Making Up The News: Ongoing

Now that the Iraqi Information Ministry has also come on record saying this Captain Hussein does not exist, it's clear that AP has a problem.

But this bogus source is the least of AP's problems.

Kathleen Carroll, a senior VP and executive editor of Associated Press, is now saying she is "satisfied with AP's reporting."

Yes, only two sources will go on record, and one has recanted his testimony, while the other apparently does not exist, and Kathleen Carroll is "satisfied with the AP's reporting."

The ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES
AND PRINCIPLES can be found here. Have fun attempting to recncile it with their actions.

The original post is here, but the updates were spilling over, and the reaction is ongoing. Gateway Pundit has a nice recap of developments (which kindly quotes and cites some of the work I did here on the story of the second "eyewitness," the one that might actually exist). I reproduce the highlights here, below the fold.

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GP reports:

This AP outrage started over the weekend when Flopping Aces noticed that the AP was Getting Its News from the Enemy. Specifically, the Six Sunni Torchings report had red flags all over it after the AP news report had already gone global. The story was not adding up and the accounts of the two witnesses came into question.

It is now confirmed that:

* Witness Capt. Jamil Hussein is not an Iraqi police officer!
* There were not 4 Sunni mosques torched in the attacks in the Hurriya neighborhood but only one mosque was damaged and not destroyed
* Witness Imad al-Din al-Hashemi is described as a University professor, foreign pediatrician, and a Hurriya elder depending on the article
* Witness Imad al-Din al-Hashemi says the mosque he was attending was attacked by "rocket-propelled grenades" yet there is no such damage to the mosque
* No bodies were discovered by Iraqi or Coalition investigators nor were there any pictures as evidence
* The AP later produced anonymous witnesses from the neighborhood
* The Multinational Forces Iraq and Baghdad Police did not find any reports of such an incident occurred after investigating the Hurriya neighborhood
* Multinational Forces Iraq claim that the AP source, Capt. Jamil Hussein, is not who he claims he is. He is not a Baghdad police officer or an MOI employee!
* The imam at the mosque in question where the "6 Sunni torchings" supposedly took place is accused of being a member of Saddam's secret police by his own congregation!
* Attempts by Sunnis to smuggle arms into this mosque were foiled by Iraqi security forces back in December 2003

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I would correct Jim's round-up to this extent: AP did not "produce" anonymous witnesses. They claimed they sent two (unnamed) reporters to the neighborhood, and claimed the (unnamed) reporters "found" new witnesses, who in turn were also not named. In other words, all they produced was more uncheckable anonymous claims, even less verifiable than their initial questionable story.

Michelle Malkin has an update on today's CENTCOMM press conference, with lots more linkage. Flopping Aces has AP's current attempt to bluff and bluster its way out of having been caught publishing FICTION as "news."

And quite notably NO major news outlet has come forward to admit they bought this one hook, line, and sinker, and that "reporting" of this extremely dubious nature has driven much of the perception of the current situation in Iraq. Some of the stories may be accurate, some may be extremely exaggerated, and some may be completely false, but ALL are beiing reported as gospel truth by AP. Whose byliners sit in Green Zone hotels and transcribe and edit unverified rumors and naked propaganda brought to them by shadowy sources of unknown motivations and intent, add their political editorial slants and comments, and package them to the world as "news."