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I thought you might be interested in the article from the FAIR web site. The following article will be appended to your message: Steven Emerson's Crusade By John F. Sugg Did self-styled anti-terrorism expert Steven Emerson help push the world toward nuclear war? On Sunday, June 28, a sensational story appeared in the British newspaper the Observer: "Pakistan was planning nuclear first strike on India." The stunning revelation that South Asia was on the brink of thermonuclear war was credited to an unnamed "senior Pakistani weapons scientist who has defected." The next day, papers on the Indian subcontinent were full of the news. Shock spread and distrust mounted. "The scenario is frightening," stated the Times of India (6/29/98). On Wednesday, July 1, a USA Today report by Barbara Slavin named the defector, Iftikhar Chaudhry Khan. The press scrambled to contact New York lawyer Michael Wildes, who represents Khan in his attempt to get political asylum. Emerson, in an odd role for a journalist, worked behind the scenes to interest reporters in Wildes' client. A top network news producer says his congressional sources and news contacts were tipped to the story by Emerson. Slavin says she was mainly convinced of the story's legitimacy because of one of the Observer's three writers was associated with the prestigious military analysis group Jane's, but that Emerson's involvement added credibility. Attorney Wildes himself says, "Emerson was helpful in corroborating information and making scientific clarifications." As the story matured, skepticism mounted about Khan, especially after sources in Pakistan described him as "a former low-level accountant at a company that makes bathroom fixtures" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/3/98). By July 7, U.S. nuclear physicists had interviewed Khan and pronounced him a fraud (USA Today, 7/7/98). To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1443 This article was published on Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's Website (http://www.fair.org).

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