Judicial Watch Sues Bush Administration For Anthrax Documents
The Associated Press
June 9, 2002
Group Says Government Had Braced In Advance For Anthrax Attacks
A conservative group is suing the Bush administration for access to documents
about last fall's anthrax attacks, asserting that top officials might have known
the bioterrorist attack was coming.
Judicial Watch said yesterday it has yet to receive documents from several agencies
after filing requests under the Freedom of Information Act. The group says the
documents will show who knew what, and when.
Judicial Watch, which also has sued for documents about Vice President Cheney's
energy task force, represents U.S. postal workers at the Brentwood post office
in the District. Two workers from Brentwood died of inhalation anthrax before
officials closed the site, which had handled anthrax-laden letters headed to
Capitol Hill.
Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, said administration officials said
last fall that some White House staff members had begun taking the antibiotic
Cipro on Sept. 11, weeks before the anthrax attacks were made public.
"We believe that the White House knew or had reason to know that an anthrax
attack was imminent or underway," Klayman said. "We want to know what
the government knew and when they knew it."
"We did not know about the anthrax attacks. Period!" said Gordon Johndroe,
a White House spokesman.
Johndroe said he did not know why staffers were given Cipro but guessed it was
"a precautionary measure in the early hours of Sept. 11 before the situation
could be fully assessed."
He said he has not seen the lawsuit and had no comment on whether the administration
would release the documents.
Judicial Watch is suing the U.S. Postal Service, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services and the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Federal agencies have come under fire for failing to realize that the postal
workers at Brentwood were at risk for anthrax even after an anthrax letter was
discovered on Capitol Hill and treatment had begun for Senate staffers. Health
officials have said they did not realize then that anthrax could have escaped
a sealed envelope.
Klayman said the mistake goes beyond a bad judgment call.
"They deliberately withheld information," he said. "The political
elite, they'll be protected from day one. The ordinary folks will be treated
in a lesser fashion."
Copyright © 2002
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