My City University colleague Roy Greenslade recently reported on a speech by Andrew Gilligan in Bristol:

Gilligan explained how shadowy spokespeople for MI5 and MI6 brief selected journalists and that what they say has to be taken on trust because it cannot be checked with another source. “A number of journalists,” he said, “are rather uncritical recipients of what can only be described as intelligence services spin.”

As an example he named [Con] Coughlin, citing “the belly dancers of death,” a story published in July 2001, which suggested that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chiefs were using the dancers to report on and eliminate Iraqi opposition abroad. It even claimed that the women were undergoing a 45-day intensive training course focusing on poisoning and organising car accidents.

According to Gilligan, this “complete load of old drivel” was swallowed wholesale by the Sunday Telegraph. It was published under another staff member’s byline, though I can’t tell you who it was because the paper has since taken it down from the website…

Gilligan assured the audience that it came from Coughlin, and went on to mention another example of a Coughlin story – involving Gadaffi’s son – which led to a court action. This, said Gilligan, was also “completely wrong” and planted by MI6.

You will find such stuff repeated on Coughlin’s Wikipedia page by someone called Chendy, here is a taste:

He has a history of accepting phoney stories from MI6 and then publishing articles in the name of fabricated sources.

A further post on Roy’s blog gives Coughlin’s view:

Coughlin disputes both the allegations made against him by Gilligan, and does so strenuously. For example, he says he was not the author or the source for the belly dancer story.

His involvement, as far as it went, was purely managerial, and occurred after publication when there had been a complaint. Nor, he says, does he think the intelligence service were the original source.

So whose byline appeared on the story? Well, such stories are syndicated, as Gilligan noted with more circumspection in Press Gazette, and the mysterious member of staff was none other than award-winning foreign reporter Christina Lamb, then diplomatic correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph.

A few odd stories appeared in her name around that time – like this one from 26 August, 2000.

And this one, from 24 September, 2000:

But I digress. An edited version of the belly dancer story ran in a Canadian newspaper, the Times Colonist. Here it is, attributed to Lamb:

Belly-dancing assassins hunt Saddam’s foes in British capital
Christina Lamb, London Telegraph, 30 July, 2000

The growing threat to Saddam Hussein’s regime posed by London-based Iraqi opposition groups has prompted the dictator to send female hit squads to Britain to assassinate leading opponents of his regime.

The opposition’s effectiveness has prompted Saddam to revert to such desperate measures as deploying belly-dancing assassins in London, which is now the epicentre of Western-backed moves to unseat the Iraqi leader.

Although Saddam still seems to have a secure hold on Iraq, 10 years after his invasion of Kuwait, opponents claim that he is being squeezed, not least as the result of an ugly succession struggle within his own family, specifically between his sons, Uday, 36, and Qusay, 34, and also his uncles.

A recent series of high-level defections of both civilian and military figures from the regime has been organized mostly by the London-based Iraqi National Accord, which is regarded as the most effective opposition group.

It was concern over such leaks and defections that prompted a top-level meeting, chaired by Uday, to organize the formation of hit squads to curb Iraqi opposition activities in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, capitals in the Gulf and Tehran. Women were used because they would arouse less suspicion.

Dr. Ayad Allawi, the INA’s secretary-general, said: “We believe that they want to restore morale and discipline in the security services by launching this mission, focusing on their enemies overseas, and at the same time to deflect attention from internal to external problems.”

He added: “This is the most substantial operation we have seen for years.”

As number one on Saddam’s hit list, Allawi, who was once a close political ally of the Iraqi leader, is in acute danger. He spent a year in hospital after an attack by Iraqi axemen who broke into the bedroom of his London home and has also survived several near-misses with cars driven into his path.

Disappointingly for Gilligan, the source of the story appears to be Allawi. But will Lamb stand up his claims that her name was appropriated for the piece?

When the story was enthusiastically taken up, the Foreign Office did not try overly hard to knock it down.

Saddam Uses Honeypot Hit Squads
Helen William, Press Association, 30 July, 2000

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein uses hit squads of seductive female agents to kill his opponents abroad, it was revealed today.

The Foreign Office confirmed the specially-trained assassins, chosen for their looks and loyalty to the regime, are sent from Iraq to home in on their targets – as a so-called honeytrap.

