Posted on 08/25/2002 11:33:25 AM PDT by at bay
Just watched the Hatfill press conference. FBI continuing on its theory that this was something that originated from the US and that Atta must have had athlete's foot or something. Hatfill, if innocent, is rightly indignant at his treatment.
Names escape. But the first one was a guy who, at one time, had worked for Battelle Institute (a known CIA contractor)...another was a retired Army officer who was supposed to be trying to frame an Egyptian colleague at AMRIID...another was a guy with a drinking problem, who they eventually ran down in Milwaukee.
Rosenberg's description of the "suspect" changes with each dismissal of the preceding "suspect". At some point, she claimed she had an inside source (whether DOD, CIA or DOJ was unclear).
The media, of course, loves her -- because she tells them what they want to hear: "The anthrax attack unequivocally came from somebody in the military/intelligence community. Trust me."
Media reports invariably describe BHR as a "microbiologist".
She's not.
She is a professor of environmental sciences at the Performing Arts branch of SUNY. She has never done research and she actually no longer teaches.
Instead, Rosenberg is a full-time activist for the UN treaty on biological weapons.
And, for reasons of her own, she has helped aim the media crosshairs at Hatfill...
An Israeli "Jericho" surface-to-surface ballistic missile landed near a U.S. Navy Aegis cruiser in the eastern Mediterranean last month, according to a Washington Post report. During most of its flight, the missile appeared on the cruiser's air-warning sensors as aiming for the U.S. ship. However, the missile landed some 65 kilometers away from the USS Anzio, which was cruising 350 kilometers west of the Israeli coast.According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the incident occured when Israel carried out a test launch of a Jericho-1 medium-range missile on April 6. The USN Aegis cruiser, a dedicated air-defense ship, was at the time accompanying the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and another cruiser on their way to conducting joint exercises with Israeli forces. One Defense Department official said that the customary "Notice to Aviators and Mariners" was not given prior to the test. According to the Americans, this marked the third time that no such warning was given to a U.S. warship during the last two years.
While the matter is being handled through diplomatic channels, relations between Israel and the U.S. Navy have not been good since the sinking of the USS Liberty during the Six-Day War by Israeli aircraft and gunboats. Israel paid compensation to the families of the 205 casualties.
Israel has never made available any information on the development and production of the Jericho missile. According to foreign publications, the Jericho comes in two basic forms: Jericho-1, like the one test fired in April, carries conventional and nonconventional warheads over distances as long as 750 kilometers; and its big brother, Jericho-2B, has a much longer range and higher accuracy.
The missiles were developed with French help during the 1960s at the peak of close ties between Israel and France. The firing of an Egyptian-made surface-to-surface missile in 1962 is estimated to have been the catalyst for the decision to develop the weapons.
The new version of the Jericho-2 missile reportedly includes most neighboring countries in its range, and its accuracy is considered to be very good. The U.S. National Security Agency has monitored the test program of the Jericho-2 and has recorded several test firings over the Mediterranean. According to the Federation of American Scientists **, test firings of the missile at ranges in excess of 1300 kilometers have been conducted in South Africa.
According to the organization, the capability of Israel's ballistic missiles has been estimated to be far greater. Based on calculations derived from the Shavit rockets carrying the Ofek satellites, Israel's ballistic missiles are capable of carrying a nuclear payload across ranges in excess of 5,300 kilometers. But experts at the Pentagon estimate that an Israeli missile with a 7,200-kilometer range is possible. Another estimate was given in July 1990 by University of Maryland physicist Steve Peter, who calculated that the Shavit rocket has a range of 4,000 kilometers with a maximum payload of 775 kilograms. All these assessments place the whole of the Middle East within the range of Israel's ballistic missiles.
No one advocates anarchy on this website, but the history of the Fumbling Bumbling Investigators reveals a flawed and out of control organisation with little or no oversight.
1. Ruby Ridge, a grevious wrong. They went after this guy, a white supremacist, for a weapons violation. Not that I believe in white supremacy, it's kooky, but the FBI wound up shooting and killing his son and his wife. No one was punished, not even admonished.
2. Waco. This is too fat a target. The execution of the plan was a debacle. It has been proved that David Koresh could have been picked up outside his compound on numerous occasions before the siege. The bottom line, a lot of innocent folks died. In any case, the designers of the plan should have been fired for incompetence. No admonishments in this one, either.
3. Richard Jewel and the Olympic bombings. RJ saved lives. He was the initial discoverer of the bomb and got people away from it. Later he was pointed out as the bomber himself. This was not true. Now they say Eric Robert Rudolph did it. Where is Rudolph, anyway?
4. Oklahoma City. I do believe it was done by Timothy McViegh, but in the end the FBI "forgot" about two huge boxes of files they failed to give his defense attorney. This could have been used by McViegh to hold off his execution, perhaps forever. As far as I know, no admonishments for anyone involved at the FBI.
Throughout my military career, I have seen a number of low, middle, and high-ranking individuals sacked for incompetence and failure. The good of the country is at stake, and no one's career can and should come first. My impression of the FBI is that careers are job one, and crime prevention job two. The FBI needs to get its house in order.
We surely need an FBI, CIA, NSA, etc, etc. It's a tough world out there. But my fear is as long as incompetency is allowed or buried in these agency's then their missions are at risk of failure.
Recall that, rather early in this wild goose chase, Rosenberg claimed to have "a knowledgable source" inside the government.
She has not repeated this claim lately. But it gives me to wonder just who was leading who...
What I don't understand is Hatfill's need to have two full-length press conferences a week apart. I thought the whole thing was weird--his spokesmouth introducing in such a fashion that I expected Bob Barker to bound out onto the stage of "The Price is Right," Hatfill giving this long statement but wouldn't take questions, and his lawyer filling the air up with hot air blather.
Even his statement was weird. Why did I need to know that a friend of his lived in a "modern, three-bedroom" house or apartment? But heck, that's minor. If he's a "person of interest," why call the FBI incompetent, give the names of the FBI agents who he claims are harassing his girlfriend, PO Ashcroft, say the FBI has met his demands for giving him a blood test but also wants methodology released to the press BUT also holds up a book that questions the competentcy of the FBI labs? If that's the case, why bother with the blood test if he thinks the FBI will botch the test?
I mean if anyone wants the FBI to come down on him like a ton of bricks--even more than it has--give a press conference like he did. He's either excessively stupid or excessively arrogrant or both.
Not to my knowledge. It's been in no news reports and, were she, it would have likely been deemed newsworthy.
Though, with today's "journalists", one might wonder...
No one's!
Ashcroft has not been impressive.
Why did the Bush administration go to the mat for him while letting Linda Chavez twist in the wind?
His accusers, both in the New York Times and in the American Federation of Scientists, do seem to have a credibility problem.
The NY Times gets info for one reason, however: when someone wants to put out some information for FOREIGN consumption, they do so by leaking to the NY Times.
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