AP: Iraqi government confirms that Jamil Hussein exists
posted at 7:06 pm on January 4, 2007 by Allahpundit
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They can’t get an execution right. Why should they be able to find a guy’s name on a list?
Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who had previously denied there was any such police employee as Capt. Jamil Hussein, said in an interview that Hussein is an officer assigned to the Khadra police station, as had been reported by The Associated Press…
Khalaf offered no explanation Thursday for why the ministry had initially denied Hussein’s existence, other than to state that its first search of records failed to turn up his full name. He also declined to say how long the ministry had known of its error and why it had made no attempt in the past six weeks to correct the public record…
Khalaf told the AP that an arrest warrant had been issued for the captain for having contacts with the media in violation of the ministry’s regulations.
Hussein told the AP on Wednesday that he learned the arrest warrant would be issued when he returned to work on Thursday after the Eid al-Adha holiday. His phone was turned off Thursday and he could not be reached for further comment.
Is Captain Jamil headed to the clink? No.
Khalaf said Thursday that with the arrest of Hussein for breaking police regulations against talking to reporters, the AP would be called to identify him in a lineup as the source of its story.
Should the AP decline to assist in the identification, Khalaf said, the case against Hussein would be dropped. He also said there were no plans to pursue action against the AP should it decline.
So what happened?
On Thursday, Khalaf told AP that the ministry at first had searched its files for Jamil Hussein and found no one. He said a later search turned up Capt. Jamil Gholaiem Hussein, assigned to the Khadra police station.
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.
Anyway. The left will enjoy this, even though with the exception of Boehlert and knee-jerk blog-basher Greg Mitchell they couldn’t have cared less about it until now. Boehlert’s reaction should be interesting. Will he stick to his point about there being no grand lessons to be drawn from the accuracy of any one story, especially when it means so little to how bad conditions are on the ground? Or will he merrily ignore the remaining outstanding questions and conclude that, on second thought, yes, this story does have implications for the entire corpus of reporting on Iraq? Probably the latter; if I were in his position, in all candor, I’d be tempted to do the same. As long as he doesn’t re-torch the strawman about right-wingers supposedly ignoring the gravity of the situation in Iraq. Like I said in my response to his last column about this:
At the risk of suggesting that I know What Warbloggers Believe better than Eric Boehlert does, let me assure you that we’re not using this story as a fig leaf for the war. There are Shiite death squads roaming hospitals in Iraq — just one of many “bona fide, grim realities on the ground,” as Michelle puts it, but gruesome enough in itself to convey the magnitude of the emergency. No one, or almost no one, is under any illusions about how awful conditions are and how Bush mismanaged the occupation when we had our best chance to get it right. On the contrary, it’s Boehlert who’s using the war as a fig leaf for yet another credible accusation of shoddy, possibly ideologically motivated war journalism. He’d have you believe that to challenge this report is, essentially, to be guilty of historical revisionism, which is not only ironic vis-a-vis the AP but a nifty way of cowing a critic into backing off. It’s more important that Michelle Malkin be wrong, you see, than knowing for sure whether the world’s biggest news agency is passing off crap stories about the most important issue of our time.
She and we were wrong about Jamil Hussein. Whether we’re wrong about the rest of it, too, we’ll see. Apologies, though, to the HA readers for having led you on a bit of a wild goose chase, however well founded and well intended our suspicions were.
Update (from Michelle): Just to clarify, I’m not apologizing for anything. Also, I await response/reaction from my sources and will keep you updated. See here.
Bob Owens received this word from MNF-I’s public affairs office:
Mr Owens,
The validity of the AP story below has not been confirmed at this time.
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No more a wild goose chase than Fitzmas.
Good Lt on January 4, 2007 at 7:10 PM
Ouch.
Now I know how Bart feels when Nelson punches him and waits for the “ha Ha”’s.
E5infantry on January 4, 2007 at 7:10 PM
Are you that convinced he really exists?
Kini on January 4, 2007 at 7:17 PM
This crow is gamey. And it’s a bit chewy for my tastes.
Slublog on January 4, 2007 at 7:18 PM
Um, would anyone like to actually _see_ this guy outside of an AP report and ask him about burning bodies and mosques?
