Alexis Debat, former media consultant to ABC (especially to Brian Ross’ s reports) is proving worthy of more and more scrutiny, especially after posting a widely circulated report that the US planned a 3-day strike against all Iranian military facilities. Apparently, Debat was also active in the run up to the Iraq war and in concocting interviews-that-never-were with Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and others…
“The renewed scrutiny has been driven by revelations about Mr. Debat after a French news Web site, Rue 89, reported this week that an interview supposedly with Senator Obama was entirely made up. Mr. Debat, who could not be reached last night, sent an e-mail message to ABC yesterday saying the allegations against him “are slanderous.”
He told The Washington Post Wednesday that an intermediary had spoken with Mr. Obama. But representatives for Mr. Obama denied that he spoke with anyone connected to Mr. Debat.
Subsequently, other figures whose interviews appeared under Mr. Debat’s byline in the French magazine Politique Internationale have come forward to say they never spoke to him. These included Mr. Clinton; Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman; Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft; and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Since his departure from ABC News in June, Mr. Debat has continued to work as a senior fellow for national security and terrorism at the Nixon Center in Washington. He was quoted as a knowledgeable source in an article in The Times of London this month, saying that American military forces were planning attacks that would demolish “the entire Iranian military.” He has also been quoted by many newspapers and news services.
Guillemette Faure, a reporter for Rue 89, said doubts had been raised about an ABC report, with Mr. Debat as a source, during the buildup to the Iraq war. The report said that Uday Hussein, a son of Saddam Hussein, had ordered two French ballet students at gunpoint to have sex in public…..”
More at the New York Times.
Now, wazzup with that, eh?
Why would a known liar from the Iraq war run-up now be overstating the Pentagon’s plans against Iran?
You can’t guess? Well – here’s a little anecdote from the life of Bertold Brecht, the German writer. Brecht recalled fondly how he would snooker his teachers in much the same way. If he got back a failing grade, he would cover the right answers on his paper with red ink and then go back and complain to his teacher that the marking was all wrong. The embarrassed teacher would naturally undo all the redmarks, even the ones he had originally given, and Brecht would get through the exam.
Over at Kos, some bloggers seem to agree:
“The publicity over Debat’s alleged “massive” Pentagon strike plan has helped render a “less than massive” strike much more viable, in PR terms. ”
Oh, what a tangled web we weave/when first we practice to deceive etc. etc…