NB contributor Bob Owens has a great piece over at Pajamas Media on how he helped spot yet another instance of the Western press getting snookered by a fake news story promulgated by terrorists in Iraq. Once again, the media's desire to portray Iraq as a total disaster let them get tricked:
On Thursday, June 28, The Associated Press—and to a lesser extent, Reuters, and a small independent Iraqi news agency—ran stories claiming that 20 decapitated bodies had been found on or near the banks of the Tigris River in Um al-Abeed, a village near Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad.
By 8:10, Thursday morning, I’d fired off the first of a series of queries to Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) Public Affairs and current and former liaisons with the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior Civilian Police Assistance Training Team (CPATT) Public Affairs Office, asking what they knew of this claim. I was immediately suspect because of the dubious sourcing prominently noted in one version of the original Associated Press story:
The dead — all men aged 20 to 40 years old — had their hands and legs bound, and some of the heads were found next to the bodies, the officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. The bodies were found in the Sunni Muslim village of Um al-Abeed, near the city of Salman Pak, which lies 14 miles southeast of Baghdad. One of the police officers is based in Baghdad and the other in Kut, 100 miles southeast of the capital. The Baghdad officer said he learned of the discovery because Iraq’s Interior Ministry, where he works, sent troops to the village to investigate. The Kut officer said he first heard the report through residents of the Salman Pak area.Some other versions of the story (indeed, the most common variation) carried by American and international media outlets buried the distant locations of the two anonymous police sources six paragraphs further down in the story, under an account of a bus station bombing in Baghdad.
One can only guess why the Associated Press saw fit to distance the claim from the location of the sources, and only the editors at Fox News saw and corrected the Associated Press story to correctly pair the paragraphs stating the claimed mass beheading and the distant location of the story’s anonymous “police” sources.
—Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and its Executive Editor.
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Whoever okayed this fake st
July 4, 2007 - 19:00 ET by Jack BauerWhoever okayed this fake story should lose their head over this.
... oh, man ...
July 4, 2007 - 19:02 ET by dahliatravers... oh, man ...
At the very least , jobwise
July 5, 2007 - 03:58 ET by Jack BauerAt the very least , jobwise.. he must be for the chop .
Losing one's mind with this s
July 4, 2007 - 19:19 ET by FastEdLosing one's mind with this story, huh JB? 'tis an unfair cut, to say, losing ones' head - sort of a close shave, maybe? Then, who would have heard it? And who's to say, the teller may have been a faqir?!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
Further proof about the AP
July 4, 2007 - 19:16 ET by c5thenThey are taking crude propaganda from the terrorists and cleaning it up and improving it and then publishing it. If that is not aiding and abetting the enemy then I'm a super model.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic
That so - looking like this?
July 4, 2007 - 19:20 ET by FastEdThat so - looking like this? (please say NO!)
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
It was only a movie, it was only a movie, it was only a movie...
July 4, 2007 - 19:41 ET by RiharAAAAAAH! Don't DO that! Now I won't get to sleep tonight FastEd.
When a liberal speaks, the truth is busy elsewhere.
Matt - one would think that w
July 4, 2007 - 19:27 ET by FastEdMatt - one would think that with all the "teaching" going on in "J" school, and with all the "experts", who are now and have been "reporting", using the who, what, where, when, why(?), and how(?) of real journalism, someone, somewhere, would have "checked" the story. Is this what we have to look forward to, from our cowards in the msm (Lsm)?
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
1000's of faked stories
July 4, 2007 - 19:44 ET by Lame CherryConsider that Reuters is the globalist outlet for propaganda and the AP is the communist outlet for leftist stories there is nothing surprising about this.
The current trend has been 2 factions at work. One can see the Iran and Syrian stories being planted to help prepare the west for what looks like a certain strike on Iran and Syria either in response to bin Laden's new WMD attacks or whatever other fuse the globalists light to get this ball game rolling.
