A widely publicized Iraqi document that purports to show that September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta visited Baghdad in the summer of 2001 is probably a fabrication….
U.S. officials and a leading Iraqi document expert tell Newsweek that the document is most likely a forgery ? part of a thriving new trade in dubious Iraqi documents that has cropped up in the wake of the collapse of Saddam’s regime.
….Ironically, even the Iraqi National Congress of Ahmed Chalabi, which has been vocal in claiming ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime, was dismissive of the new Telegraph story. “The memo is clearly nonsense,” an INC spokesman told Newsweek.
Contacted by Newsweek, the Sunday Telegraph’s Con Coughlin acknowledged that he could not prove the authenticity of the document. He said that while he got the memo about Mohammed Atta and Baghdad from a “senior” member of the Iraqi Governing Council who insisted it was “genuine,” he and his newspaper had “no way of verifying it. It’s our job as journalists to air these things and see what happens,” he said.
Jeez, a fabrication, eh? Didn’t see that one coming, did we?
Crikey. Shouldn’t even the Telegraph eventually get embarrassed about pulling this stuff? What’s next, a copy of Saddam’s diary?
