Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3117-1003455461-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 18 Oct 2001 18:40:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 11349 invoked by uid 510); 19 Oct 2001 01:37:19 -0000 Received: from n8.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.58) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 19 Oct 2001 01:37:19 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3117-1003455461-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.56] by n8.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 19 Oct 2001 01:37:41 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 19 Oct 2001 01:37:40 -0000 Received: (qmail 74108 invoked from network); 19 Oct 2001 01:37:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l10.egroups.com with QMQP; 19 Oct 2001 01:37:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta1 with SMTP; 19 Oct 2001 01:37:40 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id f9J1bdf06395 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 18 Oct 2001 18:37:39 -0700 Message-Id: <200110190137.f9J1bdf06395@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 18:37:39 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:US.militia,.not.Osama.behind.Anthrax.scare:.Expert] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <a href="http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=983950989">http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=983950989> US militia, not Osama behind Anthrax scare: Expert WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2001 THE TIMES OF INDIA SYDNEY: The anthrax attacks now spreading terror through the United States are unlikely to have had anything to do with Osama Bin Laden, Australia's leading authority on terrorism said on Tuesday. Clive Williams, a specialist in terrorism at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, believes the evidence points to right- wing US militia. "I think the first instances of it, the ones involving media, were more likely to have been caused by extremist militia in the US who have shown an interest in anthrax in the past and tried to acquire it," he told AFP. "The subsequent instances were basically copy-cat episodes by mentally unbalanced people, I believe." Williams, widely acknowledged as Australia's leading authority on the subject, is preparing a graduate course in terrorism for the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Speaking 24 hours after Australia was plunged into chaos and panic because of a series of hoaxes involving "suspicious" packages of white powder, he said Australia, in reality, is in little danger from bio-terrorist attack. However, up to 16 buildings were evacuated on Monday because of hoax packages and authorities reported dozens more were received on Tuesday. Williams believes Australia is better prepared than almost any other country to deal with bio-terrorist attack because of the planning and equipment acquired for last year's Olympics in Sydney. "Australians can rest assured that our government agencies are world class in their ability to react quickly and deal with any potential terrorist biological threats. Armageddon is not around the corner." He believes the US attacks have involved the use of a form of anthrax readily available to scientists and researchers. "But what is rare is the weaponised version of it which is much more dangerous and has a high lethality rate, but that is not available and is difficult to manufacture," he said. "In the United States there has only been one instance in which it was alleged there was an airborne spore, but that could have been because somebody touched anthrax and then picked their nose. I'm not convinced that any of the instances in the US involved the weaponised variety." But he said the only anthrax the US militia groups could have acquired was the type with the potential to cause illness and which is readily treatable with antibiotics. A photo editor died on October 5 from respiratory anthrax at American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida. Three other people who have since developed the disease were employees of media companies, triggering suspicions of a bioterrorist campaign by bin Laden, who is blamed for the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US. In an article for The Australian newspaper, Williams said few terrorist groups in the world had demonstrated an interest in bioterrorism and fewer still had tried to acquire biological agents. One that did was Japan's Aum Shinrikyo sect which had among its members biochemists who tried to develop biological weapons using anthrax, but gave up after nine attempts, deciding instead to focus on sarin gas, a chemical agent. The sect's 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo's subway system killed 11 and injured around 5,500. Williams said it has proved extremely difficult to cause mass casualties with a biological agent although four people had died in one particular incident. A leakage of anthrax in the Soviet Union also caused many deaths decades ago, but that was the weaponised variety, he said. "So far, no terrorist group has been successful at culturing a virulent agent capable of causing mass casualties and it is likely to be some time before this capability exists," he added. ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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