Nov 29 2006

This Is Interesting

Published by Gaius at 9:45 pm under Media, War

When bloggers questioned the "green helmet guy" during the Lebanon/Israel war this summer, the Associated Press rushed to his defense and published a mawkish, almost worshipful piece about the man. They did their level best to defuse the criticism directed at them. But in the latest uproar, they simply fall back on the "trusted source" bit.

They ain't producing the "police captain". Possibly with very good reason. Since the Iraqi government is about to announce this guy is not who he says he is.

Even better, a LGF reader has received a email from Centcom confirming that the Iraqi government will announce this Capt as bogus:

From: MNC-I PAO Victory Main JOC
[mailto:MNF-IPAOVictoryMainJOC@iraq.centcom.mil]
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 9:14 AM
To: [deleted]
Cc: MNC-I PAO Victory Main JOC
Subject: RE: [U] RE: Could you confirm that the letter below was sent
by CENTCOM

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Sir:

I have just learned from Mr. Costlow, mentioned below, that Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, the official Ministry of Interior spokesmen, will begin his regularly scheduled press conference at noon tomorrow with a statement that Capt. Jamil Hussein, is not a Baghdad police officer or an MOI employee.

Yesterday, coincidently, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior issued a press release warning of spreading propaganda aimed at broadcasters. The text of this statement follows:

A Statement from the Ministry of Interior

After media became free in Iraq and expressed the will of all without the government interfering, unfortunately, some satellite TV channels began misleading public opinion and disclosing chaos for a particular political agenda, by broadcasting propaganda that harms people and tries to shake the trust in security forces.

Such satellite channels are trying to affect Iraqi unity and claim that information was stated by a security source without mentioning the source. Information sources should be well-known and reliable, and to avoid repeating such unfair actions, MOI warns the media and insists on defending the people’s security and safety. MOI will take all immediate preventive procedures against media that broadcast propaganda, because such media intend to repress the will of Iraqis in fighting terror and crime.

We would like to mention that such procedures we do not consider as chaining true free media, but it is a legal defense for Iraqi security and the safety of our people.

If you have any additional questions, please let us know.

Vr,
LT Dean

Michael B. Dean
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy
MNC-I Joint Operations Center
Public Affairs Officer

michael.dean@iraq.centcom.mil
MNCI-PAO-VictoryMainJOC@iraq.centcom.mil
Multinational Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office

Again, good job there AP!

Curt has been all over this one. The AP has a serious credibility problem here. They can either produce this "police captain" or get their butts handed to them. It is pretty much that simple at this point.

Others: Michelle Malkin, Bookworm Room, Mary Katherine Ham, Powerline, Independent Sources, Unrest in the Forest, Patterico's Pontifications, Midnight Blue,  Hang Right Politics, Wizbang, Classical Values, Hot Air, Democracy Project, Little Green Footballs, Dean's World, The Belmont Club, JunkYardBlog, Confederate Yankee , Wake up America,

One Response to “This Is Interesting”

  1. # Bob Non 30 Nov 2006 at 7:59 am

    “They can either produce this “police captain” or get their butts handed to them”

    Unfortunately,it’s the AP’s word for it or the military’s and the Iraq government’s.
    Who do you think the media will support and how will they report it, if at all?
    This controversy started here on the right side of the blogosphere and will die a quiet death here.

    As for the AP, “mission accomplished”.