Steven Hatfill Vs. The Media
By Cliff Kincaid
June 30, 2008
If the left wants an example of the Bush Administration's incompetence in the war on terror, they've got it in the case of former government scientist Dr. Steven Hatfill, who was falsely accused of the anthrax murders. The U.S. Government "has determined that settlement is in the best interests of the United States and has agreed to pay Dr. Hatfill and his attorneys $2.825 million dollars and purchase for Dr. Hatfill an annual annuity of $150,000," the Department of Justice said in a statement released on Friday, June 27. But there was no apology for ruining an innocent person's life and career.
There was never any evidence indicating that Hatfill is anything other than a patriot who tried to help America prepare for the terrorist attacks that were blamed on him.
The problem for the left is that they never took his side in this dispute because he was too conservative for them. They were suspicious of him because he had done biowarfare research for the government. Their bogus theory of the case, apparently shared by the FBI, was just a short step from the Al-Jazeera-promoted disinformation that the U.S. government had attacked itself on 9/11.
Hatfill's accusers, in addition to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and anonymous Justice Department officials, included such media luminaries as Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. As we pointed out, (web site) without contacting Hatfill or his representatives, Kristof wrote five columns and thousands of words urging FBI scrutiny of the scientist. He portrayed Hatfill as a despicable character with an unsavory past.
The case demonstrates that not all "leaks" to the press are good and that anonymous sources should not be trusted. Hatfill's reputation and career were ruined by FBI agents and other government officials leaking damaging but false information. One of the motives of the leakers was to convince the public they were making progress in the case and had solid leads and suspects. They used the media to mislead the public. Meanwhile, the real perpetrators, most likely associated with al Qaeda, got away with murder. In short, both the government and their media lapdogs blew it. They should all be forced to pay.
Pleading His Case
Accuracy in Media came to Hatfill's defense early on. At an October 5, 2002, Accuracy in Media conference, (web site) Hatfill said, "Like many Americans I trusted that the news that would be presented to me on television and in the newspapers would be filtered and have some degree of accuracy. I took this for granted." He quickly learned the truth - that reporters could be faithful mouthpieces of their misinformed and devious "sources."
The campaign against Hatfill had all the earmarks of the corruption that we had witnessed in the Richard Jewell case. Jewell was falsely accused of the Olympic Park bombing and sued and collected financial damages from the government and the media.
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