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| For Immediate Release | |
| Oct 24, 2001 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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Evidence Mounts That White House and Federal Agencies Are Covering Up Key Information Political Elites Are Treated Differently Than Ordinary American Citizens (Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, has concluded, based on the below evidence, that the government is lying to the American people about the severity of the anthrax crisis. First, the Associated Press reported yesterday that, “(a)t least some White House personnel were given Cipro six weeks ago. White House officials won’t discuss who might be receiving the anthrax-treating antibiotic now. On the night of the September 11 attacks, the White House Medical Office dispensed Cipro to staff accompanying Vice President Dick Cheney as he was secreted off to the safety of Camp David, and told them it was a ‘precaution,’ according to one person directly involved.” This shows that The White House knew of the anthrax attacks much sooner than admitted. See “White House Mail Machine Has Anthrax,” Associated Press, October 23, 2001. Second, when asked yesterday if he had been tested for anthrax, President George W. Bush refused to answer on two occasions. Id. This buttresses the conclusion that The White House has known of the full extent of the problem for some time, but will not discuss it with the American people. In addition, the President should be honest and admit that widespread testing for anthrax exposure – particularly in the D.C. area – is necessary, particularly given the deaths of postal workers. Had they been tested, and received Cipro like the President and members of Congress, perhaps they would now be alive. While Mr. Bush’s evasiveness may be aimed at avoiding a “run” on medical clinics, American citizens deserve to know the full truth; that even the President of the United States has concerns about being infected with the deadly virus. Third, today it was reported in The Washington Post that the federal D.C. main post office at Brentwood has discontinued mail delivery to various residential area codes in the nation’s capitol. In addition, it was reported that 14 of 29 mail sorting areas at Brentwood were “quarantined” for high exposure to anthrax. See Neely Tucker and Avram Goldstein, “Anthrax Threat Takes A Wider Scope, New Cases Emerge: Some Mail Halted,” The Washington Post, October 24, 2001. Citizens have asked whether ordinary letters delivered to their residences could be contaminated, and the government has said no. However, it is now obvious that the shutdown of mail deliveries to various residential area codes was put into effect because the mail sorting equipment for these area codes is contaminated with anthrax. Yet, the government has failed again to make full disclosure. It is also obvious that the federal D.C. main post office at Brentwood must be “flooded” with anthrax-contaminated mail; otherwise why would over one-half of its facility be shut down, and how else could one explain the widespread contamination that has occurred and the number of buildings and persons who have tested positive for anthrax. Fourth, nearly all federal agencies in D.C. have shut down their mail deliveries from Brentwood and other area post offices. This cements the fact that the mail is thoroughly contaminated with anthrax, based not on a few letters from terrorists, but a deluge of them. Finally, the government has claimed, until today, that the anthrax-laced letters are not necessarily from foreign Islamic terrorists. However, three letters released yesterday and published in newspapers today, show that they all contain references to killing Americans and Jews and end with the salutation “Allah Is Great.” Why would domestic terrorists write this? Obviously, the administration is seeking to justify not taking immediate military action against Iraq, who most suspect has supplied biological weapons to Bin Laden. (Indeed, the ringleader of the September 11 attacks, Mohamed Atta, also met with Iraq’s agents at least twice in Prague, Czechoslovakia. See, Deborah Orin, “U.S. Czechs Out Atta’s Trip,” The New York Post, nypost.com, October 23, 2001. The Arabic members of the Administration’s coalition – Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and others – have all made it clear they will not support military action against Iraq. “Judicial Watch is filing a host of document requests with the federal government to pry out the full truth from the administration, before more people die because of misinformation about the full extent of the anthrax crisis. If cooperation is not forthcoming, lawsuits will be filed. It is a scandal in the making that The White House and Congress, which have full information, have adequately protected themselves with testing and antibiotics, while the rest of the populace is kept in the dark and not treated like the political elite. Unfortunately, even full disclosure is not enough at this point to bring back the dead postal workers,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. |
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