Did Dr. Bruce Ivins alone deliver weapons grade anthrax through the mail in the fall of 2001?  WeÕll probably never know for sure.  Dr. Ivins, and another microbiologist caught up in the investigation, Dr. Perry Mikesell, found ways to kill themselves, while others targeted like Dr. Stephen Hatfill and Dr. Irshad Shaikh, saw their lives and careers needlessly wrecked.

         Many colleagues of Dr. Ivins do not believe the FBI evidence is conclusive, and chances are this case may go the way of Lee Harvey OswaldÕs role in the Kennedy assassination. What does appear clear is that that the anthrax spores of 2001 which killed five, terrorized a nation, and set off a multibillion dollar effort to obtain a new anthrax vaccine, came from the very government labs set up to protect from the threat.  There are many ways to profit from fear.

         Dr. Ivins supposedly became despondent when his own anthrax vaccine, perhaps the main project of his life, came into disrepute.  What better way to demonstrate its usefulness than to send a few envelopes of weapons grade material to Congressional offices?  Or so goes the FBI narrative.

         Regardless of who sent what anthrax from which national laboratory, and the FBI is fairly sure the weapon came from the bio-terrorism research center at Ft. Detrick, the ploy worked.   Billions was poured into anthrax research, a money spigot that has not stopped.  Now there is so much research hat many scientists fear another attack will arise from anthrax stores in the many new laboratories studying the disease.  If that happens, we will again have created our own monster.

         Risk is something Americans find hard to gauge.  Probability and statistics is hardly taught in American secondary schools, and media and politicians to create sensations that win money and votes often use quantification.   Americans are far more scared of crashing to the ground in an airplane than being crushed in a car wreck, though the risk of the former is tiny compared with auto travel. The reasons are often psychological. People feel in control driving their cars but not flying as a passenger in a 757. 

         Incidents like the anthrax attacks and 9/11 terrify in part because the murder is indiscriminate, there is nothing they as individuals can do to stop it.  People are more willing to spend pots of money, especially government money, in arenas where they personally feel helpless than on using funds to prevent hundreds of thousands of diabetic deaths or the yearly 47,000 traffic fatalities.

Businessmen and politicians are well equipped in using fear. Put sizable government contracts into an arena and a lobby will quickly develop that keeps the money coming.  If you talk with political scientist Keith Fitzgerald, our local state representative, youÕll see how the process works:  the entry into government consciousness of a new ÒproblemÓ provokes a new industry to service it, campaign contributions and lobbyists to explain the need for future government support, and voila! hereÕs a new self-perpetuating cartel you and I will pay for.  What wonÕt you shell out to prevent opening your mail and dying from anthrax?

Another example of a conjoined public health and security cartel pays for our ÒWar on Drugs,Ó which now costs approximately  $60 billion a year.  Have you seen cocaine use dipping in the US? 

         Probably not. Yet other effects of this ÒWarÓ are far more destructive.  The United States now has one fourth of the worldÕs prison population.  WeÕre number one - more Americans are incarcerated per capita than anywhere else on earth, the substantial majority on drug charges.  Just as there exist ÒpetrostatesÓ like Iran and Venezuela that profit from our oil addiction, there are now Ònarcostates.Ó  Little attention is paid in the US media, but so many of MexicoÕs highest ranking police officers have been assassinated that their colleagues now seek asylum in the United States.  For decades Colombia has fought the FARC and other criminal/political groups that live off drug money.  Even the Taliban appears to making most of its money from drugs.

         Such titanic policy failures should leave Americans breathless, but not if youÕre lobbying for the Corrections Corporation of America.  Politicians continue saying weÕre Òwinning the war on drugs.Ó  Why spend money treating addicted Americans when you can buy foreign armies really neat military equipment?

         It comes down to money, the true force in American politics.  As former senators Fritz Hollings and Jim Jeffords point out, more than half their time as elected officials was spent raising money.  To run a ÒmoderateÓ Senate campaign may cost $15 million, which means you must raise $50,000 every week just to stay in the game.   The lobbyists and moneymen are the people you talk to, the people you need to get re-elected.  It quickly becomes evident that the industries they represent are ÒvitalÓ to the future of the United States.

         Fear sells, and we pay the price.  

Dr. Matthew Edlund practices sleep medicine and psychiatry in Sarasota.  His new book, Designed To Last, is available online. He can be reached at 365-4308 and via his Web site at doctoredlund.com.