Comments on: A possibly stupid question about the AP/Centcom kerfuffle

By: Patterico’s Pontifications » Allahpundit: Hussein Doubter Karnak

Patterico’s Pontifications » Allahpundit: Hussein Doubter Karnak — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 20:11:46 +0000

[...] Allahpundit — whom Editor & Publisher dishonestly portrayed as a “Hussein doubter” — on November 30, 2006, noted the Ministry of the Interior’s confusion on its own spokesman’s name, because of “the conventions of Arab names,” and asked: [I]f they could screw up their own spokesman’s name, is it possible that they’ve screwed up Jamil Hussein’s? [...]

By: Patterico’s Pontifications » Breaking: Jamil Hussein Has http://patterico.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=5638Been Found

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 01:26:45 +0000

[...] UPDATE x2: I’ll also note that folks like Allah and myself were very suspicious when it turned out that CENTCOM had put the Ministry of the Interior’s spokesman on a working list of unverified sources — one that was released to the media. This caused me to say on November 30: If CENTCOM had the name of the official spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior on its working blacklist — and, as Allah points out, garbled his name in e-mails about the press conference — what does that say about the military’s claims regarding Jamil Hussein? [...]

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » AP: Iraqi government confirms that Jamil Hussein exists

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:07:41 +0000

[...] I speculated about a mix up due to the conventions of Arabic names back on November 30th, mainly because Khalaf himself had initially been included on Centcom’s list of suspect sources. But that got eaten up by the other (still outstanding) questions: How is it that Hussein was able to comment on attacks all over Baghdad, including some far away from his precinct? How come the AP dropped the detail about four mosques being burned when it was challenged after their first report? Why couldn’t Bob Owens find corroborating stories from other media outlets on so many incidents sourced to Hussein? And why weren’t Armed Liberal’s sources, Eason Jordan’s sources, and Michelle’s sources collectively able to find this guy? I said last week in writing about Zombie’s response to HRW re: the Israeli ambulance attack that “I’ve reached the point where, when one of these blogstorms kicks up, I half-hope the media will produce the smoking gun that proves them right, just so we can have a little faith that they’re covering sensational incidents with due diligence.” Well, here’s the smoking gun. And while I have more faith now in the AP, I have less faith in the certainty of any information I get from Iraq. It took six weeks, with multiple people checking, to confirm the mere existence of a guy whose name, rank, and location were publicly known — and the issue would still be in doubt if Khalaf hadn’t come clean. [...]

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Breaking: Capt. Jamil Hussein located?

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Breaking: Capt. Jamil Hussein located? — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:05:27 +0000

[...] Armed Liberal says he might have a positive ID — at the Yarmouk police station, no less, just like the AP said. Notably, he spells the first name “Jamail,” not “Jamil.” Could I have been right about a possible snafu with Arabic names? Could Patterico be right with his “third way” theory? Or could it be that the AP was right all along and we’re about to eat a huge shinola sandwich? [...]

By: the Wednesday Edition » Blog Archive » More AP Shenanigans?

the Wednesday Edition » Blog Archive » More AP Shenanigans? — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 05:28:35 +0000

[...] We’ve heard all about the problems verifying the mysterious Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf @ Michelle Malkin, Hotair, Gateway and all the rest, but I found it strange that both of the characters in the above paragraphs had the same first names. [...]

By: mymanpotsandpans

mymanpotsandpans — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:54:00 +0000

Could you not use that stupid pigeon-British “k——-e”? Squirm City!

By: honora

honora — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:06:46 +0000

Which brings us to the obvious question: if they could screw up their own spokesman’s name, is it possible that they’ve screwed up Jamil Hussein’s?

When the wheels come off, the wheels come off. I’m amazed they still have spokesmen, irrespective of actually knowing who they are.

By: laelaps

laelaps — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 06:14:15 +0000

A real, honest-to-G AP reporter could meet Jamil Hussein in a police office and see the police uniform. The office could be so rife with Sunni brothers, they let Jamil pose as an official cop to convince said AP reporter he is getting the Gospel (Koranic) truth.

