DaBoner

Last April, Glenn Greenwald called ABC News and its investigative reporter Brian Ross to account over some rather far-reaching claims, it set off a series over a few days that continued here, here and here. Their reaction was, predictably, disparaging of a blogger...not named Drudge; who after all is accurate enough in reporting other people's campaign garbage that respectable news organizations can then talk about in the cable news bloviating roundtable segments [How John McLauglin & Tim Russert ruined Journalism 101], for example the completely bogus "Kerry had an affair" story from 2004.

Well, even at the time unbeknownst to Greenwald (or to most of us of course, especially those of us who just write little skits, do captions, and scream without using all caps) there was a big problem at ABC News that is coming to light in a MUST READ story.

Many reporters, analysts and diplomats, in Washington and New York have been suspicious of Debat. How could it be that none of their conversations ever reached ABC News's finest sleuths? Stéphane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson who disputed the accuracy of Kofi Annan's interview, used to work for ABC News.

Within the investigative unit at ABCNews, Alexis Debat was some times nicknamed "Pepe Le Pew". The Frenchman was under the wing of star journalist Brian Ross within a unit custom-made for him. Ross was allotted exceptional latitude and considerable resources after the attacks of 9/11. The decision by ABC News, at least on its website, to let Ross cover the Debat fiasco appears odd, to say the least, since the Frenchman was de facto reporting to Ross.

Here are a couple of his wanks in the last few years:

On September 2nd on the Sunday Times of London, he revealed secret plans of the Bush administration to bomb Iran "in three days". Four years ago at the height of French-American tensions on Iraq, he explained how Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, forced two French students on a trip in Baghdad to have sex at gunpoint while being videotaped. Surfing on the ambient francophobia, he said that according to a cable he saw, the French government covered up the incident. "I mean, after all, this is Saddam Hussein's son!"

So he heightens tensions and suspicions of Iran...and bloviates about pending war, much of which has probably been fed and filtered into the mill that leads us to suspect Bush of bombing Iran any day now (which may or may not be true, and our suspicion of Bush Administration motives and past action makes this easy to believe anyway). And before that he helps spread rumors about the beastiality of Saddam's sons much in the way that the Iraqi National Congress did -- [and I have no doubt they were gigantic assholes but some of the stories verge, like much of the justification for the war, on a cartoon-level of credibility].

And somehow this guy just rises, and rises, and rises doing more substantial damage by swimming and enabling the tide of "beltway wisdom" and "punditry" like an extra suave Uriah Heep. Considering the consequences of his acts, it is much worse than Jason Blair. It is right up there with Judy Miller -- or a more sophisticated conduit Michael Gordon, only with them, they're just cherry picking their evidence (it's still evidence, perhaps not presented with skepticism but evidence nonetheless).

ABC in its ass-covering wisdom has appointed TA-DA! Brian Ross to investigate any erros that Brian Ross may have made.

Which is a little like asking John Stossel to investigate anything.

Quality, not job one at the Mouse.