Saturday, February 21, 1998

Airwaves abuzz with theory about anthrax conspiracy

By Steve Friess
Review-Journal

      The "real plot" that unraveled Thursday in Las Vegas had nothing to do with biological weapons, white supremacy or an impounded Mercedes-Benz with flight bags in the trunk.
      No, to hear folks on the Internet and local talk radio tell it, there never was any anthrax. There was no FBI informant. And suspects William Job Leavitt Jr. and Larry Wayne Harris, charged in a plot to use the deadly toxin as a weapon, were actually just pawns of scandal-beset President Clinton's master plan to frighten or distract the nation.
           And so it goes in those suspicious venues of American political discourse where anything is believed, except maybe what the government has to say.
      "This is their time to come out of the woodwork and shine, baby," said KDWN-AM radio talk show host Cheryl Godfrey of conspiracy theorists. "I do agree with some of it, though. To me, it just seems odd that the FBI knew where they were and what they were about to do."
      From that oddity springs an intriguing web of ideas on what happened to unite Harris, a felon involved with possession of other dangerous germs, with Leavitt, a Southern Nevada lab owner and disease-cure hobbyist, in a Gold Coast hotel room and then a Henderson business complex.
      Many alternative thinkers insist the president conspired with the FBI to invent the anthrax scare for a number of reasons.
      One theory involves a Clinton effort to create a story that displaces headlines about allegations he had sex with ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
      Yet more speculators say the arrests are an attempt to bolster support for a bombing raid of Iraq aimed at stripping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of similar biological weapons.
      "How convenient the capture of these would-be bio-terrorists (just) as the propaganda machine works overtime to convince us that Iraq must once again be vanquished," said "Cheryl," a user on America Online contributing to a message board flooded with thousands of postings on the subject since early Thursday.
      "Washington gets an 'F' in the imagination department."
      Many Internet users and talk show callers are siding with attorneys for Harris, 46, and Leavitt, 47. The lawyers say tests should prove the vials contain either nontoxic strands of anthrax or nothing at all.
      The FBI's criminal complaint alleges without hesitation that the men possessed "anthrax and anthrax precursors" and that Leavitt told a government source it was "military-grade anthrax" strong enough to wipe out a city.
      "A story will come out in a few days or weeks from now saying that it's not anthrax," said an anonymous America Online user whose user name is B4GOP. "It is a deliberate attempt to scare the public."
      Among the most outlandish of theories is that Harris, a longtime white supremacist, is actually Jewish and working to defame the Aryan Nations.
      "Next time you see Larry Harris on the TV screen, take a look at him -- take a GOOD, long look at him," wrote "Roger," an online user whose handle is "Ax-to-Grind." "Doesn't he have the appearance of a Messianic Jew???? That's because he is! If he ever was a part of the Aryan Nation ... it was as an agent of the (Anti-Defamation League)."
      The league is a national political organization promoting Jewish causes. The local branch of the organization issued a press release Friday providing background information on Harris and alleged anti-Semitic activities of the Aryan Nations, but the release did not promote any course of action.
      Even those who don't buy into such ideas still aren't confident the FBI is telling the whole truth. Dozens of local talk-radio callers questioned how federal agents could be sure the anthrax was contained to the vials found in the Mercedes, noting how easy it would be for some of the invisible, deadly bacteria to have escaped without anybody knowing.
      That fear is driving a run on gas masks over the past two days at the Army-Navy-1 Store in Las Vegas and Hahn's Military Surplus in North Las Vegas.
      Owners of both shops report record sales of the $19 Israeli-style masks. One customer cleaned out Hahn's stock by picking up 13 masks Friday morning.
      "He wanted them for all his friends and his relatives and stuff," said Hahn, who sold 150 units in two days. "I will have more on Monday, just in case, although my sales will depend on whether this thing just dies off. If it continues to be a huge news story, they'll keep calling."
      And they'll keep calling local radio stations, too, because mistrust of the government is rampant, Godfrey said.
      Godfrey, a Las Vegas radio personality for more than a decade, said the watershed for anti-government speculation came after the 1993 raid by federal agents on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that killed more than 80 people.
      "People draw from examples that would demostrate unethical, unjustified actions by the government," she said. "We were blatantly lied to about that entire event from start to finish, and the idea that those events could take place in this country are almost unforgivable."
      Whatever the truth about the anthrax incident, radio hosts say the speculation is good for them.
      "About 80 to 90 percent of the calls are normal people, and then we get enough wackos to make it interesting," said Jim Villanucci, co-host of the "Jim and Julie Show" on KVBC-FM.
      The pair stayed on the air for nine hours Thursday, pre-empting syndicated programming to field nonstop calls.
      "People are connecting dots that ought not be connected. It makes for a nice mix."

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