By: Merovign

Merovign — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:40:50 +0000

Didn’t you guys know? Criticism is the SAME as censorship – at least when it’s a reporter, an artist, or a liberal who’s being criticized (possibly the same person).

Thus it’s not overblown to compare a military spokesman requesting confirmation or correction to Saddam jailing journalists, because, well, ummm…

Okay, it’s douchebaggery. And possibly soccage-in-feif. Certainly it could be construed as barratry-on-the-high-seas. Well, barratry anyway.

By: urbancenturion

urbancenturion — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:31:03 +0000

Am I the only one who finds it curious that AP seems to be going out of its way to avoid identifying their own reporter?

rokemronnie on November 30, 2006 at 10:33 PM

MJaybe it’s because he’s the perpetra(i)tor of douchebaggery.

By: urbancenturion

urbancenturion — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:29:11 +0000

douchebaggery

Priceless. (hey, it was new to me)

By: Dr. Charles G. Waugh

Dr. Charles G. Waugh — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:21:35 +0000

Ahhah: “If Centcom can’t verify the existence of Abdul-Karim Khalaf, then how on earth was he able to give the press conference today on behalf of the Ministry of Interior?”

Perhaps he is their spooksman.

By: Patterico’s Pontifications » “There Are Some Unverified Spokesmen Around, Including . . . ME??”

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:53:45 +0000

[...] If CENTCOM had the name of the official spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior on its working blacklist — and, as Allah points out, garbled his name in e-mails about the press conference — what does that say about the military’s claims regarding Jamil Hussein? [...]

By: BizzyBlog » Tonight’s Jamil ‘Captain Tuttle’ Hussein and AP (Always Paranoid) Update

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:51:59 +0000

[...] UPDATE: Other voices – – Brutally Honest: “Ballsy bastards, eh?” – USA Today’s On Deadline has an update. – Hot Air: “…. nothing more than “fake but accurate” with the “fake” part as yet unsettled.” – SeeDubya at Junkyard Blog: “The answer appears to be that he doesn’t really exist, at least as a Police Captain. But even if he did, AP’s defense is no defense. It just affirms their incompetence.” – A Syria(s) insight from Dan Riehl. – Michelle Malkin, at the current end of her day-long post, has confirmed with Centcom that Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf Al-Kenani is legit. See AP? That wasn’t so difficult. – Dean Esmay totally misses the point in so many ways, and his commenters let him have it. Not four mosques, Dean — ONE. No names of five victims, etc., etc. – Stephen Spruell at NRO’s Media Blog says “it remains a standoff” (perception, yes; reality, no), but adds this question: “Given our enemy’s goal of driving us from Iraq by undermining domestic political support for our mission there, shouldn’t the AP be making more of an effort to explain fully to its readers just who the hell this guy is?” Well yeah; that’s why it is objectively NOT a standoff, Steve. – Blue Crab Boulevard: “(AP) could have actually done themselves real harm this time. One can but hope.” – Don Surber’s demand from earlier today stands: “OK, show him. Until then, I can only conclude he does not exist.” – Confederate Yankee: “In short, we aren’t questioning all of AP’s stories based upon a single story, we are questioning a broken methodology that lead to such a story. There exists in the media’s reporting in Iraq no effective editorial checks at the very root level of reporting, to verify that the most basic elements of the story are indeed factual, much less biased.” – Ace: “AP dodges the issue, stating they merely erred by calling him an official police spokesman. But that’s not the charge: The charge isn’t that he’s not a spokesman. It’s that he’s not a cop at all.” – Allah at Hot Air, in the process of vetting the acknowledged difficulties with name similarities, characterizes the final paragraph of the AP report (the Saddam comparison) in his inimitable way as “undistilled douchebaggery.” [...]

By: EFG

EFG — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:49:05 +0000

Well rokemronnie, I'll bet this reporter is really an Iraqi stringer. And he's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable journalistic conduct. And he is still in the field sending reports.

