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12-3-2006 4:37 PM511 views
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12-14-2006 7:24 PM
jklugman
From a statement by the AP:

We have not ignored the questions about our work raised by the U.S. military and ...the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Indeed, we published those questions while also sending AP journalists back out to the scene...

What we found were more witnesses who described the attack in particular detail... We ran a lengthy story on those additional findings, as well as the questions, on Nov. 28.

Some of AP's critics question the existence of police Capt. Jamil Hussein, who was one (but not the only) source to tell us about the burning.

These critics cite a U.S. military officer and an Iraqi official who first said Hussein is not an authorized spokesman and later said h...
12-14-2006 7:30 PM
jklugman
Problem is, the Iraqi police say Capt. Hussein does not exist.
It is ironic that the conservative, pro-war bloggers are smearing journalists by relying on statements from an Interior Ministry that is allied with Shi'ite militias and has an obvious interest in suppressing news of atrocities committed by Shi'ite militias.
12-14-2006 7:53 PM
n2sooners
This is rather old. There has been many more inconstancies found in the AP story, and they still haven't produced any real witnesses. Even the officer they claim is known by many (but who only speaks to the AP) is nowhere to be found.
12-14-2006 8:11 PM
jklugman
and they still haven't produced any real witnesses.
Wrong. The AP found three eyewitnesses who confirmed the details of the attack. [2]. The witnesses don't want to be named because they fear for their lives, probably from the Shi'ite dominated Interior Ministry which unsurprisingly wants to discredit the AP report and from whom conservative bloggers now treat as a credible source on the factuality of Shi'ite attacks on Sunnis.

Moreover, the AP has confirmed the attack with hospital and morgue workers. [3


There ...
12-14-2006 8:28 PM
Socratoad
inconstancies

Is this new word related to incontinent? If so I now comprehend what the neo-con babble is about .... diarrhea of the mouth. a constant stream of shit either made up on the spot or made up by a tool of neo-con propaganda..

They are actually trying to assassinate Jimmy Carter's character, and the truth is the first victim.
12-14-2006 8:29 PM
n2sooners
From the two stories YOU just linked.

AP reporters who have been working in Iraq throughout the conflict
learned of the mosque incident through witnesses and neighborhood
residents and corroborated it with a named police spokesmen and also
through hospital and morgue workers.
One witness said he and other people from the neighborhood took the six
immolation victims to the Sunni cemetery near Baghdad's Abu Ghraib
suburb and buried them
after the gunbattle.
12-14-2006 9:18 PM
jklugman
First of all, it was not my intent to make fun of the inconsistencies typo. I put it in quote marks to indicate my skepticism that there truly are inconsistencies. I don't know why I reproduced the typo in my own comment, maybe I just cut and pasted from n2sooners comment, maybe I reproduced the typo on my own. I don't think that making fun of typos is really productive, because I make a ton of them as well.

Second, n2sooners is correct that that is an inconsistency, but I don't see it as a fatal one, especially since it does not involve inconsistencies among eyewitness accounts. The simplest explanation is this: the person who wrote the thing about hospital and morgue workers ju...
12-14-2006 9:32 PM
n2sooners
But wait, here is another AP story that not only claims hospital and morgue workers as witnesses, but even names the hospital.

Two workers at Kazamiyah Hospital said the
bodies from the clashes and immolations had been taken to the morgue at
their facility. They refused to be identified by name, saying they
feared retribution.
But that brings up another problem. The Kazamiyah hospital is in hardline Shi'ite community. The victims were Sunni. And in between where the attack supposedly happened and the Kazamiyah hospital is the al-Nouman Hospital which is in the Sunni neighborhood of Adham...
12-14-2006 10:26 PM
jklugman
Those are good questions, but there's a problem here: its hard to argue that these inconsistencies are indicative that the attack never happened, and was a fabrication by Sunnis trying to demonize the Shi'ites. Think about: it. You have a policeman and three Sunni eyewitnesses from the neighborhood who say the attack happened. You have the guy who recanted AFTER being "interviewed" by the Interior Ministry. You have workers in a supposedly Shi'ite hospital saying the bodies went there. You happen to have one eyewitness who says he buried the victims after the gunbattel, presumably right away (although that's not explicitly stated). Who is lying? If the Sunnis in the neighborhood who...
12-14-2006 10:43 PM
n2sooners
You have a bunch of anonymous witnesses and one witness who claims to be a police officer but who the government says doesn't work for them. You have conflicting and illogical witness stories. And if this police officer is so well known to the AP, why is he only an AP source and why has he seemingly disappeared since this story broke? And if he is a police officer, why is he the only one who knows about this event? Why didn't he fill out a report?
12-14-2006 11:00 PM
jklugman
You have a bunch of anonymous witnesses
Um, yeah. They are Sunnis afraid of the Shi'ite dominated Interior Ministry.

And one witness who claims to be a police officer but who the government says doesn't work for them.
The quote from the AP in my first comment addressed this.

You have conflicting and illogical witness stories.
The only contradiction is ONE witness who says that he took the six victims to bury them in a graveyard, vs a couple of hospital workers who say the victims were brought there. Saying that "everyone is lying; the event never happened" is NOT the only way to reconcile these stories.

And if this police office...
12-17-2006 11:31 PM
jklugman
Winds of Change is tentatively reporting that it may have confirmed the existence of the policeman.

Via Editor & Publisher, via Lindsay Beyerstein at Majikthise.
12-18-2006 11:31 AM
n2sooners
Two problems with that story. First is the spelling of the name, which is a minor problem, but something you would think they would get right since they went so far as to get his middle name. Second is the station since the AP has reported that their contact was transfered out of that station to another station.

And for even more breaking news, Michelle Malkin called the military and got in touch with the Civilian Police Advisory Training Team who told here they have an officer who claims to be the AP source. His name is CPT Jamil Ghdaab and he is currently being questioned about the burning Sunnis incident. Of course, the big question is how reliable is a police witness who lies about his ...
12-18-2006 1:18 PM
jklugman
I really don't know how much people should stick it to the AP for this kind of "misspelling". My understanding is that there is no sole way to transliterate Arabic names into English, and it seems unfair to accuse the AP of a "misspelling" when it could simply be an alternative transliteration.

Michelle Malkin has apparently taken down the post where she outlined the information you give here. As of now, her last post about the police officer says just this:

A few minutes ago, I posted an update to the Jamil Hussein story. My source just informed me that he had incorrect information. I'm removing the post. I'll update as soon as I know more.
12-18-2006 1:49 PM
n2sooners
None of this still answers any of the questions of the actual story. Such as where are these four mosques that were burned? Officials only found one with minor damage. Who are the victims? There was only one name released by an anon source. That name also happens to be identical to someone who was reported kidnapped in September. This whole story was in question BEFORE the source came into question. The source actually came into question because of this story.

Also, the Jamail Hussein that may have recently been discovered at the Yarmouk station. The AP reported that their source used to work at Yarmouk, but has more recently been working from al-Khadra. So I would say it is too soon to dra...
12-18-2006 2:52 PM
n2sooners
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