IOW, color me not yet convinced.
jeffshultz on January 4, 2007 at 7:19 PM
Were you? The way I read things it still is to be verified by the AP that THIS guy was their source. And even if that happens, the other very serious questions remain. It means they have been using a single source for many stories..is that really “indepth reporting” or lazy “if it bleeds, it leads” sensationalism?
labwrs on January 4, 2007 at 7:20 PM
I’m convinced the guy exists, but do have trouble believing his truthfulness, given the lack of corroboration for the stories he sourced.
Slublog on January 4, 2007 at 7:27 PM
Mixed reaction here. Just being able to produce someone doesn’t explain the overwhelming lack of evidence on the burning sunnis and the many times this story has changed. It aint over yet..
Guardian on January 4, 2007 at 7:29 PM
An excerpt from CENTCOM says AP’s “Iraqi police source” isn’t Iraqi police — Part 29:
And you’re ready to decide “she and I were wrong” based on an AP news release? Get. A. Grip.
bdfaith on January 4, 2007 at 7:31 PM
Curious to see how this evolves.
JammieWearingFool on January 4, 2007 at 7:31 PM
Somewhere in Iraq Michelle’s would-be humvee driver is looking for a dungeon to throw him in. Like Cartman did to Butters in the casa bonita episode.
Buck Turgidson on January 4, 2007 at 7:32 PM
An excerpt from my latest Jamilgate post:
And you’re ready to decide “she and I were wrong” based on an AP news release? Get. A. Grip.
bdfaith on January 4, 2007 at 7:33 PM
Not to draw a parallel btw. these two but some/many believe that Osama bin Laden still exists.
I won’t believe until I see him and know much more about Jamil Hussein:
- who is he?
- what does he do?
- how many more are there?
- cross-checking the stories
Not The End just yet.
Entelechy on January 4, 2007 at 7:37 PM
bdfaith, we can’t have it both ways, believing Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf when he denied Jamil Hussein, and not believing him when he confirms that he’s real after all. Unless the AP is lying about what the official ministry spokesman said, and I doubt even the AP has the nerve to make that up when it’s easily verified.
But I do think two things are worth noting - righty bloggers graciously admitted error instead of making excuses, AND that the mere existence of this man doesn’t answer the other questions that were raised quite a while back, like how he magically knows what’s going on all over Bagdad, and what happened to the FOUR mosques, etc. Just because he exists, why should we take him at his word when there is ample evidence (i.e. mosques that are not burned) to doubt his veracity?
Laura on January 4, 2007 at 7:41 PM
No one at AP or the MSM wants bloggers to go to Iraq. This is a ploy to stop the fact-finding. They still haven’t produced the guy. HOT AIR doesn’t have to aplogize for anything. It’s a fair call, and cannot be resolved on the basis of AP’s word alone. They lost the trust. This is a scandal and it’s festering, and “Capt Jami” is probably the least of it. AP has so much to lose in this one, everything they do is suspect.
Where’re the independent investigators … oh yeh, the only ones willing to do an independent investigation are the bloggers.
naliaka on January 4, 2007 at 7:49 PM
So the liar really does exist….
urbancenturion on January 4, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Well said. I hope the rest of the bloggers who jumped on “JamilGate” will come clean like you did. Though I don’t expect it.
The Kenosha Kid on January 4, 2007 at 7:58 PM
I think it’s still a very good question how he’s able to source so many incidents around town, plus the four mosques. I think you’re right the key point here is how vague everything coming out of Iraq apparently is…though that doesn’t necessarily mean the MSM is equally unreliable in non-war-zones.
Alex K on January 4, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Dont forget this part of the article that makes it plain that the AP News veiws this ENTIRE incident as a plot by the US military to discredit AP New’s Attempts to get to the truth in Iraq.
William Amos on January 4, 2007 at 8:01 PM
Why did it take this long? Why did the AP not produce this guy or at least an interview of him or his superiors? Stonewalling is not the way to deal with a problem such as this. I still think we should question everything, no matter the source.
d1carter on January 4, 2007 at 8:02 PM
Do I have this right? A policeman who signed an agreement not to talk to press and yet secretly did is the single source of many AP stories? When questions about those stories arise and he is eventually exposed now he will likely face no punishement and the ban on talking to the press will be reinstituted so those questions can never be awnsered? That seems like an engineered situation to me rather then sloppy record keeping.
Resolute on January 4, 2007 at 8:02 PM
$10 will get you $100 that the ink isn’t even dry on the supposed “newly found records”.
