[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10492]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    STATUS OF ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, press accounts beginning in The Washington 
Post yesterday and on cable television networks over the past 24 hours 
have been resplendent with discussions about possible covert 
operations, the authorization of Special Forces by the President of the 
United States to confront the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. While 
it might not surprise some Americans that Iraq may in some way have 
been involved in the events of 9-11, Mr. Speaker, as I would like to 
elaborate, as I did so in a letter to the Attorney General last week, 
there is a growing list of facts that suggest Iraqi involvement not 
just in the events of 9-11, but perhaps, Mr. Speaker, even in the 
events and circumstances that led to the anthrax bacillus finding its 
way to Capitol Hill, costing the lives of five Americans, grinding much 
of the institutions of our Federal Government to a halt.
  As Members may recall, Mr. Speaker, my office was one of three 
offices on the House of Representatives side of the Capitol building 
that tested positive for the anthrax bacillus in October. In addition 
to myself and my family and my staff and many constituent visitors to 
our office having to take a 3-month regimen of doxycycline and 
ciprofloxacin, also, as was the case in Senator Daschle's office and 
the Senate Hart Office Building, we were expelled from our offices for 
decontamination for a period of 4 months. It was, in addition to the 
loss of human life, an extraordinary disruption of our Federal 
Government as well as an occasion that truly terrorized the American 
people.
  Since the time of the attacks, virtually within a week, the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation offered a theory of the case, Mr. Speaker, that 
could be described loosely as an American mad scientist, a version of 
the Unibomber, who had simply preyed upon this season of uncertainty 
following the 9-11 attacks and used anthrax materials that had been 
absconded from a U.S. weapons facility to further terrorize Americans. 
It seemed like a very plausible case, to say the least; but there is a 
growing list of facts that seem to suggest the possibility of an 
international connection to the anthrax attacks and even possibly, Mr. 
Speaker, to a connection to Bagdad.
  Let me give some of those facts, which are uncontroverted allegations 
that have appeared in various arms of the national press. These are 10 
different facts that I articulated in a letter to Attorney General John 
Ashcroft asking, as I did last week, for some explanation as to why the 
FBI seems to have ruled out an international source for the terrorist 
attacks.
  First and foremost, the letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle 
was actually dated September 11 and mailed, we believe, around that 
time, included phrases like ``Death to America,'' ``Death to Israel,'' 
and ``Allah is great.''
  The evidence also suggests in media reports that one or more of the 
9-11 terrorists visited physicians to be treated for skin lesions and 
infections that would be consistent with cutaneous exposure to anthrax.
  Also the material found in my office and elsewhere on Capitol Hill 
was a finely milled weapons grade anthrax that had been genetically 
modified to increase its virulence. These are highly technical methods 
that can be employed by governments with the resources to do them.
  This anthrax was also so powerful that not only had five people been 
killed, including two postal workers and two elderly women, but these 
deaths we believe occurred just through cross-contamination. This was a 
virulent strain developed to kill human beings.
  Now, DNA evidence, which has been reported in the press, suggests 
that the anthrax that was found here in the Capitol was part of the 
Ames strain of anthrax, which we had developed at Fort Detrick, 
Maryland. But what you may not be aware of, Mr. Speaker, was that the 
Ames strain was actually sent to England's Porton Down research 
facility, and in that facility in 1988, according to many intelligence 
agency reports, Iraqi germ warfare scientists sought to obtain that 
very same Ames virus, and many believe that they did obtain the Ames 
virus.
  So the anthrax bacillus with the genetic coding of the Ames strain 
could have been and may well have been obtained by Iraqi germ warfare 
scientists.
  We also know that European government and CIA officials reported 
meetings between al Qaeda members and Iraqi intelligence officials 
before September 11, and the 9-11 terrorists also we know from 
confirmed accounts in the press, attempted to rent crop dusters, 
presumably as delivery vehicles, for chemical weapons.
  Lastly, according to U.N. weapons inspector Richard Spertzel, Iraq 
has conducted military exercises to explore the possibility of 
disbursing anthrax using crop dusters.
  These are all facts that suggest an international connection, perhaps 
even an Iraqi connection. This week I will urge the Justice Department 
and the administration to follow the facts wherever they lead.

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