THE INCIDENT AT LAGUARDIA AIRPORT

3/22/03 LaGuardia Airport evacuated
"The central terminal of LaGuardia Airport was evacuated. It happened Friday when a gas mask and white powder were found in an Israeli woman's bag. She was traveling from Israel to Texas. The first test came up positive for anthrax, but a second test proved negative."

3/22/03 LaGuardia Powder Incident
This seems to be the same story which was initially reported, then removed, on CNN. This version says the powder was harmless, but fails to say why the screeners still had to be decontaminated. Note that in this version of the story, the powder was found in a checked bag and the woman was on the plane before she could be questioned.

3/22/03 Ten people made ill by harmless powder

3/22/03 In this story, the powder was found on the Israeli woman's handbag, not the checked luggage
So how did she escape arrest and get on the plane to Texas?

3/22/03 Another report on the "harmless" powder that made people ill.
Again the report that the powder was found in the woman's handbag, so why wasn't the woman detained?

3/22/03 Powder was in 9 inch cylinder alongside gas mask.
Screener developed rash on hands after handling.

3/22/03 Suspicious Vial Found In Luggage At LaGuardia

3/22/03 Vial from luggage OK but screeners decontaminated

3/22/03 Authorities Close a Ticketing Area At LaGuardia Due To Suspicious Substance local copy*

3/22/03 Texan Questioned in NYC Airport Incident
Strange mutation, the woman originally identified as Israeli, is now a Texan!

3/22/03 Powdery substance found at New York's LaGuardia

3/22/03 NY airport screeners decontaminated
This report tries to claim that the 9 inch cylinder of powder was just a vial of talcum. Now, talcum is a pretty well known substance, and the containers it is sold in are clearly marked and are usually described in words like "bottle" or "can", whereas this item is described as a "cylinder", a very unusual word to use for a common household product package. Left unexplained is why ten screeners became sick from Talcum, why talcum would cause a rash on the hand of the man who opened it, and why the people had to be decontaminated for talcum.

3/23/03 LaGuardia: First it was Anthrax, then talcum powder, now they are saying it was Cream of Wheat.

Powder and gasmask found in luggage but Israeli woman not detained, allowed to board plane to Texas. The powder tests positive for anthrax, then is declared to be harmless, but ten people become sick and are treated, plus the screeners (one of whom gets a rash on his hands) are decontaminated. Talcum powder does not make people ill. Nor does it cause itching or rashes, being sold and used as a skin soothent.

Contrast the handling of this woman with the men who were thrown in jail for three weeks for soap powder.

Why do I get the feeling that a staged terror attack to blame on Iraq just stumbled?

More to the point, how many other Israelis are now inside the US with 9 inch cylinders of "harmless powder" and gas masks?

* Local copies have been saved of all these articles because of the lesson learned from Carl Cameron's news story of the Israeli Spy Ring and the existence of evidence, classified by the US Government, linking the arrested spies to 9-11. That story was yanked from the Fox News servers almost immediately. So, while the original URLs are linked above, there are also local copies to deter changes and erasures.