Bush Calls Anthrax is "Second Wave" of Terror

Nov. 3, 2001 -- Calling the recent anthrax cases a "second wave of terrorist attacks," President Bush devoted his weekly radio address to the topic and tried to reassure, as well as caution Americans.

MORE ANTHRAX-RELATED NEWS:

• Medical Center Tests Positive• FBI Detains Two Men• Anthrax Scare Goes Global• Foreign or Domestic Source?

"More than 30 billion pieces of mail have moved through the postal service since Sept. 11," Bush said. "So, we believe the odds of any one piece of mail being tainted are very low. But still, people should take appropriate precautions. Look carefully at your mail before opening it. Tell your doctor if you believe you may have been exposed to anthrax."

He also offered assurances that the terrorists "will be caught." But he reiterated what the FBI Director Robert Mueller said at a White House news conference on Friday, that investigators still don't know if the anthrax letters were sent in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks or not.

"We do not yet know who sent the anthrax, whether it was the same terrorists who committed the attacks on Sept. 11, or whether it was the other international or domestic terrorists," Bush said. "We do know that anyone who would try to infect other people with anthrax is guilty of an act of terror."

VA Medical Center Mailroom Tests Positive

Late today, it was revelaed that the mailroom of the Department of Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Washington D.C. has tested positive for a trace amount of anthrax. The mailroom receives mail from the Brentwood Postal Facility, where two postal workers who died of inhalation anthrax worked.

An administrator at the hospital says five mailroom employees at the VA Medical Center have been receiving antibiotics since Oct. 25, prior to the discovery. No workers have tested positive for antrhax. Spokesman Phil Budahn said that the mailroom is not contiguous with any patient areas and airflow is not recirculated throughout the building.

As positive tests for anthrax presence multiplies, New Jersey's acting health commissioner told doctors to look for anthrax infection among the general public. It is believed a woman contracted the disease after handling mail, according to investigators.

A 51-year-old New Jersey accountant is believed to have contracted cutaneous anthrax by handling office mail, possibly infected by cross contamination of previously mailed letters.

Centers for Disease Control spokesperson Lisa Swernarki told the Associated Press that the CDC was "assuming she got it from handling office mail, but we're still investigating."

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is investigating a suspicious package it received with a Trenton, N.J. postmark. It was received late Friday at the department's off-site mail sorting facility in downtown Washington, D.C. It was discovered by a mail room employee who alerted supervisors. The off-site facility was closed while the letter was removed. The letter is being tested for anthrax.

It was not known to whom the package was addressed. Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols said the letter was handwritten. All incoming mail to the department had been halted on October 15, according to Nichols. Deliveries had just been resumed on Wednesday. The letter may have been in the backlog of halted mail. All mail handling personnel and equipment at the department had been tested in the interim and all had tested negative.

See a timeline of the anthrax attacks and the investigation.

FBI Detains Two Men

In their quest to solve the anthrax mystery, officials searched an apartment in Trenton, N.J. where letters containing anthrax were postmarked.

The FBI has detained on immigration charges two men who lived in the apartment building less than a mile from the Hamilton Township, N.J. postal facility where at least three letters laced with anthrax were processed.

The manager of the apartment building said agents asked the men for handwriting samples. Witnesses also said the FBI took several bags from the residence.

Investigators are believed to be comparing the two individuals' handwriting to that found on contaminated letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office in Washington, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw in New York and the New York Post. All those letters had Trenton, N.J., postmarks.

"The thrust of the investigation is where those letters were mailed and trying to track back from those mailboxes to the individual who is responsible," said Mueller.

All three of the letters laced with anthrax-contaminated powder were dated "09-11-01," the date of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and contained the message: "DEATH TO AMERICA. DEATH TO ISRAEL. ALLAH IS GREAT."

Anthrax Scare Goes Global

On Friday, a New York Post employee became thenation's 17th confirmed case of anthrax. The unidentified man has cutaneous, or skin, anthrax.

Meanwhile, anthrax scares have gone global with several scares in Europe. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, said on Friday a letter contained in a diplomatic pouch from Washington has tested positive for the presence of a bacteria that could be anthrax.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said police have detained a main in connection with a letter believed to contain anthrax which was sent to Pakistan's leading daily newspaper, The Daily Jang.

"[There are] two confirmed exposures," Musharraf said. "No infection and no casualties."

Police have reportedly detained, Mohammad Yousaf, who said he was unaware that a friend had mailed powder in the same envelope as a news release from his office to The Daily Jang. Yousaf works for an educational organization inKarachi. Police were searching for the friend.

The editorial offices of the newspaper reopened today, one day after theywere sealed for decontamination because of the letter.

Dozens of staffers, including the reporter who opened the letter, were takingantibiotics as a precaution.

Foreign or Domestic Source?

Mueller said the FBI was pursuing more than 1,000 leads, including at least 100 that have taken investigators outside the country, but conceded authorities were no closer to determining whether the person or people behind the attacks are from the United States or overseas.

ABCNEWS has learned that federal investigators have been looking into the backgrounds of people who work or recently worked in research facilities that store anthrax and those with equipment that could be used to grow and process bacteria. They are searching for people who have the expertise to produce anthrax-contaminated powder and who may be angry at the government or the media or sympathetic to Islamic extremists.

Sources have also told ABCNEWS that tests on the anthrax contained in the Daschle letter revealed the presence of chemical additives including one called silica.

That additive is not a trademark of any one country's weapons program, but it is known to be used by Iraq, Russia and the United States in making a military-style anthrax.

"I want to [urge], in the strongest terms possible, every American to join us in tracking down those responsible for using anthrax to murder Americans," Mueller said in a press conference Friday. "We ask you, throughout the country, to report any suspicious behavior that involves United States mail or individuals knowledgeable about anthrax."

The director also urged citizens to alert authorities if they recognize the distinctive block handwriting on the contaminated letters and the envelopes they were mailed in.

"The handwriting may be somehow familiar to you, you may have seen a letter like that, then we'd like to know that," he said.