Ever wonder why no republican received an anthrax letter in 2001?

[still_one]

They were only influential Democrats, and Democrats who were at the time debating the Patriot Act

Could this be the reason why many Democrats have rubber-stamped most everything that this administration sent?

It would not justify the Democrats caving in, but it would sure provide support for Cheney's secret government

Why hasn't Congress insisted on an investigation of this?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. Pssst, it wasn't 2002.

MKJ

[JDPriestly]

3. You are correct, but it is the events not the year that matters.

Where are the inquiries?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. How about the actual facts? It was less than 10 days after Sept. 11, 2001.

MKJ

[still_one]

10. You are absolutely correct. It is also correct that ONLY Congressional Dems were targeted /nt

[TheDebbieDee]

42. ONLY Congressional Dems were targeted........

in addition to the evening news anchors of the top three networks: CBS, NBC and ABC.

Everybody seems to forget about the news anchors!

[kenfrequed]

74. Can you think of a better way?

To rough up the Umps and get them all pro security/pro war?

[wildbilln864]

18. and the first to die ...

was investigating the Bush twins if memory serves me correctly?
Hmmmm! :grr:

[Cheap_Trick]

40. first to die took embarassing pics of the twins

drunken and lying atop one another on a barroom dance floor.



this is the pic that got a man killed.

[lala_rawraw]

72. there is a worse one...

i won't post it... but one of Jenna changing into her bathing suit under her skirt. the idiot child did not realize that lifting one's leg while in a short skirt would make visible certain assets that should remain, um, hidden.

[zabet]

86. Worse than that..

the one of Jenna passed out topless and in panties on a picnic
table at a b-day party.

[goforit]

78. Stupidity runs close to their roots.

[Bitwit1234]

41. And remember the only democratic newspaper in Florida

got the first one and the man died. He wrote editorials about the republicans and their corruption. And not only were the democrats the only ones who got the letters, remember, the ones who got the letters, were the most outspoken about the bush administration.

Dan Rather..he was making an impact so that's why he was sent one, to shut him up. But he was a true journalist. It didn't did it. The bunch of empty headed newsreaders on TV today would have joined cheney in his undisclosed locations and never reappeared.

[eShirl]

47. "democratic newspaper" ??

It was a national tabloid, which I remember clearly because one of my old friends worked there at the time.

[femrap]

67. It was American Media...

I remember seeing the building with 'American Media' written on it.....and I thought: Whoa...this is a message to all of the media!!! And to the Dems. These evil criminals mean business...make the Mafia look like sweet kittens.

[still_one]

6. Thanks, it shold have been 2001 /nt

[JDPriestly]

2. This is an essential question.

If Leahy cannot investigate what happened in the anthrax investigation, what the FBI and Justice Department did or did not do in that investigation, then what can he investigate. The anthrax attacks were assassination attempts. How could they be forgotten?

[still_one]

8. That's what bothers me. This might be the motivating factor why the Dems cave in

because of the implied threat. Definitely not a justification, but very troubling

[femrap]

68. More than likely they threatened their family members. nt

[cali]

21. Is the JD even the Committee that would investigate it? n/t

[JDPriestly]

45. Why not? They supervise Justice and Justice supervises the FBI, I think.

Wasn't the FBI responsible for investigating?

[goforit]

79. Speaking of assassination attempts. Remember Welstone? Carnahan? WTC?

Anthrax wasn't their only weapon.
Hell let's talk JFKennedy.
Hell, GHWB has a huge laundry list.
We could sit here all day all night until eternity.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Didn't the National Enquirer recieve anthrax letters too?

I thought I heard that, but I'm not positive. But no matter, it sure would be nice to lock up the terrorist(s) who did that.

[WinkyDink]

11. A death. GOOGLE LINK:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=101947&page=1

[mcg]

44. "What ties the anthrax to Bush is the targets."

http://www.newsgarden.org/columns/anthrax/anthraxtargets.shtml

...
Sept. 18, 2001: Trenton Mailing of anthrax letters to NBC and NY Post and probably to the National Enquirer.
Oct. 9, 2001: Trenton Mailing of anthrax letters to Daschle and Leahy.
...
The Enquirer had published the picture of Jenna Bush, falling down drunk and looking like she was humping another girl's leg.
...
I believe the NYPost's many articles on the boozing Bush twins made them a target.
...
The next target was Tom Brokaw. Brokaw had scheduled the broadcast of an interview with Clinton for September 18 on the NBC Nightly News. When the White House got wind of it they called NBC to rant and complain. The interview was still broadcast and that very evening an anthrax letter to Tom Brokaw hit the mailstream.
...
Certainly Daschle and Leahy were political targets but the media was just as much of an objective. Bush was sending them a message that if they did not support him unconditionally then they might get another package of death. If the anthrax attacks on the media were supposed to bring them into line, it totally worked. Now no major media will cross Bush and they put the most minor of his appearances on TV and avoid any negative coverage of him. You have to go to the web to get any real reporting.
...

