Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Politics


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 08-27-2003, 03:30 PM   #1 (permalink)
It's all downhill from here
 
docbungle's Avatar
 
Location: Denver
FBI gets sued, and rightfully so.

From USA Today, August 27


Scientist in anthrax probe sues Ashcroft, FBI; says rights violated
By Toni Locy
USA TODAY


WASHINGTON -- A former researcher at an Army lab accused Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI Tuesday of improperly casting suspicion on him in the 2001 anthrax attacks to fool the public into believing progress was being made in the investigation.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court here, Steven Hatfill, 48, says top Justice and FBI officials violated his constitutional rights ''to promote their own personal and political interests'' when the investigation stalled last summer.

Hatfill is the only person the Justice Department has identified publicly as ''a person of interest'' in the anthrax investigation. The lawsuit says FBI and Justice officials have raised suspicion about Hatfill ''without formally naming him as a suspect or charging him with any wrongdoing.''

Five people died and thousands were forced to take antibiotics after anthrax-laden letters were mailed to media outlets and two U.S. senators in the fall of 2001.

For a year, FBI agents have kept Hatfill, a former researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., under round-the-clock surveillance, following him everywhere he goes.

The lawsuit says Justice officials ordered Louisiana State University last year to fire Hatfill from a $150,000-a-year teaching job funded by the federal government.

FBI agents cost Hatfill another job by videotaping him and a potential employer as they emerged from a job interview, the suit says.

Specifically, the lawsuit says the FBI and Justice Department have violated Hatfill's privacy and his Fifth Amendment right to life, liberty and property by interfering with his employment prospects.

FBI and Justice officials declined to comment.

Hatfill wants a federal judge to rule that FBI and Justice Department officials acted improperly and to order them not to violate his rights. He also is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

''This lawsuit is not just about Steven Hatfill,'' said attorney Thomas Connolly, who is representing Hatfill for free. ''It is about the enormous power government officials have. . . . Whatever the government can legally do to Steven Hatfill, it can legally do to any of us.''

Connolly said Hatfill had nothing to do with the attacks. Hatfill, a virology expert, has never worked with anthrax, the lawsuit says, nor been to Princeton, N.J., where the letters were mailed.

The lawsuit says Ashcroft is the first attorney general to use the term ''person of interest'' in an investigation. An internal Justice Department probe found that Ashcroft had done nothing wrong in using the term.


_________________________________________________

What bastards, eh?
__________________
Bad Luck City
docbungle is offline  
Old 08-27-2003, 03:37 PM   #2 (permalink)
The GrandDaddy of them all!
 
The_Dude's Avatar
 
Location: Austin, TX
that was a stupid investigation.

they made all this splash about how they got the mailer and all that shit and they didnt find anything concrete on him yet
__________________
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal
The_Dude is offline  
Old 09-02-2003, 12:13 PM   #3 (permalink)
is a shoggoth
 
Location: LA
yep, we have reached the point where the government is about as likely to fuck you as a criminal. Sort of sad really.
__________________
Use the star one and you'll be fighting off the old ones with your bare hands
-A Shoggoth on the Roof
giblfiz is offline  
Old 09-03-2003, 08:05 PM   #4 (permalink)
Stay off the sidewalk!
 
RoadRage's Avatar
 
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Well, I don't see any of the typical pseudo-conservative Bush apologists posting to this thread. Could it be that they also agree that Asscroft was out of line?
__________________
Join TFP Team SETI
43K workunits complete, 34 members, more of each needed.
RoadRage is offline  
Old 09-03-2003, 10:35 PM   #5 (permalink)
Insane
 
Location: Ass end of Nowhere
Quote:
Originally posted by giblfiz
yep, we have reached the point where the government is about as likely to fuck you as a criminal. Sort of sad really.
that point was reached long ago. it's how plea-barganing works, really. they hit you with more than you really can handle, to get you to plea for a lesser sentence. the procecution looks good, the defense looks ok. and everyone, including you, goes away with that self satisfied feeling of a job well done.

and you still get fucked in the ass.

the FBI/DOJ lost all credibility with me several years ago. bungled reports, tampered/inadmissable evidence, lost foreignsic research, and a highly placed mole in their ranks that they didn't catch for over 20 years says quite a bit, don't you think?
__________________
"Faster. And faster still. Until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
--- DKM
vevaphon is offline  
Old 09-03-2003, 10:59 PM   #6 (permalink)
Insane
 
Location: Ass end of Nowhere
Quote:
Originally posted by The_Dude
that was a stupid investigation.
no, i'd say it was the right idea, just badly done. they're really acting like the proverbial bull in a china shop, which seems to be standard FBI practice in investigations, sensitive in nature, or not.

since i don't assume intellect and stratagy are the forte of any field FBI agents, let alone the folk that've been running this investigation (giving them credit, there really isn't much evidence to go on - that we the public know about), i'm not inclined to assume this is a move to make the "Real Anthrax Killer" loosen up, and get comfortable that all the attention is focused on Hatfill.

what the FBI needs, really, is a single link between Hatfill and those attacks. the problem is that there's no direct link so far, just conjecture. In the meanwhile, to get them, they're just blundering everywhere in this guys life. i hope his lawsuit is successful.
__________________
"Faster. And faster still. Until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
--- DKM
vevaphon is offline  
Old 09-04-2003, 01:44 AM   #7 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Olympia Washington
Ashcroft is the McCarthy of today. Everyone is a terrorist.
Theresa is offline  
Old 09-04-2003, 06:20 AM   #8 (permalink)
Insane
 
Location: Ass end of Nowhere
Quote:
Originally posted by Theresa
Ashcroft is the McCarthy of today. Everyone is a terrorist.
McCarthy didn't lose to a dead man in an election, and Ashcroft actually did get most of the FBIs wishlist through congress.
__________________
"Faster. And faster still. Until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
--- DKM
vevaphon is offline  
 

Tags
fbi, rightfully, sued

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:43 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360