Even though law enforcement officials are privately declaring “case closed” in the 2001 anthrax killings, the apparent suicide of prime suspect Bruce Ivins raises questions that must be addressed.
The FBI needs to show it did not target an innocent man, as they did in publicly — and falsely — fingering scientist Steven Hatfill, to whom the government paid a hefty settlement.
It is important that the FBI and the Justice Department make public their evidence for targeting Ivins, a microbiologist. They must explain how Ivins, after reportedly being hospitalized for making suicidal and homicidal threats in recent weeks, was released only to kill himself.
The public needs to know, once and for all, who was behind the attacks that left Americans fearful about opening ordinary mail.
In the weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the deadly anthrax bacteria was mailed to federal lawmakers and various media outlets in Florida and New York. The finely milled anthrax spores killed five people and sickened 17 others.
Sen. Tom Daschle, a lawmaker targeted in the anthrax mailings, over the weekend said he has long had serious doubts about the quality of the investigation.
Daschle, the former Democratic leader of the Senate, pointed to the $5.8 million settlement the government recently paid to Hatfill, a former Army scientist whom authorities publicly named as a “person of interest.”
Hatfill maintained his innocence and sued the government for violating privacy rules in naming him. The settlement was an embarrassment for the FBI, which has thrown its investigatory might into solving the crimes.
Federal authorities were said to be close to charging Ivins, who had worked with anthrax in a Maryland laboratory, when he killed himself. Friends and colleagues of the Army scientist accuse federal investigators of pressuring Ivins so much that he overdosed on pills.
In a troubling revelation, Ivins’ therapist recently sought and received a restraining order against the scientist after he told a group therapy session that he had bought a gun and a bulletproof vest and was plotting to kill co-workers.
The therapist testified in court that he was a diagnosed “sociopathic homicidal killer” who had threatened her as well.
Given this information along with the FBI’s building case against Ivins, it is incomprehensible that the government wouldn’t have taken action to keep him in protective custody.
The FBI and the Justice Department apparently won’t have to take this case to court. But officials must make a powerful public case that Ivins was behind the anthrax letters if there is to be any chance that the public will consider this case closed.
