Last night, JuliaAnn posted an intriguing diary regarding the unusual spectacle of the President of the United States citing Iraqi bloggers to provide evidence for the success of his "surge" policy. JuliaAnn noted that these bloggers, Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, have a supiciously right-wing blogroll and pointed out that the Fadhil brothers had actually paid a visit to George W. Bush in October 2004. Subsequent investigation by commenters revealed that the Fadhils' blog, Iraq The Model, is subsidized by a charitable organization called Spirit of America.
This diary is an attempt to sort out what we know so far about a couple of Iraqi dentists who sound like Bush Administration apologists, and what the story is with their benefactor, Spirit of America.
The circumstantial evidence is suspicious, to say the least. What kind of Iraqi bloggers hobnob with the the President of the United States and are promoted by the usual suspects within the right-wing blogosphere? First of all, it turns out that Omar and Mohammed Fadhil are the "Middle East Editors" for Pajamas Media, a network of right-wing blogs. And then there's this little tidbit from a December 8, 2004 Powerline post:
This evening, I had the privilege of attending a reception organized by Jim Hake of Spirit of America in honor of Iraqi bloggers Omar and Mohammed Fadhil of the Iraq the Model blog. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz spoke briefly, praising Omar and Mohammed (both dentists) for the quality of their blog and for their courage in the face of death threats.
Something tells me these guys are not your typical Iraqi bloggers. As anastasia p commented last night:
Given their promotion by such prominent right-wingers, it's virtually impossible to believe that these "bloggers" are free agents and not administration apologists. It just isn't credible. And even if they started as independent voices, it's clear they've been corrupted by their sponsorship by the U.S. right. I also find it hard to believe, given the issues that Iraqis cooperating with the U.S. have encountered with their lives so blatantly endangered, that these two could be openly living and doing business in Baghdad. Has anyone proved THAT?
It's not all circumstantial, though. In comments to JuliaAnn's diary, Kind of Blue revealed that the domain name, iraqthemodel.com, is registered through a Web development company with locations in Midland and Odessa, Texas. Again, not your typical Iraqi blog.
So what's going on here? Fortunately, there's a great deal of information available on Iraq The Model at Bush Out blog. I'm not familiar with Bush Out, so I can't vouch for it as a source, but in a post last night blogger ghandi summarized his research and much of it easily verifiable. Here's a teaser:
For anyone not familiar with the story, which is a long-running saga on this blog, Omar and Mohammed Fadhil run a blog called Iraq The Model (ITM). They have a brother named Ali Fadhil who angrily departed the blog under very odd circumstances just before the 2004 US election, when Omar and Mohammed went to Washington to meet with Bush and Wolfowitz in the Oval Office. The White House meeting was organized by a bogus US "charity" called Spirit of America (SoA), whose CEO Jim Hake was also present.
Ali Fadhil alleged that the SoA staff were using the Fadhil brothers for propaganda purposes. He said that SoA CEO Jim Hake and his former "Director of Logistics and Procurement" Kerry Dupont were "stealing donors money" and lying to both Iraqis and Americans. He said Dupont offered the brothers $300,000 "that we could use to do what we want".
Wow. Sounds like it's worth taking a look at Spirit of America. SoA is a 501c3 that describes their mission as providing support to:
...those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom and democracy.
And they proudly describe their project to bankroll bloggers in the Arab world:
We helped fund the development of an Arabic blogging (Web logging) tool and, with donor support, we are hosting the blogs at no cost to the bloggers. This allows Arabic-language blogs to be created easily. It gives voices to those working for freedom and democracy in the Arab world. And it enables them to easily connect and share ideas with their peers.
Interesting. Like Iraq The Model, Spirit of America seems to be very popular with right-wing media in the U.S. It took me about 30 seconds to find puff pieces in publications like the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal.
It appears that Spirit of America also works closely with the Department of Defense, as noted in this DOD press release: Group Donates TV Equipment to Promote Balanced News Coverage
Finally, the Bush Out blog offers this bit of background:
Spirit of America was originally set up and supported by Cyber Century Forum (CCF), a group dedicated to spreading US influence worldwide, with a particular emphasis on covert cyber-intelligence measures. Cyber Century Forum’s three ageing members are old guard warhorses from the Cold War days. And they used oil company finances to set up Spirit Of America:
Cyber Century Forum's tax return for 2003 shows that it holds $109,440 in corporate stocks from Schlumberger Ltd, "the leading oilfield services technology company supplying technology, project management and information solutions to the oil and gas industries". It also holds a further US$9,292 in stocks from Transocean Sedco Forex, the world's largest offshore drilling company. Now isn't that a big surprise? "Freedom and Democracy for Iraq", sponsored by the US oil and gas industry.
So what can we make of all of this? To be honest, I'm not certain. My purpose in this diary was merely to collate what I've been able to find and summarize what was revealed in the discussion following JuliaAnn's diary. I will point out a few things, though. Jillian, quoting from an article in the Austin Statesman, noted that Karen Hughes has taken an interest in using blogs to "catapult the propaganda" (as C-Plus Augustus would say):
It's why Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, hired a half-dozen Arabic speakers to surf international blogs and post messages that counter "propaganda and rumors with facts," she said.
And I'll give the last word to JuliaAnn writing in comments:
Bushco did this like they do everything: shills and fakes; DOD contracts for psy ops, public relations, and propaganda; connections with rightwinger front groups; colossal mismanagement of taxpayer dollars; and a sick agenda.
In stories like this, there's always the dirty under-story. Consider, for instance, that while Rumsfeld was telling the families of soldiers that he couldn't get more body armor to Iraq he was simultaneously shoving money at 24 year old gooper propaganda artists. I'm only amused by this administration's stupidity when I'm not consumed with horror at the results of their actions.
Indeed. Welcome to the world of propaganda in the 21st century.
*UPDATE: 3/31/07, 2:40 AM EST*
On Iraq The Model, Mohammed Fadhil responds to the new attention his blog is getting:
I would like to make clear one point to bloggers like dailykos and some MSM supported blogs who seem so upset for some reason that the voice of some Iraqis is being heard.
I've seen some of them publish stories full of lies and accusations they can't support and I think it's pathetic to throw the "you're a sold-out propaganda" accusation at people just because they don't share the same point of view...This only reflects their lack of knowledge and the bankruptcy of ideas they suffer [...]
I invite them to come visit my town, see what I see, compare it with what I write and then they can say whatever they like.
Also, Omar Fadhil reports that just one day after President Bush shined the spotlight on Iraq The Blog, American soldiers raided Omar's home. According to Omar, the soldiers were simply suspicious "about the number of cars we had in the driveway."
In a city the size of Baghdad, that is one hell of a coincidence. I can't help but be reminded of this recent report:
US forces are conducting realistic mock raids of Iraqi businesses in order to "hide in plain sight," i.e. to gain access to the businesses on the US payroll in order to take stock of the progress, without revealing that the business is working with the Americans.