The AP Goes Islamic!

Extremely interesting news on the Media front of the Iraq War. It seems that the Associated Press (one of the two biggest providers, along with Reuters, of Iraq news for Americans), has been relying heavily on two very untrustworthy sources for the last several months. As a result, stories that are either entirely or partially false have been depicted as fact back here in the U.S.

Specifically, in question is one 'source' who claims to be a member of the Iraqi Police. Only problem is, neither the U.S Central Command nor the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior has any record of this person even existing, much less being authorized to speak with the Western media! The man in question, who goes by the name of Capt. Jamil Hussein, has been heavily cited as a source by the AP since at least June. It is likely that this Hussein is simply a Sunni sectarian, who wishes to exaggerate the extent to which violence is occurring in Iraq, especially the Shiite attacks on Sunnis, and change American public opinion to anti-war.

Scary stuff! And, at least in any sensible person's view, a huge blow to the credibility of news reports coming out of Iraq. Interestingly enough, NBC cited on of the questionable Hussein's reports when they declared Iraq to be in 'Civil War' yesterday. That report talked about the supposed burning alive of 6 Sunnis; only problem is, the only person who can confirm the incident is Jamil Hussein - local civilians, U.S Central Command, and the Iraqi Government have all denied the incident ever occurred! So you see, all this unethical and questionable 'reporting' that is done by the AP really does have serious harmful consequences back here in the United States. Indeed, the biased ignorance of AP reporting has gone so far as to warrant an official letter of complaint from U.S Central Command.

I'm not going to write anymore on the story, however, here's the link to Flopping Aces' (who originally broke the story) detailed and excellent presentation/analysis:

Flopping Aces

"Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your honor. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse." ~ Mark Twain