9-11 Truther Sander Hicks Calls FBI Anthrax Forensics "Junk Science"

9-11 "Truther" Sander Hicks being removed by the police from private property in Loveland, Colorado---Denver Post (11-10-07)

9-11 "Truther" Sander Hicks, who befriended a convicted car-bomber and a convicted child pornographer, is such an idiot. The 9-11 Truther's latest crackpot conspiracy theory revolves around the 2001 anthrax mailings.

On Youtube (Part One, September 2, 2009), Hicks accuses an early FBI "person of interest" in the anthrax mailings, scientist Steven Hatfill, of being "clearly a fascist" who deliberately exterminated black people in Africa by infecting them with anthrax. Hicks characterizes the FBI science used to uncover the anthrax mailer as "pseudo-science," "junk science" and "joke science."

Hicks's mendacious anti-American canards about the "genocidal" Steven Hatfill and the "pseudoscientists" of the FBI are reminiscent of Medieval rumors about "well poisonings" or Stalinist propaganda about "doctors' plots."

How can Hicks claim that the FBI forensic microbiology is "junk science" without having read the scientists' peer-reviewed research? Has he read any of the scientific papers that the scientists who worked on the Amerithrax Investigation have published? Last I heard (August 2008), many of the papers were still being peer-reviewed and had not been published. What are the titles of these "junk science" papers Sander Hicks has evaluated? Who are the "joke" scientists?

According to Dr. Vahid Majidi, the Assistant Director responsible for the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate (8-18-08):

[T]he science used in [the Amerithrax] case is highly validated and well accepted throughout the scientific community. The novelty is in the application of these techniques for forensic microbiology...[A] large cadre of non-Bureau scientists...helped us chart and navigate our scientific path through this unprecedented case. In the near future, after we work through each non-disclosure agreement and privacy issues, we will release the names of those key individuals who tirelessly worked with us on the 2001 bacillus anthracis mailings.

It seems to me that the "joke" is on Sander Hicks, whose sobriquet in New York City is the "Java Jackass," not the "forensic microbiologist." On the other hand, according to the his FBI biography:

Dr. Majidi earned his BS degree in chemistry from Eastern Michigan University and his PhD degree from Wayne State University. After his graduate work, he spent two years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas ( Austin).

Dr. Majidi has published many articles in peer reviewed scientific journals, and he has served on editorial boards for several international journals.

According to Dr. Majidi, many of the scientists' articles about their Amerithrax research were still undergoing peer-review in August 2008 and had not yet been published.

Perhaps more of the scientists' papers have been published by now, but certainly Hicks does not identify the "joke" scientists or take issue with any specific instances of "junk science" in their scholarly, peer-reviewed papers. [As they are published, these scientific papers will probably be reviewed by Ed Lake, who has a blog called "Analyzing the Anthrax Attacks."]

Hicks's crackpot "science" sounds a lot like ex-professor Ward Churchill's fabricated anti-American canard that the U.S. Army deliberately infected the Mandan with smallpox or the now-acknowledged KGB canard that the U.S. Army made AIDS to kill black people.

Steven Hatfill won a huge financial settlement against the government because it became known that he was a "person of interest" during the anthrax investigation. He also sued several newspapers. Hatfill evidently didn't like being accused of deliberately infecting people with anthrax.

In his 2005 Truther book The Big Wedding, Sander cited the now-convicted con-artist and child pornographer Delmart Vreeland as evidence for his "Truther" conspiracy theory. Vreeland tried to "beat the rap" for his crimes by claiming that he was really a Navy whistleblower who was framed on fabricated criminal charges because he exposed 9-11 as an inside job. These days, Sander Hicks is claiming that "science" and the "spy" Vreeland prove that the Bush administration was complicit in 9-11.

Hicks is even claiming expertise in the cutting-edge FBI forensic science developed during the course of the Amerithrax Investigation. Here is a post about the review by the National Research Council of the so-called "joke" FBI forensic science developed during the course of the anthrax investigation. The National Research Council is one of the divisions of the National Academies. Unlike Hicks, the academicians who are reviewing the FBI forensics have not termed the FBI forensics "junk science."

What does the "java Jackass" know about anthrax? Probably not very much. In a narcissistic semi-autobiographical 2003 play Hicks authored, a character claims that cops shoot anthrax tear gas at demonstrators. Another character responds with an absurd bit of crackpot "science":

Anthrax reproduces so fast in your lungs, it creates a foam, you’re gone within a half hour.

It sounds to me like someone must have injected some of that anthrax directly into Sander Hicks's brain!

According to the Center for Disease Control:

[The initial symptoms of inhalation anthrax] may resemble a common cold – sore throat, mild fever, muscle aches and malaise. After several days, the symptoms may progress to severe breathing problems and shock. Inhalation anthrax is usually fatal.