NYPost

PRE-9/11 ‘TERRORIST' MAIL CAME FROM INDY

By MURRAY WEISS

November 1, 2001 -- EXCLUSIVE

Threatening letters mailed to the media before the World Trade Center attacks - bearing striking similarities to the current anthrax-tainted letters - were mailed from Indianapolis, where the deadly bacteria was discovered yesterday, The Post has learned.

The pre-Sept. 11 letters were addressed in block letters that virtually match the lettering on the anthrax-laced missives sent to Sen. Thomas Daschle, the New York Post and NBC, law-enforcement sources said.

One source allowed The Post to see copies of envelopes from several of the earlier letters.

Each line of the printed address clearly sloped downward to the right and the handwriting eerily resembled that on the anthrax letters.

Federal investigators checked the return addresses on the letters, the sources said, but none of them was real.

The return address on one letter - addressed to Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly - listed the name of Sean Hannity, another FNC personality.

Despite the obvious twisted humor, that letter and about 15 more now are a major focus of the far-flung federal probe, the sources say.

The similarities between the pre-Sept. 11 and post-Twin Tower disaster letters has further fueled a theory at the FBI and Justice Department that the anthrax scare is the work of a twisted home-grown menace rather than a terrorist linked to state-sponsored action or Osama bin Laden.

Sources say investigators are eyeing a number of groups, including radical members of a pagan cult.

The Wiccan group fashions itself as modern-day witches seeking religious freedom, but they are not known to be violent.

Investigators are probing whether a disturbed member of the group may have taken a bizarre turn and is targeting the media and the government in particular.

Indiana officials yesterday said that it was a coincidence they tested for - and found - traces of anthrax in a facility that repairs parts from sorting machines used by the U.S. Postal Service.

Inspectors initially started testing for the deadly bacteria in another repair facility, in Topeka, Kan., after several workers experienced flu-like symptoms, said Darla Stafford, spokeswoman for the Greater Indianapolis post office.

She said inspectors then tested in Indianapolis as a precaution because parts from an anthrax-affected post office in Washington, D.C. were recently repaired there

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

Answers

I wish they wouldn't throw out nutty speculation as to who-dun-it. First, it was radical right wingers, now it's a radical Wicca group. For all they know, it's a disgruntled loner with a huge grudge, as Carl has speculated on another thread.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

I think "they" have a good idea whodunit but they're throwing this out to confuse them. Just want to draw in others and/or get solid evidence.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

SFGate

Hate groups may be anthrax attackers Domestic extremists probed along with foreign terrorists

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, November 1, 2001

Federal agents hunting for the source of the nation's anthrax attacks are scrutinizing a host of homegrown terrorists with grudges against anyone from nonwhites to non-Christians who might have just as much reason as Osama bin Laden to send deadly mail.

Sources say investigators are looking at domestic hate groups ranging from the aryan National Alliance and militias to the fundamentalist Army of God. And they are keeping equally alert for signs of lone thrill seekers or sociopaths with agendas like the Unabomber.

Attorney General John Ashcroft admitted yesterday that authorities are not close to a breakthrough in the cases. And with nobody claiming responsibility for the germ attacks that have left four dead -- just as no one took responsibility for the Sept. 11 hijackings -- the possibility remains that bin Laden's guerrilla bands could be involved.

But with 500,000 tips rolling in to more than 4,000 federal agents working around the clock to track the anthrax terrorists, any credible direction is a good one, sources familiar with the probe say. And right now that direction is leading to within America's borders, where at last count more than 40,000 people belonged to hard-core hate groups.

"People are shocked at the idea, but let's admit it," said former FBI profiler Robert Ressler, who specializes in terrorism consultation. "We have computer viruses all over from this country, and by the same token you have sick people who will do this sort of anthrax attack for thrills or for some sick agenda.

"They just love to do something like this, then sit back and smoke a cigarette and have a beer and marvel at what they've done.

