Last night I posted about the beehive Curt at Flopping Aces had stirred up with his questions about the veracity of an AP source.  Today the plot thickens.

After the Associated Press’s response to the criticism of Capt. Jamil Hussien CENTCOM announced that the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior will declare that Capt Jamil Hussien is not a Baghdad Police Officer or a Ministry of the Interior employee:

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

The AP meanwhile continues to standby their story although the sourcing seems to have changed a bit:

Our reporter spoke with an officer who had provided AP with reliable information in the past and he confirmed three times that the incident happened. As stated in AP’s November 28 news story, this captain “has been a regular source of police information for two years and had been visited by the AP reporter in his office at the police station on several occasions.”

According to the Washington Post the Captain had identified himself as Jamil Hussien:

Seeking further information about Friday’s attack, an AP reporter contacted Hussein for a third time about the incident to confirm there was no error. The captain has been a regular source of police information for two years and had been visited by the AP reporter in his office at the police station on several occasions. The captain, who gave his full name as Jamil Gholaiem Hussein, said six people were indeed set on fire.

It appears to me that by dropping the name from the sourcing the AP is attempting to set itself up for saying “Wait a minute, who said anything about this Capt. Hussien?  We said a police Capt. who had proven reliable in the past.”  But I could be wrong.

In the meantime still more questions:

• Why is a police Capt. in one district commenting on happenings in another more than 5 miles away.  I confess I don’t know the inner workings of the Iraqi Police.  maybe this is normal but it seems strange.
• Why did AP originally report that the attacks in question continued until American forces arrived?  It wasn’t until CENTCOM pointed out otherwise that they revised their story.  Now a key part of their continued defense of the account rests on the fact that no Coalition forces were present:

AP has reported this attack thoroughly and diligently, speaking to police, witnesses and others who would know about the attack. We sent reporters to the area later and found additional eyewitnesses whose stories were consistent. AP’s television crew videotaped the entrance to the mosque that showed evidence of an explosion and fire. Our reporter spoke with an officer who had provided AP with reliable information in the past and he confirmed three times that the incident happened. As stated in AP’s November 28 news story, this captain “has been a regular source of police information for two years and had been visited by the AP reporter in his office at the police station on several occasions.” When the U.S. military raised questions about the incident and the officer, we reported their comments, even though they were not at the scene.

Navy Lieutenant Dean’s statement seems to suggest that the news media should work solely from a government list of ‘authorized sources.’ But a free press cultivates a wide range of sources. That’s what AP did in this case, as it always does.

Linda M. Wagner
Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs
Associated Press, Corporate Communications

The original report from the AP

The militiamen attacked and burned the Ahbab al-Mustafa, Nidaa Allah, al-Muhaimin and al-Qaqaqa mosques in the rampage that did not end until American forces arrived, Hussein said.

Has an editor met and verified Capt. Jamil Hussien’s identity yet?

There are others but I will let you dig them out. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 9:22 pm by Chad and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.