The Ricin Attacks: Connecting the Dots

Cinnamon Stillwell

Before the anthrax attacks in 2001, Americans would have been shocked to hear about the ricin-filled envelope that recently showed up in a Senate mailroom, addressed to majority leader Bill Frist. As it is, the public has reacted to the news with little more than a yawn.

In some ways, their blasé approach is warranted. Ricin, although considered a bioterrorism agent, is probably the least dangerous of the bunch. It is poisonous if ingested, inhaled, or injected, but it is also difficult to disseminate. Because it isn’t contagious, it is commonly used as a weapon of assassination rather than mass casualties. And indeed, no injuries or deaths have been reported so far from the capital. It is however, a poison for which no antidote exists.

Made from castor beans, ricin is notoriously easy to produce, which means that it could have emanated from any number of sources, including domestic extremists. But ruling out a foreign connection at this time would be unwise, especially considering the information at our fingertips:

*Former Iraq weapons inspector David Kay said in his report that Saddam Hussein had an active ricin program as late as March, 2003.

*Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist group that was based in Northern Iraq before the war, was producing ricin.

*Ricin was found at an al-Qaeda terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

*Six North African men were arrested in London in January, 2003 and charged with conspiring to launch a terror attack using ricin. Because one of the men worked at a food preparation company and had been in contact with individuals who worked on at least one British base, authorities suspected that the ricin was intended to poison the food supply of a British military base.

*Traces of ricin were found inside a locker at a Paris train station last March. Nine people are under arrest in France as a result.

As intriguing as these findings are, another piece of evidence points to a possible domestic connection. It turns that the U.S. Secret Service intercepted a letter addressed to the White House in November that contained a vial of ricin, but never revealed the incident publicly. The letter was signed by “Fallen Angel” and contained complaints about trucking regulations. But so far, authorities don’t believe the two cases are related.

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In the anthrax investigation, intelligence agencies ruled out foreign terrorism almost immediately and focused on a domestic culprit instead. Dr. Steven Hatfill, a former government scientist and bioweapons expert, became the prime suspect and is apparently still under investigation.

Though there is evidence to support his guilt, foreign connections--possibly Iraq--also exist in that case. For instance, why would anyone target “American Media” unless he was a foreigner who simply chose the name because of its generic connotations? In any case, the anthrax mystery remains unsolved to this day.

Let’s avoid making the same mistake twice, because in the post-9/11 world, we can ill afford not to connect the dots.



Cinnamon Stillwell is a contributing editor to ChronWatch.com, where this article first appeared. She can be reached at: cinnamons@sbcglobal.net.