"Right Wing" Blamed for Anthrax
When in doubt, blame the right. In this case, for Anthrax. In an October 15
New York Times story, reporter Felicity Barringer approvingly quoted an official at Harvard University who suggested foreign terrorists may not be behind the Anthrax sent to media outlets since the U.S. media "has not been a particular target of Islamic fundamentalist groups or groups we associate with Sept. 11. It has been a target of right-wing groups in America."
The quote, MRC Communications Director Liz Swasey noticed, appeared in a story headlined, "New Tactic of Terrorists Is to Attack Messengers." Barringer relayed:
"Who did it? The timing, and the continuing threats from Osama bin Laden's network, Al Qaeda, make that group an easy suspect. In an appearance on Friday on the PBS program, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Vice President Dick Cheney noted that Mr. bin Laden's group trained its followers to use chemical and biological weapons. Implying a link between Mr. bin Laden and the anthrax incidents, he said, Again, we have not completed the investigation and maybe it's a coincidence, but I must say I'm a skeptic.
"Juliette N. Kayyem, the executive director of the program on domestic preparedness at the Kennedy School [at Harvard University], was more cautious. So far, little is known, she said. We shouldn't go into this with blinders on trying to link this to Sept. 11.
"The media, she said, has not been a particular target of Islamic fundamentalist groups or groups we associate with Sept. 11. It has been a target of right-wing groups in America. The one thing that Islamic radicals and American right-wing radicals have in common, she added, is a paranoid belief that American media outlets are pawns in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. And one of the letters that has been a focus of the anthrax investigation in Florida came with a Star of David inside."
While it is true that a few in the U.S., who are well outside of mainstream politics, have an anti-Jewish hatred and paranoia, the
Times article reflected the lefts view of the political spectrum by tying them to the right. Never forget that the Nazis were the National "Socialist" Party.
