US anthrax suspect commits suicide

I would have gladly paid money to be the one that pulled the switch on the person or people responsible for the anthrax mailings.

US anthrax suspect commits suicide
August 1, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) â?? A US government scientist has committed suicide just as he was about to be charged in the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks that sparked widespread panic in the United States, US media reported Friday.

Bruce Ivins, 62, had worked for 18 years at the US biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland, where he prepared anthrax used in vaccine experiments, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Prosecutors were mulling whether to seek the death penalty against Ivins, who was never publicly named as a suspect in the seven-year-old case that left five people dead and spooked the country just weeks after the September 11 attacks, The Washington Post reported.

The FBI had no immediate comment.

"We are not making any official comment or statement at this time," Debbie Weierman, spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, told AFP.

In a statement, Ivins' attorney, Paul Kemp, confirmed the investigation and asserted his client's innocence.

"For more than a year, we have been privileged to represent Dr. Bruce Ivins during the investigation of the anthrax deaths of September and October of 2001," Kemp said.

"We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law.

We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial," he said.

Ivins was a world-renowned scientist who had "fully cooperated" with the investigation for six years, assisting the government "in every way that was asked of him," the attorney said.

"The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation," Kemp said.

"In Dr. Ivins' case, it led to his untimely death. We ask that the media respect the privacy of his family, and allow them to grieve."

Ivins's death came a month after the Justice Department paid a former "person of interest" in the case, Steven Hatfill, a bioweapons expert who once worked at Fort Detrick, almost six million dollars in a settlement over the FBI's public pursuit of him.

Soon after the settlement, Ivins' access to sensitive areas at work was limited, the Los Angeles Times reported, adding that he was to be forced to retire in September.

The Times said Ivins had been informed of "impending prosecution" in connection with the case, citing sources familiar with the FBI investigation.

Five people died after handling anthrax-tainted letters that were addressed to prominent politicians and journalists in the deadliest bio-terrorism attack in US history.

Ivins had even helped the Federal Bureau of Investigation analyze one of the envelopes filled with anthrax spores sent to a US senator's office in Washington.

His death on Tuesday, with no mention of suicide, was announced to his former colleagues in an email, the Times reported.

"People here are pretty shook up about it," Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the agency where he worked, was quoted as saying.

A friend told the Times Ivins died of an overdose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine and a former coworker said he had been treated for depression and had threatened suicide.

One of his two brothers, Thomas Ivins, told the Times he was not surprised by the suicide.

"He buckled under the pressure from the federal government," Thomas Ivins said, adding that FBI agents came to Ohio last year to question him about his brother.

"I was questioned by the feds, and I sung like a canary" about Bruce Ivins' personality, Thomas Ivins said. "He had in his mind that he was omnipotent."
AFP: US anthrax suspect commits suicide

you know the worst thing about the whole anthax scare is the lab where he stole it(and im pretty sure tons of other labs were the same) had no security, scientist were able to walk inside and outside unchecked/questioned, even with special work

i personaly know the federal agent in charge of the trenton NJ investigation. his name is kennith shuey, he was formerly the head of the trenton nj fbi office but he retired a year ago and now he is the head of new jerseys DMVs statewide security. he just bought a house near cammelback ski area in pa, it is beautiful and i have stayed there to snowboard, in no way am i saying kennith shuey had anything to do with what i am about to say...

this entire anthrax incident reeks of fals flag terror. im sorry but it just does. these two dudes they went after worked for THE FUCKING CIA AS ANTHRAX EXPERTS WHO ONE YEAR EARLIER HAD WRITTEN A STUDY ON EXACTLY HOW TO DISTRIBUTE ANTRAX IN A TERRORISTIC MANNER BY MAIL THAT WAS COMMISIONED BY THE CIA.

in fact, the reason why they were initialy named as suspects was because the study so closly reflected what actualy happened that it was the obvious starting point (and the anthrax matched, we later found). these dudes were cia chemical weapons veterans who worked at usamrid, a place where they test things like airborn eboli and risen gas, its litterlay the nastiest chemical weaponds depot that the armed forces has. if resident evil became real, usamrid is where the virus would esacpe from.

THE CIA USED THIER RESEARCH FOR A FALSE FLAG FOLLOW UP TO 9/11 and left these two dudes out to dry when the FBI and the media came knocking. who knows, the cia may have already had the anthrax plan down and just commisioned these dudes to write about it because at that point they worked for private companies (still heavily involved with chem weapons and the cia) and they could easily offer them up as scapegoats.

the reason why well never know exactly what happened is because the cia has thier entire arm up this incidents ass. the cia did not cooperate AT ALL with kennith shuey during the investigation. seems like investigating domestic terror would be something they would help with... they would have but they know the evidence would just indicate some crazy bastard running clandestine false flag terror ops within the cia if they helped at all. they were protecting themselfs.

they probably just charged this dude and killed him even though he had nothing to do with the implementation and never knew his reasearch would be used as false flag terror. it cleans up everything nicely for the cia.

the reason why they did this was to get an excuse to pass that bill that let them go through peoples mail without a warrent, remember that? yeh i know you dont, but i do.

now you might be thinking... that wasnt such a bad bill... but thats not actualy the entire story... see they were just softening up the public for the REAL bill they wanted to pass... the one that lets them look through ELECTRONIC data without a warrent... and just last month they granted the telcos imuunity. they immunized the telcos and killed off the scapegoat... 7 years later the plan is fullfilled!!!!!

just to recap: in 1999 a study is made by the cia on how to mail anthrax. three years later someone mails government-made anthrax exactly like the study says and all we have to go on are the two civilian dudes who authored the study. the cia doesnt say a peep, so all we can do is lay preassure on the two civilians. one kills himself and one wins a 6 mil settlment.

90% of what happened in the anthrax incident will never be known by the public. itll just be a nice tale for old cia heads to tell each other around the campfire.

I'm always suspect of virtually anything the government does anymore. They can not be trusted and this case stinks. Why was it taking so long and if they really thought this guy did it why wasn't being held in jail on some ridiculously high bail?

very very bad
an innocent man pressured from all sides until he buckled
they tried with Hatfield (sp?) but he was tough enough to resist, and then took it to them