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UPDATE: AP Replies to New Claims Against Disputed Iraq Story
Editor and Publisher ^ | November 30, 2006 | E&P Staff

Posted on 11/30/2006 6:19:35 PM PST by faq

The U.S. military and Iraqi officials continue to question a source for a widely publicized Associated Press story about six Iraqis being set on fire last Friday -- and AP continues to stand by it, with new developments today.

The latest: A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior at a press conference today claimed that a key source in the original AP report was not a Baghdad police officer, as AP had declared. He also denounced press accounts based on alleged rumors. Hours later, Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of The Associated Press, responded in a statement sent to E&P, stating, "We are satisfied with our reporting on this incident. If Iraqi and U.S. military spokesmen choose to disregard AP's on-the-ground reporting, that is certainly their choice to make, but it is a puzzling one given the facts."

The AP had reported last Saturday that a police captain named Jamil Hussein was one of two sources for its original story. The U.S. military in a letter to the AP, along with conservative bloggers such as Michelle Malkin, heatedly charged that Hussein was fictional or in any case was not a police officer, throwing the AP account into doubt.

But AP denied this and, in any case, went back and found several more witnesses to the immolations, and issued a new report on the six deaths Tuesday -- while labeling the charges against it as "ludicrous."

Today brought the Baghdad press conference and the Iraqi official, Brig. Gen. Abdu-Karim Khalaf, charging that Capt. Hussein was not a Baghdad police officer -- and denounding media reports based on unconfirmed sources and what he said were mere rumors. Carroll then responded with her statement.

After stating that AP was "satisfied" with its reporting, she continued: "AP journalists have repeatedly been to the Hurriyah neighborhood, a small Sunni enclave within a larger Shiia area of Baghdad. Residents there have told us in detail about the attack on the mosque and that six people were burned alive during it. Images taken later that day and again this week show a burned mosque and graffiti that says 'blood wanted,' similar to that found on the homes of Iraqis driven out of neighborhoods where they are a minority. We have also spoken repeatedly to a police captain who is known to AP and has been a reliable source of accurate information in the past and he has confirmed the attack.

"By contrast, the U.S. military and Iraqi government spokesmen attack our reporting because that captain's name is not on their list of authorized spokespeople. Their implication that we may have given money to the captain is false. The AP does not pay for information. Period.

"Further, the Iraqi spokesman said today that reporting on the such atrocities 'shows that the security situation is worse than it really is.' He is speaking from a capital city where dozens of bodies are discovered every day showing signs of terrible torture. Where people are gunned down in their cars, dragged from their homes or blown apart in public places every single day.

"At the end of the day, we have AP journalists with reporting and images from the actual neighborhood versus official spokesmen saying the story cannot be true because it is damaging and because one of the sources is not on a list of people approved to talk to the press. Good reporting relies on more than government-approved sources. We stand behind our reporting."

Hussein has been used as a source in several other AP stories earlier this year.

Yesterday, USA Today's "On Deadlien" blog had asked AP spokeswoman Linda Wagner to comment on the military standing by its original claims, and she responded via e-mail: "AP has reported this attack thoroughly and diligently, speaking to police, witnesses and others who would know about the attack. We sent reporters to the area later and found additional eyewitnesses whose stories were consistent."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ap; associatedpress; jamilhussein
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To: faq
Just my take on it...


21 posted on 11/30/2006 7:28:30 PM PST by ForGod'sSake (ABCNNBCBS: An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.)
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To: Chickenhawk Warmonger

Two in one day. Bacquba was exaggerated, too. Glad to see us pushing back.


22 posted on 11/30/2006 7:33:11 PM PST by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: SouthTexas

I have a Green helmet and Orange Vest so I can be "Green Helmet Guy" Champion of Journalism at the next WH Correspondents' Dinner.


23 posted on 11/30/2006 7:33:28 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (Difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic is that the Free Clinic knows how to stop a leak.)
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To: ForGod'sSake

LOL, great Logo....


24 posted on 11/30/2006 7:34:01 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (Difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic is that the Free Clinic knows how to stop a leak.)
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To: faq
went back and found several more witnesses to the immolations

Oh, like that's going to be hard to do. If you look long enough, you can always find someone to say they saw whatever you want.

