Everyone likes a good story, according to taste. Some of the
more fantastic stories are actually true; Jean-Denis Bredin’s The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus
is one of most exciting books I have ever read, and all of it is documented
fact. Why the Dreyfus Affair has not been made into the epic movie it deserves
probably has something to do with the tender sensitivities of the French on the
subject of anti-Semitism in France.
Some stories that seize the imagination are kind of true,
but mostly not. In 1970, Clifford Irving contacted the McGraw-Hill publishing
company and promised a fantastic-but-true story: An “authorized” autobiography
co-written with reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, who hadn’t been seen in
public since the 1950s. Most of the manuscript was in fact based on documented fact;
Irving and his friend, author Richard Suskind, thoroughly researched Hughes’
life, including information gleaned from Hughes aid Noah Dietrich’s unpublished
memoirs. Irving even produced handwritten letters by Hughes confirming
authorization of the book. McGraw-Hill even paid Hughes $765,000 up front.
But there was just one small problem: Hughes not only didn’t
“authorize” the book, but he knew nothing about it; obtaining the money with a
forged Hughes signature, Irving’s wife put the payments made to Hughes into a
secret bank account under a fictitious name. Irving and Suskind were betting that
Hughes was unlikely to expose himself publicly to denounce the project. They were
wrong. Just before the book was to be published in 1972, Hughes himself “authorized”
a teleconference in which he informed a select number of journalists who knew
him from the past that the alleged autobiography was a hoax. Irving, his wife and
Suskind eventually confessed and served time for the fraud.
I happened to be stationed in West Germany in 1983 when the sensational
news arrived that Hitler’s diaries had been “discovered” in East Germany,
amongst a secret cache of documents recovered from a plane crash in 1945,
shortly before Hitler’s suicide. The diaries had been sold secretly to the West
German news magazine Stern for what
was then about $5 million. Newsweek sought the exclusive American rights to story. A few noted Hitler
authorities, like Hugh Trevor-Roper, at first were enthusiastic in their
support for the authenticity of the documents. Rupert Murdoch, then publisher
of the right-wing London Times, also without
the slightest reservation published excerpts from the diaries.
Then the bottom fell out. Just three days after Stern announced the discovery and its
intention to publish them, the “experts” qualified their endorsements,
embarrassing the magazine. A few weeks later, a more authoritative examination
found that the diaries were not only a fraud, but a very bad one at that. The
paper and ink were of recent “vintage,” and even the forged handwriting itself
was poorly done. It turned out that the diaries were the “work” of a known
forger named Konrad Kujau. Not surprisingly, the fallout from the affair led to
many resignations of upper echelon editors; Murdoch, however, refused to take
any responsibility for his role at the time, although during the more recent
phone-hacking scandal he did admit to a “mistake.”
Gender politics is a favorite pastime of the media,
particularly if there are persons who have egos in need of constant massaging. Facts
are not a necessary requirement. Take for instance the story of Pvt. Jessica
Lynch during the recent war in Iraq. During an attack by Iraqi insurgents who ambushed
the supply convoy she was in, Lynch took rifle and stab wounds while heroically
fending off the enemy, until she was overcome by her wounds and captured.
Subsequently, the Americans staged a spectacular rescue operation, saving Lynch
from the grasp of captors who were alternatingly torturing and sexually
assaulting her.
The facts are somewhat different. The actions and wounds ascribed
to Lynch were actually that of an Army cook named Sgt. Donald Walters, who
alone courageously fought the enemy until he was finally killed by two stab
wounds in the stomach, and bullets in the leg and in the back. While Lynch was
feted by the media and even given a homecoming parade, the military—apparently hoping
to gain some positive publicity—ignored the real hero, not even acknowledging
his existence. Lynch was injured and
rendered unconscious during the initial explosion and vehicle pile-up; but she
never had a chance to fire her weapon. She was “captured” and taken to an Iraqi
hospital, where doctors reportedly begged the Americans to take her off their
hands; when the made-for-primetime raid occurred, the only “resistance” was from medical personnel
with their hands up.
Then there was the Fort Hood massacre, after which base
police officer Kimberly Munley was elevated to hero status by the media. While
it is true that she confronted the shooter, Nidal Malik Hassan, and exchanged
fire with him, she failed to hit him and was herself incapacitated by three
shots from Hassan; he apparently chose not to kill her, merely kicking her
weapon away from where she lay. It was another civilian policeman, Mark Todd
(who is black), who eventually confronted Hassan and felled him after firing
five shots. The interesting thing was that for a long time Todd’s role in the
incident was a “mystery” to the media; Munley—who is white—was feted by the media,
yet her role in the incident was in fact ineffectual. When the truth finally
did surface, I recall how a CNN anchor displayed barely-disguised disgust that
Todd would try to muscle-in on Munley’s “glory.”
And now we come to the latest media-fueled hoax, that involving 60 Minutes and a man calling himself “Morgan
Jones.” This Jones told a fanciful tale of heroism, as he tried to
single-handedly save American ambassador Christopher Stevens as the attack on
the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi was under way by Libyan insurgents.
“Jones” claimed that he had scaled the compound walls, and cracked the skull of
one insurgent with the butt of his rifle. Despite his heroic efforts, he could
not save anyone in the compound, but he did risk his life sneaking inside the
hospital where he was able to determine that Stevens had indeed died. “Jones”
would “elaborate” on this story in a book that was about to be published.
Meanwhile, Republicans—like Sen. Lindsey Graham—were using his story to bolster
their claims of “scandalous” behavior by the Obama administration in regard the
Benghazi mission’s security arrangements.
It turns out that this “Morgan Jones” has a real name, Dylan
Davies, a British citizen working for an armed security company called the Blue
Mountain Group, which coordinated the compound guard force made up mainly of
Libyan irregular militia. Davies’ “after action” account of what he did that night to both the
FBI and his employer are remarkably at variance with what he claims now. Davies admitted he knew very little about the
attack itself; what he knew came from guard forces who were already there
before he arrived, and he admitted he could not verify its accuracy. He claimed that he had received a call at 9:30
PM at his beachfront villa from the guard commander (who was “off duty”) that
the compound was under attack by 50 armed men, and that the compound walls had
already been breached.
Davies then stated that he called the mission and was told
the attackers were all over the building and things looked bad, to which he
replied “Good luck, mate” and hung-up so as to “not waste their time.” He
emailed his employer in the UK about the attack. At 10 PM he and his driver
attempted to reach the compound, but they were prevented from doing so by the
Sharia Brigade. The driver said they might be killed if they went any further,
so Davies returned to the villa. A half-hour later he was told by a managing
director of Blue Mountain not to leave the villa and conduct operations from
there. At 2 AM he was visited by a colleague who was at the hospital, carrying a photo of the ambassador, whose
blackened face suggested he had died of smoke inhalation.
According to his report, Davies did not in fact leave the
villa and arrive at the compound until after 9:30 AM, where he found it found
it completely destroyed. Some Sharia Brigade members were on the grounds
laughing about it; Davies—in what was probably the “bravest” thing he did in
the previous 12 hours—told them they might not be laughing for long when they
learned they had just killed one of their friends.
Since being exposed, CBS has expressed its embarrassment and
“regret” over their error, as has the reporter who did not sufficiently check
the veracity of her source. The publishing of Davies’ book is apparently being
put on hold, and Sen. Graham apparently doesn’t think any of this matters. As for
Davies, he insists that he is the victim of a “smear campaign.” He admits he
lied, but he is going through some tough times and he needs the money.
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