December 18, 2006
Monday Morning Jamilgate
Nothing yet from Danzinger over at Winds of Change to further his claim of possibly finding the AP's missing Iraqi Police Officer Jamil Hussein, but Patrick Frey spoke with him last night, and seems to think there might be something there:
I just got off the phone with Marc "Armed Liberal" Danziger. If everything comes together the way he hopes it will, he is going to blow the lid off of this Jam(a)il Hussein controversy. If he’s able to put together what he told me about on the phone, it's huge.I wish I could say more.
Note that Patterico, lawyer that he is, doesn't say who is going to get burned.
Patterico also catches some fact-free lefty bloggers who were jumping to conclusions that are factually incorrect, to defend a story without any physical supporting evidence, based upon a typically uncritical post from a "news" industry site run by an admitted liar and revisionist with his own admitted history of using false sources.
As I have been pushing hard for a while now, Jamil Hussein is just one aspect of this story. The Associated Press has yet to account for unsubstantiated propaganda it repeated from this story for the Association of Muslim Scholars, a group with strong ties to the insurgency that claimed 18 people were killed in "an inferno at the al-Muhaimin mosque." There is zero supporting evidence for this claim made by a terrorist-associated group, and yet the AP reported it as fact.
How is this not dishonest journalism?
How is this not supporting terrorist propaganda?
The Associated Press has been curiously silent about its still unsubstantiated claims that four mosques--Ahbab al-Mustafa, Nidaa Allah, al-Muhaimin and al-Qaqaqa--were rocketed with RPGs, fired upon with heavy machine gus and assault rifles, and set on fire, with only the intervention of U.S forces stopping the carnage.
But we know that the al-Muhaimin mosque stands undamaged, and there is zero evidence that 18 people were killed inside. We know that tow other mosques are completely undamaged as well. Only Nidaa Allah suffered minor fire damage, quickly extinguished by Iraqi firefighters, who curiously did not find 18 people burned in an inferno there or anywhere else, nor an additional six burning bodies lying in the street. Nor were U.S forces ever in Hurriyah, an area exclusively patrolled by Iraqi forces.
By all means, I hope that Danziger can provide solid evidence that he located someone named Jamil Hussein. Perhaps Hussein, once identified, can point us to which AP reporters are most responsible for the Associated Press' apparent on-going journalistic malpractice, cover-up, and fraud in this, and potentially other instances.
The 60s radicals may have been partially right:
Don't trust anyone over -30-
Update: Though he made a noble effort, Marc Danziger concludes that despite his earlier comments, Captain Jamil Hussein does not exist. What he does turn up, however is that their is a suspect sergeant by that name with ties to the dead Uday Hussein (Saddam's sadist son) and Baathist dead-enders. While Danziger won't say it, I'd posit from those details that this Sgt. Hussein is obviously a Sunni, is perhaps tied to the insurgency, and certainly not who the AP claims he is.
Nice guy that I am, I'm currently working on helping Kathleen Carroll write the apology and retraction she should have released weeks ago. Here it is.
Update: SeeDubya maps the impossibilities.
So how do you like your crow, well done, or medium rare?
Posted by: Frederick at December 18, 2006 01:18 PMIt seems many people are putting a whole lotta faith in Liberal Avenger based solely on his screen name. By his own admission, he is not sure how his investigation will affect the current debate. Now that he has everyone's attention, he is going to have to produce something.
Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at December 18, 2006 01:51 PMPlease tell me, Fred, why I should have to eat crow?
The AP claims that Jamil Hussein has been a known source of theirs for two years, and yet they have been unable to provide a single shred of evidence over the past three weeks that shows he exists. In contrast, the Iraqi Interior Ministry officially disputes he exists at any level of the interior ministry or police force, at any rank or level.
The AP claims that four mosques were rocketed, machine-gunned, and burned, with a total body count of 24 dead. There has been zero physical evidence brought forth that so much as a single soul died. Not one.
The Associated Press uncritically quoted an insurgent-related group as a source for three-quarters of the deaths claimed, without letting readers know that they are widely considered to be affiliated with terrorists. Nor does the AP have the integrity to admit that the mosque where these 18 were "killed" lies completed unaffected, undamaged, and unsoiled. 3 of the 4 mosques have no damage at all, and the fourth had minor damage and no injuries. The AP has refused to issue a retraction, and continues to propagate a lie refuted by the Iraqi Defense, Interior, and Health Ministries.
Please explain to me why, Fred, when the AP has been unable to substantiate a series of terrorist attacks and murders without a single shred of physical or photographic evidence after three weeks of counterclaims, and in opposition to official pronouncements from multiple government agencies that the physical evidence (or lack thereof) is in direct contradiction to the AP’s claims, should feel the least bit defensive?
I do not, in any way, have any reason to be firing up the grill, unless you want me to continue my roast of the AP's shoddy fact-checking, uncritical parroting of insurgent propaganda, and inability to substantial the basic facts of their stories or validate the credibility of long-running sources.
The AP is guilty of continued fraud and faith-based reporting in at least this instance, and you and so many of your compatriots carry so much ideological hatred that you are actually eager to swallow their dung and pronounce it ambrosia.
If anyone should be feeling defensive, Fred, it should be those uncritical liberal bloggers far more interested in continuing their narrative than acknowledging the deep structural flaws in the AP’s reporting of this story.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at December 18, 2006 01:52 PMCY
I would let the leftists cook all the crow they want...let them put down some fine linens and sterling for the feast.
As you know, I smelled a rat creeping out when the leftists started to congeal on the issue of "finding" the Captain and Jamil...but combined with complete and utter silence on all the core subjects from the AP and the other parrots and lemmings already there.
That simply does not compute. There's a trick up somebody's sleeve here. I can sense it.
And, if I was a leftist sitting in the wings grinning like a babu'n...and ready to ululate and pass out candy...I might not call the confectioner just yet.
There's more to this story than meets the eye, but when it's all said and done...whatever the trick is, is JUST as likely to blow up in the face of the goofs who are about to try to pull it off....if this is indeed a trick.
I still smell a rat. And now that we've begun to see his shadow...he lists leftward when he minces across the floor. Patience. Let them cook crow all they want. We'll just wait to see who has to eat it.
