Ex-ABC Analyst Faked Obama Interview?

An interesting, possibly Jayson Blair-style news story is filtering out of DC.

Alexis Debat, a former French defense official (and ex-ABC consultant) employed at DC’s Nixon Center as a senior fellow, writes for French magazine Politique Internationale. Apart from PI, Debat has a healthy career as a talking head.

Debat even published an interview with Barack Obama for PI in which Obama said Iraq was “a defeat for America.” That major statement would undoubtedly get attention in the American press. Except it turns out that Debat apparently made up the whole interview. Out of thin air. Fake interview. Never happened.

But both the Washington Post and Editor & Publisher discovered this story today. Expect this scandal to get very messy, very fast.

But there’s more.

After the jump, a record of falsified stories, murky involvement in beating the war drums with Iran and a fake degree from the Sorbonne (!).

Update: ABC News has confirmed that Debat also falsified interviews with Nancy Pelosi, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan for PI. Expect more shortly.

Debat was forced to resign from ABC News’ staff this past June when they found out he was lying about having a PhD from the Sorbonne.

ABC News found out about this when the French government informed them them of their doubts about Debat’s academic credentials.

Reports are filtering out that Debat also falsified an interview with Alan Greenspan for PI.

ABC’s Brian Ross: “I was angry with him because it called into question, of course, everything he had done… He could never satisfy us that he had the PhD.. I was very upset.”

Now, the interesting stuff. In his capacity as a senior fellow at the Nixon Center (cached, official version has been deleted from site), Debat has been a major media source regarding the potential conflict with Iran. Much of the credit to gathering the following links goes out to Will Bunch, a reporter/blogger for the Philadelphia Daily News who offered a nice write up this morning:

In a story for the Times of London, Debat was quoted as saying the US military was “about taking out the entire Iranian military… Whether you go for pinprick strikes or all-out military action, the reaction from the Iranians will be the same.”

In April, shortly before getting let go from ABC, Debat told ABC News Baluchistani militant seperatist group Jundullah has been using US advisers for guerilla raids inside Iran.

Debat was possibly one of the sources for a discredited ABC News story claiming Iran was expanding their nuclear facilities at Natanz.

The fact that an ABC consultant (and occasional reporter) who was involved in so many prominent stories was also found to have fabricated interviews and fudged his educational record… Well, it’s gonna be grist for the mill over at ABC’s competitors. If CBS, NBC, CNN and the rest smell blood, you know they’re going to go for it.

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