AP, U.S. military spar over atrocities report

[Newsjock]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/11/us_military_and.html

The Associated Press is standing by its report that six Sunni men were burned to death in Baghdad Friday by Shiites, even though U.S. military officials have accused the wire service of relying on a source who "is not who he claimed he was," an Iraqi police captain.

Military officials also say they cannot confirm that the incident took place and have asked AP to retract or correct the story, which was repeated by media around the world and cited as a grim example of Shiites taking revenge for a deadly bombing that killed more than 200 people a day before.

"The attempt to question the existence of the known police officer who spoke to the AP is frankly ludicrous and hints at a certain level of desperation to dispute or suppress the facts of the incident in question," AP International Editor John Daniszewski said in a statement e-mailed to On Deadline this afternoon.

... The wire service has sent out a new story about the reports of the burnings. This new story, which acknowledges the challenges to AP's earlier reporting from U.S. military authorities, says that additional witnesses interviewed today told reporters that they had seen the atrocities.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. "Relying on a source who "is not who he claimed he was"

Gee, BushCo would never do a thing like that, right Curveball?

[90-percent]

2. I stand by my man

Ahmed "William Tell" Chalibi, the Iraq Clusterfuck "hero in error"

-85% jimmy

[AlamoDemoc]

3. Hmmm! I guess we only have trust of our own paid stories from Iraq

U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1130-07.htm