It seems that one of the key sources of information for public consumption on the looming threat to all things American posed by the horrid regime in Iran has a bit of a credibility problem:
In its Summer 2007 issue, Politique Internationale, a well-regarded review founded by Dr Patrick Wajsman, published an interview with the US Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who is seeking the Democratic nomination to be US president.
The interview was quite a scoop for the French magazine, the senator, up to that point, had given few interviews to the foreign press. Obama discussed his campaign and gave an explosive assessment of the Iraq war:
"It is a defeat for the United States, indeed. And we will pay the consequences for this defeat for a very a long time.There is no longer any way to turn this defeat into victory. It is too late."
But soon, Politique Internationale found they had a problem.
Barack Obama never gave such an interview, ever. According to the magazine, the interview was conducted by Alexis Debat, "a researcher and specialist in issues of intelligence and counter-terrorism."
Debat is a well-known "expert" in Washington with an impressive resume: He serves as a fellow at the Nixon Center, a conservative think tank; he collaborates with The National Interest; a quarterly journal of international affairs; he has been consultant to ABC News for years. He belongs to the "expert market" of Washington DC.He appears credible, and the media often quotes him on matters pertaining to terrorism and Islam.
I only heard about this evolving mess today in this second piece by David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo. The relevance of this particular bit of fake journalism is, if you have not clicked on the links, that Debat is not just a fraud and a liar in print, but pushes his lies as the basis for serial false stories for ABC News, a place apparently no more willing to check its sources than all those other media outlets who preach to bloggers about our lack of ethics and credibility.
This is very relevant considering the following bit from Gen. Petraeus' appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday:
To sum up a very involved story, Debat is the highly dubious source for multiple erroneous stories on the coming conflict with Iran. For over a year now - really since the failed Israeli war with Hezbollah last summer - the right has been ratcheting up the rhetoric over the Coming War with Iran. Whether it is the Iranian nuclear program, or alleged links to Iraqi insurgents, or the questionable remarks of the current Iranian President, everything is amplified, distorted, and presented as a series of casus belli, only to be refuted again and again by sober second, third, and fourth thoughts, and serious journalists who have no paranoid ax to grind. One would think that, this being the case, ABC might do an entire evening where it exposed its own failures in journalistic ethics, and corrected the serial misrepresentations by a source now exposed as a fraud and a liar. One might think this was a moral and political duty, considering that ABC owes its existence as a television network to the public airwaves, over which it operates in the public interest.
I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting for such an action on the part of ABC.
UPDATE: In the interest of fairness, and to keep myself from getting sued, I thought it fair to post Debat's public rebuttal of charges that he is, and has perpetrated, fraud:
To Whom It May Concern,
Pascal Riché’s article in “Rue 89” raises very serious questions about my integrity and my credentials, and puts my entire professional life in jeopardy. This is my point by point response below:
1.The interview with Senator Barack Obama did happen through a third party. A journalist named Rob Sherman approached me last spring with an offer to conduct the interview on my behalf. I wrote up the questions and got the answers in writing. My only mistake was to sign this interview in my name, following Rob’s request. I did not conduct this interview in person with the senator, but it did take place. I recognize that putting my name on it was a mistake, for which I take full responsibility.
2.Pascal Riché claims that “I have a reputation for making up stories”. This is a slanderous assertion supported by no facts. In my 5 and a half years at ABC News, I have not once “made up stories” or been suspected of coming forward with false or even weak information. In fact, I have broken many terrorism-related stories over the years. Anybody can check this directly with ABC. If I was such a “fabulist”, as Mr. Riché claims, I would not have survived a single day in such an environment.
3.Mr. Riché claims that I asserted to have a diploma from a fake and fraudulent institution called Edenvale University. I have never made such an assertion, nor claimed to hold a “diploma” from that university. None of the biographies accessible online mention this. I am fully aware that Edenvale University is a false institution. Again, this is a slanderous assertion not supported by any facts.
4.I did work for the Institut Montaigne under Bruno Ehrard-Steiner in 2001-2002, in the very beginning of the organization. I helped Bruno lay out a plan for establishing strategic relations with think-tanks in the United States. This can be checked directly with Mr. Ehrard-Steiner (who is now a spokesperson for Merck France) at bruno_erhard@merck.com .
5.On the subject of the legitimacy of my PhD, the article once again mentions inaccurate and incomplete information. I was indeed recently made aware of an administrative problem with regard to the completion of my PhD, which I am in the process of sorting out through legal means. My thesis was completed in 1999, and is registered at the Sorbonne, as indicated in this website: http://edoc-histoire.univ-paris1.fr/EDvieux/html/doctot.htm. Never did I forge any document or diploma. Mr. Kaspi, who is quoted in the piece, was not my thesis director.
6.I did work for the “Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion” as a volunteer in the “preadolescent” program in 1994, doing work on social integration in poor neighborhoods around Paris. This again can be easily checked by contacting any of the fondation’s officials listed here: http://www.fondationface.org/faceframe/frame_contact.htm.
7.The article then proceeds to mention slanderous and inaccurate rumors about my assertions regarding my time in the French military, without mentioning sources or facts. This again appears nowhere in my biographies or CVs, and is pure hearsay and slander.
I take full responsibility for my actions and my credentials. I did make a serious mistake in handling the interview with Senator Barack Obama. But this article is an attempt to discredit and destroy me personally in a slanderous and completely inaccurate way.
I have already taken steps to bring legal action against Mr. Riché and “Rue89”
