Pinellas physician sues Washington Post over story

A Pinellas County doctor who served as Iraq's minister of health is suing the Washington Post, accusing the newspaper of libel for a story describing allegations of corruption against the physician when he headed the Iraqi Red Crescent.

Said Hakky was installed by the Bush administration to take over the Iraqi health system after Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003. Hakky and his family fled Iraq in 1983. He entered the United States in 1986.

Hakky told reporters in 2003 that he hoped to refashion Iraq's health care system, bringing modern medicine to a place where a dictator had used the system to monitor citizens. At the time, the Largo urologist was a professor at the University of South Florida and a researcher at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.

Hakky left Iraq on July 7, 2008, the day before an arrest warrant was issued for him, according to court papers.

Among other things, Hakky says in court papers that the Washington Post inaccurately said in its 2008 story that he left Iraq after arrest warrants were issued for him and his deputies.

Hakky filed his lawsuit in Pinellas County Circuit Court in September - two weeks after his lawyer wrote the newspaper outlining what Hakky said were inaccuracies in the story. The Post transferred the case to U.S. District Court in Tampa last week.

Kris Coratti, communications director for the company, said in an e-mail today that the Post does not comment on pending litigation.

The Post story - headlined "Iraqi Red Crescent Paralyzed by Allegations" - said Hakky was installed as the Bush administration sought to fill positions with Republican supporters. It noted that Hakky had donated $13,800 to the Republican Party and candidates since 1988.

However, according to the letter from Hakky's lawyer to the newspaper, Hakky had not made any contributions to the party since 1993.

The newspaper story also said Hakky clashed with the Red Crescent's accounting chief, who insisted that Hakky and his lieutenants put out competitive bids for contracts. Hakky's attorney said in the letter to the Post that his client did not clash with the accounting chief and did not refuse to seek competitive bids.

In addition, the story said humanitarian organizations, including UNICEF, stopped working with the Red Crescent after growing concerned about the lack of transparency with funds. The head of one aid program was quoted anonymously as saying, "We simply don't know where our money went."

But Hakky contends that description is "defamatory and false," and is contradicted by a memorandum of understanding with UNICEF and other organizations.

The lawsuit says the newspaper's false statements "injured, sullied and damaged Dr. Hakky's good reputation" and hurt his credibility.