Many of the women, who have been sent on missions to Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, were originally belly dancers and actresses, reports the Sunday Telegraph.

More detail (probably repeated in the original, missing Telegraph piece) appeared in other Sunday papers:

Gulf war: 10 years on: Saddam’s killer femmes fatales
Martin Bright, The Observer, 30 July, 2000

Ten years after his invasion of Kuwait, Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein has stepped up attacks on opposition groups around the world by training female agents to travel abroad and kill or injure leading dissidents.

Far from fading away due to serious ill health, as suggested last week, the 63-year- old dictator has prompted a major security alert across Europe with his secret operation, codenamed Falcon and launched on July 6.

Saddam’s female agents have been selected for their attractive appearance as well as their devotion to the cause and are thought to be based in Brussels, Ankara, Belgrade, Paris and Vienna. They usually travel under the guise of entertainers or belly dancers, but are thought to be trained in poisoning techniques and staging fake traffic accidents.

London is a major centre of opposition activity and Special Branch has warned prominent Iraqi opposition figures in exile over here to be on their guard. Since the launch of Operation Falcon after a 45-day training period, a belly dancer and close friend of Saddam’s eldest son Uday, an actress using the name Maleen, has been spotted on London’s Edgware Road. Uday is believed to have chaired the meeting of Iraqi intelligence and security chiefs which launched the operation.

The Times, the next day, sourced Allawi’s INA.

Belly dancers menace exiles
Michael Evans, The Times, 31 July, 2000

Saddam Hussein has dispatched teams of female agents, some disguised as belly dancers and actresses, to attack dissident Iraqis in Britain, a group of defectors said yesterday.

The plot is codenamed Operation Falcon, according to the Iraqi National Accord (INA), a body of military and security personnel who have defected from the country. Baghdad, the INA says, is using the agents to infiltrate their organisation in London, Brussels, Paris and Vienna.

One female Iraqi agent was reported to have been seen last week in Edgware Road, Central London, which has a high concentration of Arab residents. She is a belly dancer known to be associated with Uday Hussein, Saddam’s eldest son, and is said to have set up belly dancing schools in the Middle East as a cover for Iraqi assassination squads.

The Foreign Office said that it was aware of the claims made by the group. A number of leading Iraqi dissidents in London are understood to be under the protection of Special Branch officers because of the latest threat. Scotland Yard refused to comment.

It took Ross Benson, writing from Baghdad, to raise the faintest of eyebrows in the direction of the belly dancing claims.

Inside Saddam’s Hell
Ross Benson, Daily Mail, 3 August, 2000

…Iraqi dissidents have been assassinated in Scandinavia and, in a scenario straight out of a Bond film, there are allegations that the Iraqis have dispatched hit squads of specially trained belly dancers to kill a few more.

As preposterous as that sounds (for one thing, there are no belly dancers in Baghdad any more – Saddam banned them 5 years ago), only the brave or foolhardy would discount his merciless determination to dispose of any opposition – his own family included.

Benson’s revelation that belly dancing had been banned by Saddam for 5 years, did not prevent a follow up a week later from the Sunday Telegraph, although the piece didn’t suggest that prolonged unemployment had forced the belly dancers into espionage.

You don’t have to turn to syndication to find it on the Telegraph website, and again Lamb is credited. Owing to some quirk on the Telegraph site the date says only that it was last updated at 2:08pm BST 19/06/2001, but an edited version appeared in the Calgary Herald on 10 August, 2000, headlined Sneaky Saddam has a new ‘weapon.’

Belly dancers fear that Iraqi plot will ruin work in Britain
Christina Lamb

Belly dancers have reacted angrily to revelations that Saddam Hussein has been training female agents in the guise of exotic performers to target Iraqi dissidents in London, claiming that this will undermine their business.

“There is already little work for belly dancers in Britain these days,” complained Kathy Salford, who has been a belly dancer for more than 30 years and has performed in most of the well-known clubs across the Middle East. “This will deter customers from attending legitimate clubs or taking dance classes.”

