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Motives for anthrax attacks? The vaccines was being criticized
Jeff Taylor, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia - Friday August 08, 2008
Motive from statement: "Fifth, as reflected in the court documents, Dr. Ivins had a history of mental health problems and was facing a difficult time professionally in the summer and fall of 2001 because an anthrax vaccine he was working on was failing."
Motive reiterated in QnA: QUESTION: "Can you elaborate a little bit on what you think is the motive behind this? ..."
MR. TAYLOR: "The other question you have, Dr. Ivins is a troubled individual, particularly so at that time. He's very concerned, according to the evidence, that this vaccination program he's been working on may come to an end. He's also very concerned that some have been criticizing and blaming that vaccination program in connection with illnesses suffered by soldiers from, I think, the first Gulf War. So that was going on, according to the evidence, in his mind at that particular time.
With respect to motive, I'll point again to -- with respect to the motive, the troubled nature of Dr. Ivins. And a poss...
Commentary:
Ivins obviously didn't feel badly that our service members and veterans have suffered so greatly from the anthrax vaccine, which he helped to invent and develop. What he felt badly about was being criticized; and he didn't mind taking a couple of other lives in a twisted attempt to "prove" the vaccine was needed. Is this an example of the twisted thinking upon which the Pentagon relies?
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2001: Ivins, Anthrax Key Dates
Hartford Courant (CT) - Friday August 08, 2008
Mid-August: Microbiologist Bruce Ivins begins to spend more evenings in his lab.
Sept. 14-16: Ivins spends three consecutive evening shifts at the lab.
Sept. 17-24: Ivins does not enter the lab.
Sept. 18: The date of postmarks on letters containing anthrax to members of the news media.
Sept. 26: In an e-mail, Ivins discusses his therapy group and how all of the other people in it are battling depression, sadness and stress. But he's different, he says. "I'm really the only scary one in the group."
Sept. 28-Oct. 5: Ivins works eight consecutive nights in the lab.
Oct. 5: Robert Stevens, 63, a photo editor at American Media Inc. in Florida, dies after inhaling anthrax.
Oct. 9: The date of postmarks on letters containing anthrax to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.
Oct. 16: A co-worker of Ivins tells a friend in an e-mail that, "Bruce has been an absolute manic basket case the last few days."
Oct. 21-Nov....
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Feds' Case In Anthrax Killings Wasn't Airtight
by MARK SHERMAN, MATT APUZZO And LARA JAKES JORDAN -
AP/Hartford Courant (CT) - Thursday August 07, 2008
WASHINGTON - Lacking hard proof, federal prosecutors relied on the process of elimination and circumstantial evidence to finger Bruce Ivins as the anthrax killer whose mailings rattled the nation in the worst bioterror case in U.S. history, just a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks," said Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. attorney in Washington, at a news conference Wednesday at the Justice Department.
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Anthrax mailer feared his life's work was doomed, prosecutors say
by James Gordon Meek -
Daily News Washington Bureau - Thursday August 07, 2008
WASHINGTON - Accused anthrax mailer Bruce Ivins was scared his life's work - a vaccine to protect U.S. troops from the deadly bug - was doomed, prosecutors alleged Wednesday.
Saving the controversial military vaccine program may have motivated the Fort Detrick germ expert to mail anthrax powder to media outlets and to a senator directly involved in the effort to end his beloved research, prosecutors and sources said.
"A possible motive is his concern about the end of the vaccination program," U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeffrey Taylor said yesterday.
"One theory is that by launching these attacks, [Ivins] creates a situation, a scenario, where people all of a sudden realize the need to have this vaccine," Taylor explained.
Documents obtained by the Daily News - which show President Bush's deputy chief of staff Karl Rove viewed the mandatory vaccinations as a "political problem" shortly before the anthrax attacks - establish Ivins had reason for...
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| Press
Room... |
"All the Way Home" move trailer; movie to be shown in Congress Wednesday, July 23
Monday July 21, 2008
"All the Way Home," a movie featuring our own Vance Wasden, long disabled from the anthrax vaccine, and other disabled vets on the outdoor experience of a lifetime, will be shown in Congress this Wednesday, July 23, and later to the VA with future distribution via cable channels. Stay tuned, and enjoy the trailer!! You can also order the full DVD from this site.
