Is Crow On The Menu Tonight?
Jamil Hussein, the man the AP claims exists, and supposedly was a witness to a heinous act of terrorism last month, has been the centerpoint of controversy for the bloggers. The AP claims he exists, and that he is an Iraqi police officer. Bloggers told the AP to put up or shut up: Present Mr. Hussein. The reason for this is that the crime he "corroborated" for the AP is denied by CENTCOM. They have no evidence that the six people alleged to have been burned alive were, in fact, burned at all. Michelle Malkin and another blogger accepted Eason Jordan's invite to go to Iraq with him, and look for the guy. Now, it seems that he may have been located. Armed Liberal at Winds of Change has this for their readers:
Hmmm.
With the help of some friends who have been doing a smidgen of looking, and it appears - appears, but is not certain - that there is in fact a Jamail Hussein in the Yarmouk police station in Baghdad. We'll know more tomorrow.
Not sure yet what this means in terms of the AP story - but will know more about that tomorrow or Monday as well.
Watch the skies...
Michelle updates with pointing out that See-Dubya at Junkyard Blog isn't buying it, per se. He's got a butt-load of questions for Mr. Hussein, if he has been found. No kidding. So do the rest of us. He also reminds us that the AP said the Mr. Hussein was recewntly transferred.
But, Patterico offers us,/li> possibly the most plausible reason why it's been a pain in the backside finding this guy:
The military says it has no evidence that Jamil Hussein is a policeman or member of the Ministry of the Interior.
AP says: you bet he is!
Someone’s right and someone’s wrong, wouldn’t you say?
Not necessarily. Like Bill Clinton, I come to offer a third way.
I was discussing the issue of fake Iraqi cops recently with a military press guy who is (I believe) not involved with the Hussein controversy. He offered me a theory about what may be going on with some of these folks who aren’t showing up on police rosters, but who are being quoted as police sources by the press. I asked him if I could quote him and he sent me this:
After the Iraqi Army was disbanded in 2003 the police force was kept intact; however they refused to show up to work which is why Coalition forces had to recruit and train the new police force from scratch. So I am suspect of press reports that claim to have a source within the Iraqi Police, because there is a high probability that the source is most likely a Saddam era leftover who hasn’t walked a beat in years. Those individuals are not employed by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. The Iraqi MOI keeps accurate listings of verified police officers, for pay purposes.
— Maj. Jeff Pool, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Force) PAO.
So it’s possible that, in a sense, some of these folks are technically Iraqi police — but don’t represent the government, as readers would assume they do when they read a quote from an alleged Iraqi “policeman.”
Just tossing that out there for your consideration.
The above I can buy. It makes sense. And if he is a Saddam era leftover, then he seriously can't be trusted. Everyone knows the holdouts have been offered a chance to rejoin the government. Hell, they're inviting them back into the military. ranks. For crying out loud, these guys have been fighting against the new government since the fall of Saddam. They've worked with the terrorists in Iraq, and have helped incite a bit of the sectarian violence there.
If Jamil Hussein is one of these leftovers, then anything he says or offers has to be taken with a grain of salt. Besides, I find it hard to believe that CENTCOM couldn't corroborate the AP story. I mean, there's a possibility they may not have known of the incident, but I believe we had a military presence in Yarmouk. If we did, then it's not plausible that our troops wouldn't have been aware of the attack on the mosque, or the burning of those bodies. So toss me into the "skeptical" bin. If he's been found, I'll believe it when he's out there answering some questions.
A note for our readers--Normally, it would be Sabrina that is here on Sundays. She'll be winging her way here later today to spend the holidays with us. So, I don't know if she'll get a chance to knock off a post today or not. She might. Stay tuned.
Publius II
Jamil Hussein, the man the AP claims exists, and supposedly was a witness to a heinous act of terrorism last month, has been the centerpoint of controversy for the bloggers. The AP claims he exists, and that he is an Iraqi police officer. Bloggers told the AP to put up or shut up: Present Mr. Hussein. The reason for this is that the crime he "corroborated" for the AP is denied by CENTCOM. They have no evidence that the six people alleged to have been burned alive were, in fact, burned at all. Michelle Malkin and another blogger accepted Eason Jordan's invite to go to Iraq with him, and look for the guy. Now, it seems that he may have been located. Armed Liberal at Winds of Change has this for their readers:
Hmmm.
With the help of some friends who have been doing a smidgen of looking, and it appears - appears, but is not certain - that there is in fact a Jamail Hussein in the Yarmouk police station in Baghdad. We'll know more tomorrow.
Not sure yet what this means in terms of the AP story - but will know more about that tomorrow or Monday as well.
Watch the skies...
Michelle updates with pointing out that See-Dubya at Junkyard Blog isn't buying it, per se. He's got a butt-load of questions for Mr. Hussein, if he has been found. No kidding. So do the rest of us. He also reminds us that the AP said the Mr. Hussein was recewntly transferred.
But, Patterico offers us,/li> possibly the most plausible reason why it's been a pain in the backside finding this guy:
The military says it has no evidence that Jamil Hussein is a policeman or member of the Ministry of the Interior.
AP says: you bet he is!
Someone’s right and someone’s wrong, wouldn’t you say?
Not necessarily. Like Bill Clinton, I come to offer a third way.
I was discussing the issue of fake Iraqi cops recently with a military press guy who is (I believe) not involved with the Hussein controversy. He offered me a theory about what may be going on with some of these folks who aren’t showing up on police rosters, but who are being quoted as police sources by the press. I asked him if I could quote him and he sent me this:
After the Iraqi Army was disbanded in 2003 the police force was kept intact; however they refused to show up to work which is why Coalition forces had to recruit and train the new police force from scratch. So I am suspect of press reports that claim to have a source within the Iraqi Police, because there is a high probability that the source is most likely a Saddam era leftover who hasn’t walked a beat in years. Those individuals are not employed by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior. The Iraqi MOI keeps accurate listings of verified police officers, for pay purposes.
— Maj. Jeff Pool, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Force) PAO.
So it’s possible that, in a sense, some of these folks are technically Iraqi police — but don’t represent the government, as readers would assume they do when they read a quote from an alleged Iraqi “policeman.”
Just tossing that out there for your consideration.
The above I can buy. It makes sense. And if he is a Saddam era leftover, then he seriously can't be trusted. Everyone knows the holdouts have been offered a chance to rejoin the government. Hell, they're inviting them back into the military. ranks. For crying out loud, these guys have been fighting against the new government since the fall of Saddam. They've worked with the terrorists in Iraq, and have helped incite a bit of the sectarian violence there.
If Jamil Hussein is one of these leftovers, then anything he says or offers has to be taken with a grain of salt. Besides, I find it hard to believe that CENTCOM couldn't corroborate the AP story. I mean, there's a possibility they may not have known of the incident, but I believe we had a military presence in Yarmouk. If we did, then it's not plausible that our troops wouldn't have been aware of the attack on the mosque, or the burning of those bodies. So toss me into the "skeptical" bin. If he's been found, I'll believe it when he's out there answering some questions.
A note for our readers--Normally, it would be Sabrina that is here on Sundays. She'll be winging her way here later today to spend the holidays with us. So, I don't know if she'll get a chance to knock off a post today or not. She might. Stay tuned.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:20 AM
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