Anthrax Coverup: A Government Insider Speaks Out
Editor's Note: The Whitehouse staff began taking cipro on 9/11/2001, nearly a month before the anthrax attacks, prima facia evidence of prior knowledge, or worse. See corroborating Evidence from Judicial Watch.
By Steve Watson
Is it possible that the anthrax attacks were launched from within our own government? A former Bush 1 advisor thinks it is.
Francis A. Boyle, an international law expert who worked under the first Bush Administration as a bioweapons advisor in the 1980s, has said that he is convinced the October 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people were perpetrated and covered up by criminal elements of the U.S. government. The motive: to foment a police state by killing off and intimidating opposition to post-9/11 legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the later Military Commissions Act.
"After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration tried to ram the USA PATRIOT Act through Congress," Boyle said in a radio interview with Austin-based talk-show host Alex Jones. "That would have set up a police state.
"Senators Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)were holding it up because they realized what this would lead to. Thefirst draft of the PATRIOT Act would have suspended the writ of habeascorpus [which protects citizens from unlawful imprisonment andguarantees due process of law]. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere,come these anthrax attacks."
"At the time I myself did not know precisely what was going on, eitherwith respect to September 11 or the anthrax attacks, but then the NewYork Times revealed the technology behind the letter to SenatorDaschle. [The anthrax used was] a trillion spores per gram, [refinedwith] special electro-static treatment. This is superweapons-gradeanthrax that even the United States government, in its openlyproclaimed programs, had never developed before. So it was obvious tome that this was from a U.S. government lab. There is nowhere else youcould have gotten that."
Boyle's assessment was based on his years of expertise regardingAmerica's bioweapons programs. He was responsible for drafting theBiological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that was passedunanimously by both houses of Congress and signed into law by PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush.
After realizing that the anthrax attacks looked like a domestic job,Boyle called a high-level official in the FBI who deals with terrorismand counterterrorism, Marion "Spike" Bowman. Boyle and Bowman had metat a terrorism conference at the University of Michigan Law School.Boyle told Bowman that the only people who would have the capability tocarry out the attacks were individuals working on U.S. governmentanthrax programs with access to a high-level biosafety lab. Boyle gaveBowman a full list of names of scientists, contractors and labsconducting anthrax work for the U.S. government and military.
Bowman then informed Boyle that the FBI was working with Fort Detrickon the matter. Boyle expressed his view that Fort Detrick could be themain problem. As widely reported in 2002 publications, notably the NewScientist, the anthrax strain used in the attacks was officiallyassessed as "military grade."
"Soon after I informed Bowman of this information, the FBI authorizedthe destruction of the Ames cultural anthrax database," the professorsaid. The Ames strain turned out to be the same strain as the sporesused in the attacks.
The alleged destruction of the anthrax culture collection at Ames,Iowa, from which the Fort Detrick lab got its pathogens, was blatantdestruction of evidence. It meant that there was no way of finding outwhich strain was sent to whom to develop the larger breed of anthraxused in the attacks. The trail of genetic evidence would have leddirectly back to a secret government biowarfare program.
"Clearly, for the FBI to have authorized this was obstruction ofjustice, a federal crime," said Boyle. "That collection should havebeen preserved and protected as evidence. That's the DNA, thefingerprints right there. It later came out, of course, that this wasAmes strain anthrax that was behind the Daschle and Leahy letters."
At that point, recounted Boyle, it became very clear to him that therewas a coverup underway. He later discovered, while reading David RayGriffin's book on the 9/11 attacks, The New Pearl Harbor, that Bowmanwas the same FBI agent who allegedly sabotaged the FISA warrant foraccess to [convicted co-conspirator] Zacharias Moussaoui's computerprior to 9/11. Moussaoui's computer contained information that couldhave helped prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center and thePentagon.
In 2003, Bowman was promoted and given the Presidential Rank Award byFBI Director Robert S. Mueller. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote aletter to Mueller, chastising the organization for granting such anhonor to an agent who had so obviously compromised America's security.
