Saturday, October 8, 2011

UW Professors: Accused Anthrax Killer Couldn’t Have Done It

 From the University of Wyoming:
...  "The scientific evidence clearly shows that the (anthrax) wasn't produced in our laboratory (USAMRIID)," the two UW professors say. "The FBI based part of its case on unusual activity that took place in our lab for one week. There is no way he could produce that amount of spores in our lab during that time."
Other independent laboratories couldn't produce anthrax under similar lab conditions, and the FBI could not recreate the attack strain, Adamovicz says.
"The FBI's own evidence suggested a more advanced laboratory produced it," he says...

8 comments:

Ed Lake said...

The headline should be: Bruce Ivins' friends again say he couldn't have done it.

The two "UW Professors" are Jeffery J. Adamovicz and Gerry Andrews. Adamovicz was Ivins best friend at USAMRIID, and Andrews was Ivins' boss for a period of time.

They're basically just repeating the same argument that they've always had: There's no way the powders could have been made at USAMRIID, because that would mean Ivins made the powders right under their noses, and they didn't realize it.

Ed

Ed Lake said...

Oops. I wrote that Adamovicz was Ivins' best friend. He was just a friend. Ivins' "best" friend (male) seems to have been Henry Heine.

Sorry about that.

Ed

Seattle Reader said...

What a horrible accusation to make, Ed Lake, against these two scientists. They have stated unequivocally that it would not have been possible. Your suggestion is that they are rationalizing and covering up for themselves and their friend. This is a mass murder we are talking about.

Anonymous said...

Someone actually reads Ed Lake's posts?!

AnthraxSleuth said...

10th Anniversary, maybe I'll get my least favorite neighbor to get my mail today.

Here is a little something to roll around in your head.

http://admin-somthingstrange.blogspot.com/

--Snip
"The known letters in the first batch letters were sent to NBC (Tom Brokaw) and the NY Post newspaper. The other three are thought to have been mailed to ABC, CBS and American Media.

The second batch has only ever been mentioned as two envelopes. One to Leahy and one to Daschle. That leaves three extra (unknown) envelopes. And three additional politicians with trace amounts of anthrax found in their office.

So, what does this mean? I have no clue. But I do wonder why the other 3 were sort of swept under the rug?"

--

So what happened to the other 3?
Answer is in the comments.

Ed Lake said...

Seattle Reader wrote: "They have stated unequivocally that it would not have been possible."

That's probably because they don't know how to do it. So, they think it's impossible.

Other scientists who know how to do it say it's easy.

Bruce Ivins himself pointed the finger at seven different people at or formerly at USAMRIID who he felt could have made the powders. He didn't include Adamovicz or Andrews on that list, but Ivins included two of his own assistants: Mara Linscott and Pat Fellows.

Ivins had all the time, experience and equipment to do it. Other scientists told me they could do it with the equipment Ivins had. The government has experts who are willing to testify and demonstrate that Ivins could have done it with the equipment he had.

And, Ivins had plenty of time, too. Adamovicz and Andrews create a fictional time limit. In reality, the facts suggest that Ivins was collecting spores for over a year before he used them in the anthrax attacks. Deadly spores may even have been part of a BOMB MAKING SCHEME Ivins told his psychiatrist about more than a year before the attacks.

Ed

Seattle Reader said...

So, if Ivins pointed the finger, as we say, at so many of his co-workers, do we have the data on who his co-workers may have pointed the finger at? I understand that FBI was asking everyone to point fingers, in fact may have persuaded them even if they were not originally inclined to do so. Nasty bit of business, there. Asking people to turn in their co-workers and acquaintances on suspicion alone has come up an uncomfortable number of times in the past decade in many contexts. Who else besides Nancy Haigwood and Bruce Ivins, named names? I would guess a lot of people did.

Ed Lake said...

Seattle Reader wrote: "Who else besides Nancy Haigwood and Bruce Ivins, named names? I would guess a lot of people did."

The facts seem to indicate that inside USAMRIID, since it was a military installation, most people thought that al Qaeda was behind the attacks - and they still believe that. Later in the investigation, several of Ivins colleagues and former colleagues became convinced Ivins was the anthrax mailer. One of them even wore a wire at a meeting in a coffee shop where she tried to get Ivins to admit that he sent the anthrax letters. (He didn't admit it, he just said that, if he did it, he didn't remember doing it.)

Outside of USAMRIID, the FBI got thousands of tips. We know that Barbara Hatch Rosenberg and at least 7 others pointed at Steven Hatfill. There are people on this forum who have pointed at other people. I've exchanged emails with people who believed that a music producer in Hollywood did it, the mayor of Galveston, Texas, did it, and that Judy Miller, William Broad and another author of the book "Germs" did it, because their book came out at the same time as the attacks. Others have identified other authors of books as the likely culprit.

Nancy Haigwood is unique in that she appears to be the only person who pointed at the actual anthrax mailer early in the investigation.

One of Ivins' psychiatrists also thought that Ivins did it, but she didn't call to tell anyone about her suspicions.

Ed