Put $10,000 into the right hands, and I bet I could get Elvis or the Easter Bunny listed in the records as an Iraqi police captain.
Put $10,000 into the right hands in any major American city, and I bet I could get Elvis or the Easter Bunny listed in the records as a police captain.
Purple Avenger on January 4, 2007 at 8:08 PM
This only proves we need an independant person to talk to Jamil and not some AP mouthpeice.
This story is far from over.
William Amos on January 4, 2007 at 8:10 PM
I see no reason why anyone at HA should be eating crow. The guy’s name wasn’t Jamil Hussein, was it? Technically, MM/AP were right. The A(w/terrorist)P has some explaining to do.
BTW, how hard is it to start your own wire service?
PRCalDude on January 4, 2007 at 8:13 PM
I wouldn’t be so quick with the apologies. Isn’t this yet another AP story? That’s all I see so far is just another story. Save the crow until there is solid proof of who he is. Even then, there are the other questions.
R D on January 4, 2007 at 8:19 PM
This story is so full of camel cr&p.
Allah, this is not the first time you’ve accepted their explanation and admitted you were wrong, only to later find more questions than answers. Why are you continually so quick to accept their explanations, even as they continue to produce the guy in the flesh? Is it simply because you “want” to believe them? You said that yourself.
This is nothing more than they’ve offered in the past. We are still left with nothing but the AP’s word that this happened. The AP reports that some guy says this, or that some guy admitted that. Yet we still have not heard from Jamil Hussein himself.
This guy is more likely to turn up in a box of Cracker Jack than some police station in Iraq. You’re going to tell me that this guy’s been going to work each day as an Iraqi police captain, and it’s taken six weeks before Abdul-Karim Khalaf could figure it out?
And thus, we’re left with one familiar phrase:
Shocking. What are the odds we’ll go another six weeks without any contact with the the real life Jamil Hussein?
Gregor on January 4, 2007 at 8:22 PM
Wow. Why can’t we do that here? (SWIFT leak, FSA leak, etc, etc, etc)
Radish on January 4, 2007 at 8:22 PM
I actually had my doubts about the claims of this guy’s non-extistence until this silly cover-up scheme.
Perchant on January 4, 2007 at 8:23 PM
You know where this is going, people. Check out this paragraph from the AP piece Michelle linked to:
What we’re going to be hearing by Saturday is:
bdfaith on January 4, 2007 at 8:29 PM
Gregor: He’s so scared of a getting arrested that he’s gone into hiding and now even the AP can’t find him. But they really did talk to him Wednesday. Really!
bdfaith on January 4, 2007 at 8:31 PM
So Allah, let me get this straight.
1. The AP is asked to produce Jamil Hussein.
2. The AP refuses.
3. Huge controversy and doubt is created.
4. The AP continues to ignore, refuse, and change their story.
5. Demands to produce Jamil Hussein continue for six weeks.
6. Six weeks later, the AP issues a statement that THEY have confirmed the identity of Jamil Hussein.
7. Allah Pundit issues an apology saying … “after people asked AP to produce him, AP produced him.”
When exactly did the AP produce him? That’s not what this story says. This story says that the AP claims that THEY have confirmed his existence.
Isn’t that exactly where we were at all along? What’s changed?
Gregor on January 4, 2007 at 8:31 PM
There’s STILL too many unanswered questions. Facts need reliable sources, too many other stories (60+?) need to be investigated.
The morale boost from seeing or just hearing of Michelle in-country is too good to pass. Be careful in your reporting and security.
tormod on January 4, 2007 at 8:32 PM
Didn’t AP “produce” Jamil Hussein once already, then *not* produce him?
This is like a criminal suspect producing an “unimpeachable” witness to verify an alibi, but not letting anyone else speak to him. Until someone other than the freakin’ Associated Press confirms this “source”, I still say it’s bunk.
Why are you so quick to denounce the blogosphere, Allahpundit, at the slightest objection from the Lamestream Media? You jumped all over zombietime after Human Rights Watch’s clumsy and contradictory attempted refutation of the Lebanese ambulance hoax. Have you apologized to Zombie after he (or she) made mincemeat of HRW?
