They obviously targeted him but I have to ask. Why did the New York Times target Dr. Hatfill? What motive did they have?
If you go all the way back to the beginning, it was all about the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BTWC) in July and August of 2001. The Bush Administration disrupted that convention because they refused to go along with inspections of bioweapons facilities. They claimed that such conventions wouldn't apply to terrorists, only to countries.
And then a month or two later, someone sent anthrax through the mails. The conspiracy theorists saw it as an act by the Bush Administration to PROVE that inspections were not in the best interests of the United States.
In November of 2001, at the next BTWC meeting, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg gave a speech suggesting that the U.S. government knew who sent the letters. And she started point the finger at Dr. Hatfill without actually naming him.
That was the start of a campaign to get Dr. Hatfill investigated. Nicolas Kristoff was just ONE of the reporters who believed the conspiracy theory. Marilyn Thompson at the Washington Post was another.
And don't forget, there's another lawsuit underway because Vanity Fair Magazine and Readers' Digest Magazine printed an article by Don Foster which pointed the Finger at Dr. Hatfill. There could be a settlement in that case at any moment.
Ed