American hate groups have had caches of anthrax and other deadly bioweapons,

such as ricin, for at least a decade, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He takes heart in the fact that the few hatemongers who tried, ineptly, to use the supplies in recent years were arrested.

But the possibility cannot be discounted that the current attacks are evolutions of previous failures, such as the thwarted 1999 plot by a Texas militia to fire anthrax-tipped darts from converted lighters. And the chatter since Sept. 11 on extremist hate-group Web sites has leaned heavily toward joining in the attack -- although some also advocate killing Muslim terrorists,

too.

"Our domestic terror groups are certainly capable of this, and they have just as much motivation as al Qaeda (bin Laden's group) to attack government and media people, and to cause terror," said Gary Ackerman, a bioterrorism specialist at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. "My theory is that they are getting on the bandwagon, so to speak, of the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks."

One of the main things pointing away from al Qaeda is the nature of the anthrax-laced letters sent to Sen. Tom Daschle, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post. The block lettering, broken English and misspellings do not add up to the middle-class, educated bunch that pulled off the hijackings, experts say.

"The lettering looks too fake, the use of the Sept. 11 date on each one makes no sense, and the style of dating (with the month first) is American, not foreign," Ressler said.

Also, the kind of anthrax used, though sophisticated, is available in America. And it's not likely that the same terrorists who figured out how to kill thousands of people in one day would opt for such a low-mortality attack as the mailings -- although Ackerman pointed out, "maybe this is all the supply they could get and they're just making the most of it."

None of this, of course, rules out foreign terrorists.

"It just goes round and round," Ackerman said. "Every day someone comes up with something that points in a new direction. You have to go with what you have."

If a domestic hate group is spewing anthrax, he said, it would probably be one of three kinds.

One is an anti-governmental group, such as a militia. Another is white supremacists eager to incite war against Jews, Muslims or both. The third is Christian extremists such as the Army of God, which bombed abortion clinics and threatened them with anthrax before.

"Some extremist Christian groups could have viewed Sept. 11 as an apocalyptic sign from God to start the final cataclysmic events," Ackerman said.

Ressler leans more toward a lone psychopath or copycat joining in on the horror. These would be harder to track than groups -- as demonstrated by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, who evaded agents for 18 years while he killed three people and injured 23, mostly with mail bombs.

"Events like the World Trade Center attack trigger unstable minds; that's what we're probably dealing with," Ressler said.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

If a domestic hate group is spewing anthrax, he said, it would probably be one of three kinds.

One is an anti-governmental group, such as a militia. Another is white supremacists eager to incite war against Jews, Muslims or both. The third is Christian extremists such as the Army of God, which bombed abortion clinics and threatened them with anthrax before.

"Some extremist Christian groups could have viewed Sept. 11 as an apocalyptic sign from God to start the final cataclysmic events," Ackerman said.

Interesting, but I kinda like the idea of a mix, starting with the disgruntled guy as Gordon theorized. We'll see if they find anything concerning that one woman who died in NY with no noticeable contact with tainted mail. [I forget what thread Gordon posted the theory on.]

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

Gordon posted a thread theorizing a loner source for the anthrax? I missed it, please post a link so I can see if we're on the same page. Here's where I shared my thoughts last night

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=006rfL

Notice today they mentioned she was divorced. Wonder if they've located the ex-husband yet? Seems they're following the right track digging into her last weeks...

Now if ex-hubby is also a client/friend of the 51 year old accountant woman, and lives in the New Jersey neighborhood where some of the envelopes were mailed from....

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

Oops! Guess it was you that said that.

sorry 'bout that.

I plead temporary insanity due to stress.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

Don't let him fool you, Carl. He's got temporary stress due to insanity.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

I had already deduced that Florida postal workers were suffering from the dichotomy of the situation... instead of reaching for a straw when white powder spills from a package, they have to try and keep it OUT of their noses... must be nerve wracking...

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001

Yes, this is the last straw. . .

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2001