Spiny Norman on January 4, 2007 at 8:46 PM
Wow. This guy was as hard to locate as the Rose Law Firm records, and then magically appears just as Michelle and Bryan are on the verge of going over there. How conveeeenient. Yeah, I believe that. Really. (No, not really.) But even if he does actually exist, he’s got a lot of ’splainin’ to do.
ReubenJCogburn on January 4, 2007 at 9:01 PM
Excuse my language, please….but…
His phone was turned off Thursday and he could not be reached for further comment.
Maybe Iraq is a bit different from the US, but if you are a fucking police CAPTAIN you don’t go and hide on holiday! You are not a cheating boyfriend, you are the top cop! And FLAGRANTLY breaking police regulations?
Now, they HAVE to be morons over there. I seriously doubt it should be a problem where if you ask someone “Who is Saddam Hussein?” They won’t come back and say, “I don’t know who you mean. Oh, do you mean Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti?” You don’t get to be a Captain without meeting some higher ups, and aren’t WE the ones TRAINING THEM??? There are no class rosters??
AllahPundit, if you are just going to accept this explanation from the AP, you have betrayed my trust.
Mazztek on January 4, 2007 at 9:15 PM
I am with gregor on this, I am a little confused.
there is not a man named Jamil Huessin, but someone with a name that probably contains that name but is more complete.
The accuracy of Jamil’s report is still wrong, in other words this Jamil Whatever is a liar, and AP used a story that was seriously in error. No one knows where he is.
AP story is not confirmed
Put the crow back in the fridge
right2bright on January 4, 2007 at 9:22 PM
It’s amazing how the people who are actually trying to help Iraq get consistently screwed by it, while the people who don’t give a damn about it and would gladly leave it to the islamists consistently benefit from it.
Scot on January 4, 2007 at 9:23 PM
Can we at least get someone NOT on the AP, Reuters, or Al-Jazeera payrolls to interview the General about the Captain’s identity and employment status?
The Monster on January 4, 2007 at 9:26 PM
AP says Khalaf admitted Hussein’s existence in an interview. Even AP wouldn’t be dumb enough to claim that unless it were true.
He exists, and though Allah and Michelle have been noting recently that even if he does exist it is not the end of the story, the fact remains that this whole dustup started with the questioning of Hussein’s existence. Which means the issue is now completely dead outside of the blogosphere, and the MSM will use this as a shining example of why the “rabble” should shut up and let them be the fifth column.
RW Wacko on January 4, 2007 at 9:28 PM
My thoughts exactly. This has “fake but accurate” all over it. Somebody blinked before MM & co. even landed. We just don’t know what they’re up to yet. I think the AP refuses to go to the gallows without a fight. They got nothing. I smell blood. This ain’t over. It’s just getting interesting.
Buck Turgidson on January 4, 2007 at 9:28 PM
Um yeah…. To use an old internet meme; “Pics or it didn’t happen!”
liquidflorian on January 4, 2007 at 9:31 PM
Ohh, conspiracy theories, I like it. Let’s run with this.
The story is not that the AP confirmed his exsistence, they have always maintained he exsisted. The Iraqi Government confirmed his exsistence. Remember this whole thing started when they couldn’t find him in the first place. Granted they confirmed it to the AP which makes things a little sketchy, but that’s a lot different than just saying the AP confirmed his exsistence. There are still plenty of questions, no need to distort the facts to produce them.
JaHerer22 on January 4, 2007 at 9:34 PM
Is this a parody?
Habeas friggin’ corpus people.
habeas corpus, Latin for “you [should] have the body”
Stephen M on January 4, 2007 at 9:36 PM
AP, I find you to be inscrutable sometimes. As usual, it took me three tries to understand what you said, and I think I agree. This proves nothing, and hints at only one thing: there might actually be a guy named Jamil Hussein. It sure doesn’t improve our sense of the accuracy of AP stories out of Iraq. And it sure doesn’t help us understand 60+ stories sourced to one guy that no one could find for 6 weeks.
Big effing deal. Got any fried Sunnis?
Jaibones on January 4, 2007 at 9:42 PM
Hang on, folks. I found this over at Michelle’s:
I have a sneaking suspicion that the AP is being set up here. How much you wanna bet the lineup doesn’t have anyone named Jamil, Gholaiem, Hussein, or anything spelled anything close? Kind of a reverse Durham approach.
