Fraud, Writ Large

Curt at Flopping Aces has flat out busted the Associated Press filing fraudulent stories based entirely on reports from an "Iraqi police official" who is a) not a member of the police and b) not an authorized spokesman for anyone. Unless he is a spokesman for the insurgents, that is. But CentCom has demanded a retraction of the false stories based on this fraud's accounts. AllahPundit has picked up the torch on this one since Curt is really struggling with server problems at the moment.

I laid off this post at Flopping Aces initially because I didn’t think there was anything particularly suspicious about the cop. Centcom was disputing his report of the six Sunnis burned alive by Shiites but they could have been wrong just as easily as he could. I also didn’t (and still don’t) see Curt’s point about the cop only being quoted in cases where Shiites attack Sunnis. If he’s stationed in an area where Shiite attacks on Sunnis are common, that’s going to happen.

But go see his latest update, all the way at the bottom. And bear in mind — the AP’s been using this guy for months.

Like Patterico said about that L.A. Times airstrike story that’s imploding at an ever accelerating rate:

I learned something important about reporting from Iraq in general. Big Media journalists often rely on sources that are unreliable. They don’t tell you the pressures these sources might be under from insurgents and terrorists. They refuse to tell you who their stringers are, so we can assess their motivations. They get quotes from doctors who seem to see only civilian deaths. If the military has been given insufficient time to respond to an allegation, these journalists don’t check with the military later, to verify that the story they’ve written is accurate. And sometimes, as here, their stories are completely at odds with numerous other accounts reported in other press outlets — and they seem to have no interest in finding out why.

It’s very sobering to realize that much of the news coming out of Iraq is completely unreliable.

Goldstein thinks this is evidence that the violence in Iraq isn’t pandemic, which is a lot further than I’m willing to go. But he’s always worth reading, so partake. Centcom, meanwhile, is demanding a retraction from the AP. They haven’t, to my knowledge, demanded one from the L.A. Times, but Patterico sort of has. Response thus far: zero.

Look folks, I really do not care if you oppose this (or all) war, support this war or anything else. If you do not understand that the media printing false information as pure propaganda from people who have made multiple threats to destroy your country is wrong, you have a problem. Or a death wish. Or both. A media that cannot be trusted to tell the basic truth can not be trusted on any important subject. None at all.

UPDATE: Others: Gateway Pundit, Power Line, JunkYardBlog, Riehl World View, Patterico, Confederate Yankee, Wake up America, The Belmont Club, Villainous Company, Pajamas Media, BizzyBlog, The Dread Pundit Bluto, The Jawa Report, Townhall, JunkYardBlog, The Sundries Shack, NewsBusters, A Blog For All, Sister Toldjah, The Anchoress,

Other Links to this Post

1. The Anchoress » What’s a few fake spokesmen between friends? - UPDATED — November 28, 2006 @ 6:43 am

2. The Sundries Shack — November 28, 2006 @ 8:08 am