This week on CounterSpin: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York for a meeting at the United Nations, which had much of the media in a frenzy. But does the debate over free speech and Ahmadinejad's criticism of the United States steer us away from more important matters—like whether the U.S. is planning military action against Iran? We'll speak with Baruch College history professor Ervand Abrahamian.

Also on CounterSpin today: in 2006 most military experts placed the strength of Al Qaeda in Iraq at 3 to 5 percent of the insurgency. But 2007 saw the estimates of the Al Qaeda menace in Iraq grow, along with George Bush's attempts to cast the Iraq War as a battle with Al Qaeda. For the real story of Al Qaeda in Iraq we'll talk to Andrew Tilghman, former Stars & Stripes reporter and author of the Washington Monthly report, "The Myth of Al Qaeda in Iraq."

Links:

— Targeting Iran, by Ervand Abrahamian et al

— The Myth of Al Qaeda in Iraq, by Andrew Tilghman (Washington Monthly, 10/07)