And of course every AP employee who claims to know the good Captain gets to do the lineup separately, so there’s a good chance that they all ID different people. When all of them are finished, the police admit that there still isn’t a Jamil Gholaiem Hussein in their records, and the whole thing was a sting to get the reporters to commit themselves to lying to police officers. Remember Martha Stewart?
The Monster on January 4, 2007 at 9:49 PM
Hmmmm. How very conveeeeeenient.
hillbillyjim on January 4, 2007 at 10:01 PM
I give Allah alot of slack and praise here. He is simply saying “Hey if Jamil exists and his stories are true then I will apologize and say I was wrong”
Counter that with AP’s whole behavior of “We are right, we dont have to prove anything so stop asking questions” and their whole attitude towards this.
If AP News had even TRIED to see if their stories were compromised this wouldnt be as bad as it now appears.
William Amos on January 4, 2007 at 10:04 PM
I really question the timing.
Remarkable.
hillbillyjim on January 4, 2007 at 10:10 PM
Hmmm, how many of you can tell one Iraqi from another? And really how accurate are line-up identifications anyway? Seems like the time over the last 6 weeks might have been spent ‘creating’ Jamil Hussein [is that a common name in Iraq?]
docdave on January 4, 2007 at 10:14 PM
I don’t pay for news stories that get one fact out of 10 correct. I don’t pay for news stories that get ten facts out of eleven correct. I pay for the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth.
Allah, you are supposed to be determined enough to get to the bottom of the ENTIRE story. For God’s sake, your supposed to be omnipotent. So don’t you dare quit chasing it until you have it.
Michelle, Don’t stop until we have the full story. Chase every fact to ground. If you can’t verify it, then IT DIDN”T HAPPEN. If someone is positive it happened, then there had better be photographic or forensic evidence of the act. Prove it.
If newsmen want to take the position that Iraqis are innocent until proven to be guilty assed insurgents, then the same goes for every Marine, every Soldier, every Airman, and Every Sailor in the Amred Forces. Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Or no story, damnit.
Don’t give up until we know!!!!
Subsunk
Subsunk on January 4, 2007 at 10:18 PM
There’s no way he came clean. Like most above me here, there is so much more to this. Why 6 weeks, why was he hidden, why did he show now, just before MM & Co left?
Just the (hate to say it) TIMING is troublesome, let alone all the deceit.
What ALL are they hiding? Is this the tip of the iceberg? How much does this cost the AP if he’s not really a person? Maybe this is their cover-up story?
TOO MANY QUESTIONS, and they’ve had 8000 miles and weeks if not months to make up anything.
shooter on January 4, 2007 at 10:25 PM
AP stood to loose a great deal if Michelle were to go to Iraq. If I were AP I would have stoned walled and stalled until my man with the suitcases full of cash arrived to Iraq. Folllow the money on this one.
Egfrow on January 4, 2007 at 10:33 PM
Uh…we are talking about A(w/t)P, an organization which already showed itself to be dumb enough to run an article about others being burned alive as well as mosques being burned sourced to one individual.
When A(w/t)P’s article first hit, I wondered where the other media organizations were, and why there was no feeding frenzy ala Koran in the toilet.
91Veteran on January 4, 2007 at 10:39 PM
The words concoction and ruse percolate up through my cynical radar.
Beto Ochoa on January 4, 2007 at 10:40 PM
No apologies necessary. You were asking questions that needed answers and AP stonewalled. There are other questions, still.
The picture that AP and other MSM sources paint is very important because the majority of people in the US get there news from there sources. When the MSM is used by our enemies to provide false information that saps the morale of of the public it is news itself and the Jamil Hussein experience has proven that they care little about fact checking when the story confirms their template.
Keep up the good work.
Bill C on January 4, 2007 at 10:42 PM
The AP is being set up? Wow, now that’s reaching just a bit.
R D on January 4, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Or, as they say in Fark-land, “This thread is useless without pix!”
Spiny Norman on January 4, 2007 at 10:59 PM
See how fast “that with the arrest of Hussein” morphs right into the concept that an arrest has occured? ALl that has happened is an action has been inferred against … the concept presented as “Jamil Hussein.”
AP has a problem and they are coming up with creative concepts to dodge it. As Stephen M points out, body first, then the rest follows. We’ve got arrests, convictions, breaking police procedure, but no guy. Whatcha wanna bet after the phone gets turned back on Monday, that Jamil Hussein will be understood to be held in confinement and won’t be able to speak with anyone! Violation of police protocol and all that.