The Telegraph found that Saddam’s intelligence chiefs have decided to use women to report on and eliminate Iraqi opposition abroad. A 45-day intensive training course focusing on poisoning and organizing car accidents was held outside Baghdad last month for agents, some of whom are believed to have already arrived in London and the Foreign Office is on maximum security alert.

“Already a very, very glamorous Iraqi dressed up to the nines has been to the Baghdad Cafe in London’s Westbourne Grove offering to dance for free,” said Salford. “How can anyone dance for nothing when the costumes alone cost more than £500? It’s highly suspicious.”

There is such fierce competition for places to belly dance in London, that Maroush, a Lebanese-owned restaurant, runs a contest on Lebanese television where the prize is a one-month contract to perform there.

Members of the Midlands Arabic Dance Network (Madan), which represents 600 belly dancers, are concerned about reports that a well-known Iraqi belly dancer is planning to set up a school in London as a cover for giving support to Saddam’s spies. They are worried that potential clients would desist because of fears they could be turned into “Mata Haris.”

“Most of our members make their living giving classes,” said one, who wanted to remain anonymous. “Probably only five British belly dancers make a full-time living from performing.”

Although many belly-dance venues have closed since the heyday in the 1970s, there has been a recent surge in popularity in classes. Miss Salford fears that talk of links between belly dancing and the Iraqi regime may end chances of organisations obtaining a lottery grant such as that recently awarded to belly dancers of Manchester to bring over a famous Egyptian teacher.

In the coffee shops of west London where Arabic dancers meet, the talk is of little else. One young woman sipping Turkish coffee said: “We belly dancers are a very tight-knit community and know when outsiders appear. Saddam has really chosen the wrong thing – if they had set up a nail bar it would have been a better cover.”

Salford is an unusual name. I wonder where she is now? The Midlands Arabic Dance Network is real enough, and has since changed its name to Mosaic. It is a curious piece – the last line rather deflates the whole story.

So was it all just good, clean fun? To continue the story, you have to turn to Saudi paper, Al-Sharq al-Awsat.

Iraqi dancer’s lawyer: My client has received death threats
Mu’id Fayyad, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 22 August, 2000

British lawyer Dr Mir Eskandari has said that his client Iraqi belly dancer “Malayin” received the day before yesterday death threats in telephone calls made by unknown individuals. He pointed out that Scotland Yard had been informed of the threats, which could endanger his client’s life.

He said in an interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat yesterday that “Malayin” and her family in Stockholm received the death threats from unknown parties following the publication of allegations in some newspapers that she is collaborating with the Iraqi intelligence services to liquidate some of the Iraqi regime’s opponents living in Europe.

He said that he had an idea about the identity of those behind the threats and “will reveal this information at the right time.” He said that he would hold a news conference this week to explain the case that “Malayin” had brought against some newspapers that have damaged her reputation and endangered her life and that of her family.

He went on to say that “Malayin” was in fact threatened directly last week by a person who met her in a London street and she was suspended from work in some restaurants because of these accusations.

The Iranian-born lawyer said that his office had also received some threats because of his insistence on proceeding with the case to the end. He asserted that he was serious about pursuing “Malayin’s” case and the need to absolve her of these allegations.

He added: “Death threats are a very serious matter and we and British law take the matter seriously. We have therefore demanded protection for our client and the case has taken a different course.”

For her part, “Malayin” said in a telephone contact that she and her family in Stockholm had received death threats. She added that she feared her eight-year-old daughter’s life might be in danger.

She pointed out that she was confident about her lawyer’s efforts and the measures he was taking to protect her life and clear her name of the charge of collaborating with the Iraqi intelligence services, stressing that she was “nothing but an artiste who is not involved in politics.”

It all ended over a year later, when the Telegraph published this brief apology:

Sanna Karim, aka Maleen
Sunday Telegraph, 5 August, 2001

Our edition of July 30, 2000, carried a report “Saddam sends female assassins on London murder mission” which included a reference to the activities of a belly dancer close to Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday. Miss Karim is a famous Iraqi actress and dancer.

We accept that, contrary to any impression which may have been given in the article, she is not linked in any way to the regime, has never been employed by the Iraqi intelligence service, and has never been trained as a terrorist or assassin. We apologise to Miss Karim.

There must be a moral in here somewhere, don’t you think?