AP Reporter Still Using Unauthorized Sources

Qais al-Bashir, the AP reporter responsible for the burning Sunnis story, is up to the same old tricks. His article did not make it to the American media but was published in The Guardian. Guess the AP forgot about the Internet.

This time al-Bashir reported on the Baghdad Market bombing. While we know that the bombing did actually happen, the tall tale weaver ran with an inflated casualty count from one of the unauthorized sources from CentCom's list.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three parked car bombs exploded in central Baghdad on Saturday near a predominantly Shiite area packed with vendors, killing at least 91 people and wounding dozens, officials said.The bombs were about 100 yards apart in the busy al-Sadriyah shopping district and exploded nearly simultaneously, according to police Lt. Ali Muhsin.

At least 10 other parked vehicles were destroyed in the area, where vendors sell fruit, vegetables and other items such as soap. Muhsin and hospital officials said 91 people were killed and 43 were wounded.

This article was posted on December 2 at 1601. There is no time zone designated for al Bashir's report. The first report from Reuters at 0900 ET on 12/2 had the death toll at 24 but "expected to rise". Reuters' article posted at 1829 ET listed 51 deaths as did the Kim Gamel's AP posted article at 2318 ET.

So once again we have the same unreliable reporter using more unauthorized sources citing pumped up casualty figures. I guess Kathleen Carroll, the Executive Editor of the AP, was wrong when she said it was easier to tally up the death toll than to count the number of schools being rebuilt. But hey - what's an extra 40 casualties when you are stirring the Civil War pot? At least we know since the AP stands behind its reports, this type of fake reporting is condoned by them.