How Alexis Debat managed to cheat everyone in Washington

[babylonsister]

How Alexis Debat managed to cheat everyone in Washington
Par Rue89 15H40 15/09/2007

On Capitol Hill, last November (Rueuters)

For years, this "expert" managed to fool think tanks and media despite flashing warning signals.

How could someone, in the age of the Internet, manage to fake interviews with world leaders without being caught, while working for the famous investigative unit of one of the biggest American television networks?

Broken by Rue89, the affair of the mythomaniac analyst is causing a stir in the United States. How did Alexis Debat, a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism, manage to build such a career for himself --as a regular contributor to the foreign affairs reviews Politique Internationale and National Interest, as a consultant for ABC News and an analyst of the prestigious Nixon Center attending conferences with the cream of the crop of American foreign policy circles?

On September 5, Rue89 revealed that Debat had provided Politique Internationale with a fake interview, carrying his byline, with Senator Barack Obama, running for the Democratic party nomination for the 2008 presidential election. Our research showed that Debat was also inflating his resume, flattering himself with a PhD he never obtained as well as cooked-up positions.

Debat defends himself, saying he made the mistake of trusting “a third person” to ask his questions. But the spokesperson for the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who was also “interviewed” by Debat in Politique Internationale, told us his was also a fake. As were the ones Debat “got” with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former president Bill Clinton, and many more.

Embarrassed reactions

When we discovered the fabricated Obama interview and contacted Patrick Wajsman, the editor of Politique Internationale, he told us he was stunned, considering himself the "first victim" of the imposture.

more...

http://www.rue89.com/2007/09/15/how-alexis-debat-managed-to-cheat-everyone-in-washington\

Related thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1817758

[ourbluenation]

1. you cannot make this shit up. everyday is a new adventure into the strange. good post.

:kick:

[The Magistrate]

2. A Text-Book Case, Ma'am

His 'method' of reporting on the Middle East and Central Asia particularly calls to mind the Sub-Genius axiom "They'll pay you to know what they really think."

Anytime anyone is citing 'un-named sources in the intelligence community' whatever follows ought to be treated with extreme caution....

[blogslut]

4. R U a SubGenius, Mr. Magistrate?

:)

[The Magistrate]

5. Familiar With The Doctrine, Ma'am

As is the case with many religions, it has some good and useful points....

"To the people, all the religions were equally true; to the philosopher, all were equally false; to the official, all were equally useful."

"They may be pink, but their money's green."

[blogslut]

6. Just wondering

Reverend Buck Naked ordained me back in 1984 and I used to go to Reverend Ivang Stang's house for Doktors for Dinosaurs rehearsals. While I haven't been involved with the Church for many years, I still consider my self a SubGenius. The best part of being a SubGenii is the freedom to write ones own rules. That, and the frop, sex and slack. ;)

[The Magistrate]

7. Sounds Like Big Fun, Ma'am

Slack everyone and everything needs in plenty....

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

8. The correct quote is "**you'll** pay to know what **you** really think"

Bad Magistrate :spank:

"If you don't know shit from shinola, don't order tunafish in a French restaurant."

[The Magistrate]

9. Thank You, Honey

"The body remembers, but the mind forgets."

[blogslut]

3. Damn!

Debat is the guy who said the US was gong to bomb Iran in three days!

From the article:

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!"