HT Flopping Aces

*****SCROLL FOR UPDATES*****

Doesn't anyone ever check their stories anymore?

RBT

*****

Yesterday there were two incidents that I wrote about involving the use of enemy propagandists by our MSM. Now take a look at the latest “all hell is breaking loose” report on Iraq, from the AP of course:

[...]

As we have learned quite well over the years the enemy will try to stir the pot with doctored photo’s or outright lies as Patterico documented. Now the story about those Sunni’s being burned alive appears to have been a fairy tale also.

You think we will hear that this raid on two houses maybe embellished also?

I mean the only think I can take away from this report that has a ring of truth to it is the fact that the US and Iraqi forces engaged the enemy north of town killing up to 60 more of the enemy.

[...]

But it appears that our MSM is getting the “anarchy” stories from the enemy themselves. That cannot be trusted. I mean the big story yesterday was these six burned alive and now no one can find any evidence that this happened except the word of the enemy.

How many more of these stories are embellished?

[...]

Read More

Update:

Curt of Flopping Aces has continued running this story to ground. Curt has uncovered further information and has started a new thread.

RBT

*****

Getting The News From The Enemy, Update

Ok, I broke down and started a new thread for updates. The original one is just getting waaaayyyy too long. If your just coming into this story go here to get all the facts on how a bogus Iraqi Police Officer has been supplying quotes to the AP.

I found this transcript from MSNBC in which they refer to the Burning Six bogus story as one reason why they have now decided to call the Iraq situation a “civil war”

[...]

And there you have it. It has begun. The MSM has been using bogus officials to supply chaos to their stories and based on those same stories has decided Iraq is now a official civil war.

Make sense?

[...]

**Want to take a moment to thank Michelle Malkin, LGF, Lucienne and Lorie Byrd for some great help getting this story out into the blogosphere. With the help of those great bloggers and the following blogs I hope the MSM and the AP specifically can’t ignore us for too long and we can get some answers from them about their use of propagandists to fill stories.

*****

I posted these words of encouragement to Curt in his latest thread:

Great work Curt!

Keep it up. Hopefully the MSM will eventually have to pick this up. I posted an excerpt of your piece on a local newspaper blog and they about drove me off the site re questioning the veracity of the MSM. They were suggesting I should line my roof with tin foil et al.

Go figure the folks in Eastern WA and ID are pretty conservative. Shows you the level of awareness/mindset of what is really going on even in conservative enclaves.

We must continue to out the MSM for its lapses in objectivity etc., as the enemy is definitely exploiting this in the war of information. Iraq is nothing like Vietnam but it will be if we let the MSM continue to spew disinformation.

If you interested see this thread at Huckleberries online. It's run by an assistant editor of the Spokesman-Review who apparently Michelle Malkin knows.

RBT

Update II:

HT The Belmont Club

Kudos to Flopping Aces

CENTCOM is demanding the retraction of an AP story that six men were burned after being dragged by militias from a mosque, after AP source "Police" Capt. Jamil Hussein turned out not be a policeman, says Hot Air. The story was originally broken by Flopping Aces who showed the AP had used this fake policeman as a source over and over again over an extended period of time.

Some news outlets are now going to officially refer to Iraq as a Civil War. Two questions. Does that mean the Sunni insurgency "loses" seeing as they succeeded in rousing the majority of Iraq's population against them in addition to getting beat up by the US military? Or do they, by "magical realism", get to claim victory over America, even after America is called upon to save their a..? Second, to what extent does the news media claim credit for stoking the official Civil War with their fake stories? Sorry. Wrong questions.

[...]

Read More

*****

And from Riehl World:

al-AP Makes It Worse

I already linked to Flopping Aces, read his bust of the AP here. Given that, or even aside from it, should this, via the AP, be the main Iraq story in the Chicago Tribune today?

Separately, police and witnesses said U.S. soldiers shot and killed 11 civilians and wounded five on Sunday night in the Baghdad suburb of Husseiniya.

"We were sitting inside our house when the Americans showed up and started firing at homes. They killed many people and burned some houses," said one of the witnesses, a man with bandages on his head who was being treated at Imam Ali Hospital in the Shiite slum of Sadr City. The police and witnesses spoke with Associated Press Television News on condition of anonymity to protect their own security.

The military denies any operation in the area, still the AP feels compelled to print this trash from sources who won't even identify themselves?

The U.S. military said it had no record of any American military operation in the area.

Will anyone hold the AP to account? Or will the above be headlining the MSM network coverage tonight?

