Friday, January 05, 2007
AP: Some 'Capt. Hussein' Proof? Yet, More Questions Remain
As last reported on Publius' Forum, the AP has been under fire for a November '06 report that 6 Iraqi Sunnis were burned alive in sectarian violence a claim that was never adequately proven and is hotly disputed by both Iraqi Government and US Military officials. And, as many Bloggers investigated (such as Michelle Malkin and Patrick Frey of Patterico's Pontifications among many more), the identity of the AP's lone source seemed impossible to establish.At last it seems some light has been shed on the existence of this capt. Hussein as we get the story from Michelle Malkin's site. Michelle has been the chief bulldog in efforts to reveal the AP's mysterious source.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media.
It looks like we just might have an answer -- though it is not yet assured that this person is, indeed, the "capt. Jamil Hussein" the AP used as a source. Still, the revelation that such a man actually exists seems to answer to the doubts that the AP actually had a live source for this story.
But it's only a start toward solving the controversies surrounding this AP story.
There are still many questions that dog this story and the AP is not out of the woods yet where it concerns the truth of whether 6 Iraqi Sunnis were burned alive or not. And that, not the existence of this capt. Hussein, has always been the central point to the dispute. The existence of the source always was a sidelight, a distraction, to the story, not the main problem.
There is not a shred of proof that the 6 burning Iraqis incident ever happened and this is an issue that the AP has still not satisfactorily addressed. There's no independent source, no burnt bodies ... little of the story has checked out other than the source, at long last. And THAT has taken over a month and a lot of recrimination and controversy to straighten out.
Central points of this story
- Did the incident ever even happen and where is the proof?
- Why does the AP publish news stories based on only one witness with no corroboration?
- How long has the AP been publishing stories on the word of only one witness?
As I wrote in my first report on this issue on NewsBusters:
And, it has always been a staple of journalism that more than one source be required to publish a story reported as "fact". After all, if only ONE source is ever needed for a story, then anyone can publish anything as "fact" merely upon any single person's say so.
The AP's inability to substantiate their source was but a small part of the questions the AP faces overs its credibility here.
Expect the AP to wash its hands of this issue, though, imagining it is a closed case now that we seem to have proof of the existence of capt. Hussein.
As for the rest of us, there is a long way to go before we could be satisfied that the AP is practicing due diligence in their reporting.
Labels: AP, bloggers, Iraq, Michelle Malkin. Media bias, Old Media, Publius Forum, Warner Todd Huston
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Kansas City Star: Muslims 'better attuned' to world politics than many 'US-raised Christians'
-By Warner Todd Huston
One does not need to look much farther than the Newspapers in the USA to understand why we may lose this war against Islamist fascism and terrorism. At the very least, the Kansas City Star's Mary Sanchez displays her desire to condemn everything American and to make excuses for Muslim terrorists.
Using the "six imams expelled from an airplane" story as a springboard to wag a finger in the face of we ignorant Americans, Sanchez warns that we just don't get it where it concerns distinguishing between "Muslims who are a threat, and those who are not."
Naturally, it isn't the fault of any Muslim, either. No, it's all the fault of those uninformed American Christians.
Funny. I missed the part where Christians flew planes into the World trade Towers, or when Christians cut off Nick Berg's head, killed journalists and soldiers, and perpetrated so many suicide bombings.
Once again, a "journalist" places the onus of understanding on us and asks nothing of those poor misunderstood Muslims -- you know, the Muslims who are perpetrating so much violence the world over?
Were she in the 1930's, Sanchez might well have been the type to plead for us to "understand" the Nazis, too.
Amusingly, Sanchez made an effort to sound like she was attempting to come from the middle ground.
An argument she promptly demolishes by claiming that Muslims are better informed on world politics.
It is a bit hard to believe that Muslims are better informed, though, considering that literacy is many times higher in the west than it is in the Muslim world. Muslims are more prone to wild-eyed conspiracy theories -- a Jew behind every door and an American paying for it -- than a Daily-Koz reader on a full pot of coffee, clutching the latest issue of Mother Jones magazine.
For Sanchez, this is another opportunity to push multiculturalism and to scold us about how racist we really are.
Then she says that "can't we all get along" is not much help because her solution is to tell us to bow to the enemy's wishes. After all, we aren't cosmopolitan enough, not worldly enough to understand those poor, put upon Muslims. Sanchez feels it her duty to let us all know that it's really all our fault anyway.
One does not need to look much farther than the Newspapers in the USA to understand why we may lose this war against Islamist fascism and terrorism. At the very least, the Kansas City Star's Mary Sanchez displays her desire to condemn everything American and to make excuses for Muslim terrorists.
Using the "six imams expelled from an airplane" story as a springboard to wag a finger in the face of we ignorant Americans, Sanchez warns that we just don't get it where it concerns distinguishing between "Muslims who are a threat, and those who are not."
Naturally, it isn't the fault of any Muslim, either. No, it's all the fault of those uninformed American Christians.
Funny. I missed the part where Christians flew planes into the World trade Towers, or when Christians cut off Nick Berg's head, killed journalists and soldiers, and perpetrated so many suicide bombings.
The only crystal-clear thing is this: similar incidents will occur. We are at the beginning of a long process to gain a better understanding of, comfort level with, Muslims in the United States.
Once again, a "journalist" places the onus of understanding on us and asks nothing of those poor misunderstood Muslims -- you know, the Muslims who are perpetrating so much violence the world over?
