Bruce Ivins: Just Another Government Patsy?

None of us need reminding about the events of 9/11/01. Images will be forever etched in our minds, those that saw in person or on television the unimaginable sites of airliners packed with passengers crashing into the World Trade Center Towers is something they will never forget.

There were immediate and pressing calls for something to be done at government level to prevent such a thing happening on American soil ever again. Some called for a modern variation of the Enabling Act of 1933. Others wanted more, some had no idea what they wanted or how and when it should be implemented. Draft proposals were drawn up behind closed doors, but there were still members of Congress that were dragging their feet, sitting on the fence, dithering.

While the smoke was still rising from Ground Zero people in the government, and a variety of media personalities started to receive letters laced with anthrax. The American people, most still not willing to countenance the possibility that their own government had been involved in or even orchestrated the attack on the Twin Towers, felt the attack was continuing, that the World Trade Center atrocity was just the beginning. The letters continued to arrive in September and October of 2001.

On October 26th 2001 George W. Bush signed what has become known as the Patriot Act. The correct name is actually The USA PATRIOT Act with each of the letters of USA and PATRIOT standing for a single word.

Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. No further letters containing anthrax were mailed after the Patriot Act was signed into law.

The Act reduced the restrictions placed on law enforcement when dealing with terrorism and anything related to terrorism. It also expanded the meaning of terrorism to include domestic terrorism and to recognize ‘home grown’ terrorists.

Bruce Edwards Ivins was born in Lebanon Ohio on April 22 1946. After a relatively normal and unremarkable childhood he went to university and graduated with honors from the University of Cincinnati in 1968. He followed on with a Masters in 1971 and a PhD in 1976, all in microbiology.

He was a published author with 44 scientific papers to his credit, and he was the co-inventor of an anthrax vaccine that had two patents held by his employers the US Army. Ivins worked in his field for 36 years and was a senior bio-defense researcher. He worked for USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases) at Fort Detrick, Maryland for 18 years.

Bruce Ivins was also an FBI science consultant, and as such offered to help with the investigation into the anthrax letters. He told the FBI he had access to the Ames strain that had been used and that ‘ongoing tests and genetic studies” could help trace the exact origin of the anthrax used in the letters.

Some seven years later the same department that had consulted him, asking for scientific assistance, was preparing to file murder charges against him and against that backdrop, on July 27th 2008, Bruce E, Ivins swallowed a large amount of Tylenol PM. He died two days later on July 29th 2008 due to acute liver and kidney failure.

On July 24th 2001 Jean Duley, a government employed psychiatrist stated that Ivins made ‘homicidal threats’ during a group discussion about father/son relationships and she reported this to her superiors.

On August 6th 2008 the Department of Justice stated that Ivins was solely responsible

“for the deaths of 5 people and the injury of dozens of others, resulting from the mailing of several anonymous letters to members of Congress  and members of the media in September and October 2001, which (sic) letters contained Bacillus anthracis commonly referred to as anthrax.”

It wasn’t until February 2010 that the FBI published a 92 page summary of their findings regarding the evidence against Ivins. With the publication of the document they stated their investigation had been concluded.

Many of the conclusions in the summary were vehemently contested by many people, not least the widow of one of those who died in the attack and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) who was a target of the attack. Many argued that Ivins was not responsible, while some said he was not solely responsible.

In response to the mounting criticism the FBI sought back up from The National Academy of Sciences who they requested review the scientific aspects of the case. On May 15th 2011 the panel released its findings.

“…conclude that the bureau overstated the strength of the genetic analysis linking the mailed supply to a supply kept by Bruce E. Ivins…it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the B.anthracis in the mailings based on the scientific evidence alone”

Bruce Ivins had the makings of a perfect pasty. He worked for the government, had past bouts of depression, had access to the anthrax and finally, just before he apparently committed suicide a government psychiatrist said he made homicidal threats.

It will never be known if Ivins was responsible for mailing the anthrax laced letters, and if he did  whether he concocted and executed the plan alone or with others. The evidence from the summary that has leaked out over the years is scant at best. He had a post office box in a fake name where he had pornographic magazines delivered (so as not to upset his wife) He said Jews were the chosen ones even though he was a practicing Catholic, a psychiatrist  said he had homicidal thoughts. He worked with anthrax.

You have to  ask if looking at pornography or holding certain religious views make a person predisposed to becoming a murderer. You have to ask if ALL the staff with access to the anthrax were scrutinized to the level that Ivins was, and if not, why not?.

It’s seems likely that Bruce E. Ivins was delegated a role by a person or persons unknown that he knew nothing about. He was a pawn in a game and it cost him his life, allegedly taken by his own hand, an act strictly against his faith.

The anthrax mailings were used to get the Patriot Act through Congress. The letters, looked like a continuation of the attack of 9/11 and as such moved people from the mid line to the main line and all but forced their agreement that the Patriot Act be ratified. For the people behind the anthrax letters Bruce Ivins was the quite simply the right man, in the right place at the right time. The patsy brought into the public eye to take the blame for yet another atrocity thought up behind a closed door by the people who should actually be protecting the citizens of the United States, not killing them.