David Ignatius

David Ignatius is a Washington Post columnist/pundit who has had a wide-ranging career in the news business, serving at various times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist. He has written widely for magazines and published five novels.

Profile
From the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
 * "His twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs debuted on The Washington Post op-ed page in January 1999 and was distributed to more than 600 newspapers worldwide via the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service. He continued to write weekly after becoming executive editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in September 2000. When the Post sold its interest in the IHT in January 2003, Ignatius resumed writing twice a week for the op-ed page and was syndicated worldwide by The Washington Post Writers Group. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary. As executive editor of the IHT, Ignatius traveled the world and met with leaders of countries across Europe and Asia. During his journalism career, he has covered almost every Washington beat, from the Pentagon to the CIA to Capitol Hill. His reporting and his commentary draw on his network of resources to uncover and break news... Prior to becoming a columnist, Ignatius was the Post´s assistant managing editor in charge of business news, a position he assumed in 1993. During his tenure, the paper significantly expanded its business coverage, and the Post was cited as one of the "Best in Business" among large newspapers by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 1995 and 1996... Ignatius served as the Post´s foreign editor from 1990 to 1992, supervising the paper´s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From 1986 to 1990, he was editor of the Post´s Outlook section, a Sunday opinion section that covers politics, economics, foreign policy and intellectual trends.... Before joining the Post in 1986, Ignatius spent 10 years as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. He covered the steel industry in Pittsburgh, then moved to Washington to cover the Justice Department, the CIA and the U.S. Senate. He transferred overseas to become the paper´s Middle East correspondent from 1980 to 1983, covering wars in Lebanon and Iraq. He returned to Washington in 1984 as the Journal's chief diplomatic correspondent and he received the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting in 1985. Before joining the Wall Street Journal, he was an editor at The Washington Monthly. Raised in Washington, D.C., Ignatius attended St. Albans School and Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He received a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard and studied at King´s College, Cambridge University, where he received a diploma in economics. He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Talk Magazine and The Washington Monthly... Ignatius is married to Dr. Eve Ignatius and has three daughters."

Iran war drummer
Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, comments on Ignatius:
 * But the real kicker last week was an op-ed by neocon-lite David Ignatius of The Washington Post, who is in Europe traveling with Panetta, in which he spelled out the steps the White House was taking to stop Israel from starting a war with Iran. Oddly, or perhaps not, the article included the following referring to possible U.S. abstention from the conflict: “Administration officials caution that Tehran shouldn't misunderstand: The United States has a 60-year commitment to Israeli security, and if Israel’s population centers were hit, the United States could feel obligated to come to Israel's defense.” Ignatius is unusually well-plugged in to White House and Pentagon circles, so what he says should be regarded as reliable. If his “could” should be understood as meaning “would,” his comment basically means that if Israel starts a war, even without warning Washington that it is coming, an Iranian reaction that hits civilian targets in Israel, either deliberately or not, would require a U.S. response because America is pledged to “defend” Israel no matter what and no matter who started the fighting. As Israel is physically a small country and Iranian missiles cannot hit targets with pinpoint accuracy, it is hard to imagine any Iranian response that would not strike civilian targets. If the U.S. response would be automatic, that means that the White House has effectively turned over its foreign policy to Israel’s kleptocratic leadership. The world has turned upside down.

Ira Chernus reports:
 * Just days after the New York Times Magazine’s lurid cover story, “Israel Vs. Iran,” the Washington Post struck back with a two-fisted effort to win the “most dire prediction” contest. The Post’s foreign policy pundit David Ignatius wrote a widely-circulated column claiming inside information: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June.” The next day the Post’s front page headline warned ominously, “Israel: Iran Must Be Stopped Soon.” Both stories reported that the Obama administration opposes any Israeli action, just like the Bush administration before it. The risks to U.S. interests are incalculable, as the Pentagon and State Department have been telling us for years.

Document leaking
Some journalists are useful to disseminate non-identified, deniable, politically-useful information, that is, leaks. David Ignatius has proven to be one of the establishment's favorite means to disseminate politically-useful information.

Affiliations

 * International Institute for Strategic Studies - US, Director
 * German Marshall Fund of the United States, Trustee

Related Articles

 * Sandy Tolan, "Erdogan, Peres and the Soufflés of Davos", Truthdig, February 4, 2009. (Ignatius moderated the discussion.)