Reuters Revives Bogus Mr. Baghdadi as Al Qaeda-Iraq Spokesman

Can I get an "argh"?

As detailed here, "Abu Omar al-Baghdadi" was long-ago outed as a figment of al Qaeda-in-Iraq's imagination, a transparent attempt to give a home-grown flavor to the foreign-controlled AQI operation by claiming that the non-existent Baghdadi, supposedly an Iraqi, was AQI's leader.

But despite the debunking of the bogus Mr. Baghdadi, the environmentally-sensitive Reuters recycles him today in its story "Al Qaeda-linked leader orders Iraq bombings".

Writes Reuters[emphasis added]:

The leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-linked group forced on the defensive by its former tribal allies, ordered a renewed bombing campaign against Iraqi security forces in a Web message on Tuesday.

"This campaign should be based on explosives and its target should be the apostates ... wearing uniforms and all those who fight alongside the occupiers," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi said in an audio recording posted on an Islamist Web site.

"Every soldier (militant) is to detonate at least three bombs by the end of the campaign," he said.

Not a word from Reuters alerting its readers to the minor issue that, by all indications, its cited source . . . doesn't exist.