Analyzing the Borchgrave
Scoop on Pak-Saudi Nuke Deal
By
Pramilla Srivastava
Special Correspondent
NEW
YORK: Leaks to the media are often used to either muddle the truth
or construct 'truth' by initiating a new form of propaganda known
as "inactionable intelligence".
The
story in question is obviously, Arnaud de Borchgrave's latest
bombshell claiming Pakistan is covertly supporting Saudi Arabia
in it's endeavor to become a nuclear power.
Click to Read Story
The most questionable aspect of this story is the source itself;
without naming names this senior journalist makes assertions that
can neither be proved or disproved. Over the years Arnaud de Borchgrave
has accumulated a bulging clippings file full of splashy, yet
often maddeningly unverifiable exposés alleging various
shenanigans .
It
is extremely important to note that Arnaud de Borchgrave is a
senior advisor and Director of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS), the mother of all neo-con institutions. For four
decades, the CSIS has been dedicated to providing neo conservative
American leaders with strategic insights on — and policy
solutions to — current and emerging global issues. This
think tank is led by no one less that John J. Hamre, formerly
deputy secretary of defense during Bush-I, and has been President
and CEO since April 2000.
Welcome
to the new world of media matrix. It's a high stakes game favored
by the neo-cons in which people places and events are continuously
transforming along the trajectory of a lethal narrative. The narrative
, of course, is the war against terrorism and the identities of
the main players always elude the mesmerized spectators, who watch
an endless cast of characters all playing the same role of "evil
doer" in "multiple theaters of wars".
In
an instant a cave dwelling religious fanatic becomes a secular
nationalist dictator. In an instant an ally becomes an enemy.
Those,
however, who look carefully can see another set of characters
and their identity also changes with a blink of an eye. In that
blink of the eye a businessman drenched in oil becomes a Vice
President. But blink again and he reverts back again. A journalist
becomes a lobbyist. A lobbyist becomes a policy maker. The policy
maker becomes the "expert". So it is no surprise that
some of the key players in the game keep reappearing in many different
incarnations, from think tank fellows, to journalists, from corporate
board members to White House staff, from CIA operatives to authors.
The
CSIS is guided by a board of trustees chaired by former arch conservative
senator Sam Nunn and consists of prominent individuals from both
the public and private sectors. Guess which vertical industry
constitutes the substantial part of 'private sector'? If you guessed
oil, you are a formidable player in the new game of media matrix.
According
to the CSIS web site, Borchgrave has an amazing resume. He was
appointed Editor in Chief of the Washington Times and
Insight magazine in 1985, (both conservative media venues).
He left his post with the Washington Times in 1991. He
served as president and CEO of United Press International from
1999 to January 2001. He is currently serving as Editor-At-Large
at UPI. His awards include Best Magazine Reporting from Abroad
and Best Magazine Interpretation of Foreign Affairs. In 1981,
de Borchgrave received the World Business Council's Medal of Honor,
and in 1985 he was awarded the George Washington Medal of Honor
for Excellence in Published Works.
Please
note that both of the awards were given during Reagan/Bush era.
In fact the Washington Times was reported as Ronald Reagan's
favorite newspaper. The paper was an important conduit for the
media campaign to muster support for the Nicaraguan Contras; So
important, that some of the paper's executives were directly implicated
in the Iran-Contra Scandal of the 80's.
Both
the Washington Times as well as UPI are owned by the
the Reverend Sung Myung Moon's Unification Church, an extreme
right wing religious cult with close ties to both the neo-cons
in the US as well as arch conservative South Korean elements.
The parent company of both these organizations is New World Communications.
Many NWC executives have also maintained high posts in the Korean
CIA known as the KCIA.
More
interesting than the affiliations of these individuals is their
ideology. According to an article by media watch group FAIR, Opposition
to constitutional democracy is a theological premise of The Divine
Principle, the basic text of Unificationism. Moon's speeches are
riddled with contempt for "American-style democracy,"
which he denigrates as "a good nursery for the growth of
Communism." "We must have an automatic theocracy to
rule the world," Moon has declared.
Washington Times
editorial page editor William P. Cheshire and four of his staff
members resigned during Borchgrave's tenure as editor-in-chief
charging that he had allowed an executive of the Unification Church
to dictate editorial policy. "It is no longer possible, in
my judgment, for the Times to maintain independence from the Unification
Church under the editorship of Mr. de Borchgrave, if it is indeed
at all," said Cheshire.
FAIR
describes the Moon organizations as a "highly integrated
unit; (in which) each component may maintain the appearance of
independence as a means towards larger ends". Former top
UC official Steve Hassan believes that the Washington Times
is a "Trojan horse" within the conservative movement.
Hassan told EXTRA, (FAIR's monthly magazine): "Conservative
politics is glad to have a voice through the Times, but ultimately
it has nothing to do with conservatism. It has to do with fascism."
Click
for UPI analysis of the Arnaud Story
Click
for Original Story
