2. "The last weapons inspectors were pulled out of Iraq nearly four years ago. Baghdad charged that there were spies on the team, and the United States complained that Iraq was using the accusation as an excuse to obstruct the inspectors. After the team withdrew, the U.S. and Britain waged a four-day bombing campaign." - L.A. Times (11/19/02)
Treating the use of the U.N. weapons inspection team for espionage as a mere Iraqi allegation might be referred to as "Saddam Says" reporting. In fact, reports of the misuse of the inspectors for spying were made in early 1999 by some of the leading U.S. newspapers, sourced to U.S. and U.N. officials (FAIR Action Alert, 9/24/02);
http://www.fair.org/activism/unscom-history.html
These papers reported as fact that "American spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors" (New York Times, 1/7/99) in order to "eavesdrop on the Iraqi military without the knowledge of the U.N. agency"(Washington Post, 3/2/99) as part of "an ambitious spying operation designed to penetrate Iraq's intelligence apparatus and track the movement of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein" (Boston Globe, 1/6/99).
Treating the use of the U.N. weapons inspection team for espionage as a mere Iraqi allegation might be referred to as "Saddam Says" reporting. In fact, reports of the misuse of the inspectors for spying were made in early 1999 by some of the leading U.S. newspapers, sourced to U.S. and U.N. officials (FAIR Action Alert, 9/24/02);
http://www.fair.org/activism/unscom-history.html
These papers reported as fact that "American spies had worked undercover on teams of United Nations arms inspectors" (New York Times, 1/7/99) in order to "eavesdrop on the Iraqi military without the knowledge of the U.N. agency"(Washington Post, 3/2/99) as part of "an ambitious spying operation designed to penetrate Iraq's intelligence apparatus and track the movement of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein" (Boston Globe, 1/6/99).