http://www.nouvelobs.com/articles/p2068/a244446.html

How the Press was Manipulated
    By Vincent Jauvert
  (Translated from: Le Nouvel Observateur Hebdomadaire)

    Week of 24 July 2004

    Beginning in October 2001, several Iraqi renegades offered their revelations to the media. They only wanted to talk to the most prestigious journalists, however. The first was a certain Sabh Alami, a former captain in Saddam Hussein's army. Ahmed Chalabi introduced him to "Washington Post" editorialist, Jim Hoagland. The former soldier offers a scoop to the talented reporter. "You see," he tells Hoagland, "Iraq is training Islamic terrorists to hijack airplanes in a camp near Baghdad, called Salman Park. I even believe," he adds, "that the cockpits they use look like the Boeing's, you know, like the planes that crashed September 11, you know what I mean?" Jim Hoagland walks into the trap and reports the fascinating story. The next day, the White House rushes to broadcast the devastating testimony without any risk: its guarantee is the illustrious "Washington Post".

    Three weeks later, Chalabi contacts the other influential United States daily paper, the "New York Times". He says that a certain Major Harith has just shown up in Turkey. He would have much to say. The great paper sends its star terrorism reporter, Judith Miller, to Ankara.

    Incredible coincidence: Major Harith has also been to the terrible Salman Park camp. He worked there several years. At what? Training Islamic terrorists, by God, fanatics ready for anything, "even suicide". But there's still more. The indefatigable Major Harith has been charged with secret missions.

    The first was to buy eight Renault trucks. What for? For mobile biological weapons labs, obviously! His second mission: nothing less than finding material to make an atomic bomb.

    Should she believe him? The journalist Judith Miller is in a state. American officials reassure her: Harith, whose real name is Abu Zeinab, is "the most important secret service officer to have fled Iraq". So, then! Confident, on November 8, 2001, the "New York Times" publishes in their entirety the so-called master spy's inventions. All the media relay the information guaranteed by the totally trustworthy Judith Miller. And, in mid-November, 74% of Americans declare themselves in favor of military action against Saddam Hussein. However, the war clan wants to keep up the pressure. Preparations for an invasion will last several months. Public opinion might recoil. It must continue to be watered with frightening testimony about the Iraqi regime and weapons of mass destruction. Chalabi will see to it.

    From October 2001 to May 2002, Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) will generate over 100 articles in the Anglo-Saxon press (and the AFP): 108 precisely! How do we know this? Through an indiscretion on the part of Ahmed Chalabi's Washington confidence man, Francis Brooke. In a June 26, 2002 letter to the United States Senate, the preposterous Brooke boasts of his beloved boss' exploits. The proof: he hands over as an appendix the detailed list of 108 "inspired" articles. The objective of this unbelievable letter: to show the American legislature that the INC, entirely financed by Washington, is an effective organization that doesn't waste the taxpayers' money.

    Indeed, it is effective. Too much so, with regard to American legislation. One diplomat explains: "The money was supposed to be used to inform Iraqis living in Iraq and abroad only, not to make propaganda in American newspapers. There was an absolute prohibition against that."

    But that doesn't bother Ahmed Chalabi. Last February, he declared to the "Daily Telegraph": "We have totally succeeded: the tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. Whatever was said before is not important!".