David Neiwert of Orcinus noted Tuesday that the initial media speculation on the Senate ricin incident tended to focus on possible al-Qaeda links. But the South Carolina ricin-in-the-mail in October incident was linked to threats about a trucking regulations (as was the ricin mailed to the White House in November which came out publicly on Tuesday), not a high priority item for Osama bin Laden.
Neiwert also say, "Actually, ricin has a long and colorful history among members of the far right, and suspicions of domestic terrorism certainly should be raised here." He cities in particular a case involving a far-right group called the Minnesota Patriots Council in 1995 and another in Irvine, CA, in 2000, both involving ricin.
As the Texas cyanide-bomb case showed, the Bush Administration has been so fixed on the foreign WMD threat allegedly coming from "rogue states" like Saddam's Iraq that they've deliberately de-emphasized the threat of domestic terrorism. And this has practical consequences. As Neiwert observes, the 2001 anthrax attack was eventually judged to be domestic in nature. "But it took far too long for everyone to realize that - and perhaps as a result, that killer is still roaming free. Indeed, there is at least some liklihood that today's news [the Senate ricin] may be a direct indication of that."
This latest ricin attack is also a reminder that, as much of a real threat as chemical and biological weapons are in the hands of terrorists, they require particular kinds of delivery to cause damage and/or panic. Ricin can be weaponized, like anthrax (see Neiwert's post) so that it spreads in an enclosed space.
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