Topic: Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid has been pretty much silent about his conspiracy theory that Al Qaeda was responsible for the 2001 anthrax since authorities revealed that government scientist Bruce Ivins was likely behind it.
But Kincaid is back on the case in his April 18 Accuracy in Media column, spurred by the ricin mailings that are reminicent of the anthrax attacks:
It is still not known, officially and by adjudication in a court of law, who sent the post-9/11 anthrax letters because the FBI completely mishandled the case. They ended up paying $6 million in damages to an American scientist, Steven Hatfill, who was falsely termed a “person of interest” and hounded by federal agents. The FBI later argued that another U.S. Government scientist, Bruce Ivins, was the lone culprit, and “closed” the case. But Ivins was also hounded by federal agents, and took his own life. His attorney, Paul Kemp, has strongly argued that the FBI falsely blamed Ivins and never proved its case against him. No charges were filed in what the FBI called the “Amerithrax” case.
In fact, the evidence suggests the letters were linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the al-Qaeda operatives behind them.
The 2011 book "The Mirage Man" by David Willman persuasively argues that Ivins was the man who perpetrated the anthrax attacks. Willman states that the letters were mailed from a New Jersey mailbox located outside the offiices of a college sorority Ivins was obsessed with, that Ivins made a career as a civilian microbiologist for the Army despite a history of mental instability -- a psychiatrist confied that Ivins was the "scariest" patient he had ever known -- and that Ivins had created the batch of anthrax that matched the material in the letters and had unrestricted access to it.
Kincaid has apparently never addressed Willman's conclusions in his work for AIM, and he makes no mention of Willman in this column.
Meanwhile, Kincaid is quick to blame Al Qaeda for the Boston Marathon bombings, apparently solely based on the fact that "an al-Qaeda magazine had recommended the use of the same kind of bomb used in the Boston massacre." He continues:
Equally important, terrorism expert Steve Emerson said on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program on Wednesday night that the Saudi national with a student visa apprehended after the bombing is being deported on “national security grounds” in what may be shaping up as a high-level cover-up of Saudi, or other foreign involvement, in the Boston massacre.
“This is the way things are done with Saudi Arabia,” Emerson said. “You don’t arrest their citizens. You deport them. Because they don’t want to be embarrassed…”
Before the bombings, Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) had drawn critical attention in a report to Obama’s recent decision to allow some Saudis to “bypass normal passport controls at major U.S. airports.”
Walid Shoebat reports that the Saudi national who was being detained belongs to a clan that consists of several al Qaeda members and that high-level Saudi government officials have intervened on his behalf.
There are powerful political and foreign interests who do not want such reports to be highlighted or pursued by U.S. authorities. That is why the liberal media will now begin attacking Emerson, Shoebat, and others questioning the official handling of the case.
Emerson is an anti-Muslim activist whose deportation claim has been discredited. Shoebat is an even more virulent anti-Muslim activist who has been credibly accused of lying about his past as a self-proclaimed former Islamic terrorist.
The question is not why the "liberal media" would legitimately question the veracity of Emerson and Shoebat. The question is why Kincaid still thinks they are credible.