During the anthrax scare, the House of Representatives was officiallyshut down for the first time in the history of the republic. Onceopposition from Leahy and Daschle evaporated in the wake of theattempts on their lives, the USA PATRIOT Act was rammed through.Testimony by Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) revealed that mostmembers of Congress were compelled to vote for the bill without evenreading it.
"They were going to move to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which isall that really separates us from a police state," Boyle said. "Andthat is what they have done now with respect to enemy combatants [inthe Military Commissions Act of 2006]." Boyle added that lawmakers arenow arguing that Amendment XIV, which guarantees due process of law toall Americans, does not mean what it has been taken to mean and that,under the Military Commissions Act, any U.S. citizen can be stripped ofcitizenship and be labeled an enemy combatant.
Continued Boyle: "In other words, they have taken the position that atsome point in time, if they want to, they can unilaterally round upUnited States native-born citizens, as they did for Japanese-Americansin World War II, and stick us into concentration camps." Boyle assertedthat top officials, such as White House legal advisor John Yoo andformer Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith (now a professor atHarvard Law School), are pushing for the legalization of torture aswell.
"The Nazis did the exact same thing," said Boyle. "They had theirlawyers infiltrating law schools. Carl Schmidt was the worst, and hewas the mentor to Leo Strauss, the [ideological] founder of theneoconservatives. So the same phenomenon that started in Nazi Germanyis happening here, and I exaggerate not. We could all be tortured; wecould all be treated this way."
Boyle stressed that it is vital to keep up the pressure on SenatorLeahy, who now chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving himsubpoena power. Since Leahy was himself a target, he may havesufficient motivation to get to the bottom of the attacks. The FBI andthe Justice Department have so far refused full disclosure to Congress.
In addition to his credentials as a government advisor, Boyle alsoholds a doctorate of law magna cum laude and a Ph.D. in politicalscience, both from Harvard University. He teaches international law atthe University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Boyle also served onthe Board of Directors of Amnesty International (1988-92) andrepresented Bosnia-Herzegovina at the World Court.
Boyle alleged that due to his activities as a lawyer, he wasinterrogated by an agent from the CIA/FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force inthe summer of 2004. The agent tried to recruit him as an informant toprovide the FBI with information on his Arab and Muslim clients. Whenhe refused, according to Boyle, the FBI placed him on the government'sterrorism watch lists.
By Steve Watson
Is it possible that the anthrax attacks were launched from within our own government? A former Bush 1 advisor thinks it is.
Francis A. Boyle, an international law expert who worked under the first Bush Administration as a bioweapons advisor in the 1980s, has said that he is convinced the October 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people were perpetrated and covered up by criminal elements of the U.S. government. The motive: to foment a police state by killing off and intimidating opposition to post-9/11 legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the later Military Commissions Act.
"After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration tried to ram the USA PATRIOT Act through Congress," Boyle said in a radio interview with Austin-based talk-show host Alex Jones. "That would have set up a police state.
"Senators Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)were holding it up because they realized what this would lead to. Thefirst draft of the PATRIOT Act would have suspended the writ of habeascorpus [which protects citizens from unlawful imprisonment andguarantees due process of law]. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere,come these anthrax attacks."
"At the time I myself did not know precisely what was going on, eitherwith respect to September 11 or the anthrax attacks, but then the NewYork Times revealed the technology behind the letter to SenatorDaschle. [The anthrax used was] a trillion spores per gram, [refinedwith] special electro-static treatment. This is superweapons-gradeanthrax that even the United States government, in its openlyproclaimed programs, had never developed before. So it was obvious tome that this was from a U.S. government lab. There is nowhere else youcould have gotten that."
Boyle's assessment was based on his years of expertise regardingAmerica's bioweapons programs. He was responsible for drafting theBiological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that was passedunanimously by both houses of Congress and signed into law by PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush.
After realizing that the anthrax attacks looked like a domestic job,Boyle called a high-level official in the FBI who deals with terrorismand counterterrorism, Marion "Spike" Bowman. Boyle and Bowman had metat a terrorism conference at the University of Michigan Law School.Boyle told Bowman that the only people who would have the capability tocarry out the attacks were individuals working on U.S. governmentanthrax programs with access to a high-level biosafety lab. Boyle gaveBowman a full list of names of scientists, contractors and labsconducting anthrax work for the U.S. government and military.
