| There are numerous
indicators that Dr. Ivins did not intend to for anyone to be harmed
when he prepared and mailed the anthrax letters. (1) None of the
intended recipients of the letters were infected. (2) The backs
of the envelopes had been sealed with celephane tape to assure that no
spores escaped through open seams. (3) The letters were folded
with the pharmaceutical fold, to further
insure that the powders inside would be contained. (4) At the
time of the mailings, nearly everyone believed that such powders could
not escape from a sealed envelope except through
the open, unglued corners of the flap where a letter opener is
typically inserted - and those corners had been taped shut. The evidence that no deaths were intended relates to recorded statements Dr. Ivins made years later. According to pages 70 and 71 of the DOJ/FBI's Summary Report of the Amerithrax investigation, "On June 5, 2008, Dr. Ivins had a conversation with a witness, during which he made a series of statements about the anthrax mailings that could best be characterized as “non-denial denials.” Here are some of them: Witness: “I’m trying to be
supportive and understanding. But I guess a part of what you had said
before to me in response to that was that, you know, there kind of
seems to be another person at times. And if you don’t remember doing
that, I mean [pause], don’t get mad [laugh], are you absolutely . . .?
Bruce: “You were going to say how do I know that I didn’t have anything to do with . . . .” Witness: “Yeah.” Bruce: “I will tell that, I will tell you that it’s, I can’t pull that up. And a lot of times with e-mails, I don’t know that I sent an e-mail until I see it in the sent box. And it worries me when I wake up in the morning and I’ve got all my clothes and my shoes on, and my car keys are right beside there. . . . And I don’t have it in my, in my, I, I can tell you I don’t have it in my heart to kill anybody.” * * * Bruce: “And I, and I do not have any recollection of ever have doing anything like that. As a matter of fact, I don’t have no clue how to, how to make a bio-weapon and I don’t want to know.” * * * Bruce: “It really certainly is. Uh, because I can tell you, I am not a killer at heart.” The witness suggested that maybe Dr. Ivins should get hypnotized to help him remember, to which he replied that he would be terrified. Bruce: “What happens if I find something that, that is like buried deep, deep, deep, and you know, like from, from my past or I mean . . . like when I was a kid or stuff like that you know?” * * * Bruce: “Oh, but I mean, you know, that would just, that would just like, like, like make me want to jump off a bridge. You know, that would be . . .” Witness: “What’s that? If you found out that . . . .” Bruce: “If I found out I was involved in some way, and, and . . .” Witness: “And you don’t consciously know?” Bruce: “Have any, any clue. [pause] [groan] ‘Cause like, I’m, I’m not uh, a uh, I don’t think of myself as a vicious, a, a nasty evil person.” * * * Bruce: “Because I, I don’t like to hurt people, accidentally, in, in any way. And [several scientists at USAMRIID] wouldn’t do that. And I, in my right mind wouldn’t do it [laughs]. . . . But it’s still, but I still feel responsibility because it [RMR-1029] wasn’t locked up at the time . . . .” Pages 66-69 of FBI file #847551 contain information which seems to be from the same witness, since it the interview occurred on the same date and contains similar details. That FBI report ends with this: An
audio recording of
the above meeting was created, and a more detailed account of the
conversation can be obtained from it.
However, in the Summary Report, page 8 has information about this same subject. It says: In the months
that followed the suicide of Dr. Ivins, investigators continued their
review of thousands of e-mails going back ten years, and examined
additional evidence that developed in the aftermath of his death. In
addition, investigators sought and obtained
court orders authorizing access to his mental health records,
and interviews of various mental
health providers who had treated Dr. Ivins in the past.(4)
And footnote (4) says: (4)
The results of that record collection and follow-up interviews remain
under seal at this time.
It appears that Dr. Ivins' mental health records are still "under seal," possibly due to some criminal investigation involving a health care professional who had knowledge of Dr. Ivins' guilt but provided false information to the FBI, or possibly because the civil lawsuit filed by the widow of Bob Stevens is still unresolved, or possibly for both of the previous reasons. FBI .pdf file #847551 contains more about Ivins' "non-denial denials." In an interview with a "Confidential Human Resource" (CHS) on January 9, 2008, that begins on page 44 of the .pdf file, there is a lot of information about Dr. Ivins' mental state at that time. And, on page 47, there is this paragraph: Since
his last interview
with the FBI, IVINS has on occasion spontaneously declared at work, "I could never
intentionally kill or
hurt someone."
The "last interview" which caused Dr. Ivins to start telling people he would "never intentionally kill or hurt someone" appears to be the November 1, 2007 interview associated with the detailed searches of his home, office, vehicles and safe-deposit box. It's the interview where he also "took the fifth." |
