Posted on 04/16/2010 12:17:27 PM PDT by Skillman
The man falsely accused by the FBI of sending letters laced with deadly anthrax spores has received a big settlement from the government, but never an apology for destroying his life.
What’s more, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill told TODAY’s Matt Lauer during his first interview since the September 2001 attacks, neither the Justice Department nor the FBI has been held accountable for breaking the law and lying in their pursuit of him.
“I love my country,” Hatfill, 56, told Lauer. But, he added, “I learned a couple things. The government can do to you whatever they want. They can break the laws, federal laws, as they see fit … You can’t turn laws on and off as you deem fit. And the Privacy Act laws were put in place specifically to stop what happened to me. Whether we’re at war or have been attacked, the foundation of society is that you hold to the laws in place. I used to be somebody that trusted the government. Now I really don't trust anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
Yep. Sucks. Remind me to never get accused of spreading anthrax. /s
It was about “wrapping up the case”, not protecting the country.
There are prosecutors at all levels who abuse the powers of their offices to “clear the books” of open cases.
Ping to Ed
The supreme irony is the only documented lethal biological weapons attack in the US was perpetrated by the federal government.
Federal anthrax. Federal laboratory. Federal scientist. Federal weapon delivery system (USPS).
The lack of controls on the facility, the material and the people does, as the legal parlance goes, ‘shock the conscience.”
FBI vehicle hits Hatfill, but he gets the $5 ticket
Scientist being watched in anthrax investigation
By Scott Shane
Sun Staff
May 20, 2003
FBI anthrax investigators’ relentless surveillance of a former Army bioterrorism expert took a bizarre turn Saturday when a vehicle driven by an agent hit Dr. Steven J. Hatfill on a busy Georgetown street - and Hatfill wound up with a $5 ticket.
The driver of the FBI sport utility vehicle, Bryan Blankenship, told police he “drove off, striking” Hatfill, but was not charged, according to a police report. Hatfill was cited for “walking to create a hazard.”
The FBI vehicle, a Dodge Durango, ran over Hatfill’s right foot and knocked him to the pavement on Wisconsin Avenue about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, said Hatfill’s spokesman, Pat Clawson. Clawson said Hatfill had “a goose egg several inches long” on his foot and abrasions on his forehead and was attended to by paramedics at the scene.
Hatfill, who is trained as a medical doctor, refused a ride to the hospital, Clawson said, because he is out of money, has no health insurance and believed no bones were broken.
“He was dazed and out of it for a few minutes, and he’s pretty banged and bruised,” Clawson said. “He’s absolutely enraged. There was nothing about this that constituted legitimate surveillance.”
Hatfill can pay the $5 ticket or contest it in court, said Officer Kenneth Bryson, a spokesman for the Washington Metropolitan Police.
Anthrax subject receives payout $5.82 million
The U.S. settles with Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, whom it targeted after deadly mailings but never arrested.
June 28, 2008|David Willman, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The former Army scientist who was the prime suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings agreed Friday to take $5.82 million from the government to settle his claim that the Justice Department and the FBI invaded his privacy and ruined his career.
Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, 54, who was called a “person of interest” in the case by then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft in 2002, said that label and repeated leaks of investigative details to the media damaged his reputation.
WTF?
The Matt Lauer interview and the MSNBC article were both CRAP.
Lauer probably interviewed Hatfill for a couple hours in order to get the few minutes they showed on TV. They deliberately avoided mentioning how Dr. Hatfill became a suspect in the first place.
Hatfill wasn't a suspect because the FBI made him a suspect. Hatfill became a suspect because conspiracy theorists and the media - including The New York Times - campaigned for EIGHT MONTHS to make Hatfill a suspect. They even accused the FBI of covering up for Dr. Hatfill because the FBI WASN'T publicly investigating him!
The article in The Atlantic magazine is infinitely better, although the author of that article also got a few things wrong.
Check my web site for further details.
Science 23 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5585, pp. 1264 - 1265
DOI: 10.1126/science.297.5585.1264
PROFILE: BARBARA HATCH ROSENBERG:
Unconventional Detective Bears Down on a Killer
Jennifer Couzin
Barbara Hatch Rosenberg has become one of the most visible critics of the FBI’s investigation into the anthrax mailings last fall that killed five people and sickened at least 17 others. She also has become the leading nongovernment authority on who might have committed the crimes. Both admirers and detractors agree that she has pushed the FBI forward.
The article is very admiring of Barbara Hatch Rosenberg and the way she pointed the finger at Hatfill and argued that he was the killer until the FBI started to publicly investigate him.
FreeRepublic once had a thread about the article, but it was pulled.
Yes they did!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
