because the U.S. itself, along with the U.K. have plenty to keep covered up. Both were key enablers of Iraq's actual bioweapons program during the 1980s.

Is there any evidence for this assertion? Yes. My old site carries an essential 2005 white paper on the subject written by contributor Geoffrey Holland. It is accessible HERE. Holland traces strains of anthrax shipped to Iraq through many decades of U.S. and U.K. bioweapons research, concluding "that the anthrax threat from Iraq, a repeatedly cited reason for the 2003 invasion of that country, actually originated from a dead cow in South Oxfordshire" in the U.K.

Holland argues that the "United States breached the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) by supplying warfare-related biological materials to Iraq during the 1980s" and should be sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council. Holland campaigned in the U.K. on this issue for several years, eventually garnering over 100 sponsors for a Parliamentary resolution demanding such a referral.

Today Juan Cole has more: "Bush Pressured FBI to Blame al-Qaeda for Anthrax", along with a fascinating item about how the notion that Iraq was anthrax central propagated through the U.S. media, even on entertainment shows and with the help of none other than John McCain.