Leahy Believes Other People Were Involved In Fall 2001 Anthrax Attacks

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Doubt filled the air today at the Senate Judiciary Committee. FBI Director Robert Mueller received grilling from Democratic and Republican members of the committee regarding the authenticity of the Justice Department's belief that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the sole mastermind of the Fall 2001 anthrax attacks.

SFGate.com reprinted an article from the Associated Press where Chairman Leahy expressed his doubts pointblank to FBI Director Robert Mueller: ''If he is the one who sent the letter, I do not believe in any way, shape or manner that he is the only person involved in this attack on Congress and the American people. I do not believe that at all. I believe there are others involved, either as accessories before or accessories after the fact. I believe that there are others out there, I believe there are others who could be charged with murder. I just want you to know how I feel about it, as one of the people who was aimed at in the attack.''

Dr. Bruce Ivins committed suicide in July after learning that he was going to be indicted. Francis Boyle is a professor of law at the University of Illinois. He drafted the 1989 Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act that was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

The American Conservative magazine quotes Boyle doubting Ivins' knowledge to properly manufacture the anthrax spores: ''It does not appear that he had the technological sophistication to manufacture this super weapons-grade anthrax, which would have included aerosolization, silicon coating, and an electrostatic charge.''

Ivins was a registered Democrat and a strong supporter of Israel. He sent several letters to the Frederick, Maryland News Post newspaper over many years. Ivins even praised a rabbi for refusing to engage in a dialogue with a Muslim cleric.

Here is a quote from The American Free Press newspaper from one of Ivins' letters to the aforementioned paper describing how he thought about Jews and whether they should talk with non-Jews: ''By blood and faith, Jews are God's chosen, and have no need for 'dialogue' with any gentile.''

Getting back to the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings today, Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania had a testy exchange with FBI Director Mueller. He wants the Judiciary Committee to suggest names of scientists who will be performing an independent review of the DNA fingerprinting analysis of the anthrax.

The review will come from members of the National Academy of Sciences who didn't assist the FBI in the investigation. Mueller told Specter that the NAS and the Justice Department would have to agree to any scientists that were suggested by the Judiciary Committee.

SFGate.com quoted Specter snapping at Mueller: ''What's there to consider, Director Mueller? We'd like to have the authority to name some people there to be sure of its objectivity. We're not interlopers here. This is an oversight matter. What's there to consider?''

NAS spokesman William Kearney welcomed suggestions from the scientific community and the Committee but all suggestions would still have to be approved by the NAS president.

Sitting in the audience was Dr. Stephen Hatfill, an Army scientist who was wrongly accused by the FBI for orchestrating the anthrax attacks. Hatfill sued the Justice Department for violating his privacy rights because officials spoke with reporters about the case. The Justice Department settled with Hatfill for $5.8 million in June.

The FBI had records showing Ivins was conducting late-night lab research prior to the deadly letters being mailed. Senator Charles Grassley said that the FBI had this information as early as 2002 yet they hounded Hatfill for four years ruining his reputation and career. The FBI hasn't publicly apologized to Dr. Stephen Hatfill.