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Bill in Congress Needs Leaders, Support, to overcome Feres Doctrine
Monday June 09, 2008
5/20/2008--Introduced.
Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2008 - Amends the Federal Tort
Claims Act to allow claims...
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"A Call to Arms" to be shown in Washington D.C.May 18
Wednesday April 23, 2008
Scott Miller has asked us to help spread the word that his film is being shown at the GI Film Festival in Washington DC on Sunday, May 18 at 9:30 a...
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| Anthrax
Vaccine Fast Facts ... |
Federal
Court Ruling: "The involuntary anthrax vaccination program,
as applied to all persons, is rendered illegal absent informed
consent or a Presidential waiver." Click
here for Judge Emmet Sullivan's decision.
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Congressional
General Accounting Office (GAO) Findings on the Safety and
Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine. NSIAD-00-54R
-- Abstract
-- "The long-term safety of the vaccine has not been studied"
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GAO
-- Medical Readiness: Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax
Vaccine. T-NSIAD-99-148
-- Abstract
-- "The nature and magnitude of the military threat of biological
warfare (BW) has not changed since 1990"
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Hypersensitivity
Pneumonitis Following Anthrax Vaccination by LT Suzanne
J. Timmer, MD, MC,USNR; CAPT Dennis E. - Chest Online by
American College of Chest Physicians
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Anthrax
Vaccine: GAO's Survey of Guard and Reserve Pilots and Aircrew.
GAO-02-445
-- Abstract
-- "systemic reaction rate reported through the survey represents
a level more than a hundred times higher than the 0.2 percent
published in the product insert."
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| Leaders
Speak Out ... |
Presidential
Candidate George W. Bush, US Medicine. Sep. 2000:
"The Defense Department's Anthrax Immunization Program
has raised numerous health concerns and caused fear among
the individuals whose lives it touches. I don't feel the
[Clinton] administration's anthrax immunization program
has taken into account the effect of this program on the
soldiers in our military and their families. Under my administration,
soldiers and their families will be taken into consideration."
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Presidential
Candidate Sen. John McCain, San Diego Union Tribune. Feb.
26, 2000:
"I think that there should be a pause. I think that
they have not done the job in educating the members of the
military, and I would pause and I would get the best scientific
and medical people together and make a better argument than
they've made ... I'm not saying that I know enough to say
that it should never be, but right now members of the armed
services, the Guard and reserves are not accepting it."
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, Oct. 18, 2001:
"We're going to try and save it. There have been other
efforts that have failed over a period of years. And it
may or may not be savable ... it's not very well underway,
as you point out ... they have not been approved by the
FDA, as I understand it. They do not have what looks to
be -- well, I shouldn't be characterizing a private entity
that way, but things have not been going swimmingly for
them ..."
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, October 25,
2001:
Q: Are you taking the anthrax vaccine, Mr. Secretary?
Secretary Rumsfeld: No.
Q: You're not being inoculated; you're not taking a series.
Secretary Rumsfeld: No. No.
Q: All right. No vaccine.
Secretary Rumsfeld: No, no, no.
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Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld, Pentagon News Briefings, October 28,
2001:
Q: Okay. Mr. Secretary, have you been vaccinated against
anthrax?
Secretary Rumsfeld: No. Have you?
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Sen.
Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader, CNN. Dec. 18, 2001:
"The vaccine is a dated vaccine, it's an old vaccine.
There are very real and potentially serious side effects
from the vaccine and anyone who elects to receive the vaccine
needs to be made aware of that. I do not recommend widespread
inoculation for people with the vaccine in the Hart Building
...There are too many side effects and if there is limited
chance of exposure the side effects would far outweigh any
potential advantage."
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Al
Gore, Presidential Candidate, Apr. 11, 2000:
"I feel the concerns are genuine. I also know that
sometimes concerns of this sort are based on confusing data
that is hard to interpret. But based on the concerns I have
heard from military personnel directly, I think we are justified
in taking a closer look -- I think that some increased sensitivity
to the kinds of questions that are being raised is needed."
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