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Joe Raedle / Getty Images file
Maureen Stevens' husband, Bob Stevens, a photo editor for American Media Inc., was the first fatality in the anthrax mailings.
The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2.5 million to the widow and family of a Florida tabloid photo editor killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
A document obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press shows that Maureen Stevens will drop all other claims stemming from the death of Robert Stevens. The document also says the U.S. is not admitting fault.
Stevens' lawsuit, filed in 2003, claimed the government was negligent because it failed to stop someone at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., from creating weapons-grade anthrax used in letters that killed her husband and four other people. Seventeen more people were sickened.
Maureen Stevens' attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. The settlement names her and her three grown children, and notes that attorneys' fees of no more than 25 percent will be paid out of that amount.
Robert Stevens worked in Boca Raton for American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, Sun and Globe tabloids when he was exposed to anthrax. He died Oct. 5, 2001. Other anthrax-laced letters were mailed to television networks in New York and a U.S. Senate office building in Washington.
After a lengthy and unprecedented investigation, the FBI concluded that a government scientist, Dr. Bruce Ivins, was solely responsible for the attacks. Ivins, however, committed suicide in 2008 and some who worked with him at Fort Detrick have expressed doubt that he did it or had the means to create the anthrax used in the letters.
For years the FBI investigation focused on another scientist, Steven Hatfill, who was identified as a "person of interest" in 2001 by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. Hatfill was eventually cleared and sued the government for invasion of privacy, resulting in a $5.8 million settlement.
Lawsuits filed by other victims have been dismissed, although at least one is on appeal.
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so do's this mean that everybody in the trade center can sue the U.S. and the oklahoma building that was blown up to.
can we say cash COW.
I think her case is a little different than the World Trade Center and the Oklahoma City bombing because it was not a person from the Federal Government who caused those tragedies but instead was radical Muslims and a radial Christian who did those horrible things.
The only problem I have with this is it is NOT the government who is paying for this but the TAXPAYERS of the US.
Thanks Lady, perhaps you and your husband should of had Life Insurance or he should of had some type of Insurance coverage via work since he was killed while at work.
Actually, the victims of the World Trade Center (and Pentagon, etc.) were paid settlements to compensate for their tragic losses. The Bush Administration paid out huge sums since there were so many people involved. It is curious that no one questioned those payments, or the fact that those individuals should have had their own life insurance policies or other estate plans in place. We Taxpayers paid for that was well. It is even a further stretch to pay those victims since the cause of those deaths was not a US government scientist.
“The committee’s Report reiterates what is and is not possible to establish through science alone in a criminal investigation of this magnitude. The committee’s focus was on the more novel scientific approaches used in this investigation and did not review the traditional forensic methods and techniques employed or the significant body of evidence gathered through traditional law enforcement techniques. The committee also concluded that it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the B. anthracis in the mailings based on the available scientific evidence alone.
DOJ FEB 15 2011 RELEASE
DR. Bruce died before being put on trial. so if there was no definitive conclusion how can there be a pay out.
Yes. Rescue workers are employed and have an duty to help out in an emergency.
I think people in the US government know very well where the anthrax came from, and what a @!$%#ty job they did ensuring that this stuff was kept safe there. So they settled. And not one of the bastards in charge lost their job and a cushy government pension.
US government jobs = total lack of accountability
So if US is paying $2.5M for something they caused, they admit it is from their lab (them not taking the fault is a separate issue).
So then who wrote the letters that stated "Death to America, Death to Israel, Allah is great!"? And they happened to be on the same time frame of 9/11. How can we now believe that some US officials were not involved in 9/11 attacks? This is not conspiracy but plain logic.
Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist (even though I will), But I believe our government did this to ensure the people of the US would support us going to war in the very near future with the middle east. It also ensured there was a continued threat which allowed us to support the Patriot Act. I still feel this was all a posturing act by the US government to promote fear and convince us to give up our liberties.
Of course, I could be wrong and it could have been a foreigner who had access to our government chemical warfare labs who stole the anthrax and distributed it to all of those organizations. If that is the case, then we would still need to look internally as to why security was so lax at that facility. I sincerely doubt this though as I was in the service up until June 2000 and the bases I visited were always in threat con bravo at the very minimum. Anyone in the service at that time can attest to that.
You call that LOGIC??? I call that wishful thinking - that's like saying the Gov't was involved in the Fort Hood shooting because an Army Major was the shooter.
Or maybe the foreigner BRIBED someone on the inside to steal it for him? Much easier than breaking in, don't 'ya think??? And the base being on "Threat Con Bravo" would hardly stop an inside job, would it???
WHY is it easier to believe in gov't conspiracy theories than in a simple "lone gunman" explanation? I wonder if people in Norway believe Anders Breivak was part of a gov't conspiracy to...do what, exactly?
I would say that it is easier to believe in government conspiracy theories than the lone gunman theory (and even that is still a theory) because I don't have a lone gunman screwing me over on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, never have. Where as the government is constantly screwing everyone over (if you need examples, I have quite a few to share with you). It really comes down to Occam's razor when we do not have all the details. The simple answer is usually the correct one. That said, it is more likely that the government did the dirty work rather than a lone gunman as you put it. Everything with the government is not a conspiracy, but there sure as hell is a lot of cover up within its ranks.
Does that mean that it wasn't a lone gunman? Not at all. That very well could be the case... but there is not enough evidence at the moment to support that theory. The government settled in this case and while that does not admit guilt, it sure as hell looks guilty!
this is not odd it is just plain stupid to think that the government didn't have something to do with this since they are giving her 2.5 million... every government worker has life insurance on them.. everyone if you work for the government you have live insurance it is about 50 thousand...2.5 million is pay off money and her working for a tabliod or newpaper what ever it is probably did some investagating and found something to make this pay off...IMO
The US government loves these payouts as they're a great way to shut people up about what they know.
As with 9/11, all paths in this obvious black op lead back to military knowledge/involvement, so create victims funds, pay settlements or allow alleged suspects to "commit suicide" while in custody to keep things quiet. They can't silence all of us.
Way to cash in at the taxpayers' expense, Counselor!
The one good target this wacko had, a tabloid employee, and the gov't lawyers at Justice reflexively bend over and dish out the cash!
Not our finest hour.
This does not make sense! The 'government' MUST be quilty!!! And probably DID create this ANTHRAX and maybe some mad employee (o - that is still the 'government') stole it and leashed it upon the world.
So if you are falsely accused of murder, you get THREE times more money than the person who actually got murdered!! I wish somebody would accuse me of something like this.
Don't forget the lawyer wants their share as well. We the taxpayer are the ones who end up paying the bill...
If you find out who was really behind the Anthrax attack, you will find out who had fore knowledge of 9/11.