GOP congressman says FBI anthrax theory is ‘ridiculous’

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WBAL.com

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett is ridiculing part of the FBI’s explanation for the 2001 anthrax attacks.

And the Maryland Republican says he’s skeptical about the agency’s conclusion that biodefense researcher Bruce Ivins grew the anthrax in his laboratory at Fort Detrick in Frederick and then mailed it to unsuspecting victims, five of whom died.

Bartlett, who holds a doctorate in physiology, says the FBI’s theory that the anthrax was crushed to a fine powder by U.S. Postal Service mail-sorting machines is “patently ridiculous.”

Bartlett says he’s convinced the anthrax was deliberately “weaponized,” and that Ivins lacked the equipment to make it.

Ivins died earlier this year in what the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office termed a suicide, a short time before federal prosecutors were expected to file charges or seek indictments against him.

Bartlett says he’s looking forward to FBI Director Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House and Senate judiciary committees next week.

Bartlett’s Sixth Congressional district has traditionally centered on Frederick and Hagerstown, but the actual boundaries of the district now stretch eastward along the Pennsylvania border to include parts of counties north of Baltimore.