CENTCOM says AP's "Iraqi police source" isn't Iraqi police -- Part 30 -- Continued from this post.

Libs on Jamil 
Confederate Yankee

The overwhelming majority of liberal bloggers were dead silent from late November throughout the month of December, and into January in regards to the Jamil Hussein affair, with the rare exception of those who feverishly insisted upon misconstruing what conservative bloggers were attempting to discover about Husseins' dubious track record, and those who hoped these same bloggers would go to Baghdad unescorted and get gunned down.

Now that the Associated Press has come forth with an admission from the Iraqi Interior Ministry that Hussein does exist, and precisely where AP said he was, many of these same bloggers that refused to comment on the situation before are now bravely attacking those who questioned the AP and accepted to competency of the MOI to be able to read a list.

My favorite emerging narative from the left on this are the sudden woeful claims of concern: "What happens to Jamil Hussein now that you've exposed him? He's going to be arrested, tortured, and killed, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Get a grip. ...

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Wuzzadem: AP Finally Gets Closure On the Jamil Hussein Story

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SeeDubya: Thoughts on the "discovery" of Jamil Hussein

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Kaus Sums It Up
Patterico

Mickey Kaus on Jamil Hussein:

Capt. Jamil Hussein, controversial AP source, seems to exist. That’s one important component of credibility!

Heh.

Too bad about the other components . . .

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AP employee found shot to death in Iraq 

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The body of an Associated Press employee was found shot in the back of the head Friday, six days after he was last seen by his family leaving for work. Ahmed Hadi Naji, 28, was the fourth AP staffer to die violently in the Iraq war and the second AP employee killed in less than a month. He had been a messenger and occasional cameraman for the AP for 2 1/2 years. 

"All of us at AP share the pain and grief being felt by Ahmed's family and friends," said AP President and CEO Tom Curley. "The situation for our journalists in Iraq is unprecedented in AP's 161-year history of covering wars and conflicts. The courage of our Iraqi colleagues and their dedication to the story stand as an example to the world of journalism's enduring value."

May he rest in peace. H/T: Michelle

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As much as it pains me to say it, go read Eason Jordan's piece here. Key graf for me:

Is Captain Hussein a reliable news source? While we now know he's genuine, he was not an authorized spokesman. His critics, including his Iraqi government bosses and the U.S. military, have challenged the veracity of many of AP reports attributed to him. Many violent incidents reported by Captain Hussein via the AP were not reported by other western news organizations, raising suspicions about whether all those incidents occurred. The controversy likely will linger in this area, with third party reporting being done to determine the accuracy of Captain Hussein's statements to the AP.

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Haditha and Jamil Should Lead to Media Reform
Bruce Kesler

The conduct of the U.S. media in the Haditha and the Jamil Hussein stories should be seen as central case studies of, either, how the major media continued to decline or of how it regenerated itself. Present indicators lean to the former, but surely some good minds see the opportunity for the latter.

I’ll return to Jamil Hussein, after Haditha, but first a word from Rick Moran (who, by the way, has favored withdrawal from Iraq): (Well worth reading the whole Moran post.)

It does little good to point out that the real story is not whether Hussein exists but rather whether the information he was a confirming source for in 61 stories is true or false. That’s because the left doesn’t seem interested in whether or not the news from Iraq is real or imagined. “Fake but accurate” is fine with them.

A prime example of what Moran characterizes as “triumphalism” by liberal and left-wing press and bloggers can be seen in Editor & Publisher’s cherry picking of conservative blogs’ reaction to the surprise existence of Jamil Hussein, totally ignoring the more important problems with his information being unsupported.

As I wrote about Haditha:

To the extent that the prosecutors’ case relies upon the Iraqi stringers and suspect and contradictory “witnesses” used by U.S. media, their case will be both weak and will probably expose the grave shortcomings of the U.S. media’s operations in the Iraq war zone…”

Based upon these suspect sources, U.S. media largely condemned the Marines involved, and most attached that to their meme of opposition to the U.S. in Iraq.

