By: Joe Strupp Six years after he indirectly named government scientist Steven Hatfill as someone being probed by the FBI during its anthrax investigation, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof apologized to Hatfill in his column Thursday. The apology comes just weeks after investigators attributed the anthrax attacks to another scientist, Bruce Ivins.
In today's piece, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist recounts his reference to a "Mr. Z," who was an FBI target, in several 2002 columns.
"Some scientists had mentioned him to the F.B.I. early on as a candidate for closer scrutiny, but those trails weren?t initially followed," Kristof recalled today. "Later, after the authorities tipped off television reporters before a raid of his home, ? Hatfill held a press conference to deny any involvement in the anthrax case. In the process, he confirmed that he was Mr. Z."
Kristof then reminds readers that "the government later named Dr. Hatfill as a 'person of interest' in the case, and agents came to trail him constantly. Government officials leaked private information about Dr. Hatfill to reporters and this year paid him a multimillion-dollar settlement as a result.
"Then, this month, the government announced that the real culprit was, Bruce Ivins, another scientist who had worked in the United States biodefense program at Fort Detrick, in Frederick, Md. The F.B.I. claims that Dr. Ivins, who killed himself as the investigation closed in on him, was actually the anthrax murderer, and it exonerated Dr. Hatfill.
"So, first, I owe an apology to Dr. Hatfill. In retrospect, I was right to prod the F.B.I. and to urge tighter scrutiny of Fort Detrick, but the job of the news media is supposed to be to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Instead, I managed to afflict the afflicted."
Hatfill later sued Kristof and the Times, but the suit was thrown out. Still, Kristoff writes, " ? even if I don?t have a legal obligation, I do feel a moral one to express regret for any added distress from my columns."
The entire column can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com
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