By: Independent Sources » Blog Archive » More Jamil Hussien

Independent Sources » Blog Archive » More Jamil Hussien — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:41:41 +0000

[...] Now on to another item. Allah at Hot Air points out that the person who gave the briefing today had appeared on CENTCOMs list of suspect sources. CENTCOM has responded stating that the list is a working list and the General who gave today’s briefing has been verified since his original inclusion. While seeming to buoy the APs claims about Capt. Jamil Hussien I would say that there is a big difference between someone saying “at the time he was an unverfied source” and saying “He is not a police officer” Others will disagree I am sure. Technorati tags: CENTCOM, Iraq, AP, Jamil Hussien, Blogs, Media [...]

By: rokemronnie

rokemronnie — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:33:56 +0000

His allegations were checked with the AP reporter, who had been in routine contact for more than two years with Hussein, in some cases sitting in his office in the Yarmouk police station in west Baghdad. Hussein wore a police uniform during the face-to-face meetings.

Since when does a news agency keep the identity of its reporters anonymous?

Am I the only one who finds it curious that AP seems to be going out of its way to avoid identifying their own reporter?

By: Rocket's Brain Trust

Rocket's Brain Trust — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:20:47 +0000

Getting The News From The Enemy, Update IV…

HT Flopping Aces

Here’s more on this developing story from Curt at Flopping Aces. I’m starting a new thread because the other was getting a little long in the tooth :-).

AP issued a press release standing by it’s story. Iraq……

By: EFG

EFG — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:17:52 +0000

Allahpundit:

Update: I missed it on the first read-through, but the AP’s article ends with a burst of pure, undistilled douchebaggery.

Well, if we are looking for examples of douchebaggery, perhaps I can provide one. It may not be as extreme, but it kinda steamed me when I saw it. Below is an exerpt from mypetjawa. It has the request by CentCom for a retraction or explanation about the Iraqi Police Captain.

Unless you have a credible source to corroborate the story of the people being burned alive, we respectfully request that AP issue a retraction, or a correction at a minimum, acknowledging that the source named in the story is not who he claimed he was. MNC-I and MNF-I are always available and willing to verify events and provide as much information as possible when asked. Very respectfully, LT XXXXXX XXXX X XXXXXXXX Lieutenant, U.S. Navy MNC-I Joint Operations Center Public Affairs Officer

His name is redacted, but I'll bet he is the guy that the AP is refering to below.

U.S. Navy Lt. Michael B. Dean, a public affairs officer for the multi-national force, later demanded that the story be retracted because he said police Capt. Jamil Hussein "is not a Baghdad police officer or an MOI employee."

So I guess we went from "respectfullly request" to a "demand." Ah well. I suppose the fascist boot of military oppression has pressed down on the neck of our friends at AP. Truely, they can tell that the chill winds of U.S. military censorship are blowing out out of Iraq. I fear for all of our civil liberties. This is dread man...truely dread.

By: Greyhawk

Greyhawk — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:12:00 +0000

The key thing to remember about CENTCOM’s list is what it isn’t:

It’s not a list of confirmed frauds
It’s not even a list of suspected frauds
It’s a list of people they haven’t verified. Don’t read further into it than that.

By: jummy

jummy — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:11:01 +0000

not a stupid question at all. very clearly the image we’ve been getting is of an iraq as an organizational and informational wilderness.

By: see-dubya

see-dubya — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:19:55 +0000

Actually he’s supposed to be at the al-Khadra station now, according to AP’s first response. How do you know CENTCOM didn’t do this already as part of their verification, and that’s why they say he doesn’t exist?

By: Scot

Scot — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:17:38 +0000

And it was BG khalif who announced that Jamil Hussein was not an Iraqi officer, not Centcom. So i find it hard to believe there was any confusion because of the name.

By: Scot

Scot — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:07:44 +0000

Also, that list is at least a couple of days old. They’ve probably rechecked all the names by now.

By: Allahpundit

Allahpundit — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:07:37 +0000

As for the police uniforms, see the first paragraph here. Actually, see the whole thing, it’s pretty grim.

Do police stations have a way of finding their way to unofficial sources, too? They say they interviewed the guy in his office.

This is totally moronic on Centcom’s part. They know where the guy’s supposed to be: Yarmouk police station. Send someone over there and ask for “Jamil.” They could solve the mystery in five minutes.