Anthrax findings get mixed reaction
Some people remain skeptical, but others accept the federal report.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department couldn't prosecute the man it believes was responsible for the anthrax attacks that spread fear across the nation in 2001. So on Wednesday, federal officials took the risky and virtually unprecedented step of trying their top-secret case in the court of public opinion.
And while the verdict was mixed, many of those privy to mountains of new detail released by federal authorities said they were convinced that the government had found the culprit in Bruce E. Ivins, the troubled government scientist who apparently killed himself last week as authorities closed in on him.
"As far as I am considered, they have solved it," said Maureen Stevens, the widow of Robert Stevens, a Florida photo editor who was the first victim of the anthrax attacks. "I thought that they seemed to have this all wrapped up."
Stevens was among a large group of victims' relatives and attack survivors who were flown to Washington from around the country Tuesday, sheltered in a downtown hotel and then taken by van to FBI headquarters Wednesday for a private three-hour briefing by FBI agents, U.S. postal inspectors and prosecutors.
During a multimedia presentation in a packed conference room, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and others acknowledged that most of the evidence was circumstantial, Stevens and others said.
"But all together, there is so much of it," Stevens said of the information presented. "Most of us were thinking that this was it, finally, after a long, long seven years."
However, the anthrax attacks was so unsettling and the investigation so controversial that the FBI, postal inspectors and Justice Department may never succeed in convincing the nation that the long mystery is solved.
FBI and Justice Department officials said they were not aware of another case in which federal authorities, denied the opportunity to file imminent criminal charges, sought permission from a federal judge to unseal the investigative evidence to convince the American public of the merits of their case.
But that's what happened Wednesday, capping a fast-paced series of events that started July 29 when Ivins died from an apparent overdose of over-the-counter drugs.
The Times reported in the following days that the Justice Department was on the verge of charging him as the sole perpetrator of the attacks.
- Apparent suicide in anthrax case Aug 01, 2008
- Therapist says Bruce Ivins was planning to kill Aug 04, 2008
- Anthrax blend led FBI to Ivins Aug 04, 2008
