More on Jamil...

Flopping Aces and Austin Bay both discuss the case of Jamil Hussein. Austin Bay is promising another column on this.

Short version: The reporting doesn't check out. Not by a long shot. The AP has a lot of explaining to do. Even the alleged source remains open to question, as Confederate Yankee explains. The AP is still dodging, though. The long-term pattern by the AP is not encouraging. There was an air strike that came out of nowhere that MNF-I says never happened.

Austin Bay says:

Some bloggers and at least one AP editor personalized the debate over this story, attributing dark motives. That’s too bad, but it’s also the long term trend line. I think that’s why a news council of some type would be useful.

It's an idea that sounds good in theory, but there are problems with it in the long term. How will this new council operate? Will they have any teeth in terms of what they can do in a situation like this, where the news organization stonewalls?

Worse, how does one maintain objectivity on this sort of thing? There will be pressures on them to see things a certain way - from employers, from the news outlets themselves. Is there anyone who believes that the instant they side against the media in favor of someone who is one of their designated bad guys, that the media will not turn on them? And then, will these folks atnd up and stick to their guns, or will they fold like cheap suits, and the news council will end up a rubber stamp?

Jamil update...

Flopping Aces has more on Jamil. Seems he denies ever speaking to the AP. Oh, and he goes by Jamil Gulaim, not Jamil Hussein.

Add this to the air strike that the AP reported but MNF-I denied happening, it's obvious that there is something going on with their Baghdad bureau that needs to be dealt with.

Every answer leads to more questions.

Don't exonerate the AP yet...

So Jamil Hussein has been found - at least, we have the AP's word for it. That is it, the AP (whose veracity is under scrutiny) saying that the Iraqi MOI had found him and has issued an arrest warrant.

Austin Bay is ready to exonerate the AP. With all due respect, I have to say, "Not so fast." There are still problems with the AP's story that go beyond whether or not Captain Jamil Hussein exists.

Confederate Yankee reports that MNF-I cannot confirm this report. Curt from Flopping Aces also explains why the AP remains on the hook even if Jamil Hussein exists. For one thing, how do we know he isn't on the run? He's turned his cell phone off.

Not only that, we have a new AP story which has a discrepancy that needs to be explained. To wit, the AP claimed an airstrike occured in an incident discussed by MNF-I in a January 1 press release. There's just one problem: MNF-I is reported that six terrorists were killed. AP claims that the dead include four members of a family. Maybe four were in the same family, but there's that minor discrepancy.

The second discrepancy is the big one. I have asked MNF-I about the incident in question, specifically if any air strikes occured. The answer from their press desk was as follows:

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED

Sir,
No, there were no air strikes.

No air strikes. I have the e-mail on file. I have also forwarded it to a couple of people following the Jamil Hussein story.

What does Editor and Publisher have to say about this? I'd like to know how they explain this one away.

Umm... Kathleen Carroll, how do you explain those discrepancies?

More on Jemil Hussein...

Or is it Jamil or Jamail? It's hard to tell - largely because we still have no proof that this person exists.

And now, there may be more questions about the AP's coverage of Iraq. An AP source is apparently wanted by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior for questioning. Another reporter, interviewed by INDCJournal, seems to have a bias against the United States.

Editor and Publisher is parroting the AP's line that there is no problem, and that is keeping the story from getting too many legs. One just has to look at Greg Mitchell's "Pressing Issues" columns, though, and one has to wonder if Editor and Publisher can cover this dispute fairly. Mitchell has constantly editorialized against the war. He also tried to promote the highly questionable Lancet study that claimed over 650,000 deaths in Iraq. The apparent lack of interest in exposing fraudulent coverage that seems present at Editor and Publisher is not shocking, given Mitchell's opinions of the war. Clearly, he wants America to quit.

This is not a small matter. Hundreds, if not thousands, of news sources use the AP. The questionable reporting is affecting public support for the war. Clearly, the AP's coverage cannot be trusted.

The American people would be better served if they went to the following sites:

Central Command's newsroom:
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/Shared%20Documents/newsroom.aspx

MNC-Iraq's new releases:
http://www.mnci.centcom.mil/Releases/default.htm

MNF-Iraq.com:
http://mnf-iraq.com/

The fallout from Jamil Hussein

AJ Strata is asking about the "body count" figures. Now, the tallies they have are actually a little smaller than the totals reported by the Ministry of the Interior.

The AP's stonewalling on the Jamil Hussein situation - as reported by Don Surber, a new addition to my blogroll - is not easing suspicions, even though it seems to be paying off.

These reports seem to be legitimate, for now, but it would be easier if we had a name for the source at the Interior Ministry who we could check on.