Finally! 2001 Anthrax Attacks are Back in the News

My About blurb says I am interested in blogging about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. I’ve started several draft posts about the attacks and their aftermath, but I haven’t finished any of them. I’m finding it hard to articulate my thoughts about those attacks, especially when considered in light of all that has happened since then.

Well, my reservations have just been overtaken by events: The anthrax attacks that occurred in the weeks following 9/11, long neglected by the media, are finally back in the news. In my mind the anthrax attacks must be factored into in any discussion of the effects of the 9/11 attacks.

New York Times:

The seven-year investigation into the anthrax attacks that traumatized and baffled the nation just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks has taken a stunning new turn with the apparent suicide of a scientist who was the prime suspect in the case.

With investigators close to filing charges against him, the scientist — Bruce E. Ivins, 62 — apparently took his own life with a prescription painkiller, Tylenol mixed with codeine. He died [July 29] at a hospital in Frederick, Md., about an hour’s drive north of Washington.

Mr. Ivins, who was a biodefense researcher at Fort Detrick, had been told of the investigation into the anthrax incidents, said his lawyer, Paul F. Kemp, who issued a statement insisting that his client was innocent.