A U.S. ‘Propaganda’ Program, al-Zarqawi, and ‘The New York Times’
NEW YORK Midway through Thomas RicksÕ Washington Post scoop on Monday detailing a U.S. military Òpropaganda programÓ aimed at convincing Iraqis that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has a very prominent role in directing violence in that country, there is one specific tip on how the plan may have also targeted American reporters and audiences.
Ricks found that one Òselective leakÓ–about a recently discovered letter written by Zarqawi–was handed by the military to Dexter Filkins, the longtime New York Times reporter in Baghdad. Filkins’s resulting article, about the Zarqawi letter boasting of foreigners’ role in suicide attacks in Iraq, ran on the front page of the Times on Feb. 9, 2004.
ÒLeaks to reporters from U.S. officials in Iraq are common, but official evidence of a propaganda operation using an American reporter is rare,Ó Ricks observed. He quoted Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. military’s chief spokesman when the propaganda campaign began in 2004: “We trusted Dexter to write an accurate story, and we gave him a good scoop.”
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