[still_one]

14. Yes, but couldn't that be to throw people off track?

The implication at the time was that it was extremist Muslims, but why wouldn't the republicans have been the target then?

[Jim Sagle]

31. Because Bush PERSONALLY selected the targets.

Here's why the Enquirer got hit:



And here's why the Republican New York Post got hit:

BOOZING BUSH TWIN NEARLY IN THE CLEAR
Deborah Orin; New York Post; Sep 7, 2001; pg. 015
BUSH TWINS' BOOZE SERVER OFF THE HOOK
AP; New York Post; Jun 24, 2001; pg. 012
BUSTED BUSH BABES MAKE DIFFERENT BOOZE PLEAS
MARILYN RAUBER Post Correspondent; New York Post; Jun 9, 2001; pg. 002
REIN IN THESE BUSH LEAGUERS
LINDA STASI; New York Post; Jun 3, 2001; pg. 002
DOUBLE SHOT: BUSH TWINS BOTH NAILED
Jordan Smith in Austin, Texas and Deborah Orin in Washington; New York Post; Jun 1, 2001; pg. 005
JENNA COMES 'CLEAN': BEER-BUST BUSH KID FACES GARBAGE DUTY
Clemente Lisi; New York Post; May 17, 2001; pg. 003
DELAY IN JENNA'S BREW-HAHA
Post Wire Services; New York Post; May 3, 2001; pg. 026

Any questions?

Everybody in DC goddamn well knows Bush is a raging psycho killer on the loose. THAT'S why they give him WHATEVER he wants WHENEVER he wants it and ON THE DOUBLE!

If they ever did impeach, he'd kill them all.

[Steven_S]

61. Add these to your list Jim.....

April 12, 2002 front page of the NY Post: BUSH KNEW. Remember that one?

Around May 16, 2002: Bush Had Hijack Warning. An article in the NY Post.

[The Doctor.]

36. Great slogan- "Al-Qaeda afraid of Democrats, tried to kill them!"

That one might be worth pimping out there. ;)

Maybe Moveon.org should run that ad sometime next year.

[saltpoint]

7. I felt badly for the woman in Daschle's office who evidently opened the mail

that day.

It seems to me obvious to say so, but I want to say it anyway: what harm had she done to earn a fate like that? No one deserves it, least of all someone absolutely innocent of whatever transgression Daschle supposedly committed, which as far as I can tell was none at all.

Ashcroft was AG then. Then we got Alberto ("I'm a close friend of the president's") Gonzales. Now we'll have yet someone again. The investigation doesn't appear to be on track at all.

Without some planned trajectory and update in the investigaton, this many years out it feels like a hit job to intimidate the Senate Majority Leader into aligning with the administration's ongoing war effort.

I'm not offering proof, I'm only hunching. But it certainly doesn't have the feel of an actual investigation into a hideous crime.

[still_one]

12. It sure seems that why. So is Congress afraid to investigate it? /nt

[saltpoint]

15. I took that to be the Attorney General's role in conjunction with the FBI.

Straighten me out if I've got it wrong.

Ashcroft gone, Gonzales gone, and the new guy not yet confirmed.

It just has the feel of a hoax, an extremely cruel and cynical and cowardly one at that.

[WinkyDink]

9. Have I wondered? Hell, no, I haven't wondered. Two plus two.....

[EFerrari]

13. No, I never have wondered.

:(

[wildbilln864]

16. Sounds probable to me! K&R! n/t

[BlooInBloo]

17. Then why are the ones who didn't go along with it still alive?

[still_one]

43. Because you don't have to go after everyone, only those with the most power

Dashille was the majority leader at the time

[Gman]

19. I never once wondered why no republics got an anthrax letter

because it was so obvious it came from some right winger nutcase(s).

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

20. I just wonder how the R's can say we haven't been attacked since 9/11. What about the anthrax?

:shrug: MKJ

[wildbilln864]

22. Check this out...

link

snip/
"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. The
first draft of the PATRIOT Act would have suspended the writ of habeas
corpus guarantees due process of law]. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
come these anthrax attacks." "

[kestrel91316]

24. Mr. Boyle is dead on, IMHO. Very succinct summary of the situation.

And this from a Bush I man. Wonders never cease.

