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Australian
photographer Paul Moran
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500
people attended the funeral of Paul Moran, an Australian
freelance photographer killed in Iraq in March this year. He was
killed by a car bomb which exploded while he was filming for ABC
television, one of many suicide bombings that are sadly now
occurring almost every day in Iraq. Mr. Moran was very popular
with his friends and colleagues and beloved by the Kurds whom he
spent much time trying to help. He left a young and beautiful
wife and a baby daughter, Tara. Paul Moran was a highly praised
and well-respected photographer.
The
presence of John Rendon, the head of the Rendon Group, at his
funeral, however, has raised concerns that Paul Morgan’s
stories may have been tainted with bias. It also stirred up
allegations that he was a CIA spy. These accusations have deeply
upset Mr. Moran’s family and friends, who defended him on the
Australian ABC program, Australian Story.
The
Rendon Group is a large public relations company which has
contracts with several governments, international clients and
important connections to the Bush administration.
It
has organized campaigns for the trade agencies of countries such
as Bulgaria and Russia, was involved in the US fight to defeat
Noriega and has also been employed by large multinational
companies such as Monsanto.
The
group was contracted by the CIA to run a propaganda campaign
against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. It also helped set up
the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in opposition to Hussein,
covertly channeling twelve million dollars of CIA money to this
organization. The INC is led by Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the
US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and formerly a banker who
has been accused of embezzlement in Jordan.
The
Rendon Group was also heavily involved in promoting the cause of
Kuwait when it was invaded by Iraq. According to PR Watch, the
Rendon Group’s website states that during the Gulf War, it
“established a full-scale communications operation for the
Government of Kuwait, including the establishment of a
production studio in London producing programming material for
the exiled Kuwaiti Television.” After the Gulf War, hundreds
of excited Kuwaitis waved small American flags pleased by their
country’s liberation. The Rendon Group provided these flags to
the Kuwaitis.
According
to an article by Colin James, a well-respected journalist and a
winner of the prestigious Walkley Award, in The Adelaide
Advertiser, Paul Moran worked with INC officials exiled in
London for a year and then ran workshops for Iraqi dissidents in
Paris and Iran. He also generously helped an engineer who stated
that he had worked for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass
destruction program from Iraq. He obtained an interview with
this engineer, Al-Haideri, a major scoop, because of his links
with the Iraqi National Congress.
Paul
Moran’s work for the INC and the Rendon group has raised the
issue of whether he should have been employed by the ABC. Former
weapons inspector, Scott Ritter, speaking on the Australian
program Dateline, accused the Rendon Group of peddling lies and
distortions to the media on behalf of the US government. Norman
Solomon, the Executive director of the Institute for Public
Accuracy and co-author of Target Iraq: What the News Media
Didn’t Tell You told me that:
I
believe that while it’s possible for a journalist to work
for the Rendon Group, it’s impossible for anyone to
function as a journalist while working for the Rendon Group.
In other words, journalistic work is supposed to be about
seeking truth and reporting truthfully. Public relations is
about spinning and often distorting to benefit the paying
client.
However,
the ABC told Dateline that Paul Moran “carried out his
occasional ABC duties without fear or favor.”
According
to Paul Moran’s family, there was nothing sinister about his
work for the Rendon Group. He was hired by them to help Kurds
and Iraqis opposed to Hussein set up a television station. He
also filmed stories about the Kurds for many other media outlets
because he was anxious to tell the world about their oppression
under the Hussein regime. When Paul Moran later learned that the
client of the Rendon Group was the CIA, he felt upset and
misled. Shortly afterwards he left the project.
Although
Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Islamic fundamentalist group, set off
the suicide bomb, Paul Moran’s family and friends don’t
believe that he was deliberately targeted because of his work
for the Rendon Group. Ansar Al-Islam, thought to have links with
Al-Qaeda, is a group of dissident Kurdish fundamentalist Muslims
believed to be responsible for many suicide bombings and
attacks. It probably has several hundred members who work under
a Taliban-style regime in the border area between Iraq and Iran.
He
is remembered by the Kurdish people as a martyr because he did
so much to inform people about the injustices done to them under
Hussein’s evil regime. There are even plans, according to
Barhem Salem, the Kurdish leader, to erect a statue in his
honor.
Lisa
Sanderson is
an Australian freelance writer who holds a BA in English
Literature and a BA in Law. Her articles have been published in
many magazines and websites, including Alive Magazine, Internet.au,
Writing Australia, Crescent Blues and Suite101. You
can reach her at starshine@ozemail.com.au.
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