The administration had known from the start that Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks, just as they probably knew there were no 'weapons of mass destruction' within Iraq. This was why they had not the slightest fear of announcing months in advance that Iraq was going to be invaded. Despite the color-coded terror alerts, which always had an air of unreality about them, at no time did either Bush or Tony Blair act as if there were a genuine possibility Saddam would launch covert attacks on us during all those months leading up to the start of hostilities. Wouldn't this have been the normal thing a ruthless dictator who knew his own destruction was imminent would be expected to do, assuming he was in possession of 'weapons of mass destruction' as was being asserted over and over again?
Perhaps, then, in spite of the apparent incompetence with which the anthrax attacks were mounted and then used to stir up fear the results were exactly what the War Party needed. They got their war, and got away with it, and we will have to deal with the consequences for a very long time. But the fact that the attacks have largely been forgotten should stand as a warning to us. Though in the modern age, with the enormous amount of information inundating us daily it's impossible to keep track of everything, there are certain events that should not be let go of. The 'secret' of the anthrax attacks may never fully be solved, but we should at least retain the memory of them and of the significance they held for the larger events of that period.
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