British Paper Faces Suit Over Palast Investigation

Last November, in the Observer of London, investigative journalist Gregory Palast 'broke the biggest and least-known story behind Bush's theft of the presidency.' Now Palast writes about the woes of dealing with a retaliatory libel suit brought by Bush family allies. The Guerrilla News Network, a Web site affiliated with Peter Gabriel's nonprofit organization, WITNESS, posted Palast's update.

It was Palast's research published in the Observer, Salon.com, The Nation, and the Washington Post that provided the basis for an investigation by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that found massive voter disenfranchisement in Florida. He originally discovered the 50,000 Florida voters wrongly classified as felons--a disproportionate number of them black.

In the same story, 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,' Palast revealed the elder Bush's ties to various corporations that helped bankroll Dubya's presidential campaign, including Barrick Gold Mining of Canada, which later sued Palast and the Observer over allegations that the company killed 50 independent miners who had refused to leave mining property in Zaire. The story was based on an Amnesty International report that has not been verified because Zaire's government refuses to allow an independent investigation into the mines located there.

'My entire continuing investigation is in jeopardy,' Palast writes. 'It is difficult to imagine how my paper, owned by the nonprofit Scott Trust, myself, and human rights lawyer Lissu can withstand the financial punishment of litigation.'
--Sara V. Buckwitz
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Related:
• Read the offending article on Palast's website, 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'