AWB sympathiser quizzed over anthrax killings

Independent On-Line, South Africa ^ | 1 July 2002 | Tony Weaver

[Ordinary_American]

An American scientist, being questioned by the FBI in connection with a spate of anthrax attacks that killed five people after the September 11 terrorist attacks, has close ties to imprisoned Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) leader, Eugene Terre'blanche.

His CV says he served in the old South African Defence Force.

Steven Hatfill, 48, graduated as a medical doctor at the University of Zimbabwe in 1983, and gained a master of science degree at the University of Stellenbosch's medical school in 1990.

Sources say that, around 1987 or early 1988, Hatfill used the Milnerton Shooting Association's shooting range in Table View for training the AWB's elite Aquila Brigade, Terre'blanche's bodyguards and shock troops.

Hatfill worked in the university's radiobiology laboratory in the department of radiation oncology in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A former colleague of his, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "He alienated a lot of the staff at the radiobiology laboratory because he always carried a 9mm pistol, and because he used to boast about his military past. He particularly alienated the women staff because he would invite them to wild parties."

The source said Hatfill was employed as a medical doctor in the Department of Haematology, where he completed his MSc.

According to US media reports, although Hatfill is not necessarily regarded as a suspect in the anthrax attacks, FBI agents searched his Maryland house last week.

An Associated Press report said FBI agents searched a Florida storage facility owned by Hatfill, and that he is "being investigated by authorities searching for the source of the anthrax attacks that killed five people".

A Cape Times source said Hatfill's AWB connection emerged when a staff member spotted a newspaper article about Aquila's training camps. "The article was accompanied by photographs, one of which was a group shot of Eugene Terre'blanche surrounded by uniformed members of Aquila - including Hatfill.

"This photo was put up on the lab notice board - and led to Hatfill boasting that he was the weapons trainer of the Western Cape Branch of Aquila."

The source said there had been considerable doubt about the validity of Hatfill's research while he was at Stellenbosch.

"Subsequently there were a number of inquiries from investigators worldwide who had tried to repeat the work, but failed. By this time Hatfill had moved to Oxford University."

The source added: "I remember we were discussing the film Top Gun one day and he told us that he had trained as a 'top gun' in America, but qualified too late to see action in Vietnam, so he went to Rhodesia to fight for the Selous Scouts."

According to the Baltimore Sun, Hatfill worked at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases for about two years in the late 1990s.

"Like other researchers in the field, he has been vaccinated against anthrax, has had access to labs where it is stored and has some knowledge of its use as a weapon," the Sun said.

[Ordinary_American]

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) is a right wing party supporting apartheid.

[martin_fierro]

related article: Who Is Steven Hatfill?

[TomGuy]

When the earliest reports of anthrax were circulating--with the media co. in FL, a while before the other letters even surfaced in NY and WDC--there was a report of a Dr. in Rhodesia or southern Africa who received a Priority Mail packet from FL. The PM packet had evidence of tampering and contained a cloth that initially tested positive for anthrax.

This never got reported much and not much updating was reported. I never heard whether the packet was a confirmed case of anthrax.

Now, with the Dr. Hatfill in this report having connections to Rhodesia and his storage facility in Florida, I find it curiously interesting and brings to mind that early anthrax FL-to-Africa report.

[Ordinary_American]

Considering Hatfill's background, it makes one wonder how he got a security clearance in the first place.

[Ordinary_American]

"I haven't seen a hatchet job like this since that poor night watchmen, Richard Jewell was accused of bombing the Olympics in Atlanta."

Unfortunately, alot of the information contained in this article comes from Hatfill's own resume.

[Mitchell]

When the earliest reports of anthrax were circulating--with the media co. in FL, a while before the other letters even surfaced in NY and WDC--there was a report of a Dr. in Rhodesia or southern Africa who received a Priority Mail packet from FL. The PM packet had evidence of tampering and contained a cloth that initially tested positive for anthrax.

This was Kenya; the letter was mailed from Atlanta to Dr. Samuel Mwinzi of Nairobi Hospital by his daughter, who lives in Atlanta. It was the first claim of an anthrax mailing outside the U.S. after 9/11, but it did not turn out to be anthrax, according to the CDC. (The letter contained cloth samples and a polythene envelope, inside of which was a white powder.)

The Kenyan health minister never changed his support for the original Kenyan lab report indicating that there was anthrax there, but news articles on this said that it would have been an embarrassment for him to admit being wrong. The CDC sent experts to Kenya to conduct tests that the local Nairobi hospital was not equipped for; these tests proved negative.

I see no connection with Hatfill. The letter was mailed to Kenya from Georgia (not to Rhodesia from Florida). It wasn't an anonymous letter, but a letter from a family member. And it didn't have anthrax in it.

See this Oct. 25, 2001, Africa Online article, for example. (You can do a search and find many more articles on this from the time.)

[Mitchell]

I have no idea what Hatfill's politics were, or if he was acting as a government agent of some sort in these activities. But I'm not sure it matters. The strategy appears to be to paint him as a white supremacist, making it politically very difficult for anybody to come to his side. What prominent person wants to give his opponents the opportunity to say that he defended an admitted racist?

[Ordinary_American]

"I have no idea what Hatfill's politics were, or if he was acting as a government agent of some sort in these activities. But I'm not sure it matters. The strategy appears to be to paint him as a white supremacist, making it politically very difficult for anybody to come to his side. What prominent person wants to give his opponents the opportunity to say that he defended an admitted racist?"