Were she in the 1930's, Sanchez might well have been the type to plead for us to "understand" the Nazis, too.
Amusingly, Sanchez made an effort to sound like she was attempting to come from the middle ground.
"Can't we all get along" dialogues are not going to help us much right now.
An argument she promptly demolishes by claiming that Muslims are better informed on world politics.
Many Muslims are better attuned to world politics, world faiths, than many US-raised Christians. Sometimes this is due to them being immigrants, or having closer ties to foreign lands. But erasing this global gap is a first start in disconnects between Muslims and Christians within the United States.
It is a bit hard to believe that Muslims are better informed, though, considering that literacy is many times higher in the west than it is in the Muslim world. Muslims are more prone to wild-eyed conspiracy theories -- a Jew behind every door and an American paying for it -- than a Daily-Koz reader on a full pot of coffee, clutching the latest issue of Mother Jones magazine.
For Sanchez, this is another opportunity to push multiculturalism and to scold us about how racist we really are.
Then she says that "can't we all get along" is not much help because her solution is to tell us to bow to the enemy's wishes. After all, we aren't cosmopolitan enough, not worldly enough to understand those poor, put upon Muslims. Sanchez feels it her duty to let us all know that it's really all our fault anyway.
Labels: Islam, Media Bias, Muslims, Old Media, Publius Forum, Warner Todd Huston
Editor & Publisher: Disgraced ex CNN News Chief, Eason Jordan, Attacks AP Over 6 Burning Iraqis Report
-By Warner Todd Huston
As I reported on Newsbusters the Associated Press is refusing to back down from, nor give satisfactory evidence for, its November report that 6 Iraqi Sunnis were burned alive in sectarian violence, a claim heavily disputed seemingly by everyone but the AP.
The AP based their reports of this grisly violence on the word of a single "witness" they named as Iraqi police captain, Jamail Hussein. Unfortunately for the AP, and despite quite a lot of effort by quite a few people, this captain of Iraqi police cannot be located so that the story can be substantiated. The AP, however, continues to claim that he exists despite the paucity of evidence.
And, also as reported on NewsBusters, Editor & Publisher posted a story making fun of Conservative Bloggers for attacking the AP assuming that they had discovered via a post on the Winds of Change Blog that this captain Hussein had been found. E&P gleefully claimed that folks who criticized the AP for the lack of proof of the existence of the mythical AP source, such as Michelle Malkin, would have to "eat crow" since they imagined him finally found.
Since E&P's taunting of Conservative Bloggers, no further confirmation of the existence of captain Hussein has been brought forth and his existence is still shrouded in mystery.
Well, now disgraced CNN News Chief Eason Jordan has stepped up his own criticism of the AP's refusal to settle this dispute with a plaintive call to the AP to come clean on a new site called Iraqslogger. Jordan wrapped up his call to bring the AP to account with: "Until this matter is resolved, the AP's credibility will suffer."*
Editor & Publisher dutifully reports this little conflict as if they are merely practicing good journalism while conveniently forgetting their gleeful attack of Conservative Bloggers of only three weeks ago.
Still, despite Editor & Publisher's faulty memory, this Capt. Hussein controversy rolls on making the AP out to be liars, Editor & Publisher to be partisan hacks, and Conservative Bloggers to be right... again.
* And Eason Jordan should know from suffering credibility. For some background on why Eason Jordan left CNN try this story, Blogger's Success- CNN's Eason Jordon Quits.
As I reported on Newsbusters the Associated Press is refusing to back down from, nor give satisfactory evidence for, its November report that 6 Iraqi Sunnis were burned alive in sectarian violence, a claim heavily disputed seemingly by everyone but the AP.The AP based their reports of this grisly violence on the word of a single "witness" they named as Iraqi police captain, Jamail Hussein. Unfortunately for the AP, and despite quite a lot of effort by quite a few people, this captain of Iraqi police cannot be located so that the story can be substantiated. The AP, however, continues to claim that he exists despite the paucity of evidence.
And, also as reported on NewsBusters, Editor & Publisher posted a story making fun of Conservative Bloggers for attacking the AP assuming that they had discovered via a post on the Winds of Change Blog that this captain Hussein had been found. E&P gleefully claimed that folks who criticized the AP for the lack of proof of the existence of the mythical AP source, such as Michelle Malkin, would have to "eat crow" since they imagined him finally found.
Since E&P's taunting of Conservative Bloggers, no further confirmation of the existence of captain Hussein has been brought forth and his existence is still shrouded in mystery.
Well, now disgraced CNN News Chief Eason Jordan has stepped up his own criticism of the AP's refusal to settle this dispute with a plaintive call to the AP to come clean on a new site called Iraqslogger. Jordan wrapped up his call to bring the AP to account with: "Until this matter is resolved, the AP's credibility will suffer."*
Editor & Publisher dutifully reports this little conflict as if they are merely practicing good journalism while conveniently forgetting their gleeful attack of Conservative Bloggers of only three weeks ago.
Still, despite Editor & Publisher's faulty memory, this Capt. Hussein controversy rolls on making the AP out to be liars, Editor & Publisher to be partisan hacks, and Conservative Bloggers to be right... again.
* And Eason Jordan should know from suffering credibility. For some background on why Eason Jordan left CNN try this story, Blogger's Success- CNN's Eason Jordon Quits.
Labels: AP, Eason Jordan, Media Bias, Old Media, Publius Forum, Warner Todd Huston
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