Thursday, April 22, 2010

OPINION: Anthrax letters: Was Bruce Ivins hounded to death?/ UPI

Op-Ed piece by Col. Lawrence Sellin, Ret.
...Reinforced by a number of armchair detectives from academia, the FBI produced a profile of the anthrax mailer who was described as a lone person living within the United States, who had experience working in labs and was smart enough to produce a highly refined and deadly product.  He is a non-confrontational person, at least in his public life. He lacks the personal skills necessary to confront others. He chooses to confront his problems "long distance" and not face-to-face. He may hold grudges for a long time, vowing that he will get even with "them" one day and prefers being by himself more often than not.

In other words, Ted Kaczynski with germs...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it seems it isn't only the generals who fight the last war: federal investigators also try to shoe-horn the personal characteristics of the last major culprit they dealt with into the present unsolved case.

That said, the profile might not be TOO far wrong. It is just a shame that no one noticed how little this profile applies to Bruce Ivins:

1)a)Kaczynski lived in a shack in rural Montana, a hermit.

b) Ivins worked, on a daily basis, with several, if not several dozen, scientist-colleagues at USAMRIID, many on a daily basis and lived with his wife and children in Fredrick. He was active in his church and was a (?Red Cross?) volunteer. Some hermit.

2)a) Kaczynski had dropped out of society DECADES before his apprehension. He had abandoned his career as a professor of mathematics.

b)Ivins had had a very successful career prior to September of 2001 and seemed to bear no grudge against society.

3)a) Kaczynski had (has?) an odd, perhaps idiosyncratic anti-technology ideology.

b) Ivins' politics seem to have been strictly mainstream.

etc.

Ellen Byrne said...

Of course he was hounded as was Dr. Hatfill: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36565308/ns/today-today_people/