This raises far more questions then it answers.

A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently has committed suicide in the wake of what a brother said was his intense pursuit by the FBI in connection with anthrax-tainted letters that killed five people.

The Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against the scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, a leading military anthrax researcher who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., the Los Angeles Times reported in Friday editions. Ivins had been told of the impending prosecution, the paper said.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine. A woman who answered the phone at Bruce Ivins' home in Frederick declined to comment.

This case has always seemed like a red herring from the very beginning to me. When I first heard of the letters I was a more then just a little skeptical. It did not seem like a material that somebody could easily get their hands on and it also seemed like a sloppy way to cause injury to America.

And then there was the fact that the letters were sent to media outlets that were less then exuberant about the coming war. Not to mention having one sent to a Democratic Senator who was not in favor of the Iraq war and the Democratic Majority leader who was hesitating about putting it to a vote.

These letters started to arrive SEVEN DAYS AFTER 9-11 and were clearly designed to further frighten the American people into thinking we were under multiple attacks by someone in the Muslim community. And the proof of that can be found in the letters themselves.

The New York Post and NBC News letters contained the following note:
09-11-01
THIS IS NEXT
TAKE PENACILIN NOW
DEATH TO AMERICA
DEATH TO ISRAEL
ALLAH IS GREAT

The second anthrax note
The second note that was addressed to Senators Daschle and Leahy read:
09-11-01
YOU CAN NOT STOP US.
WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX.
YOU DIE NOW.
ARE YOU AFRAID?
DEATH TO AMERICA.
DEATH TO ISRAEL.
ALLAH IS GREAT.

So if this Bruce E. Ivins really is the culprit what was his motivation? Wasn't he already as traumatized by the events of 9-11 as the rest of us? Why did he feel that he needed to further inflame the fear and anger of the American people? And how come we just now find out that this guy was a suspect? And then the guy takes his own life before anybody can cross examine him? The stench from this thing is overwhelming.

Or is it possible, and you may need to get your tinfoil hat out for this, that the administration wants this case closed before the Democrats take power and launch their own investigation?

Perhaps Dr. Ivins is simply a very convenient scapegoat. This just seems a little too neat of a package to me.