Remember, the USA PATRIOT Act was already written up and just waiting for the right opportunity to shove down Congress' throat. That RW whackjob Vietnamese Congressman from SoCal (behind the Orange Curtain, of course) wrote it WAAAAYYYYY before 9/11.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. Did you happen to read this thread?

Republicans pushed 'bogus' terror threat to expand FISA, lawmaker says

Republicans and the Bush administration used a 'bogus' terror threat that raised specific fears of an attack on the Capitol to scare lawmakers into adopting a dramatic temporary expansion of the government's spy powers last month, a former top intelligence committee Democrat said Wednesday.

Congress agreed to give President Bush and the nation's intelligence agencies extra authority to spy on Americans just hours before lawmakers left for a month-long recess in August. In the legislative session's final week, news emerged of an impending plot by foreign terrorists to attack the US Capitol, and Republicans pointed to the reports as justification to expand the administration's powers.

"That specific intelligence claim, it turned out, was bogus; the intelligence agencies knew that," Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) said at a forum on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act organized by the Center for American Progress in Washington. However, lawmakers did not learn of the claim's unreliability until "the day" they approved the FISA expansion, she said.

Harman was among Congress's "Gang of Eight" in 2002 when she served as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. The gang was briefed in 2002 on President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program initiated after 9/11 before the New York Times revealed its existence in December 2005. The group comprises the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees plus each party's leader in both parties.

More at link... http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Republicans_pushed_bogus_terror_threat_to_0919.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2997754

[goforit]

80. " So where do we go from here Wilbur..." (sarcsm) But seriously, we have it.

The Patriot Act.
And ....it has got to go.
So how do we get an ass-kissing Congress to stop this OCD of fascism

[kestrel91316]

23. Ever wonder? Nope. NOT ONCE.

And in retrospect it's even more obvious to me how this was a tactic to scare Dems into going along with all the stuff they HAD BEEN PLANNING TO DO ONCE IN POWER for years.

If "real" terrorists did the anthrax attack, why hasn't it happpened again, considering how much more we have harmed the ME people since then? It's not that hard to do.

[wildbilln864]

25. excellent point! n/t

[terisan]

26. Leahy has asked FBI for report on status of investigation. Call his office to ask if he has info yet

[mmonk]

27. No. They weren't the targets.

[_dynamicdems]

28. Because none of them came back "return to sender" perhaps?

:evilgrin:

[fenriswolf]

30. dont have the links handy but you can google this stuff

the anthrax spore count was military grade and our labs are the only ones that could have deveolped the illegal biological weapons, those labs have since then been cleaned out, the lab cultures destroyed and all evidence hidden under a rug. The anthrax came from OUR government to harm OUR representatives and helps explain why the democrats are cowed. They know they can be targeted at any time. They have a choice from proffiting from the culture of corruption or being targeted for jail, or worse.

[Virginian]

49. Camp David near Ft Detrick.

At first I blamed comedian Rush Limbaugh for inciting attempted murder. But I no longer believe it was one of the whacked out wing nuts.

I do believe it came from within, especially since doctors started Dubya on Cipro on Sept 11. Who else was prescribed that antibiotic before the letters arrived? My only question is which one did it.

Why would foreign terrorists attack Senators Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)? If I hardly knew who they were, how would someone from a foreign region know them?

[Old and In the Way]

53. And Cipro is not considered effective as a preventitive drug.

So why was Cipro proscribed?

[Prophet 451]

32. No

No, I never wonder about it because the answer is entirely obvious: They were mailed by some Republican (possibly but not necessarily, connected with the Administration) as a form of intimidation.

[mistertrickster]

33. Obviously, it was a right-wing job from inside our own government.

Real terrorists would have gone after Bush-Cheney, not Democratic Senators that even most Americans aren't all that familiar with.

[terisan]

34. At the time of attacks, Cheney tried to use it as a pretext to shut down Congress.

Bush tried to let people think that Saddam Hussein was responsible . In answer to a question about Hussein being responsible he replied (paraphrase) "I wouldn't put it past him."
Finally the FBI became forthcoming about the fact that the anthrax used was made in the US.

The anthrax attacks killed postal workers. It appears that they have been forgotten.

I don't believe that Democrats cave in on issues because the think Bush and Cheney will poison or otherwise kill them.

