UPDATE: AP Replies to New Claims Against Disputed Iraq Story

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003466311

The U.S. military and Iraqi officials continue to question a source for a widely publicized Associated Press story about six Iraqis being set on fire last Friday -- and AP continues to stand by it, with new developments today.

The latest: A spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior at a press conference today claimed that a key source in the original AP report was not a Baghdad police officer, as AP had declared. He also denounced press accounts based on alleged rumors. Hours later, Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of The Associated Press, responded in a statement sent to E&P, stating, "We are satisfied with our reporting on this incident. If Iraqi and U.S. military spokesmen choose to disregard AP's on-the-ground reporting, that is certainly their choice to make, but it is a puzzling one given the facts."

<snip>

Today brought the Baghdad press conference and the Iraqi official, Brig. Gen. Abdu-Karim Khalaf, charging that Capt. Hussein was not a Baghdad police officer -- and denounding media reports based on unconfirmed sources and what he said were mere rumors. Carroll then responded with her statement.

After stating that AP was "satisfied" with its reporting, she continued: "AP journalists have repeatedly been to the Hurriyah neighborhood, a small Sunni enclave within a larger Shiia area of Baghdad. Residents there have told us in detail about the attack on the mosque and that six people were burned alive during it. Images taken later that day and again this week show a burned mosque and graffiti that says 'blood wanted,' similar to that found on the homes of Iraqis driven out of neighborhoods where they are a minority. We have also spoken repeatedly to a police captain who is known to AP and has been a reliable source of accurate information in the past and he has confirmed the attack.

"By contrast, the U.S. military and Iraqi government spokesmen attack our reporting because that captain's name is not on their list of authorized spokespeople. Their implication that we may have given money to the captain is false. The AP does not pay for information. Period.

[EFerrari]

1. So, we have to choose between Authorized Propaganda

and the puppets?

:crazy:

[stillcool]

2. Wow...I hadn't read the piece...

and didn't think the AP or anyone else had reporters in Iraq...outside of the Green Zone. I'm impressed.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. It's not like AP needs to make up sensational stories on Iraq

Horrible things happen there many times a day.