Jeffrey LewisGertz and Arkin

The Washington Post reports that Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz was fed a forged “Defense Intelligence Agency” document claiming that military analyst and Code Names author Bill Arkin was an Iraqi spy.

In the course of following up the story, the Defense Department apparently told Gertz the document was not authentic. Larry DiRita told the Post that DOD “certainly appreciated the fact that the journalist who had it in his possession took the time to seek a better understanding of it before filing a story on it.”

Still, Di Rita said, an investigation is “not likely.”

Washington’s a rough town.