[Peace-discuss] ... long history of homicidal threats ...!?!

[Ricky Baldwin]

So why exactly was this guy working as an Army scientist and NOT running for President?


Dead Army vaccine scientist eyed in anthrax probe 
By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers28 minutes ago 
An Army scientist committed suicide as federal prosecutors readied
an indictment alleging he mailed anthrax-laced letters in 2001 in what
authorities said Friday may have been a bizarre attempt to test a
vaccine for the deadly poison.
The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, worked at the Army's biodefense labs
at Ft. Detrick, Md., for 18 years until his death on Tuesday. He had a
long history of homicidal threats, according to papers recently filed
in local court by a social worker.
The developments marked an unexpected turn in an episode that
rattled the nation shaken only a few weeks earlier by the terror
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Letters containing anthrax powder turned up
at congressional offices, newsrooms and elsewhere, killing five and
sending numerous victims to hospitals with anthrax poisoning.
Ivins' attorney asserted the scientist's innocence and said he had
been cooperating with investigators for more than a year. "We are
saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the
opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law,"
said Paul F. Kemp.
For more than a decade, Ivins worked to develop an anthrax vaccine
that was effective even in cases where different strains of anthrax
were mixed, which made vaccines ineffective, according to federal
documents reviewed by the AP. In his research, he complained about the
limitations of testing anthrax drugs on animals.
Several U.S. officials, all of whom discussed the ongoing
investigation on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media, said prosecutors were closing in on
the 62-year-old Ivins for the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Authorities had been investigating whether the anthrax was released
to test new drugs. They were planning an indictment that would have
sought the death penalty for the attacks, officials said.
The Justice Department has not yet decided whether to close the
investigation, officials said, meaning authorities are still not
certain whether Ivins acted alone or had help. One official close to
the case said that decision was expected within days. If the case is
closed soon, one official said, that will indicate that Ivins was the
lone suspect.
Ivins' attorney said the scientist had cooperated with investigators for more than a year.
"We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial," Kemp said.
Kemp said that Ivins' death was the result of the government's "relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo"
Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. Tom
Ivins, a brother of the scientist, told The Associated Press that his
other brother, Charles, had told him that Bruce committed suicide and
Tylenol might have been involved. The Los Angeles Times, which first
reported that Ivins was under suspicion, said the scientist had taken a
massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said President Bush was
aware there were "about to be developments" in the case but did not
elaborate.
"We are not at this time making any official statements or comments
regarding this situation," said Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the
FBI's Washington field office, which is investigating the anthrax
attacks, said Friday.
Ivins, who received three degrees including a Ph.D. from the
University of Cincinnati, co-authored numerous anthrax studies,
including one published in July that described efforts to treat mice
deliberately exposed to anthrax. The scientists complained of the
limited supply of monkeys available for testing and said testing on
animals is insufficient to demonstrate how humans would respond to
treatment.
Colleagues and court documents describe Ivins as a brilliant
scientist who became recently began showing signs of distress. Dr. W.
Russell Byrne, a who worked in the bacteriology division at Fort
Detrick for 15 years, said police forcefully removed Ivins from his job
recently because of fears he had become a danger to himself or others.
Byrne said he said he did not believe Ivins was behind the anthrax
attacks.
Maryland court documents show he recently received psychiatric
treatment. Last week he was ordered to stay away from a woman he was
accused of stalking and threatening to kill.
The Fort Detrick laboratory and its specialized scientists for years
have been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax
mailings. In late June, the government exonerated a colleague of
Ivins', Steven Hatfill. Hatfill's name has for years had been
associated with the attacks after investigators named him a "person of
interest" in 2002. 
Unusual behavior by Ivins was noted at Fort Detrick in the six
months following the anthrax mailings, when he conducted unauthorized
testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at the infectious
disease research unit where he worked, according to an internal report.
But the focus long stayed on Hatfill. 
Henry S. Heine, a scientist who had worked with Ivins on
inhalation anthrax research at Fort Detrick, said he and others on
their team have testified before a federal grand jury in Washington
that has been investigating the anthrax mailings for more than a year.
He declined to comment on Ivins' death. 
FBI vehicles with tinted windows had watched Ivins' home for a year, neighbor Natalie Duggan, 16, said. 
"They said, 'We're on official business,' " she said. 
Tom Ivins said Friday that federal officials working on the
anthrax case questioned him about his brother a year and a half ago.
"They said they were investigating him," he said from Ohio, where he
lives, in a CNN interview. 
Ivins played keyboard and helped clean up after masses at St.
John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Frederick, where a dozen
parishioners gathered after morning Mass to pray for him Friday. 
The Rev. Richard Murphy called Ivins "a quiet man. He was always very helpful and pleasant." 
The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit
contending he was falsely accused and had been made a scapegoat for the
crimes. According to one person briefed on the case, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, the
Justice Department wanted to close the Hatfill lawsuit before bringing
criminal charges. 
Hatfill's lawyer, Tom Connolly, said he would not discuss the
case until the FBI has time to speak with the family members of victims
of the anthrax attacks. 
Five people died and 17 were sickened by anthrax powder in
letters that were mailed to lawmakers' Capitol Hill offices, TV
networks in New York, and tabloid newspaper offices in Florida. Two
postal workers in a Washington mail facility, a New York hospital
worker, a Florida photo editor and an elderly Connecticut woman were
killed. 
___ 
Associated Press writers Dave Dishneau and Chrissie Thompson
from Frederick, Md. and AP researchers Susan James and Jennifer Farrar
in New York contributed to this story.