Flopping Aces discovered this past weekend that the Associated Press is using bogus sources in its reports from Iraq!
(Check out the update!)
Centcom sent a press release out on Monday and included this information:
We at Multi-National Corps – Iraq made it known through MNC-I Press Release Number 20061125-09 and our conversations with your reporters that neither we nor Baghdad Police had any reports of such an incident after investigating it and could find no one to corroborate the story. A couple of hours ago, we learned something else very important. We can tell you definitively that the primary source of this story, police Capt. Jamil Hussein, is not a Baghdad police officer or an MOI employee. We verified this fact with the MOI through the Coalition Police Assistance Training Team. Also, we definitely know, as we told you several weeks ago through the MNC-I Media Relations cell, that another AP-popular IP spokesman, Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq, supposedly of the city’s Yarmouk police station, does not work at that police station and is also not authorized to speak on behalf of the IP. The MOI has supposedly issued a warrant for his questioning.There are several reports on the Associated Press articles about Capt. Jamil Hussein including this previous post. What about Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq? * On April 3, 2006 the AP reported this disgusting story from the Dora neighborhood:
The men lined up the parents and two sons in their 20s against the wall in their home in Dora and shot each of them late Sunday, police Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razzaq said.* On May 16, 2006 the AP reported from Baghdad:
The gunbattle in Baghdad broke out about 10:30 a.m. between suspected insurgents riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad’s most violent neighborhoods. At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq.* The AP report on July 5, 2006 in Dora:
Elsewhere in the capital, gunmen killed an employee of the Dora refinery in a drive-by shooting, while an intelligence captain in the Interior Ministry was seriously wounded when gunmen opened fire on his car in the volatile neighborhood, according to Lt. Maithem Abdul-Razzaq.* The AP reported on July 7, 2006 from northern Baghdad:
The mortar round landed in front of the al-Nidaa Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad about 2:00 p.m., killing five people, including a policeman, and wounding two worshippers, the army said. A car bomb also exploded about 10 minutes later as worshippers were leaving a Sunni mosque in western Baghdad, killing three people, a woman and two children, police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq said.* On July 9, 2006 the AP reported from the western Jihad district:
A car bomb exploded in a public garage near a Shi’ite mosque late Saturday in the city’s western Jihad district, killing two people and wounding nine and causing slight damage to the mosque, said police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq.* The AP reported on September 26, 2006 from a mixed Baghdad neighborhood:
About 15 minutes later, black-clad gunmen attacked Sunni homes in the same neighborhood. Residents fought back, wounding five of the attackers, while three civilians and a police officer were also injured, said police Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq.* On October 1, 2006 the AP reported from Baghdad:
The attackers forced 26 workers into a refrigerator truck. But when two refused to get in the gunmen shot them, leaving them behind, seriously wounded as they sped off with the rest, said police Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq.* On October 10, 2006 the AP reported from west Baghdad:
In new attacks Tuesday, one policeman and six people were injured in the west Baghdad neighborhood of Yarmouk when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol, police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq said.* The AP reported on November 12, 2006 from Baghdad:
In a further sign of the sectarian strife, security forces in Baghdad found 25 bullet-riddled, handcuffed bodies dumped in several parts of the capital, Lt. Maithem Abdul Razzaq of the city’s Yarmouk police station said.* The AP reported on November 13, 2006 from western Baghdad:
Police in western Baghdad found four bodies that had been shot. The victims were handcuffed and their bodies showed signs of torture, police 1st Lt. Maithem Adbel-Razzaq said.* The AP reported on November 27, 2006 in Baghdad:
The gun battle in Baghdad broke out at about 10:30 am between suspected insurgents riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad’s most violent neighbourhoods. At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt Maithem Abdel-Razaq.Michelle Malkin has much more on the fake MSM stories this morning.
Austin Bay has a brief roundup for those of you just tuning in to this story.
Dan Riehl has a must read spelling out more trouble for the AP.
Atlas has an American soldier’s fisking of the NYT.
Democracy Project sees the MSM is not yet ready to believe that the AP stories are bogus.] ]>
