Jewish World Review July 17, 2002 / 8 Menachem-Av, 5762

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly
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FBI isn't supposed to stand for Foolish, Blind and Incompetent


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | FBI isn't supposed to stand for Foolish, Blind and Incompetent. But the investigation into the shooting at Los Angeles International airport July 4 is the latest indication that it may.

Hesham Mohamed Hadayet stuffed two automatic pistols, extra clips of ammunition, and a knife into his pockets, drove 45 miles to LAX, walked up to the El Al counter, and blasted away. It took the FBI more than a day to conclude he'd gone to the airport intending to hurt people.

Special Agent In Charge Richard Garcia was quicker to dismiss "terrorism" as a motive for Hadayet's crime. He did this in a rambling and incoherent press conference hours after the shootings, even though FBI agents had yet to search Hadayet's home or interview his neighbors and coworkers.

The FBI is backtracking rapidly now that Israeli intelligence has identified Hadayet as a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and an Arabic newspaper in London reported that Hadayet met twice with Ayman al Zawahiri, the Egyptian who is the number two man in al Qaida.

The Bureau tends not to follow trails which lead in Politically Incorrect directions. I've written earlier about how the FBI missed clues indicating foreign terrorist involvement in the April, 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Consider now the anthrax investigation.

On Sept. 18, letters containing powdered anthrax were sent to NBC News and the New York Post. On Oct. 9, two more letters were sent to Sens. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt). The anthrax in both was from the Ames strain developed at the Army lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. But the anthrax in the letters sent to the senators was much more finely milled. The Ames strain also claimed the life of Robert Stevens, and employee of American Media Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., publisher of the National Enquirer and other tabloids. He died October 5, the first known anthrax death.

Every bio-terror incident in the last 100 years was the product of a conspiracy, according to a study by the National Defense University. But the FBI's working hypothesis is that the anthrax letters were mailed by a disgruntled American scientist.

Why are they so sure? A New York Times story in March noted that the first anthrax incident last year was in June, when Ahmed Alhaznawi came to the emergency room at Holy Cross hospital in Fort Lauderdale for treatment of an ugly black lesion on his leg. Dr. Christos Tsonas had never seen a lesion of that kind before. Alhaznawi told him it had been caused by a bump. Tsonas prescribed an antibiotic.

Alhaznawi was one of the 9/11 hijackers. Tsonas' prescription was found among Alhaznawi's effects. When Tsonas was shown photos of lesions caused by anthrax, he said Alhaznawi's lesion looked exactly like them. Fort Lauderdale, incidentally, is a just a hop skip and jump down the road from American Media Inc. headquarters in Boca Raton.

If the anthrax letters were prepared and sent by a single rogue scientist, the FBI ought to have found him by now. The list of scientists capable of weaponizing anthrax is not long. The list of scientists who have had access to the top secret areas at Fort Detrick is shorter. And no scientist, no matter how brilliant, could have prepared the anthrax on the workbench in his garage. For that, sophisticated equipment such as a centrifuge would be required. There aren't many private purchasers of such equipment.

The FBI hasn't found the terrorist lab. This could be because: (1) It is extremely well hidden. (2) The FBI is unbelievably incompetent. (3) The anthrax wasn't prepared in the United States.

The U.S. gave a sample of the Ames virus to the British military lab at Porton Downs. U.S. intelligence agencies reported that Iraqi scientists tried in 1988 to get a sample of the Ames virus from Porton Downs, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) said in a floor speech last month. Perhaps they succeeded.

"European government and CIA officials reported meetings between al Qaida members and intelligence officials," said Rep. Pence. "The 9/11 hijackers also attempted to rent crop dusters, presumably as delivery vehicles. These are all facts that suggest an international connection."

Somebody should tell the FBI.

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07/12/02: The ICC tramples on rights Americans take for granted
07/09/02: Was LA International Airport shooting, in fact, good news?
07/02/02: What the "intelligence community" can learn from Alexander the Great
06/28/02: Muslim link in Oklahoma City bombing revisited
06/25/02: A good environmental scare needs two ingredients - an impending catastrophe, and someone to blame for it
06/21/02: Stirring the security pot
06/18/02: Why the military is so messed up
06/14/02: Vast majority $68.7 billion proposed for weapons will be spent on systems of little use in the war on terror
06/12/02: Bush saw them and raised them, and he's holding the aces
06/10/02: Some heads need to roll
06/04/02: A new draft for the 'war on terror'?
05/31/02: So the FBI has finally caught up to our priorities?
05/29/02: Taking on common sense
05/23/02: Political terrorists
05/21/02: There is a great deal to fret about, but I've never been more optimistic
05/15/02: If there is a way for America to lose the war, Gen. Tommy Franks can find it
05/13/02: Impartial justice against Americans by the UN?
05/07/02: Want to win the 'war on terror'? Reinstate the draft
05/03/02: An expanded NATO is needed as a counterweight to the UN and the EU
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04/23/02: Why peace in the Mideast is closer than ever
04/19/02: What the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank gained from the "peace accords"
04/17/02: Logical Muslim allies
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04/05/02: Arab winners and sinners
04/01/02: Why is the commander of U.S. Central Command not coming clean to the American people?
03/31/02: Dubya under attack … by conservatives
03/26/02: Saddam watch coming to an end?
03/21/02: Get the Jews!
03/19/02: It's time pols and gov bureaucrats be held to the same standard of accountability we insist for corporate execs
03/15/02: Khaki Throat
03/12/02: Making foreign cheaters pay
03/08/02: Timidity and indecision by senior American commanders
03/04/02: Why 9-11? Ex-CIA officials come clean
02/25/02: Don't rule out a quick victory --- even if prez says otherwise
02/21/02: Saving our military from itself
02/19/02: Front Page fiction
02/15/02: Our European allies are like the fat kid who wants to play quarterback
02/13/02: Is the Army in danger of becoming "irrelevant"?
02/11/02: So, I "propagate hatred" …
02/06/02: Bush whacking the media
02/04/02: Why serious folks disregard the European Union --- and why Bush must, too
01/30/02: Give economy pneumonia in order to protect it from a cold
01/28/02: Media is its own worst enemy
01/25/02: Journalists making road to peace a bumpy ride, or: A case study in stupidity
01/23/02: Toward a stronger defense at a lower cost
01/21/02: How Bush could be Generations X and Y's Kennedy ... and guarantee a GOP victory in the midterm elections

© 2002, Jack Kelly