This is soooo oily.
naliaka on January 4, 2007 at 11:15 PM
Oh, next story angle:
Jamil Hussein, victim.
Imprisoned for speaking to reporters
Guess we really are full circle back to : FREE JAMIL!
or NO BLOOD FOR BLOGS!
naliaka on January 4, 2007 at 11:19 PM
So besides Jamil we have anonymous sources and retraction under alleged duress. How can the bloggers hope to compete with such journalistic professionalism?
Buck Turgidson on January 4, 2007 at 11:36 PM
What happens if Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf comes out and says there was no arrest warrent for a Jamil Hussien as he stil cant find him ?
Anyone getting the vibe that AP’s Stringer is still pulling the strings (and legs) of the AP staff ?
Could this whole “ARREST” story be a hoax ?
William Amos on January 5, 2007 at 12:18 AM
Wait even more sceptisism here.
Jamil told the AP he would be arrested when he returned to work on Thursday ? ITs already FRIDAY in Iraq how come no word of this arrest ? Why is he at home with his phone off if he is under arrest ?
Fishy fishy fishy
William Amos on January 5, 2007 at 12:20 AM
Old scammer trick. So what if Jamil actually exists, what matters are the facts of the original AP story. I could make something up and attribute it to Iraqi Police Captain Mushtaq Khazim. The man exists and is a real Iraqi Police Captain but that doesn’t mean the story is true.
I wouldn’t be sitting down for a serving of crow quite yet folks, this story still reeks. The only thing this newest AP “development” says to me is that the AP actually is feeling enough pressure to try to short circuit the issue. Has AP sent people out to interview witnesses, interview people who used to attend the Mosques in question, show us the burned Mosques, graves of the victims. Nope, and why not?
AP isn’t going to show up and ID Jamil and I have yet to see anything where Jamil admits to giving AP this or any other story AP attributes to him.
Buzzy on January 5, 2007 at 12:29 AM
Ok, quick question. We question the accuracy of the Associated Press’s reporting, believe they made it up and all, right? Then, when the AP reports that they were right, we take it as fact?
It still doesn’t answer so many questions…
amerpundit on January 5, 2007 at 12:55 AM
Exactly! It’s still the AP making the story. Too little, too late. Michelle and Bryan should have some interesting stories soon. Put the crow in the freezer for now. I don’t think I trust the AP to report on the AP wrongdoings.
R D on January 5, 2007 at 1:40 AM
No offense, but you guys are letting your suspicions run away with you.
I don’t really think Allah has anything to apologize for, but I think it’s now been pretty clearly established that 1) there is a Jamil Hussein at al-Khadra station, 2) he was at Yarmouk, and 3) the Ministry of the Interior didn’t do a very good job of answering questions on this.
To deny that makes you sound like paranoiacs, in my opinion.
Patterico on January 5, 2007 at 1:41 AM
No offense, but you guys are letting your suspicions run away with you.
Oh rreeeaalllly? Just where has anything been established? By the AP reports?
R D on January 5, 2007 at 1:48 AM
They’re quoting a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior.
You think they’re making that up??
Patterico on January 5, 2007 at 2:08 AM
“Paranoiacs”? I think it just makes us sound like skeptics who’d like to see some actual evidence rather than just accept hearsay. Given that this is the AP we’re talking about, how is that anything but common sense, with the track record they’ve had lately?
ReubenJCogburn on January 5, 2007 at 2:10 AM
YA THINK?
R D on January 5, 2007 at 2:14 AM
Ok Patterico, Just what do you think this whole story is all about? Do you have a clue?
It’s about the AP making up stories! Imagine that!
R D on January 5, 2007 at 2:17 AM
Now the question is it the Brigader General who says that Jamil is to be arrested or is it AP SAYING that the Interior minitsty has issued an arrest ?
I dont think its wrong to ask if this story is true Patterico. If it is fine lets go from there but if AP is saying one thing and no one else is saying it then I think its fair to be sceptical.
William Amos on January 5, 2007 at 2:39 AM
It’s about *whether* the AP has been making up stories. And we don’t know that they have been.
I would think that if the AP fabricated a quote from the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, he might have something to say about that to other news agencies.
