Mark Tapscott – Washington Examiner;
You probably have heard of the AP story that started it – a horrifying dispatch from Iraq the day after Thanksgiving claiming that six Sunnis had been doused with kerosene as they left their mosque following Friday prayers and burned alive by Shiite-aligned militiamen.
The story, which was quickly picked up by virtually every major news organization in the world, also claimed that “the Shiite-dominated police and Iraqi military” stood by doing nothing as the six people were gruesomely murdered. The story was sourced to “police Captain Jamil Hussein.”
The problem is there appears to be no such person as Captain Jamil Hussein, at least not who is employed by the Iraqi police. The U.S. military says Hussein doesn’t exist and has demanded that AP issue a correction. The Iraqi government says no such person is on its police payroll.
Things have gotten progressively worse for AP since those initial questions about “Hussein” were raised by U.S. and Iraqi officials. A firestorm of criticism has exploded in the Blogosphere as bloggers have researched the names of more than a dozen Iraqi- named sources of apparently doubtful credibility that have appeared in AP stories.
[…]
It’s time for AP to take the same sort of approach to resolve the Captain Jamil Hussein controversy. But there is one big difference between the present issue and the Dan Rather/”60 Minutes” ordeal – AP provides news to virtually every daily newspaper in America. AP is a cornerstone of the mainstream media. If AP’s credibiilty is harmed, every news organization that uses its products also suffers.
Thus, AP should ask the American Society of Newspaper Editors to oversee the appointment and conduct of an independent panel of respected journalists and outside evidentiary experts to determine the truth behind Captain Jamil Hussein and all other sources similarly in doubt.
This is no isolated event – Flopping Aces has discovered Capt. Hussein is the source cited for over 60 AP stories – and he’s not the first to be found questionable;
His partner in crime Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq was mentioned as a source in 23 articles until the Iraqi government issued a warrant out for his arrest for impersonating a government official.
You will recall the highly publicized retraction of the articles tainted by Razzaq’s involvement.
No?
Previous.
Associated Press.
uhuh. ‘associated’ with who ???
One would think the Lawyers are seeing liable cases here worth $$Billions. Any precedents ??
“Reality doesn’t interest me”.
Leni Riefenstahl
Ms Riefenstahl was primarily a filmmaker, NOT a journalist by any means; her works were the lengthy stirring and inspiring stuff movie makers are best at (Ive seen ‘triumph of the will’), NOT the 15 second sound bites of todays automatic rifle paced delivery. her proximity to and popularity amongst the nazi hierarchy cost her her career after the war but not her freedom as I recollect.
‘ass’ociated press has likewise become a propaganda tool. whose career will end over this?
just sent this email to info@ap.org, the address on their web site for ‘press releases’:
jeezuz murphy AP.
this is jamil hussein. have you people got any idea how much heat you put on me when you clammed up about the 6 burning sunnis?
hey maybe it was an exaggeration but it sure sells papers right?
fuk. you people got me holed up like that other hussein whut just got sentenced to a short stay on the end of a rope.
can I sign up for some sort of modified witness protection thingy?
so we still got a deal for more stories, eh? should I hold or sell my AP stock ?????
LOL !!!
AP should be arrested for impersonating a news organization.
They have taken a page from Michael Moore…. 🙂
AP has already begun circling the wagons….other MSM are reluctant to admit they are complete suckers.
See USS Neverdock
If the truth had ever been mentioned or reported on re Iraq this war would have been over years ago. In their hatred of Bush and the republicans, the Democrats have used these lies, supplied by the msm, to get back in power. They didn’t care about all the military deaths, if it meant votes for them. The truth always outs, but in many cases it comes out much too late. Cdns are being lied to the same way about Kyoto. Check out private members bill C341, and see who authored it. Chretain blasted this bill and almost lost Que. 6 mos after the referendum Dion was elected and is given credit for the Clarity Act. Funny, the liberals defeated it 6 mos before Dion was ever an MP. List all the things liberals stole, money, respect, the Clarity Act, but no matter, the msm will continue to lie and try to tell us Kyoto can be met and will never tell us it will cost cdns over 1Billion/year to do it. We all know that politicians use double speak but with Dion it is worse. When you have to have your english translated into english that is too much. Can’t wait for the media to jump all over Harper when he mispronounces a french word. And, imagine all the money spent over the years on the status of woman, who was the woman that deserved all that money and publicity. Maybe Ms Hussey.
