Media Roots - American Anthrax

Robbie Martin is the co-host of Media Roots Radio with Abby Martin

9/11 was a traumatizing event for the entire world, especially the world of the previously untouchable (short of Pearl Harbor) country of the United States of America. Immediately following 9/11, another equally as impactful 'terrorist attack' occurred when deadly weaponized anthrax was sent through the US postal service. Unlike 9/11 which was a one time incident occurring in two major cities, Anthrax spread fear to every corner of American life, where now the simple act of getting the mail could be fatal. In the end postal workers and a NY post reporter ended up dying from anthrax infection, but countless others were infected and survived. The Hart Senate building was shut down for over a month while special teams decontaminated the facilities.First the Bush administration tried to link the '2nd wave of terrorism' to Al-Qaeda, when that out-lived it's usefulness the shift started to lean towards Saddam Hussein and his mythological bio-weapons program. ABC News, John McCain and other propagandists spread disinformation to intentionally plant the seeds in the public mind that the anthrax came from Iraq. This disinformation was spread as early as October of 2001, only one month after 9/11. During this propaganda campaign, which eventually lead to Colin Powell's 'wmd' speech in front of the UN in 2003, the US government was fully aware that the anthrax did not come from an external source, but instead showed tell-tale signs of being a specific weaponized anthrax strain manufactured by the US military. Regardless, the idea of it being from some kind of external terrorist organization remained the conventional wisdom that the public was made to understand in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Eventually 2 men were falsely accused of being behind the anthrax attacks. No charges were brought to either man, but one of them, Bruce Ivins ended up committing suicide while the FBI was trying to 'break' him into confessing. The National Academy of sciences was asked by the FBI to verify their research, but instead of confirming their results they came to the conclusion that the DNA in the anthrax sent through the mail was not even a match to the anthrax that Bruce Ivins worked with. Instead of waiting for the National Academy of Sciences to finish their own independent investigation, the FBI rushed their premature conclusions to the press to announce Ivins guilt. Not once has the FBI commented on the contradiction of the only piece of physical evidence they claimed tied Ivins to the crimes.