Betcha a dollar he doesn’t!
Patterico on January 5, 2007 at 2:39 AM
“I dont think its wrong to ask if this story is true Patterico.”
OK. But it would be a mistake to *assume* it is not. Which quite a few people here seem to be doing.
Patterico on January 5, 2007 at 2:41 AM
True. its very possible that Jamil does exist and that the IM got it wrong which is also a possiblity.
But again like I pointed out Jamil was suppose to have been arrested on Thursday. And the story was released on thursday. SO surrely SOMEONE knows by now (Friady night in Iraq) if he has been arrested or if there is something wrong with this whole situation.
William Amos on January 5, 2007 at 2:44 AM
It’s Friday morning in Iraq. About 11 a.m.
Patterico on January 5, 2007 at 2:58 AM
I believe it was the AP that should have known it’s sources and not anyone else’s. I mean, don’t they do their homework? Classic.
Of course, he’s probably being beaten till he admits to what they want him to. Of course it will be an interesting thing if the AP reporter can pick him out of a lineup. If the AP reporter doesn’t, I’m sure they’ll post how much ” they all looked alike” type thing.
Highrise on January 5, 2007 at 4:32 AM
Oh, NOW I see this thread!
Sarah D. on January 5, 2007 at 5:19 AM
The story was never about Jamil Hussein really, it was about the press releases, quoting him, by the AP. If the stories cannot be corroborated by any other source, then the AP has a problem IMHO and they need to get more sources.
Sarah D. on January 5, 2007 at 5:23 AM
So Hussein has been arrested for talking to reporters. (He exists but you can’t talk to him.) The AP will be asked to ID him, but they don’t have to if they don’t want to. (The AP is calling the shots here, so don’t bother coming to Iraq.) And charges will be dropped as soon as the AP declines to ID. (End of story.)
William Shakespeare couldn’t have written it any better.
RedWinged Blackbird on January 5, 2007 at 5:28 AM
As Michelle reported Armed Liberal found this guy back on the 17th of December. If I remember right he was in doubt as the source because he wasn’t a captain and his precinct was in Yarmouk which isn’t anywhere near the burning story or the destroyed mosque story.
bj1126 on January 5, 2007 at 9:29 AM
I don’t see how producing “evidence“ of Jamil Hussein by AP eliminates the crux of this issue, namely that Hussein is the only source for over 60 stories that have not been corroborated by other sources. It brings into question (at least into my simple mind) everything AP reports on.
But having just one source seems to be AP’s modus operandi. Case in point, this story about Bill Cowher leaving the Steelers has just one source mentioned in the first paragraph.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers will begin a coaching search Friday to replace departing coach Bill Cowher, a person familiar with Cowher’s status told The Associated Press on Thursday night, speaking on condition of anonymity because the coach’s departure had not been officially announced.
Of course, information in the story is probably public knowledge, but the fact that the AP has just used one source, “…familiar with Cowher…speaking on condition of anonymity…”, makes we wonder about the ethics of AP’s journalists. How can anyone trust AP’s reporting, especially with stories from Iraq, when they don’t do the very basics? Or, maybe it’s just me.
Exit question for Allah: Was Capt. Jamil Hussein also the anonymous person familiar with Cowher’s status?
JohnnyD on January 5, 2007 at 9:46 AM
Zeyad has a good take on this.
BTW, there is an E&P story dated Nov. 29 which repeats, with three “unnamed” witnesses, the burning story.
With those two pieces, I think the central claim here “the AP just makes stuff up and is out to get us,” doesn’t fly. Per Zeyad, there may be inaccuracy and sourcing is difficult in Iraq today. But totality of it, not merely the now-confirmed existence of Jamil Hussein, suggests that the AP comes out ahead.
Don’t anyone here read Greenwald today, not unless you want to have a stroke.
commissar on January 5, 2007 at 11:41 AM
There is no way Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia burned 6 Sunnis to death. This Jamil Hussein is a liar. Someone needs to expose this fraud and clear Muqtada al-Sadr.
But seriously, why anyone would want to provide cover for al-Sadr is beyond me. His militia is responsible for the deaths of U.S. Marines in Najaf in 2004. We let him go then he became a force in Iraq’s government. I’d give the AP a pass on this one and save my ire for al-Sadr.
Aitch on January 5, 2007 at 11:52 AM
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