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New Claims Arise Surrounding Anthrax Attacks on the U.S.
WASHINGTON, March 23 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) – U.S. officials believe an Al-Qaeda laboratory under construction near Kandahar, Afghanistan was designed to develop anthrax, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The newspaper has also published a report citing a Florida doctor’s claims that he treated one of the suspected September 11 hijackers for possible anthrax.
"It is another example that they had an appetite for developing biological agents," a U.S. official is reported to have told the newspaper.
But, U.S. Central Command found no biological agents in the laboratory, which was still under construction when it was abandoned.
Throughout the conflict in Afghanistan, U.S. officials have repeatedly alleged that the Al-Qaeda network led by Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect behind the September 11 attacks in the United States, was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
For months U.S. forces have scoured its former camps and other sites to determine the status of Al-Qaeda's efforts.
"Documents recovered from Al-Qaeda facilities in Afghanistan show that [Osama] bin Laden was pursuing a sophisticated biological weapons research program," George Tenet, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said recently.
"We also believe that bin Laden was seeking to acquire or develop a nuclear device. Al-Qaeda may be pursuing a radioactive dispersal device, which some call a 'dirty bomb'," he said.
U.S. intelligence officials still believe, however, that Al-Qaeda would need assistance from foreign experts or foreign governments to mount an effective program to make weapons of mass destruction.
The New York Times reported that more than 60 sites have been investigated and more than 370 samples have been taken, but in only five cases were there any apparent indications of possible biological agents and then only in tiny amounts.
The Times of London also reported Saturday that U.S. troops had uncovered an advanced Al-Qaeda biological weapons laboratory in a mountain cave in Afghanistan.
The paper said the discovery prompted Britain, at Washington's request, to order the deployment of 1,700 elite commandos to the country.
Additionally, the New York Times released a report Saturday claiming that the anthrax attacks on media and political figures in the U.S. in October 2001 may be “linked to the September 11 attacks”, although the FBI still maintains that the biological attacks were more likely “home-grown.”
While the U.S. government has repeatedly asserted that the two sets of attacks are not linked and that the anthrax attacks were consistent with FBI profiles of a lone and unrelated domestic figure, the New York Times reported that a doctor in Florida is claiming he treated one of the suspected hijackers for symptoms “consistent with sub-cutaneous anthrax.”
Dr. Christos Tsonas claims to have treated Ahmed Alhaznawi for what he thought was a “curious injury”, prescribed an antibiotic for the infection and sent Alhaznawi away with hardly another thought.
After September 11, when federal investigators claimed to have found the medicine among the possessions of Alhaznawi, “Dr. Tsonas reviewed the case and arrived at a new diagnosis,” the New York Times reported.
The daily also reported that Tsonas also identified Ziad al-Jarrah, also claimed by the U.S. to be one of the suspected hijackers, as the man who accompanied Alhaznawi to the Florida hospital emergency room.
Dr. Sue Bailey, an MSNBC analyst stated, however, that the U.S. and the FBI are still leaning more towards the theory that the anthrax attacks were “home grown.”
She went on to state that the anthrax used in the attacks on the U.S. has DNA links to anthrax grown within the U.S., and thus the more likely possibility. She did go on to state that the FBI is also pursuing the new lead.
There has been no independent corroboration with the doctor’s assertions. Attempts by IslamOnline to call the FBI for verification of claims that they have known about the possible link since October, when the doctor first claims to have divulged the information, yielded no results.
With additional reporting by Neveen A. Salem
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