PrintAugust 7, 2008
The case against Dr. Ivins
The FBI has laid out its evidence in the case against army scientist Dr. Bruce Ivins. Although I initially doubted the FBI theory that Dr. Ivins was the sole source of the 2001 anthrax attack, I mused when writing about it a few days ago that I hoped they got the right guy because I would hate to think that my government had hounded an innocent man to death. I am somewhat relived by the evidence provided today because it makes a solid case.
The FBI's theory goes against my long held theory of the case (also shared by many, many others) that the attack was done by al Qaeda. But a theory is only as good as the evidence.
I'm not going to recap all the evidence provided by the FBI because it will be available from any news sources. But there is this collection of personal emails sent by the doctor to an undisclosed recipient over a period of years that is frank and stark, very disturbing. In one email he writes a poem, an ode to his own mental illness. In another he mentions that he volunteered to be a case study in mental illness, seeming to mock his own mental health.
And although some individual elements of the evidence (like the sorority fixation) may seem ludicrous, the entirety of the evidence paints a clear picture of a deeply disturbed man who seems quite capable of what he has been accused of doing.
The FBI affidavit includes a graph which shows the doctor's late night work in the lab. It is clear that at a time just prior to the dates of the two anthrax mailings, the doctor was atypically very late in the lab. Although I did notice a conflict with another portion of the affidavit (or maybe another document) in which the petitioner claimed that evening work was typical for the doctor. It is a clear contradiction but if the graph that was provided is accurate, it is a real smoking gun.
I feel certain that the FBI finally got the right man and I think they have provided an invaluable service and should be congratulated for their efforts. Frankly, I never though this would solved.
