I don't buy this one either.
A CURIOUS FLOW OF EVENTS
The following is a merger of “A Chronology of Anthrax Events,” published by the South Florida Sun-sentinel,[2] and the simultaneous proceedings of the Patriot Bill in Congress as reported in the local press.
Sept.16 -- Anti-terrorism bill proposed.[3]
Sept.18 – Two letters containing Ames anthrax are postmarked in Trenton, N.J., addressed to Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly News and the New York Post.
Sept.28 – Boy visiting ABC network in New York contracts anthrax.
Oct.2 – USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism bill is introduced in Congress.
Oct.3 – Tabloid editor of Boca Raton Sun, Florida, hospitalized with anthrax and dies two days later.
Oct. 3 – Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (Dem., S.D.) says he doubts the Senate could take up the anti-terrorist legislation before next week, as the administration had asked. Attorney General John A. Ashcroft accuses Senate Democrats of dragging their feet.[4]
Oct. 4 – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Dem., Vt.) accuses the administration of reneging on an agreement on the anti-terrorist bill. Some warn that “lawmakers are were overlooking constitutional flaws in their rush to meet the administration’s timetable.”[5]
Oct. 6 – Under the headline, “Glow of bipartisanship seems to dim,” the Baltimore Sun reports: “…opposed by most Senate Democrats, Ashcroft complained about the rather slow pace…over his request for law enforcement powers…Hard feelings remain.”[6]
Oct. 8 – Under the headline, “Cracks in Bipartisanship Start to Show,” The Washington Post reports, “Congress has lost some of the shock-induced unity with which it first responded to the [9/11] attacks.”[7]
Oct.9 – Senator Feingold blocks an attempt to rush the Patriot Act to a vote with little debate and no opportunity for amendments. Feingold criticizes the Bill as a threat to liberty.[8]
Oct.9 – Identical anthraxed letters are postmarked in Trenton, N.J., with lethal doses to Senators Daschle and Leahy.
Oct. 10 & 11 – The original batch of the Ames strain of anthrax is destroyed with the permission of the FBI, making tracing the anthrax type more difficult.[9]
Oct.11 – First Senate version of the Bill passes.[10]
Oct.12 – First House version of the Bill passes.[11]
Oct.12 – House-Senate debate on Bill starts.[12]
Oct.12 – Second anthrax case reported at NBC in NYC.
Oct.13 – Baltimore Sun reports that the media may have been targeted for a “coordinated bioterrorism” attack.[13]
Oct.13 – President Bush says: “The anthrax attacks might be tied to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist network.”[14]
Oct.15 – Tom Brokaw of NBC opens anthraxed letter containing Islamic threats and phrases.
Oct.15 – Senator Daschle’s office opens the letter mailed Oct.9, containing a lethal dose of anthrax. Senator Leahy’s similar letter was misrouted to Virginia.
Oct.16 – The Senate office buildings shut down.
Oct.17 – House of Representatives shut down; 28 congressional staffers test positive for anthrax.
Oct.17 – The New York and Florida letters are found to contain the Ames strain.
Oct.18 – An assistant of CBS Dan Rather contracts anthrax.
Oct.21 – Letters to N.Y.Post, NBC and Senator Daschle are found to have identical handwriting of “Death to America, Death to Israel, Allah is Great.”
Oct. 24 – House passes the final version of the Patriot Act and other previously unpopular Bush projects: Alaska oil drilling, $25 billion in tax cuts for corporations, taps into Social Security funds and cuts in education.[15]
Oct.25 – Congressional mail halted. Senator Daschle switched from supporting a 2 year limit on the Patriot Act to defending a 4 year sunset clause as the “appropriate balance.”[16]
Oct.26 – Senate passes the final version Patriot Act.[17]
Oct.26 – President Bush signs the constitutionally questionable USA Patriot Act.[18]
Oct.27 – Supreme Court shut down with anthrax scare.[19]
November -- No more anthrax letters received by anyone.
November – Congressional buildings reopened.
November – Three top anthrax experts with knowledge of the U.S. bioweapons program died under suspicious circumstances within a ten day period.