[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 80 (Monday, June 17, 2002)] [House] [Pages H3565-H3566] From the Congressional Record Online through the 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. [[Page H3566]] 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. ____________________