The government scientist who killed himself as he faced arrest for the 2001 anthrax attacks was an evangelical who believed Jews were God’s chosen people. The Frederick (Md.) News Post republished letters from Bruce Ivins in the wake of his suicide last week. Ivins was an anthrax researcher at the government’s biological weapons research lab in Fort Detrick, Md. In one letter he praises a rabbi for refusing to engage in dialogue with a controversial local Muslim cleric.
“By blood and faith, Jews are God’s chosen, and have no need for ‘dialogue’ with any gentile,” Ivins wrote in 2006. Earlier letters suggest that he saw President Bush’s re-election as a victory for evangelicals.
“You can get on board or get left behind, because that Christian Nation Express is pulling out of the station!” he wrote after the election. Ivins killed himself as the U.S. Justice Department prepared to arrest him. Ivins’ beliefs are significant because the 2001 attacker in notes appeared to be a radical Islamist, writing “Death to America, Death to Israel, Allah is Great.” The attacks, coming in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, helped galvanize support for the Bush administration’s plan to invade Iraq.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
