Overwatch

Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard, a journalist who is what journalists should be, has since February been trying to obtain unclassified documents recovered in postwar Iraq. A Pentagon project called DOCEX (document exploitation) is headquartered in Doha, Qatar (with sites in Baghdad and Washington), and is endeavoring to translate as many as 2 million items from Saddam Hussein's regime, items that could provide good intelligence on what was going on in Hussein's Iraq.

However, for reasons that don't seem to make a lot of sense, Hayes has had trouble obtaining any of these documents from the Pentagon. (See here, here and here.)

In this article from the Dec 19 issue, Hayes describes his latest (unsuccessful) attempt to obtain some of these documents.

One of the ones he requested, though, caught my jaundiced eye. Now, be aware that the provenance of this document has not been established, but, the Pentagon has flagged documents in its cache as potentially inauthentic, and this document was not flagged as such. This document Hayes sought was this one:

Title: Presidential instruction from Hussein concerning mass graves in southern Iraq, and how to handle the PR/media fallout.
Short

Description: Concerning mass graves found in the south: Check for nuclear radiation, identify bodies, ensure that CNN is the first news agency onsite. Any funerals should have an international impact. Signed by Hussein.
Agency: DIA
Document Date: Feb-01
Document #: ISGZ-2004-00224003

Note to CNN: If true, you really might want to rethink your editorial stance. When a brutal dictator thinks you are a useful propaganda tool, that's usually a reliable sign you have some problems.