context: `` The Prophet 's guidance , `` says Michael Scheuer , an al - Qaeda analyst who recently retired from the CIA and once headed its Bin Laden unit , `` was always , Before you attack someone , warn them very clearly ... `` The anthrax mailings followed the pattern of letters they sent in January 1997 to newspaper branches in Washington , D.C. and New York City , as well as symbolic targets .
hypothesis: The sending happened