A few days ago I posted a story about an FBI raid on the offices of Qorvis Communications, a PR firm that shills for the Saudi regime. Newsweek reports that the raid was part of an investigation into an ad campaign for the “Saudi peace plan”—the same plan that was enthusiastically promoted by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: Did Saudis Deceptively Finance Ad Campaign? (Hat tip: Michael Z.)

Dec. 15 - The Justice Department has opened a politically sensitive investigation into allegations that the Saudi government, working through a prominent Washington public-relations firm, deceptively financed an advertising campaign promoting Crown Prince Abdullah’s Middle East peace plan, NEWSWEEK has learned.

Federal prosecutors are seeking to determine whether the Saudi Embassy’s PR firm, Qorvis Communications, made false statements to the Justice Department and violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)—a 1938 law requiring full disclosure of foreign-sponsored propaganda in the United States, according to sources familiar with grand-jury subpoenas issued in the case.

The probe into the 2002 radio ad campaign supposedly paid for by an obscure group called the Alliance for Peace and Justice, explains last week’s startling raid by the FBI on the downtown Washington offices of Qorvis, a well-connected PR group that began representing the Saudis in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks.

Am I suggesting that Friedman took money to advance Saudi propaganda? No, not at all. New York Times columnists don’t need to be paid to promote the interests of Arab dictators. They do it for free.

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