The other faction is the MSM looking to run any story to install Hillary and keep Gordon Brown in power.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
A War declaration would solve
July 4, 2007 - 20:16 ET by acadia1755A War declaration would solve all this leftist/socialist propaganda would it not?
The Liberals have become what they hate.
As a loyal American and dev
July 4, 2007 - 20:17 ET by Dave RAs a loyal American and devout libertarian, I believe very strongly in the First Amendment, as well as freedom-of-the-press, as much as anyone. Apparently, my support for same surpasses that of even 99% of the liberals in this country (See "Fairness Doctrine").
Now, I am certainly no lawyer, but given that we are essentially in a state of war, is there absolutely nothing that can be done about these MSM types who, whether they intend to or not, are aiding our enemies in this conflict?
There have just been too many incidents of this nature to be merely explained away as accidents and anomalies.
Many in our very own media, along with the current leadership of the Democrat Party, appear to want this country to be defeated in this conflict, and I am not just referring to Iraq or Afghanistan, either. I am talking about the entire GWOT.
In my mind, this reprehensible & inexcusable behavior by certain elements of the MSM should trigger more than a few criminal prosecutions, particularly in the NYT and WAPO neighborhoods, where this sort of thing seems to happen habitually.
Is there nothing that can be legally done? If something can be done and isn't, is it due to our "Justice Department" being asleep at the wheel? Is it because a majority of Americans no-longer give a damn?
What?
Abraham Lincoln would have never tolerated this sort of thing. Why does George W. Bush?
Help Fred defeat the RINOs, along with the Hitllary-Obama Axis, & win the White House in '08.
i believe that we are actuall
July 5, 2007 - 00:16 ET by PKi believe that we are actually in a state of war.
didn't congress approve of that about 6-7 years ago?
C
When the hate is strong
July 4, 2007 - 21:11 ET by acadia1755When one is ready willing and able to hate and swallow the Propaganda this is the kind off discussion I end up having with some Friends on another site.
This was one statement I found offensive and I ask.
"The demonization of Al Quaida is unfortunate as it is entirely a creation of American and Israeli policy, with most of the credit going to the USA, except pro Greater Israel backers"
I asked: Am I the Only one who is offended by this?
The answer below.
Yes, you ARE "the only one".
Think about it. The Americans claimed Al Qaida was hand and glove with Saddam.... bull***. They claimed that Al Quaida was the "insurgents" in Iraq.......bull***, they claimed that Al Quaida had a bomb/munitions factory in Sudan......bull***. But NOW, because of Bush and Cheney's gunslinger "we'll do whatever we f****** like", Al Quaida IS bigger better and meaner!!
The biggest threat to peace is the USA. And has been for many years.
The Liberals have become what they hate.
you see its like this.they tr
July 5, 2007 - 00:21 ET by PKyou see its like this.
they traced the 9/11 thing directly to osama and his buddy the outhouse rat.
as far as iraq is concerned.
it just wasn't "good buddy Saddams" day.
get over it.
C
Try using facts - "Al-Qa
July 5, 2007 - 14:38 ET by FastEdTry using facts - "Al-Qaeda grew out of the Services Office, a clearinghouse for the international Muslim brigade opposed to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the Services Office—run by bin Laden and the Palestinian religious scholar Abdullah Azzam—recruited, trained, and financed thousands of foreign mujahadeen, or holy warriors, from more than fifty countries. Bin Laden wanted these fighters to continue the "holy war" beyond Afghanistan. He formed al-Qaeda around 1988." - from the Council on Foreign Relations. And add this question "Do you believe these terrorists when they state that they want to kill us - all of us - even the demolibs?" If they answer No, then walk away and don't go back. If they answer Yes - ask them Why? Why do they hate us so? Could it be that they don't have the smarts to better themselves?
Point this out - other than the astrolab (and that might be a Greek invention) what, if any, "modern invention has come out of the arab region of the world? Electricity, radio, autos, tv, computers, advances in medicine, poetry, any of the sciences or social sciences -
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V