Bush: Possible Bin Laden-Anthrax Link

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday October 16, 2001 06:35 PM EDT

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With the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Tom Daschle (S.D.-Dem.), the latest target of an anthrax-laced letter, President Bush said on Monday there was no evidence but he "wouldn't put it past" Osama bin Laden to have launched such attacks. Daschle's office received a heavily wrapped letter containing a powdery substance that initially tested positive for the potentially deadly anthrax bacteria, following similar cases in Florida, New York and Nevada. The piece of mail in Daschle's office was dispatched to an Army medical research facility at Fort Detrick, Md., for further examination, said Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols. U.S. officials have said they had suspicions, but no proof, that the proliferating anthrax cases in which one person has died could be an attack by bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant and chief suspect in the Sept. 11 hijacked-plane attacks. "There may be some possible link. We have no hard data yet but it's clear that Mr. bin Laden is an evil man," the president said at a gathering Monday in the White House Rose Garden. The national anthrax scare began on Oct. 4, when it was confirmed that a Florida tabloid editor had contracted the inhaled form of the bacteria. He later died, the first such death in the United States since 1976. Seven other employees of American Media Inc. have tested positive for exposure and are being treated with antibiotics. None have developed the disease. A second round of blood tests for more than 300 of the company's employees is expected this week. In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft said it was premature "to decide whether there is a direct link" to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, but "we should consider this potential that it is linked."