Saturday, 26, June, 2004 (09, Jumada al-Ula, 1425)
Sarah Whalen, Arab News
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And now the Pentagon’s reported proposal to appoint President Bill Clinton’s CIA Director R. James Woolsey to head Iraq’s new Information Ministry, proves this.
As The Nation’s David Corn reports, appointing the former head of a “secret” intelligence agency credited, rightly or wrongly, with disinformation campaigns throughout the world would seem, well, how to best put it? Not the best or the brightest thing to do. As Corn observed, surely the Iranians have a very good memory of the CIA’s adventurism in toppling Mossadegh’s socialist government and restoring the Shah. And one need not be Guatemalan to remember the CIA’s involvement in destabilizing the socialist government of the democratically-elected Arbenz. And the CIA’s repeated efforts to assassinate Cuba’s Castro and the assassination of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba are the stuff of intelligence legend.
Powerful CIA disinformation campaigns played great roles in such efforts. So why bring the CIA’s Woolsey to Iraq? And why put him in charge of the news there? Is the Pentagon seeking to build trust in Iraq, or does it have other plans? Woolsey, a patron and paid promoter of the now-officially spurned Ahmed Chalabi, is reportedly tight with Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, who want to add him to their neocon team in Iraq.
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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=47379&d=26&m=6&y=2004