A character named Rawls in the TV show "The Wire" is a "careerist" whose main priority is to get his clearance rate up. He pushes his employees to close cases as fast as they can, regardless of whether they solve the crimes, improve the city, or get any justice. Whenever Detective McNulty or anyone else in his unit shows any initiative, Rawls humiliates or demotes him. The FBI Anthrax case was run by Rawls.
A lone gunman (bioscientist)? What was his motive? Why target Daschle and Leahy, and the media? Our country would fall apart without the concept of "a few bad apples." From the genocide of the Native Americans to Abu Ghraib, the "few bad apples" hypothesis has allowed those in power to point to a scape goat, close the case, and spare the American people the difficulty of asking deeper questions.
The lone bioscientist (who committed suicide and so can't deny it) is convenient for several reasons. First, the FBI can close the case, making Rawls very happy. Second, a closed case precludes asking any inconvenient questions. It's possible that the Anthrax mailings were overseen by people high up in the government (aka Cheney with Ashcroft's help), and the lone bioscientist is a red herring.
Here's the case for Cheney. You tell me if it's any less speculative than the case for Ivins. Cheney told Leahy to "go f- himself" on the Senate floor. The Senate was 50-49 at the time, due to Jeffords defection, and one less Democrat would make Cheney the tie-breaker and swing the Senate to the Republicans. Post-9-11, Cheney had a long agenda, and he had Ashcroft nearby to consult with. Ashcroft had lots of experience masterminding the plane crash of Gov. Mel Carnahan two weeks before his own electoral defeat in 2000, and a possibly connection to Sen. Wellstone's crash as well (I'm willing to add a conditional to this part of the conspiracy theory). Cheney was far enough up the chain of command that any of his orders would be unquestioned by someone at Ivins' level. Even if the mail did not reach it's target, Cheney would consider the operation a success if it prolonged the fear of terrorism or expanded the list of threats to include bio-terrorism so that the Congress and the American people would support the Bush-Cheney War on Terror agenda. Oops, I forgot to mention Rumsfeld. I don't think Rumsfeld was involved in this particular operation, although I'm open to being convinced otherwise.
This is pure speculation, but it seems that works for the FBI, with Rawls' approval. Sorry guys, I say the case is still open.
Additional note: Ivins was a registered Democrat.
Additional notes in comment.
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More information borrowed from other blogs on the subject:
1) Rumsfeld's agenda did benefit from the Anthrax mailings because as a result billions of dollars were funneled into Big Pharma's vaccine and bioterrorism programs, and justified continued bloated military budgets. Rumsfeld previously had a career with Big Pharma.
2) The DOJ's FBI prosecutor is the daughter of Scooter Libby's defense attorney. Libby (Cheney's Chief of Staff at the time) was nicknamed "Germ Boy" because he was obssessed with small pox and bioterrorism...hmm.
3) ABC News reported at the time that the anthrax attacks were from Iraq, and the unnamed sources could very well have been the same sources that outed Valerie Plame (Libby). By the way, Judith Miller, the neocon pro-war-in-Iraq mouthpiece at the New York Times and friend of Libby, received a letter, but no anthrax, and she wrote a book called "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War." Was she being groomed as the media spokesperson for the Cheney agenda (using Dept. of Defense PsyOps tactics?)
4) Scott McClellan's book "What Happened" states that the effect of the anthrax attacks on Bush's decision to attack Iraq "cannot be underestimated."
5) I'm not sure what Bioport and Battelle are, but some conspiracy folks think they are involved.
6) Finally, when thinking about this case as an episode of the show "The Wire," what would Avon Barksdale do if one of his underlings was under investigation and looked like he might spill the beans? Give him too much Tylenol? So, the question isn't whether the underling (Ivins) was involved (which is the red herring), the question is, who is Avon (the guy that gives the orders)?
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