19jun03

---

Iraqi papers deemed forgeries.

---

The Christian Science Monitor said Thursday it has determined Iraqi documents it obtained -- and upon which it based a story - are forgeries.

The Monitor ran an April story about the documents that alleged Saddam Hussein's regime paid a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, $10 million over 11 years to promote its interests.

The Monitor said it subsequently conducted an extensive investigation and discovered the papers' Arabic text is inconsistent with known examples of Baghdad bureaucratic writing.

And a chemical analysis of the ink showed two documents dated 1992 and 1993 were actually written very recently.

Monitor Editor Paul Van Slambrouck said: "At the time we published these documents, we felt they were newsworthy and appeared credible, although we did explicitly state in our article that we could not guarantee their authenticity. It is important to set the record straight: We are convinced the documents are bogus. We apologize to Mr. Galloway and to our readers"

[Source: UPI, Boston, 19Jun03]

This document has been published on 11agu03 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.