Read More

*****

From LGF:

Getting The News From The Enemy 2

Curt at Flopping Aces has received confirmation from CENTCOM that “Iraqi police Capt. Jamil Hussein,” cited as a source (often the only source) in a long string of media articles about murders and atrocities in Iraq (including the recent report of 6 people burned alive), is not a police officer, nor is he employed by Iraq’s Interior Ministry: Getting The News From The Enemy (Updated).

[...]

Read More

*****

Michelle Malkin weighs in with:

The media fog of war

*****

From The Anchoress:

What’s a few fake spokesmen between friends? - UPDATED

[...]

Flopping Aces is making a very serious charge against the mainstream media. If what he is laying out proves to be more than a suspicion, well…then the “mediating intelligences” and “high priests” in the press need to address it, for the sake of their “church,” their credibility and ummmm…yes, dammit, the sake of our soldiers and our nation.

I’m not holding my breath for that, but still.

Whoops, hold on, Curt’s got an update: Centcom says it never happened. Of course the press will believe anonymous sources over Centcom, but I’m still willing to take the word of an officer in the US Military over others.

[...]

Read More

*****

And finally Curt makes the big time with a link from Instapundit:

MORE REPORTS OF BOGUS IRAQ STORIES FROM A.P.: Kind of makes you wonder about the reporting from Iraq. Okay, it's more like "confirms your suspicions" than "makes you wonder," really.

Link

Update III:

HT Powerline

Sums this up the best:

Story of Sunnis Burned Alive Going Up In Smoke

There is no doubt plenty of violence in Baghdad to go around. But the current attitude toward the situation in Iraq is one of hysteria. That hysteria is being shamelessly stoked by news organs like the Associated Press, who rely--apparently uncritically--on reports from stringers who may be imposters, and may be agents of the insurgency. Such reports are repeated endlessly and thereby add to the momentum for surrender in Iraq. The difficulty of getting reliable reporting out of Iraq should not become an excuse for an abandonment of all journalistic standards.

[...]

Read More

Update IV:

HT Michelle Malkin

Michelle has these serious questions for the AP and a message of hope from Mohammed at Iraq the Model

RBT

*****

Fake news vs. real news from Iraq

So, what's really going on in Iraq? Things are not good, but we cannot trust third-hand accounts from shady "spokesmen" funneled through dubious foreign stringers working for the terrorist-sympathizing, anti-Bush press to give us the straight scoop. While the blogosphere works on debunking MSM tall tales about Iraq, Iraqi bloggers are thankfully still able to publish their eyewitness accounts. It may not be as sensationally dire as the MSM claims, but the situation on the ground is plenty dicey. Here's a wrenching account from Iraqi blogger Mohammed at Iraq the Model. His parting words:

Being stuck at home for four days with all the violence going outside and the fear that it might reach you at home was a horrible experience. When the news came that the curfew was over and people began walking on the streets again there was a strange feeling that was particularly very strong this morning in Baghdad; despite all the rumors and fear from more wide-scale revenge attacks there was a feeling among the people that they must go out on the streets and live in all possible means.

The most beautiful scene was that of students going to their schools and colleges despite all what happened in the days before.

Not everyone will absorb the lesson but I'm sure that this last dose of terror has changed the feelings of so many people here, a change in favor of denouncing and rejecting violence, I hope.

Read More

Update V:

HT Austin Bay

Col Bay is asking the question that the AP should have asked a long time ago.

RBT

*****

Who is Jamil Hussein?

The Associated Press should have asked this quesiton a long time ago.

Gateway Pundit accuses the AP of using bogus sources in Iraq.

Flopping Aces doubted the validity of the “torched” Sunnis — and with good reason. (Go here for an earlier Flopping Aces post.)

Key accusation:

The MSM has been using bogus officials to supply chaos to their stories and based on those same stories has decided Iraq is now a official civil war.

The enemy cannot win the war for hearts and minds, it cannot win the war on the battlefield. The enemy believes it can win a war of perception. And who is helping them win that battle? “Aggressive” reporters who rely on phony sources or “stringers” who feed the reporters phony information.

We know the electronic media thrives on “hot imagery” –bombs, fires, street demonstrations, in other words the perception of chaos and destruction. They promote a pornography of violence. It takes five signs and ten chanters to create a demonstration for the camera.

[...]

Read More

Update VI:

HT Michelle Malkin, Mary Katherine Ham, Winds of Change, Flopping Aces, The Anchoress, and Patterico's Pontifications

This story is continuing to evolve. The AP is standing by their story. So is CENCOM re never hearing of this guy before. So far no photos of the alleged burned mosques.

