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Centcom says AP’s "Iraqi police source" isn’t Iraqi police
(Part 4 -- Continued from this post.) -- Updated and bumped 
*** Update and bump. Original timestamp 11:14 Iraq's War of Perception: "Who is Jamil Hussein?"
Austin Bay (Hat tip: Ron Wright)
In 1980 Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke wrote a story entitled "Jimmy's World," the startling tale of an eight-year old "third-generation heroin addict" living in Washington, DC.
Cooke's expose' captured several volatile issues in one tear-drenched package. "Jimmy's World" had drugs, race, poverty, "fast money and the good life."
In 1981 Cooke won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for journalism.
Fine and dandy -except she should have won the Pulitzer for fiction.
"Jimmy's World" was a complete crock. Little Heroin Jimmy didn't exist. The Washington Post, its publisher Donald Graham, and Cooke's editor, Bob Woodward, were all duly embarrassed when Cooke's fraud was exposed. Her Pulitzer was withdrawn.
Woodward (of Watergate fame) admitted he failed to confirm the story. "I believed it, we published it," Woodward said. ...
... We now move from Jimmy's World to Captain Jamil Hussein.
Now, if I were "writing hot" -writing for sensational effect-- I would have led with the alleged Jamil's blazing claim: that six Iraqi Sunnis were dragged from a mosque in Baghdad last week, doused with kerosene, and burned to death by a Shia mob. Four mosques were also (allegedly) burned.
The Associated Press ran the dousing story on November 24 and the story was repeated world-wide. (I read it on-line in the International Herald Tribune, a publication owned by the NY Times.)
Sensational, "headline-generating" elements absolutely jam the story: gruesome savagery, mob action, chaos in Iraq.
The AP identified "Police Captain Jamil Hussein" as its source for the story, with a second source identified as "a Sunni elder."
On November 25, the press office of Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNCI) published press release No. 20061125-09 (see mnf-iraq.com). The MNCI stated that investigation showed only one mosque had been attacked and found no evidence to support the story of the six immolated Sunnis. ...
*** AP Editor: Military's Claims "Ludicrous"
Charles Johnson
The Associated (with terrorists) Press is standing by its insurgent sources, and AP International Editor John Daniszewski calls the US military “ludicrous:” AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report. (Hat tip: LGF readers.) “The attempt to question the existence of the known police officer who spoke to the AP is frankly ludicrous and hints at a certain level of desperation to dispute or suppress the facts of the incident in question,” AP International Editor John Daniszewski said in a statement e-mailed to On Deadline this afternoon.
Daniszewski has been featured at CAMERA.org several times; here’s a report on an amazingly deceptive article he wrote for the LA Times, propagandizing for Syria: Daniszewski Works to Polish Syrian Image. He’ll shill for Syria, but denounce his own country’s military.
UPDATE at 11/29/06 9:45:45 am:
LGF reader Glen K. forwarded an email he received from CENTCOM today, indicating that the Iraqis are planning a rebuttal to the continuing AP claims about Jamil Hussein: ...
*** The news outlet that cried “Wolf.”
Bookworm
Here’s a quick chronology, followed by my comments.
First, during this summer’s Israeli/Hezbollah War, AP, along with several other news outlets, was shown to have relied upon doctored and staged photographs, and false and/or misleading stories fed to them by local stringers sympathetic to Hezbollah. (You can read all about it here, at LGF.)
Second, for some time in the Iraq War, major news outlets have been caught relying on information, some true and some false, that they received from local “reporters” whose manifest sympathies lie with the insurgents. Many of these stories and photos have been nothing more than propaganda for the insurgents. I don’t know offhand whether AP has been caught in this propaganda net, but I suspect a little research would show that it has.
Third, this weekend, AP reported that Shiia militia burned six Sunni men alive.
Fourth, Curt, at Flopping Aces, dug into the story and discovered (a) that the source the AP cites is probably an imposter and (b) that the US Army has no knowledge of the alleged event — which is pretty surprising, because it was reported as a huge deal. Curt found a whole bunch of other stuff, which you should read at the source, but all of which points to problems, big problems with the AP story.
Fifth, the AP just fired back with the following story, which I read at Michelle Malkin. Please note the language I’ve highlighted: [...]
That’s the rundown. Here’s my comment about the language I highlighted in the above “news” report:
Who are these two unidentified AP reporters? If these are the same types of stringers who have been filing false reports and shilling photos during both the Iraq War and the Israeli/Hezbollah War, why should we believe these further assertions? Frankly, AP doesn’t have any credibility with me. I’d like some independent corroboration. I’d be a whole lot more interested in this alleged proof if the AP would name the reporters who went back to the neighborhood to update their witness list.
