As American tanks rumbled in to Baghdad on April 7, 2003, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who became affectionately known as Baghdad Bob, tried mightily to convince Western journalists to ignore the facts in front of their eyes."I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad," he told reporters as American troops gathered a few hundred yards away.
Later, he stated that American soldiers were "committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad," mere hours before coalition forces secured the city.
Today, Baghdad Bob might have found a successor in the form of Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the director general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations, which handles media relations for the Pakistani armed forces.
In a recent Washington Post column, David Ignatius celebrated Pakistan's new determination in confronting the Taliban, quoting Abbas saying that the ongoing offensive in South Waziristan brings an end to the Pakistani government's thinking that "somehow we'll be able to manage them, co-opt them, bring them on board."
Statements like that are music to American policymakers' ears.
But somehow, it seems like we've heard all of this from General Abbas before. In less than two years, the general has provided the media with a fairly impressive list of promises, assertions, and projections -- none of which have more than a tenuous basis in reality.
Here are a few of his greatest hits. But don't worry: We're sure that, this time, he means every word he says.
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