As today’s San Diego Union Tribune update on Haditha is sub-headlined, “Experts say it could change the Marines.” I’d say, that alone, changing the most successful fighting force on earth, is a mighty significant impact of the Haditha charges. I’d also say that, conversely, it may and should change the media. ...

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And the Questions Remain the Same
Confederate Yankee

I'd never quite appreciated how amusing the Leftist swarm could be until last night and this morning, where an Associated Press report that Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf had finally, at long last confirmed the existence of Captain Jamil Hussein hit the wires, and liberals around the country (and around the world) conflated Hussein's ability to exist with the veracity of his claims.

The illogical leap this took—to purposefully decide that someone's state of existing is an immediate and overwhelming vindication that everything he claimed was true—is massive in its undertaking, and truly staggering to behold. Rarely have so many been willing to overlook so much in the simple hope of being able to say—or in many cases shriek—"I told you so!"

But the simple fact of the matter is that simply existing does not grant validity to the stories that several someone’s purport to have occurred.

The accuser in the Duke Lacrosse rape case assuredly exists, but it is her multiple stories and the lack of evidence that throws her accounts of what happened on the night of March 13, 2006 into question. She has presented multiple accusations, and multiple versions of her accusations, and yet, nearly the overwhelming majority of people following the case to any degree feel she probably falsified the events she reported. The feel this way because her story kept changing, and while there should have been copious evidence to support her claims, none has thus far been found.

And so it is with the on-going Associated Press scandal that started with the claim of one Iraqi Police Captain by the name of Jamil Hussein on November 24, 2006. ...

Read the whole thing, people. Read the whole thing.

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Two to not miss at Patterico's place: AP Staffer Killed in Iraq , Eason Jordan on Jamil Hussein

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Wow! Now I'm getting my very own hate mail -- well, me and a half dozen other "righty bozos" who've been following the Jamilgate story. I'm moving up in the world! Anyway, I guess we're all supposed to tuck our tails twixt our legs and cry ourselves to sleep over this:

AP's Editor Criticizes Those Who Questioned Iraq Source
By Joe Strupp

NEW YORK Associated Press Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll on Friday criticized those who questioned the existence of an AP Iraq source, who was proven this week to be real, saying the scrutiny has now endangered the man's life.

"I never quite understood why people chose to disbelieve us about this particular man on this particular story," Carroll told E&P, referring to Jamil Hussein, an Iraq police captain. "AP runs hundreds of stories a day, and has run thousands of stories about things that have happened in Iraq."

Carroll pointed out that critics should be more concerned with the fact that Hussein could face imprisonment for being a source to journalists than how AP handled the situation. "A man who is a legitimate police official who has talked to journalists is threatened with arrest for doing so," she said. "Doesn't that bother anybody other than me? Officials being threatened with arrest for talking to reporters ought to be of concern." ...

Well cry me a freakin' river! How long has AP been quoting this turkey by name, and now it's our fault the Iraqi government wants to talk to him? Yeah. Sure. Right on.

Has it occurred to anyone besides Curt and me that we still don't have a source other than the AP for Jamil's existence? We've gone from taking AP's word for his existence to taking AP's word that the Iraqi Ministry of Information says he exists. Gee, that's an improvement. If he really does exist and the MOI's been wrong all this time about all I can say is "Even Baghdad Bob kept the trains running on time." Where's the beef, people? Where's the beef? I want mug shots. I want a CENTCOM news release. What I really want is Kathleen Carroll's head on a pike, but I suppose that's asking too much.

I'm sticking with the prediction I made yesterday:

What we're going to be hearing by Saturday is:

"Jamil's afraid of getting arrested so he's gone so deep underground that even his old AP contacts can't find him. But we really did talk to him last week. Really we did. Really!"

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Part 30 of a series. Part 31