RAW STORY>

UPDATE (below): Wall Street Journal removes links

Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator linked phony reports

In a telephone conversation with RAW STORY, Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh refuted reports that he told an Arab television network former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Numerous Internet and mainstream publications picked up the story on Monday. Even The Wall Street Journal linked to unverified sources carrying the story. (Screenshot.) U.S. conservative magazine The American Spectator also published a blog with the false information. (Screenshot.)

Hersh told RAW STORY Investigative News Editor Larisa Alexandrovna that he made no such statements.

Following RAW STORY’s Monday evening report, the Journal removed the links from its Web site. (Screenshot.)

“We’ve tried to reach out to people in the media that we know and correct this,” confirmed Alexa Cassanos, director of public relations at The New Yorker, speaking to this reporter. “We’re not even sure where this came from.”

Web sites which appear to be based in India and Pakistan reported that Hersh made the allegation during an interview with “an Arab television channel.” Outlets which reported this include thenation.com.pk (no affiliation with U.S. news magazine The Nation), webindia123.com, thaindian.com and dawn.com.

The stories also falsely allege Hersh said former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was key to the plot.

The only Arab television channel to interview Hersh recently is Gulf News, which spoke to him during the Arab Media Forum in Dubai. In the interview, Hersh does not even mention Bhutto’s name, but does condemn former Vice President Cheney for running an “executive assassination ring” which carried out operations all over the world.

A video of Hersh speaking to Gulf News reporter Abbas Al Lawati is available on the Internet.

“In Cheney’s view this isn’t murder, but carrying out the ‘war on terror,’” he said. “And in the view of me and my friends, including people in government, this is crazy. The vice president is committing a crime. You can’t authorize the murder of people. And it’s not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s in a lot of other countries, in the Middle East and in South Asia and North Africa and even central America.”

Hersh originally alleged Cheney oversaw the activities of an assassination ring while speaking at the University of Minnesota in March.

“If true, these operations violate longstanding U.S. policy regarding covert actions and illegally bypass Congressional oversight,” said Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), in reaction to the allegation. “Hersh is within a year or more of releasing a book that is said to include evidence of this allegation. However, we cannot wait a year or more to establish the truth.”

Kucinich wrote Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, to request an investigation into Hersh’s claims. None has been announced.