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Report: CNN May Have Been Duped By Fake ‘Syrian Prisoner’
YouTube ^ | 12/16/2024 | JOHN HAYWARD

Posted on 12/16/2024 2:15:44 PM PST by SmokingJoe

CNN aired a high-profile report last week in which journalist Clarissa Ward ostensibly discovered a “forgotten prisoner” languishing in a windowless cell in Syria. The man claimed he had been arrested by dictator Bashar Assad three weeks earlier and was not aware the Assad regime had since been overthrown by rebels. On Sunday, an independent news service claimed CNN’s celebrity prisoner was actually a Syrian intelligence agent who tricked the network into giving him positive media coverage.

Ward, who is CNN’s chief international correspondent, found the “prisoner” huddled beneath a blanket when she entered the headquarters of Syrian air force intelligence in Damascus accompanied by a rebel fighter, who dramatically shot the locks off prison doors as they explored the facility.

The seemingly abandoned prisoner they discovered said his name was Adel Ghurbal. He claimed he was arrested three months earlier and left behind in his windowless cell when the intelligence facility was abandoned. He said he had not been given food or water for three days, the time elapsed since the victorious rebels entered Damascus and drove Assad into exile.

Ward dramatically escorted the prisoner to freedom, soothingly repeating “you’re okay, you’re okay.” She would later describe the encounter as “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” during her twenty-year career as a journalist.

----- SNIP =====

The network’s social media campaign immediately ran into pushback from alert viewers who said some of the details of the story did not add up.

On Sunday, a Syrian independent news platform called Verify-SY called CNN’s report a hoax, identifying the “prisoner” as a Syrian air force intelligence officer named Salama Mohammad Salama, also known as “Abu Hamza.”

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bababooey; babaooey; clarissaward; clintonnonnnews; cnn; fakenews; salamamohammadsalama; syria
Yet another case of made up, fake journalism from legacy news media?
1 posted on 12/16/2024 2:15:44 PM PST by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe

Is this news? We are now going to make a big deal every time CNN is duped? Don’t expect to do much else.


2 posted on 12/16/2024 2:19:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: SmokingJoe
May have been?!

When the Weeping Torture Victim You Save...

3 posted on 12/16/2024 2:23:42 PM PST by Rummyfan ( In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.)
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To: SmokingJoe

LOL. This is perfect. CNN is such a group of self-righteous stooges. Double and triple fact-checking!!!!


4 posted on 12/16/2024 2:23:53 PM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: SmokingJoe

So dumb they were exploited.
Even with the “brain trust” of Wolf Blitzer, David Axelrod, Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash, Van Jones, Abby Phillip and Jake Tapper?

They had an experiment to link their brains together and attach them to an electrical device. It first lit up a night light, the bulb flickered, flashed and then went out.


5 posted on 12/16/2024 2:24:42 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

RE: a group of self-righteous stooges

Funny and true but please be respectful toward the Three Stooges, greatly revered by many of us here.


6 posted on 12/16/2024 2:27:21 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: SmokingJoe

#3

Prisoner CNN helped free from Syrian prison was actually notorious Assad regime torturer: report

12/16/2024 8:32:26 AM PST · by Red Badger · 16 replies
NY Post ^ | December 16, 2001 | Patrick Reilly

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4284800/posts

Syrian Prisoner Freed by CNN’s Clarissa Ward May Have Been Intelligence Officer in Hiding

12/15/2024 7:10:20 PM PST · by Roberts · 26 replies
The Wrap ^ | 12/15/24 | Bruce Haring

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4284724/posts


7 posted on 12/16/2024 2:34:48 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: SmokingJoe

Duping is CNN’s job. It’s about time someone turned the tables on them.


8 posted on 12/16/2024 3:15:39 PM PST by sphinx
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To: SmokingJoe

I’m surprised the guy got out alive. It seems like the real prisoners, some whom were probably tortured by this guy, would have exacted retribution when things collapsed.


9 posted on 12/16/2024 3:35:36 PM PST by power2 (JMJ)
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To: SmokingJoe

If the Syrian sources are correct, CNN let themselves be tricked.


10 posted on 12/16/2024 3:38:17 PM PST by Paul R. (Bin Laden wanted Obama killed so the incompetent VP, Biden, would become President!)
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To: Paul R.

Which is normal for CNN.


11 posted on 12/16/2024 3:52:42 PM PST by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe
Ward dramatically escorted the prisoner to freedom, soothingly repeating “you’re okay, you’re okay.” She would later describe the encounter as “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” during her twenty-year career as a journalist.

It sure turned out to be, didn't it.

What an embarrassment.

12 posted on 12/16/2024 4:10:13 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: SmokingJoe

WELL OP it WORKED. You put their names on the front page.


13 posted on 12/16/2024 6:48:40 PM PST by jdt1138 (Where ever you go, there you are.)
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