Or go to the source of the Outing:
http://www.floppingaces.net/
Does CP accept AP feeds and restate them for Canadian MSM?
How does this affect Canadian Press?
How many stories has CP fed Canadian MSM and used “Captain Jamil Hussein” as the source?
Captain Jamil Hussein indeed!
Besides, Canadians already know first hand how Christina Lewand and the producers at CBC manipulated a Harper news conference a few months ago.
Doesn’t that indicate just what Canadian MSM are capable of?
If the Jamil Hussein story is proven to be an AP falsehood then CP also will also be kissed off as unreliable source and basically a manipulator of
Canadians.
It would appear that the internet blogs are putting AP on trial worldwide and the verdict does not favour AP or CP for that matter. .
AP more lies from these lying liberal reptiles and why you cant trust them at all
The MSM likes to consider itself the Journalistic Profession. Is their any other profession, from accountants to zoologists, that doesn’t have an accepted codified set of high standards to which all it’s members are expected to conform their work?
Yet the MSM in it’s arrogance and fear of losing it’s markets and power, is loathe to adopt and enforce the most rudimentary set of professional standards of accuracy, thoroughness, dispassionate unbiasness and accountability.
AP is just the MSM and therefore just a big bunch of lefty lying wankers. Anything with AP or a Reuters byline should be just read as the joke of the day. Hell even Garfield is not as funny as these clowns.
I can’t believe you’re still flogging this drivel.
AP stands by its source.
The US military has been exposed as planting lies and propaganda in the Iraqi press and the bush II regime has been exposed paying pundits to shill for government policies as if they were independent analysis.
The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior is dominated by Shiite fanatics who have been torturing people with power-tools. Quite often rival Sunnis.
Of course all these parties are going to deny a Sunni police captain’s reports about atrocities against Sunnis.
And, once again, what is the point of this??? Are you trying to assert that Iraq is not engulfed in sectarian violence? Are you?
But you know, if you people had been as skeptical and diligent about WMDs, there wouldn’t be quite so many dead and maimed US soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis.
Note: the only woes that AP is really suffering appears to be the sturm und drang in the discredited right-wing blogosphere.
When you’re done reading the link, thwap, I suggest you review the presentations leading up to the Iraq war to the UN, by their chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix. When you’re finished, a google search should be able to provide you a catalogue of the sarin shells and chemical precursors that have also been recovered.
I’ve already read your links. You appear unable to answer my very simple and oft-repeated question; what is the point of this? tell me, are you trying to insist that Iraq is actually a peaceful wonderland?
Re: Blix, … he says the war was illegal, he says that the evidence was hyped,
http://www.amazon.com/Disarming-Iraq-Hans-Blix/dp/0375423028
Now, how about you think for yourself, …then again, given your track record that might not be such a good idea! 😉 … let me spell it out for you, … there were no WMDs.
Even David Kay acknowledged this. Check out the book Hubris for more of the bush II regime’s stupididy.
http://www.amazon.com/Hubris-Inside-Story-Scandal-Selling/dp/0307346811/sr=1-1/qid=1165430893/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3650891-8022058?ie=UTF8&s=books
You’ve got nothing Kate. But that doesn’t stop you does it. What did Goebbels say?
Hey Thwap…..What did Goebbels say?
Goebbels said,…idiots like you are a dime a dozen…go back and read some more Lenin …stupid usefull idiot.!
thwap, what’s the point of the general backdrop of Iraq, what’s it got to do with AP’s questionable journalism ethics? Two different and unrelated issues.
If you worked as a detective on the police force it would be a bit stupid spending your time debating the merits of the wallpaper at a homicide scene. It doesn’t matter. Captain Jamil Hussein, he exists or he doesn’t?
Think you can stay on task?
penny,
What’s the point of the general backdrop in Iraq to this story?
1. Okay, let’s pretend that the only motivation in the right-wing blog-o-sphere is that this isolated incident might point to an underlying, and hitherto unnoticed, pattern which would establish that the mainstream media is biased and unreliable.
Fine. I agree. It is.
But before we establish that this particular incident establishes this unreliability, we have to look at who is disputing AP’s story. The US Army and the Iraqi MOI. I have already given you links to establish that these two sources are themselves unreliable, and themselves have a motivation to dispute this story.
It’s the word of one source against two other sources, and in this context, I think I’ll go with AP.
I notice that this Tapscott from the Washington Examiner also quotes a NYT’s reporter. Which is pretty hilarious given that the NYT is another unreliable mainstream media source.