25 posted on 11/30/2006 7:36:51 PM PST by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: faq

The story would have more credibility if AP found and interviewed the families of the alleged victims. And where are the bodies? How were they disposed of?


26 posted on 11/30/2006 7:37:34 PM PST by Torie
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To: Chickenhawk Warmonger

Michelle Malkin has all the info on this phony AP "story'.
How in hell can they put out this tripe and expect not to be called on it?


27 posted on 11/30/2006 7:38:23 PM PST by Duffboy
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To: Doctor Raoul

Thanks Doc. I enjoyed making it ;^)


28 posted on 11/30/2006 7:43:19 PM PST by ForGod'sSake (ABCNNBCBS: An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.)
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To: faq

Captain Hussein?
29 posted on 11/30/2006 7:48:13 PM PST by F-117A (Hey, Borat! Come talk to these "people"!)
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To: faq

AP = Always Pimping


30 posted on 11/30/2006 7:48:20 PM PST by savedbygrace (SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST (I'M YELLING ON PURPOSE))
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To: Diogenesis

"Luke, I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."


31 posted on 11/30/2006 7:52:46 PM PST by windsorknot
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To: Right Wing Assault

How dare you deny the unquestionable veracity of enemy propaganda? Everything the press reports from Baghdad is as true as everything that they reported from New Orleans.

Do we need military intelligence (not an oxymoron) to get a glimpse of reality through the shroud of enemy propaganda? And you wonder why President Bush doesn't read newspapers...why should he?


32 posted on 11/30/2006 7:56:26 PM PST by dufekin (media-Democrat-terrorist complex: espionage, sedition, propaganda, treason, and surrender)
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To: Shermy
RE: "because one of the sources is not on a list of people approved to talk to the press.

"That's a beautiful lie. The Iraqis say he doesn't exist at all.

"[The AP employes] flipped it to make it seem they have a special source."

That's a very good point and the AP employes' attempted deception illustrates why the tsunami of MSM employee downsizing will likely continue.

33 posted on 11/30/2006 8:19:44 PM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Doctor Raoul

That works for me, make sure you get pictures. ;)


34 posted on 11/30/2006 8:47:54 PM PST by SouthTexas (Nature's answer to global warming---snow.)
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To: potlatch; Doctor Raoul



35 posted on 11/30/2006 8:57:37 PM PST by devolve ( .................always shop, invest, & hire wisely)
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To: devolve

Your great AP photo - plus a little snazzyness there!!


36 posted on 11/30/2006 9:07:36 PM PST by potlatch (Does a clean house indicate that there is a broken computer in it?)
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To: Bahbah
Give them a couple of hours and they'll email them to you. They just need to adjust a few things with the handy dandy Photoshop adjustment tools.
37 posted on 11/30/2006 9:12:01 PM PST by pollyannaish
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To: potlatch
<marquee> a little snazzyness </marquee>

38 posted on 11/30/2006 9:12:48 PM PST by devolve ( .................always shop, invest, & hire wisely)
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To: faq
...she responded via e-mail: "AP has reported this attack thoroughly and diligently, [she avoids "truthfully]

...speaking to police, witnesses and others who would know ["would know"? That's a conditional phrase. It's equivalent to "would know IF...] about the attack.

We sent reporters to the area later and found additional eyewitnesses whose stories were consistent." [Which does not mean that the story was corroborated, it only means that the four stories were the same.]

The AP weaves and parses Plausible Deniability most carefully into this e-mail. It's a work of evasion so finely polished that had he written the e-mail, impeached and disbarred former president Clinton could be proud of it.

Judge for yourselves to see if you conclude that overall, the news media are nothing less than tacit allies with the enemy.

Ugh.

.

39 posted on 11/30/2006 9:45:19 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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An AP "photographer" was actually found to be a terrorist captured by US troops in a firefight. Incredibly, AP has been pressuring to have the gunman freed, presumably so that he can continue to make propaganda for the AP's terrorist allies. What a treasonous,dishonest verminous crowd!
40 posted on 12/01/2006 5:39:57 PM PST by Godwin1
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