See these posts/perspectives from these bloggers. Some sense desperation on the part of AP to CYA. Others give some solace re the extreme pressure of editorial deadlines. See Mary Katherine Ham's post for a transcript of the AP's news feed as the story developed.

FYI Curt at Flopping Aces is a former marine and currently a cop in Southern California. Also Patterico is a prosecutor with the LA County DA's Office. Both of them on a daily basis professionally deal with conflicting sources of information and assess/weigh the credibility of sources. Not that RBT has any direct information on this story but he also has 35 years experience as an investigator with a large Southern California law enforcement agency. RBT does admire Flopping Aces and Ponterico ability to present a compelling case that the AP is running with questionable stringers.

Malkin:

Burning Six update: The AP responds (to USA Today);
update: and now, a new AP account

Mary Katherine Ham:

AP: Still Debating the "Burned Alive" Story

Armed Liberal at Winds of Change:

AP "Calls" Flopping Aces...This Will Be Interesting!

Curt at Flopping Aces:

The MSM Patting Themselves On The Back

The Anchoress:

Iraq: Bloggers “premature,” press “focused”

Ponterico's Pontifications:

AP: That Iraqi Police Captain is Genuine, and So Is Our Story

HT The Captain's Journal

Racoon Hunting and the Battle for Anbar

Published November 25th, 2006 by Herschel Smith in Iraq, al Qaeda

There is a dichotomy developing in the Anbar Province. On the one hand, there is a window of opportunity to score the finishing defeat of al Qaeda. On the other hand, U.S. forces rules of engagement and command lack of willingness to engage the enemy is holding this defeat in abatement.

The Strategy Page is discussing the battle for Anbar, and after rehearsing things we have covered at TCJ (e.g., the ongoing factious fighting between Sunnis, Tribal loyalties being stretched to the limits, Tribal agreements to oust al Qaeda, etc.), they offer up this penultimate status assessment:

[...]

Read More

HT LGF

CAIR's Five-Year Propaganda Push Continues

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently received at least $50 million from wealthy Saudis like Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal, according to ArabNews, and they’re planning to spend $10 million a year for the next five years in the United States to promote their intolerant, anti-Western ideology—with efforts like this one, featuring CAIR vice chair Ahmad Al-Akhras in a speech to college students at Kent State: Speaker discusses U.S.-Muslim relations. (Hat tip: Terp Mole.)

[...]

Read More

HT The American Thinker

Holding Islam to Account
By Amil Imani

Islam has spawned many sects that are master practitioners of the art of double standards. As far as Muslims are concerned what is good for Muslims is not good for the non-Muslims; and, what is bad for Muslims is good for non-Muslims.

What complicates matters is that there is no way of knowing which of the dozens of at-each-other’s-throat sects is the legitimate Islam. As sooner as Muhammad died his religion of peace became a house of internal war: jockeying for power and leadership started, sects formed and splintered into sub-sects, and bloodletting began in earnest.

The internal infighting in Islam is presently playing in full color—in red—most dramatically, in the Iraqi theater. Shiite raid Sunni civilians, slaughter them like sheep, and toss their bodies like trash in the streets or the rivers. The Sunnis return the favor with just as much viciousness and savagery.

Question: if this is the way these Muslims treat each other, how would they deal with the infidels, when they have the chance?

Answer: these devoted followers of Muhammad would deal with the infidels exactly the way Muhammad did: behead the non-believers, take them as slave to hold or sell, or make them pay back-breaking jazyyeh—poll taxes.

Some may objects that writings like this are little more than hatemongering and fanning the fire that rages between Islam and the non-Islamic world. They may further flash the Islamic apologists’ few well-worn-out propaganda cards as evidence for their contention that Islam is not what its detractors claim.

[...]

Read More

HT Patterico's Pontifications

Is the L.A. Times Repeating Enemy Propaganda? Or Is There Another Reason The Paper Is Getting Basic Facts Wrong and Failing to Report the Military’s Side?

Is the L.A. Times reporting unconfirmed enemy propaganda from an Iraqi stringer with ties to the insurgency? Or is the paper simply misreporting the facts, and failing to seek out and report the military’s side of the story?

You be the judge.

On November 15, the L.A. Times ran an article titled Iraqi residents say U.S. airstrike kills 30. The article emphasized that 30+ people, including women and children, were killed in an airstrike. A headline proclaimed: “Victims include women and children, witnesses in Ramadi say. The military has no immediate comment.” The story began as follows:

BAGHDAD — A U.S. airstrike in the restive town of Ramadi killed at least 30 people, including women and children, witnesses said Tuesday.