I think many of them respond in the same way citizens respond to the general atmosphere of fear which bush/cheney have created. Others , like Waxman and Leahy usually keep working at bringing things to light.

We have a lot in common with the Iraqis under Hussein----we have lost control of the executive branch of our government.

[bluesmail]

65. I haven't forgotton

I'm a 33 year rural carrier who still delivers mail. I'll never forget

[goforit]

81. Bless your heart! The most innocent are caught in the line of fire. So sad.

[valerief]

35. I've been saying anthrax threats all along, but it could be polonium, too.

Of course, they could all be reaping the benefits of raiding the Treasury and are just giving us a dog and pony show. Or it could be all of the above.

We're ants and they're DDT. What do we know?

[porphyrian]

37. Not more than I wonder why no one responsible has been brought to justice for it. - n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

38. Because you're not supposed to remember that there WERE "anthrax attacks".

Down the memory hole!

[goforit]

83. LOL!!!

[Richard Steele]

39. No, I've never wondered. nm

[ShaneGR]

46. Just wanted to point out that the only people severely affected were in fact Republican owned....

Mainly American Media Incorporated, where an editor died and several were infected. They were struck first. AMI is the tabloid company that owns all of the major American tabloids like the Star, National Enquirer, etc. It's owner is a heavy Republican donor and he lost millions moving his company to a new building (he's just spent millions building the one that is still a no-go zone). Anyways, interesting little tidbit, Mohammed Atta of 9/11 hijacking fame lived 10 miles away and rented his apartment from an AMI employee's wife when he moved to florida.

[Virginian]

50. Yeah, that's really sad that AMI lost so much money...

Have they done anymore stories about Jenna falling down drunk?
but Postal employees lost their lives and the Brentwood postal facility was shut down.

One postal worker sought medical attention and was SENT HOME with symtoms. When he went back insisting he needed medical attention, it was too late. His life may have been spared if the postal workers at Brentwood had been given Cipro with the same urgency as the people working on Capitol Hill.

[ProfessorPlum]

66. Remember Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine". The GOP obviously does.

[Swamp Rat]

48. Nope. Never a doubt in my mind who unleashed bio-terror against American citizens.

[dave123williams]

51. Here's the definition of a demagogue:

Main Entry: 1dem·a·gogue
Variant(s): also dem·a·gog /'de-m&-"gäg/
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek dEmagOgos, from dEmos people (perhaps akin to Greek daiesthai to divide) + agOgos leading, from agein to lead -- more at TIDE, AGENT
1 : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power.
2 : anyone in the political leadership of the GOP after 9/11/2001. Everyone in the GOP currently running for President, with the exception of Ron Paul.

[B Calm]

52. Be careful.. some DU'er might call you a member of the Tinfoil Hat

Brigade. They come out of the wood work with one mention of the 9-11 Truth Movement!

[riverdeep]

54. Wonder what would happen if this past Sept. 11th, Time magazine

and the NBC nightly news as a special joint effort, just simply reported the basic facts of 9/11 and it's aftermath. Not going into 'tinfoil' stuff, just simply the stuff that can be documented and agreed upon. Like the anthrax having as it's most likely source a government lab in the US. Rudy letting the workers knowingly breathe foul air, not issuing the radios. Instead, every year, there's solemn music and haughty words.

But someone mentioned it up top. Whenever the administration or it's lackeys tries to prove the effectiveness of it's policies by saying there's never been another attack, the anthrax attack needs to be pointed out.

[B Calm]

56. Not going into 'tinfoil' stuff... Like to point out what is tinfoil and not tinfoil?

[riverdeep]

58. Agreed, it's not always going to be easy to gain unanimity.

My point was, without even going into anything controversial like 'was building 7 pulled', just stick to the widely documentable stuff. Multiple sources, generally mainstream sources.

[Perry Logan]

55. Ah, but you see--the Dems have not "rubber-stamped most everything that this administration sent."

If your premise is wrong, your theory about anthrax letters is also wrong.

Contrary to what you think, the Democrats have rubber-stamped nothing. They have in fact handed Bush an historically low success rating. With a bare majority in both houses, they have been united more than at any time in the last fifty years. Apparently, the anthrax letters aren't working.

[riverdeep]

60. Yeah, the dems are really good at blocking this administration's punches with their face

And do you think he cares about his poll numbers? What about Congress' poll numbers? Or is that too part of a master plan? One of the few major things Bush hasn't gotten these years is privatization of Social Security. So I'll give them that.

[Perry Logan]

64. You've been reading mainstream news again. Bush has gotten precious little from the Democrats.

"President Bush's success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position.

