Eleven people have been sickened at Fort Myer Virginia after Marines opened a letter that had an unidentified substance in it. Washington Post. Three people were sent to the hospital and several others were given treatment. The letter was not addressed to any specific Marine but was instead addressed to the unit. The FBI is working closely with local authorities and have not determined what the substance was.
UPDATE FROM JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL:— U.S. Marines (@USMC) February 28, 2018
An envelope was received, today, aboard Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall around 3:30 p.m., on the Marine Corps side of the base. Shortly after receiving the letter, 11 people started to feel ill and caused the evacuation of the building.
My Comment:
Scary situation in Virginia. It of course reminds us of the 2001 Anthrax attacks that killed five people and sickened many more. I think that kind of biological attack is unlikely in this case. Anthrax is very hard to get a hold of and takes quite a bit of skill to use effectively. A well organized terror cell could probably pull it off but I doubt that is the case here. The 2001 Antrhax attack was an outlier in terms of what can be accomplished by a non-state actor when it comes to biological terrorism and would not be easily repeated. I would be shocked if this was Anthrax or some other kind of other virus or bacteria.
There are other things they can use as well. The current lead suspect, in my mind at least, is ricin. Ricin is easy to make and the plant that it comes from, the castor oil plant, grows commonly. It has been used in several attacks on politicians and is a very common weapon for these kinds of attacks.
Another possibility is Fentanyl. The opioid is extremely dangerous when taken but mere exposure could cause an overdose. It's largely responsible for the massive increase in opioid deaths. I wouldn't be surprised if it was used for an attack, though I have no idea if it was in this case. Indeed, with so little information available all of this is speculation. We can't rule anything out at this point.
There is also no information about who did this and why. There isn't even much to speculate on with no info to go on. This could be almost anything at this point, from a foreign terrorist to just some lone nut. We don't have a lot of information either way, so everything is speculation.
I could see this as an ISIS or Islamic extremist attack. They have a beef with the Marines and any armed forces of the United States. And they have some experience with chemical weapons. ISIS was advanced enough that they were able to make Sarin and Chlorine bombs in Syria and Iraq. Though most of those experts died in the war it wouldn't be too surprising if they were able to preserve some of the knowledge to pull off an attack like this.
This could also be a domestic attack as well but I struggle what the motivation would be. Most people don't have strong opinions on the Marines other than a few far-left whackos. They seem like an unlikely target for anyone outside of ISIS. Most people that send letter attacks like this target politicians or celebrities, such as the recent attacks on Donald Trump's sons.
I guess it is even possible that this attack is related to those attacks. As far as I know those cases were not solved so it's possible that the same person was responsible, but it's probably unlikely. The Marines are fairly different than Trump's sons so the targets don't match. Plus this attack actually made some people sick.
Right now it is a big mystery. I am hoping that this attack remains non-lethal and that whoever did it is brought to justice as soon as possible. The last thing we need is someone mailing poison to our troops. Even though nobody has died so far in this attack it is still a very serious situation.
There are other things they can use as well. The current lead suspect, in my mind at least, is ricin. Ricin is easy to make and the plant that it comes from, the castor oil plant, grows commonly. It has been used in several attacks on politicians and is a very common weapon for these kinds of attacks.
Another possibility is Fentanyl. The opioid is extremely dangerous when taken but mere exposure could cause an overdose. It's largely responsible for the massive increase in opioid deaths. I wouldn't be surprised if it was used for an attack, though I have no idea if it was in this case. Indeed, with so little information available all of this is speculation. We can't rule anything out at this point.
There is also no information about who did this and why. There isn't even much to speculate on with no info to go on. This could be almost anything at this point, from a foreign terrorist to just some lone nut. We don't have a lot of information either way, so everything is speculation.
I could see this as an ISIS or Islamic extremist attack. They have a beef with the Marines and any armed forces of the United States. And they have some experience with chemical weapons. ISIS was advanced enough that they were able to make Sarin and Chlorine bombs in Syria and Iraq. Though most of those experts died in the war it wouldn't be too surprising if they were able to preserve some of the knowledge to pull off an attack like this.
This could also be a domestic attack as well but I struggle what the motivation would be. Most people don't have strong opinions on the Marines other than a few far-left whackos. They seem like an unlikely target for anyone outside of ISIS. Most people that send letter attacks like this target politicians or celebrities, such as the recent attacks on Donald Trump's sons.
I guess it is even possible that this attack is related to those attacks. As far as I know those cases were not solved so it's possible that the same person was responsible, but it's probably unlikely. The Marines are fairly different than Trump's sons so the targets don't match. Plus this attack actually made some people sick.
Right now it is a big mystery. I am hoping that this attack remains non-lethal and that whoever did it is brought to justice as soon as possible. The last thing we need is someone mailing poison to our troops. Even though nobody has died so far in this attack it is still a very serious situation.
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