James Ridgeway: More on the claims by Dr. Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ working group on biological weapons, that the <a

href=”http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0209/ridgeway.php”>FBI has a prime suspect in the anthrax cases, has already interviewed him, etc. The FBI continues to stonewall on the claims, probably both because the case that follows would reveal the failure of security measures at US biological weapons facilities where the culprit worked, and because there might have to be discussion of secret bioweapons projects of whose existence the government would prefer the public not be aware. says Ridgeway in his Village Voice column. Is this plausible, however? Ashcroft is such a Machiavellian information gatekeeper, with such a disregard for the niceties of a free society or open inquiry, that I find it hard to believe the Justice Dept’s Good Fight against Terrorism would be stopped by free speech concerns.