The aerial attack, which took place late Monday, brought the number of violent deaths reported in Iraq on Tuesday to at least 91, according to military sources and witnesses.

. . . .

A Times correspondent in Ramadi said at least 15 homes were pulverized by aerial bombardment and families could be seen digging through the ruins with shovels and bare hands.

Last Friday, my reader Tom Blumer sent me a link to an interesting blog post, by a blog called “One Oar in the Water,” which attacked the L.A. Times story about the Ramadi airstrike. The post quoted what purported to be an e-mail from a soldier who was involved in the Ramadi incident. The e-mailing soldier claimed that the “Times correspondent in Ramadi” has ties to the insurgency, and is knowingly repeating enemy propaganda:

The [L.A. Times article] is an example of why you simply cannot believe most media reports coming out of Iraq. The LA Time[s] reporter, Solomon Moore, is not in Ramadi. He relies on an Iraqi stringer here who has ties to insurgents. In this article, Moore repeats almost verbatim, insurgent propaganda we have intercepted. The fighting in question occurred in my battle space within Ramadi and I was personally and intimately involved.

The soldier then disputed certain assertions made in the L.A. Times article. The soldier said that there had been no airstrike, and that only a few insurgents had been killed, by small-arms fire and tank fire. The solder concluded the e-mail with a slap at the L.A. Times:

Every target engaged was well within what our restrictive rules of engagement authorize. I am disgusted by the editorial slant of this article, by what passes from journalistic integrity at the LA Times, and by their complicity with our mortal enemies. My Soldiers fight with great precision and skill on a very difficult urban battlefield. The LA Times dishonors them and give aid and comfort to my enemies.

[...]

Read More

HT Jewish World Review

Where is the West?
[Jewish World Review Nov. 9, 2006 / 18 Mar-Cheshvan, 5767]

By Thomas Sowell

European nations protesting Saddam Hussein's death sentence, as they protested against forcing secrets out of captured terrorists, should tell us all we need to know about the internal degeneration of western society, where so many confuse squeamishness with morality.

Two generations of being insulated from the reality of the international jungle, of not having to defend their own survival because they have been living under the protection of the American nuclear umbrella, have allowed too many Europeans to grow soft and indulge themselves in illusions about brutal realities and dangers.

The very means of their salvation have been demonized for decades in anti-nuclear movements and protesters calling themselves "anti-war." But there is a huge difference between being anti-war in words and being anti-war in deeds.

How many times, in its thousands of years of history, has Europe gone 60 years without a major war, as it has since World War II? That peace has been due to American nuclear weapons, which was all that could deter the Soviet Union's armies from marching right across Europe to the Atlantic Ocean.

Having overwhelming military force on your side, and letting your enemies know that you have the guts to use it, is being genuinely anti-war. Chamberlain's appeasement brought on World War II and Reagan's military buildup ended the Cold War.

[...]


The achievements of western civilization are buried in histories that portray every human sin found here as if they were peculiarities of the west.

The classic example is slavery, which existed all over the world for thousands of years and yet is incessantly depicted as if it was a peculiarity of Europeans enslaving Africans. Barbary pirates alone brought twice as many enslaved Europeans to North Africa as there were Africans brought in bondage to the United States and the American colonies from which it was formed.

How many schools and colleges are going to teach that, going against political correctness and undermining white guilt?

How many people have any inkling that it was precisely western civilization which eventually turned against slavery and began stamping it out when non-western societies still saw nothing wrong with it?

How can a generation be expected to fight for the survival of a culture or a civilization that has been trashed in its own institutions, taught to tolerate even the intolerance of other cultures brought into its own midst, and conditioned to regard any instinct to fight for its own survival as being a "cowboy"?

Western nations that show any signs of standing up for self-preservation are rare exceptions. The United States and Israel are the only western nations which have no choice but to rely on self-defense — and both are demonized, not only by our enemies but also by many in other western nations.

[...]

If and when we all succumb, will the epitaph of western civilization say that we had the power to annihilate our enemies but were so paralyzed by confusion that we ended up being annihilated ourselves?

Read it All

HT The American Thinker

Another good analytical piece from Ray Robison.

RBT

*****

November 23, 2006
Iraq doesn't need Iran and Syria; it needs a King
By Ray Robison

Several media reports indicate that the Iraq Study Group chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker is close to revealing proposed strategies for dealing with Iraq. One of the expected policy shifts is expected to be a move towards diplomacy with Syria and Iran in order to gain their support in stopping the sectarian violence in Iraq. Quite simply, this course of action would be disastrous.

