ErichRaulfestone
10/15/01 07:10 PM
141.211.174.246
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle said
Monday the Senate's work would
continue in the wake of the discovery
of anthrax bacteria in a letter opened
in his office earlier in the day.
The office was immediately quarantined
and closed. Staffers were being examined
and treated, Daschle said.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Daschle
said the Senate would be in session
Tuesday.
"The Senate and this institution will not
stop, we will not cease our business, we
will continue to work," Daschle said.
"I am confident that we can put in place
practices that will minimize the exposure
to any danger our staff will have to endure. I am especially confident about our
ability to respond, just as we have today."
At a news conference earlier in the day Daschle said he was "very disappointed and
angry" about the package.
Two field tests on the package tested positive for
anthrax, U.S. Capitol Police spokesman Dan
Nichols said. The matter is being treated as a
criminal investigation, he said.
Preliminary field tests sometimes yield false
positives, according to experts. The letter was sent
to an Army facility in Maryland for further analysis,
Nichols said.
FBI sources told CNN that the package was
postmarked Trenton, New Jersey, the same
postmark as a letter containing anthrax that was
sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw.
Mail delivery to all Senate offices was suspended,
Daschle, D-South Dakota, said. Authorities were
collecting House mail as well for additional
screening, sources said. Tours of the Capitol were
suspended for the day.
News of the package was first announced at a
news conference at the White House earlier
Monday. President Bush, appearing with Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was asked
whether the recent spate of anthrax threats and two
confirmed cases could be linked to Osama bin
Laden.
"We have no hard data on that yet, but it's clear that
Mr. bin Laden is a man who is an evil man," Bush
said. "He and his spokesmen are openly bragging
about how they hope to inflict more pain on our
country, so we're watching every piece of
evidence. We're making sure we connect any dots
that we have to find out who's doing this. I
wouldn't put it past him, but we don't have hard
evidence yet."
Bush urged Americans to "be cautious about letters
that come from somebody you may not know,
letters that look suspicious."
Such letters should be given to law enforcement
authorities, he said.
The anthrax scare began October 4 in Florida when
it was confirmed that a photo editor at the tabloid
The Sun had contracted the inhaled form of the
bacteria. He later died, the first such death in the
United States since 1976.
In addition, a letter sent from Malaysia to a Microsoft office in Reno, Nevada, has
tested positive for anthrax spores, according to Gov. Kenny Guinn.
Experts say anthrax is treatable and not contagious among humans.
God and the soldier we adore, In time of danger, not before!
The danger passed, and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.
--unknown
Erich Raulfestone
Rangers, Lead the Way!
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Isaiah 6:8
......and I went......
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