The enemy within

But apologists for the Daddy Party have told us repeatedly that there have been no terrorist attacks within our borders since 9/11.

With investigators close to filing charges in connection with the string of anthrax deaths in 2001, a senior biodefense researcher took his own life earlier this week, a lawyer for the scientist said on Friday.

Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked at the biodefense laboratories in Fort Detrick, Md., for the past 33 years, had been told of the investigation into the incidents, which traumatized the nation in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, said the lawyer, Paul Kemp.

“For six years, Dr. Ivins fully cooperated with that investigation, assisting the government in every way that was asked of him,” Mr. Kemp said. He insisted that Mr. Ivens had not played a role in the anthrax deaths of at least five people.

“The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation,” Mr. Kemp said. “In Dr. Ivins’ case, it led to his untimely death.”

Little more than a month ago, the Justice Department agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle a lawsuit by another biodefense researcher at the same facility, Steven J. Hatfill, ending a five-year legal battle.