Posted on 11/27/2006 3:41:07 PM PST by lowbridge
Posted by Greg Sheffield on November 27, 2006 - 13:25.
The news that six Sunnis were captured by Shiites, doused with kerosine and burned alive, was too sensational to not be picked up by the mainstream media. But it turns out that the event never happened. Furthermore, the Iraqi "spokesman" relied on to give all information regarding this event is as fictional as the story itself.
Jamil Hussein, the man news reports called "police Capt. Jamil Hussein," was the source for all information regarding the burning. Although he is mentioned by USA Today, the Associated Press, CBS News, and other outlets, Central Command says no such person exists. Centcom also asked the Associated Press to retract the story unless it has proof beyond Jamil Hussein's word.
Flopping Aces has a press release from Centcom, which is in charge of all U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Associated Press:
On Nov. 24, 2006, your organization published an article by Qais Al-Bashir about six Sunnis being burned alive in the presence of Iraqi Police officers. This news item, which is below, received an enormous amount of coverage internationally.
We at Multi-National Corps - Iraq made it known through MNC-I Press Release Number 20061125-09 and our conversations with your reporters that neither we nor Baghdad Police had any reports of such an incident after investigating it and could find no one to corroborate the story. A couple of hours ago, we learned something else very important. We can tell you definitively that the primary source of this story, police Capt. Jamil Hussein, is not a Baghdad police officer or an MOI employee. We verified this fact with the MOI through the Coalition Police Assistance Training Team.
Also, we definitely know, as we told you several weeks ago through the MNC-I Media Relations cell, that another AP-popular IP spokesman, Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq, supposedly of the citys Yarmouk police station, does not work at that police station and is also not authorized to speak on behalf of the IP. The MOI has supposedly issued a warrant for his questioning.
I know we have informed you that there exists an MOI edict that no one below the level of chief is authorized to be an Iraqi Police spokesperson. An unauthorized IP spokesperson will get fired for talking to the media. While I understand the importance of a news agency to use anonymous and unauthorized sources, it is still incumbent upon them to make sure their facts are straight. Was this information verified by anyone else? If the source providing the information is lying about his name, then he ought not to be represented as an official IP spokesperson and should be listed as an anonymous source.
Unless you have a credible source to corroborate the story of the people being burned alive, we respectfully request that AP issue a retraction, or a correction at a minimum, acknowledging that the source named in the story is not who he claimed he was. MNC-I and MNF-I are always available and willing to verify events and provide as much information as possible when asked.
Very respectfully,
LT XXXXXXXXXX X XXXXXXXX
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy
MNC-I Joint Operations Center
Public Affairs Officer
Shhhh. The Iranian Shiite Revolutionary Guards are fighting Al Qaida shoulder-to-shoulder with Coalition forces, dontcha know. Jimmy Carter even says so- Appearing Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America," former President Jimmy Carter said that "at this point everybody is waiting" for the report. "My guess is that President Bush will take their advice as much as he possibly can," he added.
Carter said he would agree with any call for direct U.S. talks with Iran and Syria over Iraq, adding: "This is one of the most counterproductive policies that I've ever known, ... not to talk to the people who disagree with you unless they agree in advance to everything you demand."
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska, a potential presidential contender in 2008, said "it's not too late for the United States to extricate itself honorably from an impending disaster in Iraq."
"If the president fails to build a bipartisan foundation for an exit strategy, America will pay a high price for this blunder one that we will have difficulty recovering from in the years ahead," Hagel wrote in Sunday's Washington Post.
Stay the course, indeed.
There's a Centcom website that has a Press Release page. I've been unable to access that page for the last half hour. Here's the main page.
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/Shared%20Documents/newsroom.aspx
Consider the number of people killed out of revenge for this non action. The media will never learn...it is all for the scoop even if it is all wrong...and people die.
So is Iraq not in a civil war now?
Cicero is there a link for this letter from the Lieutenant, U.S. Navy to the AP?
No just a new phase!
How DARE you succomb to the media reports and question the veracity of anything that comes from a source that does not bear the "Good FReepkeeping" seal? I have half a mind to ping the "stay the course" crowd so that they may beat you back into submission;) For they, and they alone have ever sent family into harms way for this great country(in Iraq). To even utter such treasonous words on a public conservative forum only shows that you might have read something published by foreign media sources. All foreign and domestic media sources now have only one agenda: the total destruction of Neoconservatism.
Should you find yourself without the supersecret Neocon password, you shall be relegated to Dinoconservative. Otherwise, welcome to critical thinking 101 =8_()
In his column in this week's Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria pulls no punches: "We're in the middle of a civil war and are being shot at by both sides. There can be no more doubt that Iraq is in a civil war, in which leaders of both its main communities, Sunnis and Shiites, are fomenting violence."
So which is worse? Believe a blatant lie that is published by AP, or believe Lt. XXXXXX? I contend that we should thoroughly vet any source. Alas, neither the press nor MNC-I nor MNF-I (the military public reporting groups) send their stories to FR for proper review and vetting prior to going to print. Live with it.
Ok. I give up...what do you mean?
Put a sock in it!
All names have been put back into my posts after ensuring I could from Centcom.
?
Never mind. I did a very radical thing. I checked back to your blog. Don't tell anyone I did, otherwise I could get...in trouble.
Rofl....
Once I got word that names were fine I put em in.
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