“Tapscott: Washington Examiner
Thanks to a reporter at The New York Times, the controversy is not likely to go away. Tom Zeller said “it is important to find out if this really happened in order to separate the hyperbole from the merely horrible.”
In other words, Zeller seems unconvinced that the story reported by AP of six Sunnis being horribly burned ever actually took place. Zeller also noted in a separate post on his blog that a Times colleague in Iraq was unable to verify the story and in fact cast serious doubt on its legitimacy. A Time magazine correspondent also was unable to confirm the story, describing the burnings as “alleged.”
3. But I suppose that the point is that the mainstream media is biased against bush II, or the war in Iraq, or whatever: That essentially, it’s a “liberal” or “left-wing” bias.
Not so fine. I disagree. If you’re going to assert this, you’ll have to account for FOX, you’ll have to account for Judith Miller’s behaviour at the NYTs. You’ll have to account for the colossal failure to dismiss the infamous aluminum tubes, you’ll have to account for the daily cheerleading of the brave troops in Iraq that I see everytime I click on CNN. You’ll have to account for a flood of contrary evidence pointing to a pro-administration bias.
3. Now, if you want to pretend that the US Army, the Iraqi MOI, the right-wing, pro-war blog-o-sphere doesn’t have a wider agenda in disputing this incident, that’s your business, but I’ll say that you’re wrong.
It seems obvious that the agenda here is to cause us to doubt the atrocity stories that are coming out of Iraq daily. It seems that this is part of a lame exercise to establish that Iraq is much safer than it appears to be in the media. In other words, bush II’s incompetent thuggery hasn’t produced a nightmare for a country of 25 million people.
Well, it’s a little late for that. He has, it is, and your ridiculous protests aren’t going to change that.
4. And the wider point is that, that having been said, who the heck do you people think you are to be criticizing others for being inaccurate and gullible?!?
I note this gem from the links Kate provided:
“Flopping Aces”:
Meanwhile all we get from the AP is “we are happy with the reporting on this story.” That’s it. Don’t bother to produce this Jamil Hussein with proof of employment. Don’t bother finding the families of those supposedly burnt. We get nothing but smug silence, as if WE are the ones that need to prove our case.
Tell you what Mr. Flopping Aces, … why don’t you go to Iraq and do the reporting if you think it’s so easy?
http://bocaguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/cowards-turned-out-to-be-right.html
Actually its exactly the opposite. We have produced enough evidence that this story is a fraud and it is now up to them to provide some HARD evidence that we are wrong. No unnamed witnesses. No fake policemen. So basically they need to do what any honest hardworking reporter would have done before going to print with this story, fact check the damn thing.
I really hope that you read the link I provided before reading Mr. F-A’s stupid commentary above.
No, actually, Mr. F-A, you haven’t done any bloody work. You’ve taken on faith the counter-claims of two other compromised sources. And you’re asking the AP to risk their lives to jump through your hoops.
This is our MSM at work folks. They use frauds as sources for articles and then have the gall to wonder what all the ruckus is about.
This is the right-wing at work folks. They’ve swallowed every single lie, they’ve been wrong, wrong, wrong, …. wrong in a big way, a huge way, and hundreds of thousands have paid for it with their lives and their blood.
The right-wing has defended indefinite detention, they have belittled the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners HELD WITHOUT CHARGES, they have cheered the demise of Habeas Corpus, … oh dear, I could go on.
But for a group of clowns to have been so horribly, terribly, stupidly wrong, for so long, so consistently, … to have the gall, the sheer gall, to imagine that we have to take you seriously, is breathtaking.
sargew wonders why you folks is gonin’ on and on about this crap. sarge agrees though the ap should stick to reporting better documented civilians tortured with electric drill before being humanely shot or begeaded as this is a much nicer way to be killed in civil war
sarge thinks thwap does nice work but sarge thinks arguin’ with these samll dead manimals folks is like diggin’ ditches in a fetid swamp-no matter how fast ya dig the hole just fills back in. if not for all them dead folks old sarge would find all of this purty darn funny the insane kate and miss penny the most funny if not for sarges little buddy SGT maida dyin in this damn mess and the very probable demise of the america sarge knows and loves sarge could laugh but instead sarge has rage for this crazed human scum what helped make it all possible. sarge is especially irritated at little canukifacci who meddle in such politics with no sons or daughters dyin for it some of you folks better hope sarge never meets ya face to face sarge might be tempted to emote some of yer teeth out