Reporters Told to Testify in Leak Case (Anthrax)

[Snazzy]

Source: AP

Reporters Told to Testify in Leak Case

Aug 13, 7:24 PM (ET)

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON (AP) - Five journalists must identify the government officials who leaked them details about a scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks, a federal judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered the reporters to cooperate with Steven J. Hatfill, who accused the Justice Department and FBI of violating the federal Privacy Act by giving the media information about the FBI's investigation of him.

The reporters named in the opinion are Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek, Allan Lengel of The Washington Post, Toni Locy, formerly of USA Today, and James Stewart, formerly of CBS News.

Walton denied Hatfill's request to demand information from the media companies ABC, The Washington Post, Newsweek, CBS, The Associated Press, The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times.

....

Read more: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070813/D8R0EH900.html

[rodeodance]

1. he would not "bring into being such a privilege."

Walton disagreed. He said District of Columbia federal courts have historically denied a common-law reporter's privilege and said he would not "bring into being such a privilege."

Creating such a privilege in this case would have the "perverse effect" of handicapping a plaintiff whose good name was destroyed by government leaks, Walton said. The reporters' fear that testifying would chill the flow of information, Walton said, is outweighed by the Privacy Act lawsuit.

Five people were killed and 17 sickened by anthrax that was mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Hatfill, who worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., from 1997 to 1999, was publicly identified as "a person of interest" in the investigation by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The case remains unsolved.

[defendandprotect]

13. Hatfill looks like the latest "Wen Ho Lee" . . . .

a set up --

Meanwhile, it's years after this event -- partially directed at two major liberal leaders of Congress, Leahy & Daschle -- and the stuff came from a military lab. hmmmmm..

And the Anthrax event just CONVENIENTLY/THEORY closed Congress for three months and more --
in fact, they're still irradiating the mail -- and this was right after 9/11 when everyone was pushing for an investigation.

SORRY . . . YOU'RE DISCONNECTED FROM YOUR PARTY --

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Do you think the leaker was trying to send everyone on a bum steer

by sending them to Hatfill? Or do you think this was an honest mistake?

[redqueen]

3. If history is any guide, I'd bet on the former. n/t

[kcass1954]

4. Nothing done by this misadministration has been honest. n/t

[MetaTrope]

5. Just one question...has Hatfill been proven innocent?

I think I missed that part.

[catgirl]

6. They never found any evidence to link him to this

The "leak" was done to send investigaters off the track to the real
perpetrators. The FBI ransacked this guys house and found nothing.
This guy's career and reputation has been ruined.

[frylock]

7. they also drained that pond during their dog and pony show

[Igel]

8. Have you?

I know I haven't been proven innocent.

Nor, probably, have Edwards, Obama, or Clinton been conclusively shown not to have been responsible.

(This, of course, is a nonsense post, rooted deeply in a fallacy. One doesn't prove Hatfield's, Edward's, Obama's, Clinton's, your, or my innocence. It's presumed.)

[MetaTrope]

12. I've not been pressed to present proof of innocence

But then, I never listed bioweapons research for Rhodesia on my resume either.

So the FBI either originally conspired to frame Hatfill...or else they're now conspiring to clear him. It's a conspiracy either way, agreed?

[sofa king]

10. Yes.

He's not been proven guilty, so our justice system presumes him innocent. No conviction is as close as you'll ever get to "proof."

On a completely different track, I wonder if our dear friend Jerome Hauer will suddenly come to the fore. I noticed he crawled out from under his rock last week to blast Rudy G., both in the Telegraph and the Village Voice.

Hauer, of course, recommended John O'Neill for his job at the top of the WTC, then became Dick Cheney's biosecurity man and put the OVP on Cipro ten days before the anthrax letters were mailed. He's now a high-level exec for an anthrax vaccine company which is going to go out of business if more anthrax doesn't show up soon.

Edit: Oh yeah. And it was Hauer who first threw Hatfill under the bus, back in 2003.

[EFerrari]

15. They went after him just like they went after Scott Ritter because

he called out their bullshit.

[UTUSN]

9. ISIKOFF going to jail? Hmmm. Just imagining that. n/t

[Supersedeas]

11. When reporters become a tool of Govt propoganda used to destroy an

American's life, they should be wary.

[bobthedrummer]

14. Tommy Thompson and Jerome Hauer know a lot about that anthrax case

both of them immediately promoted the use of Cipro right after the 9-11 attacks, yet before any indication of any type of biological attack, let alone anthrax. Tommy had hired Jerome just the previous day (9-10-2001) from SAIC.

One more thing about US anthrax and biological weapons-that originated here in Wisconsin as this cross-post from an interesting active parent thread documents

"Some more not so random links regarding the OP subject line" (posted 7-28-2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=186x21683