Washington Times Editor's Soft Pitch for Saddam Interview By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of the Washington Times and United Press International, was determined to land an interview with Saddam Hussein. So determined, in fact, that he told the Iraqi leader 2 1/2 years ago he hoped such a sit-down "would lead to a reappraisal of American policy toward Iraq." The veteran foreign correspondent also used an Egyptian arms dealer as a conduit to pass copies of his articles to Hussein's government in hopes of winning the interview. In a Jan. 11, 2001, "Your Excellency" letter -- recently retrieved from Iraqi intelligence files -- de Borchgrave said he could "guarantee" that an interview with him "will have worldwide resonance as well as two entire newspaper pages in The Washington Times, the newspaper of choice of the Republican establishment." De Borchgrave said last week that he was using the question of U.S. relations with Baghdad as a "hook" and that "changing our policy toward Iraq was the last thing on my mind. "You don't get an interview by saying, 'I think your policy stinks, you're an SOB and please give me an interview,' " de Borchgrave said. "That would be ridiculous. You obviously try to ingratiate yourself. How did I get major interviews with foreign leaders over the years? Clearly, not by insulting them." In the letter, de Borchgrave reminded Hussein that he "had the honor of interviewing you" as a Newsweek correspondent in the 1970s. The election of George W. Bush, he suggested, made his request particularly timely: "I wrote to you last year to respectfully suggest that the time was ripe for a major interview with the hope that it would lead to a reappraisal of American policy toward Iraq. With the new U.S. Administration about to enter the world stage, the matter is more urgent than ever. I have been known throughout the Arab world as a journalist of integrity who has always faithfully reflected the views of heads of state and government for the past 35 years." De Borchgrave wrote the letter on his stationery as president and chief executive of UPI, which is owned by the Washington Times's parent company, days after he had relinquished the job to become editor at large. His channel to Baghdad was Fakhry Arnin Abdelnour, a Geneva-based Egyptian arms merchant who was working on deals with Hussein's government for tank engines and helicopters, according to intelligence documents provided to The Washington Post by the Iraqi National Congress. It is not clear whether the arms sales were completed. The journalist's correspondence was found in the same file, which was turned over by a source in Iraqi intelligence, according to the INC. De Borchgrave said he knew Abdelnour as an oilman and was unaware of any involvement in arms sales. "I used him to deliver my letter," de Borchgrave said. "He called me and said, 'It's reached the principal,' meaning Saddam." In August 2001, Abdelnour faxed his Iraqi partner, Salam Fayyadh al-Dulaimi, a Washington Times column, describing it as "a courageous article by Arnaud de Borchgrave on the situation in the Middle East." He added: "Also note that the Washington Times is known to be today's most read newspaper of the Bush administration and also to be pro-Israel. Mr. De Borchgrave asked me to have this article read by Baghdad." In the accompanying column, de Borchgrave wrote that U.S. aid to Israel should be conditioned on the creation of a Palestinian state and that "to blame Palestinian terrorism as the fount of all evil reflects a failure to understand what terrorism is all about. It is the weapon of the weak against the powerful." In a second note, Abdelnour sent his partner a copy of a de Borchgrave piece he called "very much in line with the Middle East street assessment." Abdelnour also passed on an e-mail from de Borchgrave, chiding Jesse Jackson for hiring former Democratic congressman Mel Reynolds after President Clinton had commuted his sentence for having sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer. De Borchgrave never did get the interview. Hussein did grant CBS's Dan Rather an interview in February, his first sit-down with an American journalist in 13 years. Many conservatives criticized Rather for not taking a more confrontational approach in the interview. De Borchgrave says he regarded Hussein as a bloody tyrant, although his writing shows he was skeptical about the war. In late March, after the war began, de Borchgrave wrote: "No one sees the U.S. as a liberating force. America is already being equated with Israel as the colonial occupier."
