Paul Moran

Paul Moran   (journalist, propagandist, spook)
Born	30 May 1963
Died	22 March 2003 (Age 39) Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq
Cause of death	car bomb
Nationality	Australian
Partner	Lynn McConaughey
Spouse	Ivana Rapajic
Interests	Kurdistan
Freelance photojournalist In office 2002 - 22 March 2003 Employer Australian Broadcasting Corporation  Photographer  In office 1990 - 22 March 2003 Employer Rendon Group

Paul William Moran was a freelance photojournalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and also worked for the Rendon Group.

Background

Moran was born and raised in Adelaide. His alma mater was Sacred Heart College in Adelaide. He was married to Ivana Rapajic and the couple had a daughter who was born one month before Moran's death at the age of 39.

Career

Paul Moran was a freelance cameraman for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1990, he moved to London, and it was here that he made his initial contacts for work in the Middle East.

Rendon Group

Moran also started work for the propagandist Rendon Group, whose clients included the CIA, the Pentagon and the Iraqi National Congress (INC). Moran spent time in Kosovo in 1999 as a photographer for what he described at the time as a "human rights" website, the Balkan Information Exchange, which was being set up by the Rendon Group.

The INC, given its name by John Rendon himself, was formed just after the first Gulf War (1990-91) as a loose coalition of Iraqi and Kurdish groups opposed to Saddam Hussein, whose original purpose was to gather information, distribute propaganda and recruit dissidents.

Moran had on behalf of the Rendon Group used his experience as a cameraman to train Kurds in photographic espionage, to covertly film military activities.

Iraqi WMDs

Paul Moran made a television interview with al-Haideri in December 2001, a defector who claimed he'd worked at illegal chemical, biological and nuclear facilities around Baghdad. The revelations made about the - fictitious - WMDs was aired initially by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), another of Moran’s regular employers. Thus given credibility, it was then picked up spread by the rest of the world's corporate media.

Along with Judith Miller’s front page article in the New York Times about WMDs, the interview paved the way the invasion by 'proving' George Bush and Tony Blair's case, and in helping sway a significant level of public opinion in both the US and Britain in favor of the invasion.

Several things indicate that the al-Haideri interview was an Australian intelligence operation; including the use of Australian "media" personnel and the government channel to give the interview credibility. Al-Haideri also received asylum in Adelaide right afterwards.

Death

Moran worked for the ABC of Australia and he was travelling from Sulaymaniyah to a base that had been struck by US missiles and belonged to the Ansar al-Islam on 22 March 2003. His group just arrived at a check point and Moran was shooting video when a car bomb exploded in a passing taxi^[How?], killing Moran and injuring Eric Campbell. Three or four other people besides Moran died at the checkpoint in Khurmal and 23 others in addition to Campbell were injured. The Ansar al-Islam were accused of carrying out the car bomb attack in response to the earlier US attack.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.