On 11/29/06 I was the first person Tom Daschle called on at the Center for American Progress talk on C-Span with Daschle and Lee Hamilton on the topic of Homeland Security. Check C-span for streaming video.
I said I was disappointed the Kean Commission didn't deal with the anthrax issue. I noted that since Daschle and Sen. Leahy were the only elected officials to receive weaponized anthrax. No Republicans were hit. The anthrax hit Daschle and Leahy at the moment they were obstructing the first passage of the USA Patriot Act. This suggests the sponsors of The USA Patriot Act are a good place to investigate.
Both Daschle and Hamilton screwed up on their comment.
Hamilton had earlier claimed the most significant fact about the 9/11 issue is that we haven't been attacked since. I doubt the families and loved ones of the anthrax victims would agree.
Daschle actually said no one died from the anthrax. I spoke to him afterwards and he realized he screwed up. I said the postal workers would like to meet with him. He readily agreed.
Allow me to make one last note about the experience. Hamilton, who is hardly my favorite person, deserves some acknowledgement. He addressed the issue of civil liberties by contrasting the war on terror with the abridgement of civil liberties by Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR during war. At the end of the Civil War, WWI, and WWII civil liberties were restored, but none knows when the war on terror will end.
This reminded me of the last meeting of the Public Discourse Project (The follow up to the Kean Commission involving the members of the Kean Commission). At that time only Richard Ben Veniste spoke passionately that there will be another terrorist attack, and we cannot throw out civil liberties at that time.
The leaflet I distributed follows.
Dave Slesinger
November 29, 2006 10:09PM
THE DEMOCRATIC RANK AND FILE HAVE GOOD HEARTS
NOW IS THE TIME FOR THE PARTY LEADERSHIP TO HAVE STRONG HEARTS
We have reason to believe the following questions will not be accepted today. Hopefully, this is incorrect.
Since the only elected officials to receive mailed weapons grade anthrax were Senators Daschle and Leahy at the moment they were obstructing first passage of the USA Patriot Act, wouldnn’t the original sponsors of such law seem to be good suspects?
The AP reported on 10/24/06 that VP Cheney's staff took CIPRO, the antidote for anthrax , on 9/11/01. Since the first weaponized anthrax wasn't mailed until 9/18/01, and all warnings about 9/11/01 from friendly governments were about planes being used as weapons into buildings, isn't that suspicious?
(Note that Brentwood Exposed filed a freedom of information Act request to find the reason the White House staff took CIPRO on 9/11/01. It has been denied.)
Contact: Dena Briscoe Brentwoodexposed@aol.com see Brentwoodexposed.com
Dick Ochs rjochs@comcast.net, see freefromterror.net
David Slesinger dslesinger@alum.mit.edu