[Fred Fighter]

Thanks for the spelling correction.

Lest I be unclear, I do not think that Hatfill is responsible.

The FBI is not all-powerful my friend, they actually make mistakes sometimes, and they've made a huge one here in this case by persecuting this guy who doesn't even have any formal scientific training with anthrax (or bacteria for that matter).

Agreed that the FBI makes mistakes and big ones too. Richard Jewell comes to mind. On its face it appears that the persecution of Hatfill, which cost him a position at Louisiana State is based on nothing more than the observation that he had access to the bacteria at Ft Detrick. If it is true that hundreds of people worldwide had similar access then it seems the the FBI would not have focused so narrowly on him, even by mistake. IOW I recognize that the FBI makes mistakes, but they have reasons for their mistakes and do not just draw suspect's names out of a hat.

They made the mistake of listening to some left-wing reporters and journalists with an apparent political axe to grind

What can you tell us about this? Which reporters with what axes to grind gave what information to the FBI?

My recollection from the contemporary news releases was that the anthrax used in the attacks was produced in the same batch, not merely from he same strain and that the line was traced to Ft Detrick. I do not recall references to the Ames strain from that time.

I'm happy to remain receptive to more information. As to relying on newspapers, unless I have personal correspondence with participants in the news stories they remain my best sources, do they not? Certainly better than online bulletin boards and webpages.

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FF

[jpl]

What can you tell us about this? Which reporters with what axes to grind gave what information to the FBI?

The major names in this saga are Barbara Hatch Rosenberg (who is not a reporter, but a minor college professor in New York State and a memeber of the FAS), Nic Kristof of the New York Times (now being sued by Hatfill), and Don Foster of Vanity Fair magazine (now being sued by Hatfill). There's a couple of other minor players involved such as Marilyn Thompson, formerly of the Washington Post. Rosenberg in particular is a hard-core lefty who appears to have some kind of personal grudge against Hatfill. She's considered an "expert" in biological weapons by the lefty crowd, and she's the one who really pointed the Feds in Hatfill's direction after consulting with high-level aides to Senators Leahy and Daschle, who have their own political reasons for wanting to believe their guys were victimized by native-born right wingers.

As to relying on newspapers, unless I have personal correspondence with participants in the news stories they remain my best sources, do they not? Certainly better than online bulletin boards and webpages.

That's debateable at best. Does the name Jayson Blair ring a bell? Heard about the recent story about Dan Rather and CBS news peddling phony documents despite being told that they were probably fake? While bulletin boards and web pages should certainly be viewed with a healthy degree of skepticism and critical thinking, to believe that the so-called "mainstream media" is really that much more reliable is a rather naive attitude at this point.