Bowman then informed Boyle that the FBI was working with Fort Detrickon the matter. Boyle expressed his view that Fort Detrick could be themain problem. As widely reported in 2002 publications, notably the NewScientist, the anthrax strain used in the attacks was officiallyassessed as "military grade."
"Soon after I informed Bowman of this information, the FBI authorizedthe destruction of the Ames cultural anthrax database," the professorsaid. The Ames strain turned out to be the same strain as the sporesused in the attacks.
The alleged destruction of the anthrax culture collection at Ames,Iowa, from which the Fort Detrick lab got its pathogens, was blatantdestruction of evidence. It meant that there was no way of finding outwhich strain was sent to whom to develop the larger breed of anthraxused in the attacks. The trail of genetic evidence would have leddirectly back to a secret government biowarfare program.
"Clearly, for the FBI to have authorized this was obstruction ofjustice, a federal crime," said Boyle. "That collection should havebeen preserved and protected as evidence. That's the DNA, thefingerprints right there. It later came out, of course, that this wasAmes strain anthrax that was behind the Daschle and Leahy letters."
At that point, recounted Boyle, it became very clear to him that therewas a coverup underway. He later discovered, while reading David RayGriffin's book on the 9/11 attacks, The New Pearl Harbor, that Bowmanwas the same FBI agent who allegedly sabotaged the FISA warrant foraccess to [convicted co-conspirator] Zacharias Moussaoui's computerprior to 9/11. Moussaoui's computer contained information that couldhave helped prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center and thePentagon.
In 2003, Bowman was promoted and given the Presidential Rank Award byFBI Director Robert S. Mueller. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote aletter to Mueller, chastising the organization for granting such anhonor to an agent who had so obviously compromised America's security.
During the anthrax scare, the House of Representatives was officiallyshut down for the first time in the history of the republic. Onceopposition from Leahy and Daschle evaporated in the wake of theattempts on their lives, the USA PATRIOT Act was rammed through.Testimony by Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) revealed that mostmembers of Congress were compelled to vote for the bill without evenreading it.
"They were going to move to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, which isall that really separates us from a police state," Boyle said. "Andthat is what they have done now with respect to enemy combatants [inthe Military Commissions Act of 2006]." Boyle added that lawmakers arenow arguing that Amendment XIV, which guarantees due process of law toall Americans, does not mean what it has been taken to mean and that,under the Military Commissions Act, any U.S. citizen can be stripped ofcitizenship and be labeled an enemy combatant.
Continued Boyle: "In other words, they have taken the position that atsome point in time, if they want to, they can unilaterally round upUnited States native-born citizens, as they did for Japanese-Americansin World War II, and stick us into concentration camps." Boyle assertedthat top officials, such as White House legal advisor John Yoo andformer Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith (now a professor atHarvard Law School), are pushing for the legalization of torture aswell.
"The Nazis did the exact same thing," said Boyle. "They had theirlawyers infiltrating law schools. Carl Schmidt was the worst, and hewas the mentor to Leo Strauss, the [ideological] founder of theneoconservatives. So the same phenomenon that started in Nazi Germanyis happening here, and I exaggerate not. We could all be tortured; wecould all be treated this way."
Boyle stressed that it is vital to keep up the pressure on SenatorLeahy, who now chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving himsubpoena power. Since Leahy was himself a target, he may havesufficient motivation to get to the bottom of the attacks. The FBI andthe Justice Department have so far refused full disclosure to Congress.
In addition to his credentials as a government advisor, Boyle alsoholds a doctorate of law magna cum laude and a Ph.D. in politicalscience, both from Harvard University. He teaches international law atthe University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Boyle also served onthe Board of Directors of Amnesty International (1988-92) andrepresented Bosnia-Herzegovina at the World Court.
Boyle alleged that due to his activities as a lawyer, he wasinterrogated by an agent from the CIA/FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force inthe summer of 2004. The agent tried to recruit him as an informant toprovide the FBI with information on his Arab and Muslim clients. Whenhe refused, according to Boyle, the FBI placed him on the government'sterrorism watch lists.
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