Richard WarnickCan We Really Send Michelle Malkin to Baghdad?
Although there’s plenty of competition, blogger and Fox News talking-head Michelle Malkin may be the champion when it comes to shrill, hyperbolic, divisive and intemperate right-wing rhetoric. As you may or may not know, she is now in the thick of a campaign by warbloggers to discredit the Associated Press (AP) for allegedly siding with insurgents in Iraq. It’s the classic kill-the-messenger rhetoric people on the right always use when reality refuses to conform to their ideology.
Former CNN executive and Peabody award-winning journalist Eason Jordan may have the answer. When he launched his new, information-packed blog IraqSlogger, he invited Ms. Malkin to go with him to Baghdad in search of the truth of one particular incident AP reported as part of ongoing coverage of Iraq’s civil war between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias.
Who is Jamil Hussein? Michelle Malkin is leading the charge for an answer, and she put that question to me in her blog. The AP is in the midst of a public firestorm regarding whether supposed Iraqi police captain Jamil Hussein actually exists and, if so, whether he was a legitimate news source for a disputed November 24 AP-reported story saying Shia thugs in Baghdad “grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive near Iraqi soldiers who did not intervene.†The U.S. military, the Iraqi government, and many others insisted the AP story was false and that Jamil Hussein either was fictitious or was not an Iraqi police officer, as asserted in the AP’s report. The AP has issued two strong statements defending its initial report and produced fresh statements from witnesses of the alleged crime, but the AP has not produced Jamil Hussein himself.
So the search for Jamil Hussein is on, and rightly so. IraqSlogger’s team in Baghdad is working to track him down. If we find him, we’ll get back to you with details. If we can’t find him, we’ll report that, too. If Michelle Malkin wants to join the search in Baghdad, IraqSlogger will pay for her trip, and I’d even be willing to accompany her. Stay tuned.
Somewhat surprisingly, Ms. Malkin has accepted the offer to go to Baghdad. It’s as if she thinks the blog-generated controversy over this one reported incident will somehow make the civil war go away. I’m not worried about Malkin’s safety, after all she thinks the level of violence in Baghdad is a lot less than the media would have us believe. Anyway, she already has her own security detail that accompanies her to book signings and speaking appearances.
Eric Boehlert has more on MediaMatters.
UPDATE: Today Ms. Malkin had nothing to say regarding her travel plans, however with the help of sources she may have identified the policeman who was a source for the AP. He denies ever talking to the press, which makes sense because he’s not authorized to.
December 20th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Haven’t we punished the Iraqis enough?
December 20th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
I wrote about this shamless sell-out in September when I saw her speak at her alma mater, Oberlin College.
They booed her. She sucked. It shockingly embarassing.
Her blog, like so many other conservative shrill blogs, does not allow comments. What is she (are they) afraid of?
I do hope she returns safely from Iraq because Michelle Malkin is a stain on this planet and needs to live that she may be held out as an example of how low some of our species will stoop for money and what becomes of them.
December 21st, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Richard,
The issue has not been resolved. The military still disputes the claim of the person calling himself “Jamil Hussein” and says he is a notorious liar.
So I’m not sure what you mean in the post by “classic kill-the-messenger rhetoric people on the right always use when reality refuses to conform to their ideology”. Are you siding with the AP and against the US military as to the reality of this particular story?
I have by no means exhausted my research of this anecdote, but it appears that the “fresh statements from the witnesses of the crime” are once and only again from the person calling himself “Jamil Hussein”. Here’s how it’s stated on Yahoo News:
Also from Malkin’s story on WorldNetDaily:
December 21st, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Frank writes: “Are you siding with the AP and against the US military as to the reality of this particular story?”
You bet. The Associated Press has witnesses (the incident took place in front of a crowd) and they have photographic evidence from the scene. The military press people “say they cannot confirm that the incident took place.”
“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.
December 21st, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Let me add that I have the greatest respect for the U.S. Army, however they are NOT a news gathering organization. Their mission of securing Baghdad is being hampered by reports of sectarian violence. We all know that information is a weapon of war and truth is often the first casualty.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:56 pm
In what I had read up to this point, I had only seen that Jamil Hussein was the only witness, and that the military had questioned his credibility in the past.
But I have read the article you link to above, and I stand corrected.
Now, I wonder if Ms. Malkin will stand corrected.
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
[...] By now, it has become a cliché to say that the journalists who are working every day in Iraq are risking their lives to keep us informed. An estimated 129 journalists and their support staff have been killed in Iraq since 2003. Meanwhile, journalistic wannabes like Michelle Malkin think they can impugn the honesty of front line reporters from halfway around the world. [...]
November 5th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
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