All one has to do is examine the motivations of Iran and Syria in fomenting the violence in Iraq. Iran, quite reasonably, sees Iraq as fertile ground for growing the Shiite Islamic Revolution as both countries are included in the small group of nations with a majority Shi’a population. Securing Iraq as a strong ally would provide the benefits of a secure border with a former enemy, economic benefits such as influence on Iraq’s oil sales, and the realistic chance of dealing the United States a humiliating blow on the world stage. On the other hand, Iran can keep the US busy fighting sectarian violence in Iraq which can also lead to humiliating failure that might evoke a new policy of disengagement in the Middle East (not unlike the US strategy of supporting the Mujihadeen in Afghanistan against the USSR one might note). In other words, Iran is in a win-win position unless there is a radical US strategy shift.

Now one has to ask, if Iran were to come to the table and resolve the sectarian violence in Iraq that Iran is largely responsible for in the first place, what would be the benefit for Iran? A stable Iraq would allow American troop reductions to a level that is acceptable to the American public but leave the US with a strategic partner and regional operating base next door. What does that benefit Iran? Therefore, assuming Iran is going to act in its interests, it will maintain the current course of action. Such a strategy would only provide Iran with the chance to legitimize itself on the world stage with proffers of cooperation for the greater good of regional stability while actually taking direct action against US forces in Iraq. Do we really want to give them that bargaining chip?

Syria is another matter. It was a coalition partner in the Gulf War. This was a pragmatic decision to weaken a powerful, hostile Saddam Hussein. Despite recent media reporting of a thaw in diplomatic relations between Syria and the new Iraqi government after a twenty-four year split, this is not a novel circumstance. As late as mid 2000, Saddam’s Vice President was meeting with Syria’s Prime Minister and making trade and security agreements to the tune of 500 million dollars in commerce. Notably, Syria opposed Operation Iraqi Freedom a decade after it fought Saddam in Operation Desert Storm. By 2003, business was brisk and Syria was a trade partner of the Oil-For-Food corruption kind.

Syria seems less ideologically driven than Iran with its Baathist government, but has found itself allied to Iran even though Syria has a majority Sunni population. It seems quite possible that if Syria can be convinced to end its support of terrorism in Israel, Lebanon, and Iraq and improve internal human rights conditions, it just might be ripe for economic enticement to not only support stability in Iraq, but to move closer to the US and distance itself from Iran. This strategy has had some success with Pakistan. Of course, this would require convincing Syria that the US will be a regional partner for the long term. But even this would not be a complete solution for Iraqi sectarian violence.

[...]

Read More

HT Bill Roggio - The Fourth Rail via Instapundit

Good news from Iraq you won't hear from the MSM.

RBT

*****

November 22, 2006

NEWS FROM ANBAR: BILL ROGGIO REPORTS:

The Anbar tribes' turn against al-Qaeda has developed significantly since the end of the Anbar Campaign late last year, which swept al-Qaeda and the insurgency from the major towns and cities west of Ramadi. Over the past year, the majority of the tribes have denounced al-Qaeda and formed alliances with the Iraqi government and U.S. forces operating in the region. Numerous 'foreign fighters' have been killed or captured by the tribes. The tribes are working to restore order, and are providing recruits for the police and Army, despite horrific suicide attacks on recruiting centers. These attacks have not deterred the recruiting, but in fact have motivated the tribes to fight al-Qaeda.

The Anbar tribes have also taken an active role in fighting al-Qaeda. In March, several tribes and Sunni insurgent groups formed the Anbar Revenge Brigades to hunt al-Qaeda operatives in western Iraq. At the end of the summer, 25 of the 31 Anbar tribes banded together and created the Anbar Salvation Council to openly fight al-Qaeda, and pledged “30,000 young men armed with assault rifles who were willing to confront and kill the insurgents and criminal gangs.”The Council has killed and captured numerous 'foreign fighters' and has provided hundreds of recruits for the police and Army, despite horrific attacks designed to terrorize new volunteers. . . . Lost in the current debate over Iraq - civil war or sectarian violence, success or failure, increasing troops or strategic redeployment, victory or defeat - is the sea-change occurring in western Iraq. The U.S. military has coaxed a large majority of the Sunnis of Anbar province, perhaps one of the most sympathetic groups to al-Qaeda in the Middle East, to turn on al-Qaeda. The choice wasn't difficult after the tribes saw what al-Qaeda had to offer.

[...]

Read More