Alexis Debat

Alexis Debat is a consulting French policy, which was the subject of a scandal in September 2007 after being shown “to have bidonné” a certain number of famous interviews of personalities.

He worked of 2001 in June 2007 for ABC News and during one year and half, until September 2007, for the review The National Interest , where he was director of the program of Terrorisme and National security. He formed also part of the Committee of the consultants of the review International policy directed by Patrick Wajsman. Debate worked moreover, until September 2007, for the Institut of national security of the Université George Washington, on a project study on the toughening Islamiste in Afghanistan since 2005 Since 2003, it intervened like “Expert” in Time, U.S. News and World Report, The National Newspaper, The Boston Herald, The Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, PBS , etc It also wrote leading in the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune , and was made pass for a former employee of the ministry for Defense) and because it had published fictitious talks of important personalities in the review International policy . The ministry for Defense denied to have employed it on September 14th, 2007, affirming that it was simply Stagiaire for five months in 2000.

Following the scandal, Alexis Debat “would have left abroad without leaving of address”.

Scoop de Rue89 about the pseudo-interviews (September 2007)

September 5th, 2007, the site Rue89 revealed that it had signed for the French review International policy (for which it had worked for four years), directed by Patrick Wajsman, a certain number of Interview S fictitious, of which those of Barack Obama, candidate with the democratic nomination in the United States, Alan Greenspan, former president of the Federal fund, Bill Clinton, former president of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, president of the Room of the representatives, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan, the former general secretary with the the United Nations . International policy since withdrew all the talks and articles signed by Alexis Debat, who himself resigned of ABC News and the National Interest .

Alexis Debat admitted to have made a false interview of Barack Obama, but with regard to the other interviews, of which he admits also the fictitious character, he rejects for that the responsibility on the review International policy . Patrick Wajsman, director of International policy , demented person this version, considering the business “surrealist”. International policy declared that ABC News had informed them about Debat — although they withdrew their maintenance with Barack Obama only following the scoop of Rue89. Patrick Wajsman announced that it was going to carry felt sorry for against Debat. Discusses, for its part, affirmed that it was going to continue Pascal Riché, the author of the scoop of Rue89, like Rue89, for “slandering”.

Begun again by the Washington Post , the business started a polemic in the United States, Nixon Center and ABC News being both considered very well. Moreover, it results in wondering about the bonds between the Consultant S, paid, and the Media S. Mother Jones underlines thus that if Debate were paid as a consultant for ABC, he wrote also articles in Blogger of ABC, and was also quoted like source for various articles, thus erasing the border between a source (paid, moreover, which contradicts the journalistic deontology) and a journalist.

Associated Press had quoted it in 2001 and 2004. Debate had as recently affirmed, at the time of a conference to the National Interest , as the Pentagone had a plan intended to crush in three days Iran, information taken again by the Sunday Times on September 2nd, 2007 and largely disseminated.

Denials of the ministry and AFP in 2002

If Alexis Debat were very in court with Washington DC, of the doubts however existed for a certain time. Thus, in September 2002, following a maintenance in Release , the ministry for Defense contradicts information presenting Debat as civil servant of the ministry (contradicted published by Libération ). September 6th, 2002, following an article of ABC News about Zacarias Moussaoui, the marked French to have taken part in the Attacks of September 11th, 2001, where Alexis Debat was presented again in the form of a member of the ministry for Defense, the AFP publishes a dispatch contradicting this information.

In April 2007, the Pakistan demented person of the furnished informations by Debat according to which the United States and Pakistan would support in a clandestine way the group Jundullah in order to destabilize the Iran.

Moreover, International policy had decided, at the time, not to publish the discussion with Kofi Annan following protests of its spokesperson, according to whom this assembled maintenance of all parts. But the review continued nevertheless to publish other talks of Debate, until September 2007.

The investigation within ABC News

According to ABC News, where Alexis Debat was under the supervision of Brian Ross, an investigation would have been started about it in June 2007 following the information come from the embassy of France. However, according to Rue89, it would not be the embassy which would have contacted ABC News, but well the reverse. In May 2007, a Whistleblower within ABC News started a discrete investigation about Debat. ABC News then published a corrigendum confirming information of Rue89. According to them, the whistleblower mentioned one CV of Debate annotated by the ministry for Defense, from where them error. But Rue89 affirmed, in its turn, that the CV in question had not been annotated by the French government, but by a researcher questioned by the RAND Corporation which wanted to engage Debat.

Rue 89 also wondered about the fact that the second investigation within ABC News about Alexis Debat, started following the article of Pascal Riché, is placed under the direction of Brian Ross, its direct hierarchically superior. According to ABC News, it was quoted as expert in counter-terrorism about Zacarias Moussaoui, of the Attentats of London of 2005 and of the tracking of members of Al-Qaida in Pakistan. ABC News decided to send a journalist to Pakistan in order to check the work of Debate.

Lastly, according to Brian Ross, the information of Debate published by ABC News according to which Odai Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, would have obliged two French students to have sexual relationships in public, was checked.

ABC also affirms that Alexis Debat would have prevented them that Matiur Rehman, suspecté of terrorist activities, had not been stopped in Pakistan, as affirmed it an article published by ABC. The shortly after the publication of this article, ABC withdrew it because Rehman had not been stopped indeed. ABC News nevertheless withdrew from its site, on September 14th, 2007, the articles of Debate.

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