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Former Army Scientist (Hatfill) Sues New York Times, Columnist (Kristof)

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Newsjock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 08:02 AM
Original message
Former Army Scientist (Hatfill) Sues New York Times, Columnist (Kristof)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47994-2004Jul13.html

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 2004; Page A07

The former Army scientist identified by authorities as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks sued the New York Times Co. and columnist Nicholas D. Kristof yesterday, claiming the paper defamed him in a series of columns that identified him as the likely culprit.

The lawsuit, filed by Steven J. Hatfill in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, said Kristof identified him as the anthrax killer to "light a fire" under investigators in their probe of the anthrax-spore mailings, which killed five people and sickened 17. He accused Kristof of hurling "false and defamatory" allegations and the Times of engaging in "substandard and unethical journalism.''

In a series of columns in 2002, Kristof criticized the FBI for failing to aggressively pursue a scientist he at first identified as "Mr. Z.'' He wrote that the biodefense community had called Mr. Z a "likely culprit" and was "buzzing about Mr. Z behind his back," in part because the scientist was familiar with anthrax and was angered at the suspension of his top security clearance less than a month before the attacks.

... The lawsuit was the latest attempt by Hatfill, 50, to defend himself since Attorney General John D. Ashcroft publicly called him a person of interest in the anthrax probe in 2002. A former researcher at the Army's infectious disease research laboratory at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Hatfill last year sued Ashcroft and the FBI in federal court in the District. He accused the government of conducting a "coordinated smear campaign" against him. A federal judge in March granted the government's request to postpone the suit for six months because the investigation was at a critical stage.

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Tandalayo_Scheisskopf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 08:05 AM
Response to Original message
1. The six month postponement...
Is to keep this from being news during the election. Nothing more.
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Ganja Ninja Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 08:55 AM
Response to Original message
2. I didn't know Hatfill's security clearance was canceled before ...
the attacks. If that was the case how did he get his hands on the spores? Presumably he would have no reason to plan such an attack before his clearance was canceled. After it was canceled how would he have access to the spores?
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leesa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 09:07 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. There was another guy videotaped going into the area
where the spores are and Fox News reported it but now it's gone. He was a man who had been fired for harrassing Muslims while on the job. I can't recall his name, but the web site What Really Happened has all the bits. Our government is appearing to be protecting this fellow for some reason...perhaps because they knew about it or they hired him?
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JohnyCanuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. That would be Philip Zack.


The above letters are not evidence of a terrorist attack but of a deception against the people of the United States; a deliberate frame-up of middle eastern Arabs perpetrated by the same party who owns the Anthrax.

That a plan exists to frame Arab Muslims for the crimes of another party is now a proven fact.

There are two suspects accused of being the source of the Anthrax letters. The first is Dr. Philip Zack, who was caught on camera entering the storage area where the Anthrax was kept without proper authorization. The second suspect is the more well known Dr. Stephen Hill, accused (and re-accused and re-accused) by Dr. Barbara Rosenberg although no actual evidence of his involvement has surfaced.

But regardless of whether one thinks Dr. Zack or Dr. Hill is the culprit, neither man is an Arab Muslim, which again means that the above letters, written to appear to be from Arab Muslims, are proof of a plot to frame Arabs for terror attacks in the US. The only question is, did that plot extend to 9-11 itself.


www.whatreallyhappened.com/frameup.html
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Ganja Ninja Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 09:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. I've always thought the Hatfill story was just a cover.
The use of anthrax on the American people would be a perfect excuse to point a finger at Saddam and argue for war. Once 9/11 happened it over shadowed everything and Bush didn't need an excuse. I firmly believe the Bush administration was behind the whole thing.
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JohnyCanuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 11:16 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. Looks like another false flag op to me as well.
"I firmly believe the Bush administration was behind the whole thing"

Or at the very least someone who for whatever reason wanted Muslim Arabs to be linked to another terrorist attack and thereby get some more bad PR.
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MetaTrope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 11:25 AM
Response to Original message
7. Why would a disgruntled ex-employee of the biodefense community
target the National Enquirer?

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wicket Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
8. kick
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thebigidea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jul-14-04 02:17 PM
Response to Original message
9. boy, remember this guy? And his thoroughly weird "spokesman"?
Pat Clawson, who kept bleating: "THIS IS A VERY GOOD MAN!" on every tv outlet imaginable for about a week or two.
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