Topic: Newsmax
A June 21 Newsmax article repeats a claim from "foreign policy expert" Michael Ledeen about "a letter reportedly from the office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, in which the Iranian opposition leader criticizes President Barack Obama for saying Mousavi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad are 'two of a kind.'"
That "reportedly" is the only word of caution that Newsmax offers; in fact, Ledeen himself is refusing to vouch for the authenticity of the letter. While Ledeen writes that "the person who sent this to me is undoubtedly in touch with the Mousavi people on the ground, that much is certain. His information has been proven reliable throughout this period," he also states: "Like everyone else covering the revolution, I get a lot of material that can’t be authenticated, and one must always take such material with a healthy dose of skepticism."
Newsmax fails to note that Ledeen has a dubious history on such matters; he has been accused of involvement in Italian documents purporting to document that Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger, documents later found to be forgeries.
Further, though there's no on-the-record verification whatsoever of the "two of a kind" remark attributed to Obama, Newsmax treats it as authentic. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time that Newsmax has put words in Obama's mouth.