I’m also sorry to say that, by this time, I’m unlikely to believe any local witnesses, and would accept only forensic evidence from the site itself. Because the story has legs, and because the insurgents’ favorite news outlet has been challenged, I think any witness who comes forward now is tainted. It’s just as likely that these purported eyewitnesses are plants who have been carefully groomed to give “nearly identical” and possibly false accounts of something that may or may not have happened.
AP has only itself to blame for this, ...
***
Curt's latest: Getting The News From The Enemy, Update III
*** Centcom: Iraqis will announce tomorrow that AP source is fake
Allahpundit
Fake in the sense that he’s not an official Iraqi police officer, not fake in the sense that he doesn’t exist.
The cast of characters here is getting unwieldy. There’s Centcom’s long list of questionable AP sources from Monday plus the three unknown eyewitnesses whom the AP interviewed for its new story about the Sunnis being burned alive plus the two unnamed AP reporters who interviewed them plus the five unnamed burned-alive Sunnis themselves (and one who was identified) plus Jamil Hussein a.k.a. the fake police captain plus Qais al-Bashir a.k.a. the only AP reporter who ever gets to talk to Jamil Hussein plus one of the original witnesses named Imad al-Hashimi who’s since recanted plus the media liaisons at Centcom and the AP who have been sniping back and forth about this.
And now a new character: the imam at the mosque that was attacked, who’s been accused of being a member of Saddam’s secret police. What relevance that has for this story I’m not sure, but people seem excited about it.
Here’s where we are now, according to the boss: [...]
It’s true that the five other victims weren’t named, but the witness did say they all belonged to the al-Mashadani tribe. It’s also true that one of the original witnesses recanted, but only after someone from the Iraqi defense ministry paid him a little visit. And then there’s this, from the new AP story: ...
*** Burning Sunnis, burning mosques, burning questions
Michelle Malkin
My column and Vent today cover the Associated Press controversy over the six-burned-alive-Sunnis story. Shortly after I filed and taped, the AP released its statement (which I finally received this morning after my Gmail problems) and a new story on the incident, which I noted last night. For one Huffington Post blogger, the matter is settled and he's demanding an apology.
Yeah, well, the matter is far from settled.
LGF reports this morning: [...]
... And Jim Hoft reports that the imam at the mosque in question where the "6 Sunni torchings" supposedly took place is accused of being a member of Saddam's secret police by his own congregation.
Jim also reminds us of the AP's false reporting about the "torched" mosques...that weren't.
For those who are all too familiar with the Theater of Jihad, the AP's new story raises more questions than it answers. To sum up so far:
Two unnamed Associated Press reporters get new acounts from three unnamed witnesses (who, of course, refuse to be identified by name--although the AP has no problem describing some weirdly specific details about their ages, occupations, ethnicity, and religions) about six burned-alive Sunnis, five of whom no one can name and whose bodies can't be disinterred in an investigation because it would violate Islamic law. And of the two original sources who claim the incident happened, one has recanted and the other is someone whom the military and Iraqi officials maintain is not who he says he is. ....
*** Want to get to the truth about AP’s Iraq reporting?
Bruce Kesler
I’ve long, and fruitlessly, called for a credible, independent examination of the stringer policy and procedures of the major media operating in Iraq (and, the Palestinian areas as well). Case after case has accumulated, well-documented, of the major media being used as avenues of lies and propaganda by our enemies, as well as our enemies themselves saying that’s part of their modus operandi. I know of at least one respected academic working on such a study, but far more is needed.
Now that the Associated Press and CENTCOM (along with many blogs) have thrown down their gauntlets to each other, there’s such an opportunity to get such a comprehensive examination, with the case of the purported six Sunnis set aflame as the case study to open the now secretive door to major media’s reliance on stringers and suspect sources.
Curt, at Flopping Aces blog, brings us up to date, along with the critical links.
The Associated Press, like any business, depends upon its customers. Indeed, the Associated Press is responsive to its customers. Those customers are the media that buy AP stories and feeds, providing their customers – the readers and viewers – with a wide range of content that any particular venue cannot itself provide. The AP’s Board of Directors are, themselves, the owners and chief executives of other newspaper and media organizations.
I suggest that you write a brief, polite letter to each of the AP Board members, and to the chief editor of your local newspaper, requesting a comprehensive, independent examination of the AP’s handling of this matter, and that the study be published in its entirety. ...
***
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