He painted himself a white supremacist, for whatever reasons. And politics matters e.g. Islamists. I readily admit, however, that there may be people who, for their own political reasons, would like to railroad this guy.

The point is that this individual appeared to have associated either directly or indirectly with people who trafficked in biological agents. Individuals involved in the South African operation appeared to have connections with operatives from a variety of nations and political persuasions. Hatfill did have access to the Ames strain within a relevant time frame, which is a reasonable basis for investigation regardless of his genuine political beliefs.

[Ordinary_American]

Connections have also been reported between neo-Nazi and radical Muslim groups.

[Mitchell]

I agree with what you said, and I have no problem with investigating him. (He apparently feels that way too, since he consented to the FBI search himself.)

My gut feeling is that he is easy pickings because he has a problematical past. (It may even be a reprehensible past -- I don't know, and I'm going to refrain from making judgments about his past, having only heard one side of the story, and keeping in mind the disaster that Zimbabwe has turned into.) But that doesn't make him the guilty party in the anthrax mailings; it doesn't even suggest that he is, it just makes it politically very difficult for anybody to exculpate him from the current accusations.

There really isn't anything linking him to the attacks. The most one can say is that he does have a connection to the concept of "anthrax by mail," and he was in Zimbabwe (it was still Rhodesia then, I guess) during the suspicious anthrax epizootic there. Yes, this is worthy of investigation, but it doesn't even come close to singling him out as a prime suspect or anything like that.

[Mitchell]

Connections have also been reported between neo-Nazi and radical Muslim groups.

Good point. There are also the various suggestions of Iraqi and/or Abu Sayyaf involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Is it correct to characterize Hatfill as a neo-Nazi? I'm not very familiar with Rhodesia, but I had the impression that the white regime in Rhodesia was racist and oppressive, but did it even come close to the depths of murderous depravity of the Nazis? (In this connection, it's hard to avoid the comparison in one's mind with the current regime in Zimbabwe.)

[Ordinary_American]

IMO the present Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe is oppressive.

Hatfill was either an operative infiltrating the apartheid regimes of Rhodesia and South Africa or he was (is) a fellow traveler. If the latter is true, than he obviously has far right wing sympathies. The current reports of far right wing and radical Muslim coordination/collaboration, including the possible connection with the OKC bombing, would immediately raise suspicions about Hatfill. The history of South Africa's biowarfare activities and Hatfill's possible connection to the SADF only heightens such concerns.

[Mitchell]

Hatfill was either an operative infiltrating the apartheid regimes of Rhodesia and South Africa or he was (is) a fellow traveler.

Or both.

[Ordinary_American]

IMHO it is hard to be both when strong political/emotional views are involved. Either he is extremely good (it is not easy to keep up a facade to that extent) or he is simply a fellow traveler. Based on what I have read so far, my gut feeling tells me that he is the latter.

[Mitchell]

In thinking about possible connections between South Africa and Islamic terrorism, a news story from April comes to mind.

Remember Issaya Nombo (spelled in a variety of ways)? He was the pilot arrested in North Carolina in April, 2002, after his name appeared on a flight school web site print-out found in an al-Qaeda cave in Afghanistan.

Nombo came to the U.S. after being convicted in South Africa on fraud and corruption charges -- cheating on pilot's license examinations (twice buying the answers to the international pilot's license test, "passing" the second time, and then working for South African Airways as a co-pilot on international flights). This was a major scandal in South Africa, reaching all the way to the highest levels of the Civil Aviation Authority in South Africa.

Nombo, who is Tanzanian, was arrested on U.S. immigration charges in April, after the possible al-Qaeda link turned up. He had overstayed his visa, and he had a counterfeit green card and social security card. I don't know what has happened with his case since then.

It's not clear whether Nombo was actually involved with al-Qaeda or not.

See the FR thread "FBI Arrest Apex Man Named In Letter Found In Afghan Cave," posts #111-117, from April 17, 2002.

[Mitchell]

Either he is extremely good (it is not easy to keep up a facade to that extent) or he is simply a fellow traveler. Based on what I have read so far, my gut feeling tells me that he is the latter.

Yes, you're probably right. So what would be his motivation for the anthrax mailings? And have you heard of any connections between Islamic extremists and the far right in South Africa or Zimbabwe?

[Ordinary_American]

Connections between radical Muslims and the far right, in general, for example:

http://www.iht.com/articles/56 273.html

Theorectically, cooperation and collaboration could include obtaining the Ames strain for use by Islamic terrorists.

[Mitchell]

Oh yes, there are known links between Islamic extremism and certain members of the far right in Europe and the U.S. But I haven't come across any references to connections with the far right in South Africa or Zimbabwe. This may just be lack of knowledge on my part.

[Nick Danger]

I haven't seen a hatchet job like this since that poor night watchmen, Richard Jewell was accused of bombing the Olympics in Atlanta.

I was thinking the same thing as I started reading a different thread on this subject. Then I ran across this statement:

Hatfill is a 1983 graduate of of the University of Zimbabwe Medical School. The university is near the Greendale Primary School in the Harare suburbs. "Greendale School" in Franklin Park, N.J., was printed in large block letters as the false return address on the anthrax-laden envelopes sent to Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.

That strikes me as the sort of mistake that detectives live for. It is not proof of anything, but it tells your gut that you've got the right guy. The trick is to prove it.