- BERLIN (Reuters) - The anthrax
attacks in the United States were probably the work of a member of a U.S.
biological warfare program, the magazine of environment pressure group
Greenpeace Germany reported Wednesday.
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- The magazine said its article was based on information
from a U.S. delegation source at the U.N. biological weapons conference
in Geneva that began last week. The attacks have killed five people.
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- ``The U.S. delegation believe it is an inside job...
Their members also have more information than has been made public,'' Kirsten
Brodde, a reporter for the magazine, told Reuters.
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- The magazine said: ``It seems the attacker ... wanted
to force through an increase in the budget for U.S. research on biological
weapons.''
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- It speculated that the attacker, who used anthrax-laced
mail, had probably wanted to cause panic rather than kill anyone.
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- U.S. investigators have still not determined who was
behind the attacks, but Attorney General John Ashcroft has signaled the
authorities were inclined to believe they had a domestic source.
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- The attacks occurred in the aftermath of the September
11 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington and prompted initial
accusations by President Bush that Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden
may been responsible.
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- Asked about the magazine article, an FBI spokesman reiterated
that investigators were pursuing a number of leads but no arrests appeared
imminent.
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- A spokesman for the U.S. delegation in Geneva said he
did not have any information about the article.
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- The magazine is linked to the environmental lobby group
and shares its offices, but it said it was financially and editorially
independent.
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