Eat The Press

Mysterious AP Source Disputed By Right-Wing Bloggers Actually Exists, Not-So-Mysteriously Didn't Want To Identify Himself In Not-So-Safe Iraq

Rachel Sklar |  Posted Friday January 5, 2007 at 09:53 AM

Look at it this way, Michelle Malkin: The AP's just trying to save you a trip. Today in a thorough, detailed article the AP blasted back at right-wing bloggers who disputed it coverage, providing proof that police captain and source Jamil Hussein actually existed. Hussein had previously told the AP of an incident in which six Shiites were burned alive in the Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, which was first reported by the AP on Nov. 24, 2006. The report was contested by the Iraqi interior ministry, the military and a number of right-wing bloggers, who accused the AP of spreading false information to make the situation in Iraq look bad (because it really needed the help). The AP stuck by its story, calling the accusations "frankly ludicrous." The right-wing drumbeat continued and new IraqSlogger proprietor Eason Jordan offered to fly Malkin and some other right-wing bloggers to Iraq to get to the bottom of the Hussein mystery herself.

Well, mystery solved: Iraq Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who had formerly denied Hussein's existence, now admits that, oops, he does exist, and is an officer assigned to the Khadra police station. And now that they finally "found" him, he's facing arrest for talking to the media. Sort of explains why he wouldn't come forward himself, as does this next paragraph:

Hussein was not the original source of the disputed report of the attack; the account was first told on Al-Arabiya satellite television by a Sunni elder, Imad al-Hashimi, who retracted it after members of the Defense Ministry paid him a visit.

The AP gives an interesting history of newsgathering in Iraq, noting that where Iraqi officials once felt free to speak to the media, under the recent regime there now is a chilling effect. (Recall that after the Hurriyah attack was disputed, the Iraq Interior ministry threatened "legal action" against journalists who published information disputed by the ministry).

So it should be no mystery why Hussein preferred to stay in the background. It's a bit more of a mystery why Jordan would give credence to the right-wing claims by flying Malkin and co. to Iraq (read her account of how they planned to get the real story from the ground here). This development leaves him in a sort of embarrassing position, as it does bloggers like Malkin who pushed this as another example of the media spinning only bad news from Iraq. (Well it should be embarrassing, but, predictably, there's little acknowledgment of error on the part of right-wing bloggers). What this episode does show is that, sadly, almost any atrocity is possible in Iraq, and the challenges of reporting on them remain significant — over there, and over here.

Iraq threatens arrest of police officer [AP]
Wingnut Assault Against The Associated Press Hits Major Snag: The Facts [Horse's Mouth]
Malkin: "I Won't Apologize" And Other Reactions From Conservative Bloggers [E&P]

Related:
It's Time For the AP to Produce the Phantom Iraqi Source [CJR]
Truth And Rumor In Iraq [ETP]