I have written here before about the American public relations firm, Qorvis, and its shameful $40,000-a-month contract with the government of Bahrain to spruce up the kingdom's tarnished image. Now, though, a document filed by Qorvis under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (as required by US law) provides a lot more detail about the company's activites on behalf of this repressive regime.

Between April and September, the document shows, Qorvis received a total of $239,877 from Bahrain. It is also, incidentally, in the pay of two other unsavoury regimes in the Middle East: $825,000 from Saudi Arabia between January and September (including $75,000 for "website support") and $31,351 in August via the British PR firm Bell Pottinger for "representing Yemen in the United States").

In connection with its work for Bahrain, Qorvis issued 106 press releases between June and November through PRNewswire (at a cost of $116 a time). 

Qorvis also spent $2,981 placing 50 Facebook ads on Bahrain's behalf.

Between April and June, Qorvis organised five meetings in the United States about Bahrain for what, in PR parlance, are usually described as "opinion formers" – journalists, representatives of think tanks, politicians, etc. A total of 75 people attended these, some of them more than once.

The document also reveals that former USA Today journalist Tom Squitieri was hired by Qorvis on September 1 as an "associate business analyst". Squitieri, who left USA Today amid accusations of plagiarism, later moved into public relations. 

His website promises clients a "cunning strategy" to "immediately end the negative while building toward a pro-active platform". 

"The world may see bruised tomatoes," it says. "We are the chefs who make them into marinara that is irresistible."

Squitieri's marinara-making talents were on display in September and October when he wrote three "positive" articles about Bahrain for Huffington Post, plus another one for Foreign Policy Blogs in November.

The articles carried a footnote describing Squitieri as a journalist who was working "with the Bahrain government" on "media awareness". 

There was no mention that he was working for Qorvis, though Qorvis's submission under the Foreign Agents Registration Act lists his Huffington Post articles as part of the company's lobbying work. (It's perhaps worth a mention in passing that Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of Huffington Post is listed by Qorvis as having attended one of its Bahrain-related meetings.)

Other lobbying activity disclosed by Qorvis includes two letters defending Bahrain which were published in the New York Times (September 21) and the Washington Post (September 17).

The disclosure document includes details of those who attended Qorvis's Bahrain-related meetings. I have reproduced the full list below, sorted alphabetically by surname. This is not to imply that any of them did anything wrong by attending or that they necessarily support the Bahrain regime. However, the list does illustrate the types of people that Qorvis is seeking to influence in its campaign to whitewash the regime. Those marked with a double asterisk are listed as having attended more than one meeting:

THE LIST

Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies 
Zainab Al-Suwaij, Executive Director of the American Islamic Congress 
Jon B. Alterman, Director and Senior Fellow, Middle East Program 
Lisa Anderson, University President 
Christopher Bannon, Program Director at New York Public Radio 
Henri J. Barkey Visiting Scholar Middle East Program 
Dr. Roby Barrett, Scholar 
**Jack Bartling: Counsel for international markets, House Financial Services Committee 
Guy Ben-Ari, Deputy Director, Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group and Fellow, International Security Program 
**Peter Bergen: Leading journalist, author, and expert on international terrorism at CNN and New America Foundation
C. Fred Bergsten, Director 
Ben Birnbaum; Washington Times 
Arthur C. Brooks, President, American Enterprise Institute
Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle 
Dan Byman, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy 
Sean Carberry, Senior Correspondent at America Abroad Media 
Sen. Ben Cardin 
Congressman Steve Chabot 
Steve Clemmons, Director, American Strategy Program 
Anthony Cordesman, Strategic Chair 
Lynn Davis, Washington Office Director, RAND Corporation
Sam Dealey, Qorvis Communications (foreign correspondent in MENA and former editor of The Washington Times) 
Jackson Diehl, Deputy Editorial Page Editor 
Rep. Donna Edwards 
Khaled EIGuindy, Visiting Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy 
John Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies 
**Sam Feist, CNN (director of US programming) 
Nathaniel Fick, CEO, Center for a New American Security
Dr. Herman Franssen, Scholar 
F. Gregory Gause III, Professor of Political Science 
David Gerson, Executive Vice-President, American Enterprise Institute
Shadi Hamid, Director of Research at Brookings Doha Center 
Kareem Hammadi, News Director at Iraqi Media Network 
Toby Harnden: US Editor at the UK Daily Telegraph 
Steven Heydemann, Special Adviser; Muslim World Initiative 
Rep. Brian Higgins 
Arianna Huffington, President & Editor in Chief, Huffington Post 
Robert Hunter, Senior Advisor, RAND Corporation
David Ignatius, Associate Editorial Page Editor 
Mohsin S. Khan, Senior Fellow 
Flynt Leverett, Senior Fellow 
**Aaron Lobei, President of American Abroad Media 
Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of Institute for Middle East Studies and Middle East Studies Program 
Haim Maika, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Middle East Program 
Suzanne Maloney, Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy 
Rep. Tom Marino 
**Sean McCormack, Boeing Corp (former NSC spokesman)
Congressman Jim McGovern 
Stephen Mclnerny, Executive Director of Project on Middle East Democracy 
John Nagl, President, Center for a New American Security 
**The Honorable Stuart Nash: Federal Judge, Superior Court, District of Columbia, Former director for US Department of Justice Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces
Marina Ottaway, Director Middle East Program 
Dr. Andrew Parasiliti, Executive Director, IISS -US; Corresponding Director, IISS Middle East 
Rep. Mike Pence 
William B. Quandt, Edward R. Stettinius Professor of Politics 
Mark Quarterman, Senior Adviser and Director, Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation 
**Professor Jeremy Rabkin: Leading expert and commentator on international law, professor at George Mason University 
Sen. James Risch 
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher 
James Rosen: Fox News Correspondent, Former White House Correspondent 
Retno Shanti Ruwyastuti, Assistant to the President of Metro TV Indonesia 
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch 
Jay Solomon, Foreign Affairs and Washington Reporter 
Ray Takeyh, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Sen. Tom Udall
**Ian Vasquez, Cato Institute (director of international development) 
Margaret Warner, Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent 
Joby Warrick, Correspondent 
Shaun Waterman, The Washington Times (national security and geopolitics reporter) 
Steven R. Weisman, Editorial Director and Public Policy Fellow 
Rep. Joe Wilson 
**Byron York: Syndicated columnist and leading conservative commentator at FOX News and The Examiner 
**Adam Zagorin: Foreign correspondent and national security reporter at Time Magazine 
Dov Zakheim, Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Planning and Resources . 
James Zogby, Founder American Arab Institute 

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 10 December 2011.

UPDATE: More or less simultaneously, Scott Lucas has alsoposted an article about this on the Enduring America blog.