Congress Wants Answers On Anthrax

(CBS/AP)  Five years after anthrax attacks terrified Americans, the case remains unsolved — and Congress is now fighting with the FBI to get an update.

It started when two members asked for the information and were turned down by the bureau, which cited concerns about possible leaks.

Now 33 members of Congress are demanding that the FBI provide an update on their investigation of the anthrax attacks that killed two U.S. Postal Workers from suburban Maryland and shut down the Hart Senate Office Building for several months more than five years ago.

The lawmakers sent a letter on Tuesday asking Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for a briefing, saying "it's unbelievable" that members of Congress, including some who were targets, "haven't been briefed for years" on "one of the most important terror investigations ever undertaken by the FBI," CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

"The FBI's refusal to brief Congress on this matter is unprecedented and inexcusable," said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J.

Both Republicans and Democrats signed the letter, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who was among the targets of the 2001 anthrax attacks. He had an anthrax-filled letter sent to his office.

A photo editor in Boca Raton, Fla., died that same year after being exposed to anthrax in an envelope mailed to the building.

[randalds]

That's right, there wasn't a civil war in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein is probably the only person on the planet who knows how to control Iraq. I read (I forget the source, but it sounds at least close to being correct) that Iraq had never, N-E-V-E-R, had a suicide bomber before the U.S. occupation began. Saddam would have killed their family and their dog if anybody had tried.

Posted by jeffcadieux at 06:22 AM : Dec 13, 2006

And he would have gladly done the same to any al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq too. Saddam didn't just want to be the strongest kid on the block, he wanted to be the only kid on the block. He was a Sunni to be sure, but a secularist dictator first and foremost. He hated Osama bin Laden nearly as much as bin Laden hated him (which is as much as he hated us) and the idea that they would have cooperated on anything is laughable. It never ceases to amaze me how many stupid, stupid people fell for the whole connection to 9-11 lie!

[firststate]

Jason_plo says, "Okay there first off your an idiot... ...there has been a civil war going on in iraq looonng before we got there... ...i doubt the soldiers want to leave all of those people there to go into a civil war... ...that civil war has been going on since islam began.%u201D and last, but not least %u201C...its his job not ours to make sure he (Bush) does what is right ..."

Usually a person resorts to calling others idiots, simply(no pun intended) because they can't formulate a reasoned response. This kind of person often yells during a discussion, thinking that volume will overcome the absence of rationality. The excerpts above are a noteworthy exercise in contradiction, for instance civil war was simultaneously going on and then looming before we got there. Our military need to prevent people there from going into a civil war... ... but the civil war has been going on since Islam began. Whew!

If he doesn't want to hear anyone dissing Bush and thinks it's not our job to make clueless leader do what%u2019s right, I'd suggest 1. get a grip 2. pull head out 3. read the Constitution.

Even his %u201Chero,%u201D Dumbya finally had to admit that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Good delusions die hard. This administration stops contact with nations it doesn't agree with and ignoring Iran and N. Korea is sure to improve the situation, NOT !!

Jason_plo deserves at least a 9.8 in the incoherence olympiad.

[firststate]

Democrats were absolutely behind wire tapping for national security. They passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to that end. The FIS Court has consistently granted authority for monitoring communications, it has erred on the side of caution with no leaks. It provides for starting taps immediately when necessary, only requiring that a request be submitted within 72 hours after they started.

Since they can start the monitoring before approval the excuse that they can't afford the delay of obeying the FISA won't fly. How can starting as soon as they want to start be sped up by ignoring the FISA?

The FIS Judges won't authorize exactly what they want, so A.G. Gonzales decided that the President can ignore inconvenient laws. Could they want to record everything and scan for individuals, all of whose communications should be specifically checked out?

Bush wasn%u2019t given unlimited authority. He%u2019s subject to the law. He seems to have decided that his oath of office included, "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" as a suggestion. The administration%u2019s decisions placing itself above the law and the Constitution and that Congress should be irrelevant make the A.G.%u2019s decision to ignore Congress is entirely predictable. Congressional oversight is a new concept to them, but they've got to get used to it. It%u2019s that pesky old Constitution, again.

[pendragon679]

So, five years down the road, we're still trying to find out who was resonsible for anthrax attacks while people are getting sick & possibly dying of E. coli in the Heartland. Where are the watchdogs? Where is Homeland Security? How many people have to die before somebody wakes up and realizes that our food supply is being tampered with? We've done a heck of a job preventing the last attack (5 years since anyone flew an airliner into a high-rise!). What about the NEXT attack? When are we going to wake up and start preventing fires instead of putting them out?

[mjv2944]

Lets see, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, 35 million Americans go to bed hungry, illegal immigrants, erosion of the middle class just to name a few problems. Hell, all that could have happened was we would havwe lost a few congressmen.NO LOSS.

[antoniof123]

Wait Bush has not broken every law in the country yet just give him 2 more years by then he should have done it. As I wright this I can not stop laughing because real life is so much more funny than made up things. The only part that is sad is people are dying because of these fools.

[frankly6]

janem4

Was this Clinton's fault? Surely he's connected somehow. Perhaps you could enlighten us here. Check with Rush and get back to us.

[aeasus]

Follow the money trail.
Pharmaceutical stocks skyrocketed.

[jeffcadieux]

""...there has been a civil war going on in iraq looonng before we got there"

Ummm, no, there wasn't.

Saddam had the Iraqis under control through the use of force."

That's right, there wasn't a civil war in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein is probably the only person on the planet who knows how to control Iraq. I read (I forget the source, but it sounds at least close to being correct) that Iraq had never, N-E-V-E-R, had a suicide bomber before the U.S. occupation began. Saddam would have killed their family and their dog if anybody had tried.

[randalds]

Well I didn't want him to have to wonder. ;-)