I forwarded along that AFP article from 2002 to her, if you look back at his appearances in the press after that he's quoted as "historian Alexis Debat" for a short while rather than "former senior MoD official Alexis Debat", and then it starts all over again.

It's funny how a guy like Chomsky can have a trivial misquote hurled at him in the pages of the Prospect 30 years after they've been corrected in print, but if you never correct a dubious claim about your credentials ABC will keep citing them for 5 years anyway. I don't think I saw one ABC article that trumpeted his second fraudulent Ph.D. rather than his high and mighty position in the French Ministry of Defense.

It's part of a bigger scam. Debat is part of a big disinformation machine. Just take a look at the London Times Story which quoted him about the imminent attack on Iran one or two weeks back. In that story debat is identified as Nixon Center Official. Such a story usually cites unnamed sources. Remember Polo Step? It was the name of US Attack plan on Iraq. When the name was leaked it triggered a frantic investigation in Pentagon to determine who leaked the name. They spent millions of dollars but still they couldn't find the name of Leaker.
But here, Debat is loudly claiming the attack will take place and nobody in administration said anything. Strange stuff , Isn't it?
The attack plan of an invasion is a top secret document.
Who knows how many "Iran will be attacked" stories are based on such propagandists?
I doubt Nixon Center will employ somebody like Debat without some powerful people recommending his name.
There are plenty of such imposters, mountebanks employed in Washington "Think Tanks".

I'd be surprised if we see the end of the Debat debacle. With any luck, he's enough of a bottom feeder to try to defend himself but I'd say it's more likely that he disappears from the scene and the ABC investigation evaporates.

Yeah, it certainly looks like he's a asset for someone. Israel? CIA? DIA? Cheney's office? It's not clear and I'm sure cutouts were used for payment, instructions, etc. so it's unlikely that the investigation will lead back to the puppetmaster.

Just a lateral thought but, ya know, I kinda wonder if Tony Snow has been an asset since his Peace Corps stint teaching school in Kenya. It would explain some stuff in his career. How many Peace Corps volunteers get nice op-ed gigs right out of the corps? Based on what? His letters to his college newpaper? There was a lot going down in Kenya in the late 70s. Well, just a thought.