Gentlemen! Behold!

Of all the questions the Washington Post could ask about the Ivins anthrax case, they choose to go with "How many other unstable dudes have access to germs?"

"An estimated 14,000 scientists and technicians at about 400 institutions have clearances to access viruses and bacteria such as the Bacillus anthracis used in the anthrax attacks, but security procedures vary by facility, and oversight of the labs is spread across multiple government agencies.

Screening for the researchers handling some of the world's deadliest germs is not as strict as that for national security jobs in the FBI and CIA, federal officials said."

And before you get all annoyed, yes the question needs to be asked, yes it is a valid concern.

No, it is not the major concern here. That should be "Why did it take the FBI seven years to bust this guy, what did he know, how did he do it" and most importantly "Why did our government lie and tell ABC News that Iraq was behind this?"

ABC News and Brian Ross ran with that for weeks after 9/11. It helped lay the groundwork for our invasion of Iraq. It was patently false. While the FBI and the security of facilities like USAMRIID needs to be investigated, the Media was complicit in spreading propaganda. It came from somebody high up in the government. We need to know who that somebody was, and why it was used to justify an act of war with another country.

That's treason, folks. Whoever in the government did this needs to be held responsible. And I'm not at all convinced that Bruce Ivins is guilty. Who told Brian Ross it was Iraq? That's who we need to be looking for right now.

To its credit, WaPo IS asking "Where's the beef?" on the evidence. The goods on Ivins are flimsy at best. We know the FBI has this habit of making things up to cover their ass, ask Richard Jewell. But that 800-pound gorilla in the room is why Iraq was the culprit for seven years.

UPDATE: Track TPM Muckracker's coverage of the anthrax case.