"So far this year, Democrats have backed the majority position of their caucus 91 percent of the time on average on such votes. That marks the highest Democratic unity score in 51 years."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1728952&mesg_id=1728952
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002576765.html

[MoonRiver]

57. Because they were too busy mailing them out?

:shrug:

[onenote]

59. a little fact checking before people start repeating erroneous information

Let's review:

The anthrax attacks occurred in 2001, not 2002 (as originally stated, but then corrected).

The first person to die from the anthrax mailings was not (a)a journalist investigating the bush twins and (b)didn't "publish" the photo of the twins drunkenly partying. He was Robert Stevens a photo editor for the tabloid "The Sun" which isn't even the tabloid that published the photo (that would be the co-owned "National Enquirer"). The envelope and letter that was the source of the anthrax that killed Stevens was never recovered, so there is no way to know whether he was targeted or not.

The Sun is not the "only Democratic newspaper" in Florida. Its not a Democratic newspaper unless you think supermarket tabloids that report on alien visitations are Democratic newspapers.

And since I don't read either the Sun or the National Enquirer, I cant' tell you whether those publications have laid off publishing any more embarassing photos of the twins since the attacks, but I can say, based on a google search, that their co-owned sister publication, the National Examiner, has not shied off of the bush's, publishing stories about fights between chimpy and pickles and their allegedly imminent divorce.

As for the assertion that there is a linkage between the attacks and the debate over the Patriot Act, I'd like to see a link to back that up, one that accounts for the fact that the Patriot Act wasn't introduced until late October, that it was a follow-up to the previously enacted "USA Act" which was sponsored by, and introduced by, Senator Daschle on Oct 4 and passed 96-1.

And while Daschle and Leahy were not the only recipients of anthrax letters, at least four other letters were sent and received by media organizations -- the aforesaid Sun tabloid, and anchors at ABC, NBC, and CBS.

I have no idea who was responsible for the anthrax attacks. But if one is going to build a case that it was an inside job (which at this point I personally neither rule out nor assume to be correct), one ought to try to stick to the actual facts.

[cali]

62. Facts? Are you insane?

We don't need no stinkin' facts.

[onenote]

63. I really should find a 12-step program to cure my addiction to facts

[Holly_Hobby]

70. Let's not forget that Guiliani's firm decontaminated The Sun building

http://www.nysun.com/article/23660

The building contained a huge library of photographs, all lost to contamination.

And this is interesting.......

Site of Anthrax Attack Reopens

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The tabloid newspaper building targeted in the fatal anthrax mailings in 2001 reopened with newsrooms still marked by Sun and Globe signs and file drawers bearing labels such as "JFK Jr."

http://bocaraton.com/index.aspx?pid=435

[goforit]

84. Guiliani....hmm,I wonder if he took part in the 911 mihop. Definite tinfoilhatter

[goforit]

85. Oooops freudian slip. Wasn't HATFIELD, the guy Bush tried to hang?

[WinkyDink]

88. The anthrax letter wasn't addressed to R. Stevens specifically. He might

have inhaled anthrax spores intended for anyone associated with photos published by American Media.

[Atman]

69. No

It seemed obvious to me from day one.

.

[lala_rawraw]

71. they were 2 in Congress

the rest was "liberal media"... my belief... because the sender was a right-wing nut job with access to the anthrax

[Atman]

73. Yes, but how did Cheney get that access?

:hi:

.

[BornagainDUer]

75. I've thought about that often. It just is hard to imagine that

almost all have caved. Kucinich, McDermott and a few others are the exception.

I think that the Bushistas,who have a big role in the Intelligence Community, simply have dirt on everybody. Everybody has something to hide and Poppy must have spent alot of time putting together files on all of his enemies (family's, friends, etc.) and keeping them updated.

When somebody starts to question Bushista power the fascists simply pull out the file and see what kind of mischief they can make.

[wildbilln864]

76. Kick! n/t

[Zywiec]

77. Judith Miller received an anthrax letter.

Is she an influential Democrat?

[burythehatchet]

82. no but she was a very effective tool.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

87. She received "powder" not anthrax. BIG difference.

At that moment the New York Times was being evacuated after another letter rained powder in the newsroom; this one was addressed to bioterrorism expert Judith Miller. Initial testing showed no sign of anthrax, but the threat still seemed real, and cunning.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001031-1,00.html

Just saying. MKJ

[BornagainDUer]

89. After which she became a tool of the Repukees. See

coercion does work for some people. :evilgrin: :tinfoilhat: