Posted on 12/20/2006 5:53:15 PM PST by the anti-liberal
After receiving initial reports from a Civilian Police Advisory Training Team (CPATT) source two days ago and investigating further, here's what I can tell you:
According to two CPATT officials--one in the U.S, one in Iraq--there is no one named "Jamil Hussein" working now or ever at either at the Yarmouk or al Khadra police stations. That is what they have said all along and nothing has changed.
The Baghdad-based CPATT officer says there is no "Sgt. Jamil Hussein" at Yarmouk, which contradicts what Marc Danziger's contacts found. I have another military source on the ground who works with the Iraqi Army (separate and apart from the CPATT sources) and is checking into whether anyone named "Jamil Hussein" has ever worked at Yarmouk.
There is only one police officer whose first name is "Jamil" currently working at the Khadra station, according to my CPATT sources.
His name is Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim (alternate spelling per CPATT is "Ghulaim.") Previously, Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim worked at a precinct in Yarmouk, according to the CPATT sources. Curt at Flopping Aces has received the same info.
Now, go back and look at the full name and location information the Associated Press cited in its statement on the matter:
[T]hat captain has long been know to the AP reporters and has had a record of reliability and truthfulness. He has been based at the police station at Yarmouk, and more recently at al-Khadra, another Baghdad district, and has been interviewed by the AP several times at his office and by telephone. His full name is Jamil Gholaiem Hussein.
Let's review: AP's source, supposedly named "Jamil Gholaiem Hussein," used to work at Yarmouk but now works at al Khadra. CPATT says the one person named "Jamil" now at al Khadra -- Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim -- also used to work at Yarmouk. His rank is the same as that of AP's alleged source. His last name is almost identical to the middle name of AP's alleged source. (FYI: In Arabic, the middle name is one's father's name; the last name is one's grandfather's.)
According to the CPATT officers, Captain Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim "denies ever speaking to the AP or any other media." I retracted information to the contrary two days ago based on a single CPATT source who said he had erroneously stated that Gulaim had admitted being the source.
To repeat: Both CPATT sources in the U.S. and Iraq have confirmed that Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim denies speaking to the AP.
That leaves a couple of unanswered questions:
1. Is Jamil Ghdaab Gulaim the real name of AP's oft-cited source?
2. If not, where is "Captain Jamil Hussein" currently working?If he is a Baghdad police officer, as AP asserts, why hasn't anyone--not CPATT, not MOI, not Marc Danzinger's sources--been able to locate him?
I'll be sending these questions to AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll.
She might also want to take a look at Bob Owens' thorough post exploring the ethics of using undisclosed pseudonyms for sources. He surveyed journalists and media mavens from all parts of the ideological spectrum with these three questions:
If it is determined that a reporter has been using named source in an on-going series of stories, and that name turns out to be a pseudonym, under what circumstances would this be considered unethical behavior, and how serious a breach of ethics would this be?
Would it be compounded if the reporter insisted upon the veracity of the pseudonym?
What responsibility does the reporter bear in verifying the identity of his source?
Ms. Carroll might want to think about her answers.
See-Dubya saves her the trouble and cites AP policy:
Nothing in our news report – words, photos, graphics, sound or video – may be fabricated. We don't use pseudonyms, composite characters or fictional names, ages, places or dates.
AP's defenders are flummoxed about why this "one story" matters so much in the larger context of violence in Iraq.
See-Dubya at Junkyard Blog has compiled a very valuable map of the wide variety of Baghdad locations from which "Captain Jamil Hussein" had reported incidents of violence to the AP. I asked him to add a few other significant markers and he sent a revised map along:
This is not just one story. It is at least 61. And all of these. And this big one. It is not about conservative bloggers ignoring the bona fide, grim realities on the ground. It is about the credibility, veracity, trustworthiness, and accountability of the world's "essential global news network"--more important than ever in a time of war.
***
Eason Jordan is still looking, but has nothing new to report:
Several IraqSlogger colleagues in Baghdad are tracking leads in an effort to locate Jamil Hussein.
IraqSlogger's two biggest concerns: determining the ground truth and not losing lives in the process.
The Baghdad neighborhood where the disputed episode occurred, Hurriya, is a dangerous Shia area, while the neighborhoods where Captain Jamil Hussein is supposedly based (Yarmouk and/or Khadraa) are volatile Sunni-dominated Sunni-Shia mixed areas.
Iraqi police are themselves the frequent target of terrorist and insurgent attacks -- thousands have been killed -- and police stations are difficult-to-approach fortresses. Iraqi police have understandable anxieties and suspicions when outsiders start poking around in an effort to track down a certain police officer. Also worrisome: Some Iraqi police are alleged to be members of sectarian death squads. Bottom line: This effort to find Jamil Hussein is dangerous for all involved on the ground.
Nevertheless, since "Jamil Hussein" has been quoted in dozens of AP stories, he'd seemingly not be impossible to track down in person.
We'll get back to you with ground truth when we determine it.
How about you, Tom Zeller? Brian Montopoli? Anything new to report?
***
Blog-bashers on both sides will snidely look down their noses at these questions as "second-order distractions" by a "mob" of "imbeciles". Their thin-skinned defensiveness speaks for itself. And for those of you surprised by the vehemence of the anti-blog attitude of the Wall Street Journal, don't be. With the exception of Peggy Noonan, blog hatred seems to be a company virus (see here and here).
Brought to you by:
Michelle Malkin
A bogus source for 61 stories? AP is a disgrace.
Hey, let's cut them some slack. Anyone can make 61 honest mistakes.
Bob Owens looks at the magnitude of the AP's Jamilgate:
This developing Associated Press implosion may go back as far as two years, affecting as many as 60 stories from just this one allegedly fake policeman alone. And Jamil Hussein is just one of more than a dozen potentially fake Iraqi policemen used in news reports the AP disseminates around the world. This does not begin to attempt to account for non-offical sources which the AP will have an even harder time substantiating. Quite literally, almost all AP reporting from Iraq not verified from reporters of other news organizations is now suspect, and with good reason.Instead of affecting one show on one network watched by 14 million viewers as Rathergate did, "Jamilgate" means the Associated Press may have been delivering news of questionable accuracy to one billion people a day for two years or more. In this evolving instance of faux journalism, "60 Minutes" is now potentially 60 billion false impressions, or more.
A principled, professional news organization owes its consumers the truth. To date, the Associated Press, as voiced by comments from officers international editor John Daniszewski and executive editor Kathleen Carroll, has refused to address the rampant inconsistencies in the "burning men" story, produce physical evidence proving their allegations, or produce star source Iraqi Police Captain Jamil Hussein. Arrogantly, they attack the messenger (both U.S military and Iraqi government sources and bloggers), and insist we must believe them, even though they give us no compelling reason to do so, and many reasons to doubt them.
I have been tracking this Pulitzer Prize (in a fair world) investigative research by the Magnificent Michelle. She has incredible guts and persistence, as evidenced by endless vile racial slurs and threats of physical violence against her and her family by some moonbat thugs.
We absolutely LOVE YOU Michelle!!!
Yes, and above and beyond the faked named sources think of all the cock and bull stories their unnamed sources tell.
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Jamil Hussein Ping!
It must be a slow news day for MM!
Whoever the Iraqi police/or Iraqi police imposter, Mahdi army shill, interior ministery spy is/was, it will still be my belief that what was reported (the 6 burned alive Iraqi individuals) was not a false story.
It has been reported by the media and elsewhere since that day and even before that day there have been some horrific happenings in that town of Hurriya being carried out by men dressed in military and police uniforms. Do a google search on Hurriya. What a violent place. Most of the remainder of the Sunnis just fled a week or so ago.
But you know what really puzzles me is how Michelle Malkin and whoever else could get such a quick (almost spontaneous)response from members of the US Military to what had transpired in one town in all of Iraq. I do not think I have ever saw such a quick response from them.
What are your thoughts on that? Does Michelle and some in the media and on blogs have a red phone into the insurgency battlefield in Iraq?
Perhaps those that have all this time on their hands to communicate with bloggers and such can be put to use on the front lines or perhaps assist in training of the Iraqi military or police force, so they can get the hell up out of that hell hole and come home.
Good night, talk at you tomorrow about this. I just ran across other articles regarding this matter.
Friday, December 15th, 2006
EX-CNN CHIEF TO FLY PRO-WAR BLOGGERS TO IRAQ
Former CNN news chief Eason Jordan has invited conservative bloggers Michelle Malkin and Curt (who does not disclose his surname) of FloppingAces.com, to fly to Iraq at Jordan's expense to investigate a controversial Associated Press report claiming that Shiite militiamen burned alive six Sunnis as they left worship services last month. U.S. military officials denied the story as well as the existence of the A.P.'s primary source for it, identified in the report as Police Capt. Jamil Hussein. Malkin and Curt are among numerous conservative bloggers who have accused the A.P. in particular and the news media in general of disseminating enemy propaganda about the war. On Wednesday Jordan, who himself was forced to quit CNN after he publicly accused the military of targeting journalists covering the conflict (he later said that his remarks were misinterpreted), announced that he was creating a website, IraqSlogger.com that would attempt to present non-partisan information about the conflict, primarily from the viewpoint of ordinary Iraqis. Malkin and Curt have accepted the invitation. On Thursday, First Lady Laura Bush joined the criticism of media coverage of the war when she said during an interview on MSNBC that "the drum beat in the country from the media [about the war] ... is discouraging." She added, "I understand why the polls are what they are because of the coverage we see every day in Iraq."
http://www.movieweb.com/tv/news/58/16458.php
Okay Goodnight for real!
If AP doesn't have a mascot, well, I think you've given them one!
61* stories...
AP, a trusted source for news*
The plot thickens.
Question, has AP or any other news agency used Jamil Hussein as a source since this story broke?
Thanks for the update.
On the money Phil -
So the report of the 6 men burned at prayer time was really just "fake but accurate" reporting? Is that what you are saying?
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