Trust in the Media at an all time low…. 6 Bogus stories in 6 weeks
On Monday October 29, 2007… The Multi-National Force Iraq turned over Karbala Province to the Iraqis.
This was supposed to be good news, right?
It wasn’t.
The good news was drowned out by media reports that 20 headless bodies were found in Diyala Province.
On Tuesday, after there were already questions about this Diyala slaughter, TIME Magazine based their report on this horrible massacre:
The horrible discovery in Diyala Province Monday was disturbing even by the standards of Iraq’s running sectarian violence. Iraqi police said they found 20 decapitated bodies dumped near a police station west of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.
It was a lie.
The 20 headless bodies story was a hoax.
It never happened.
** There was never any evidence of this event.
** There was no official report on this event.
** There were no photos of this event.
** The Iraqi media denied this event.
** The MNF-I officials denied the event.
** The Diala Security Operations Chief denied the event.
TIME Magazine has never corrected their bogus report.
* * * * * * * * * *
On November 29, 2007… It happened again.
The Western media including the Reporters Without Borders organization reported:
11 close family members of Jordanian-based Baathist reporter Dia al-Kawwaz, who runs the online anti-Iraq newspaper Shabeqat Akhbar al-Iraq, were slaughtered in Baghdad. The attack occurred in the Al-Shaab neighborhood shortly after 7 a.m. Shia militia men shot dead two of Kawwaz’s sisters, their husbands and their seven children, aged 5 to 10. They then exploded the house on their way out.
This made headlines around the world.
This was a lie, too.
Two days later, the “dead family members” of Dia Al-Kawwaz appeared on Iraqi television smiling and waving to the cameras.
They managed to convince the Iraqi audience that they were in fact quite alive.
** Not one Western Media Organization showed this photo or film of the waving family members.
Not one.
* * * * * * * * * *
On Thursday November 29, 2007… The mainstream media reported that 12-25 “construction workers” were killed in a Bombing by NATO forces in Afghanistan this time.
The so-called construction workers ended up being Taliban fighters after all.
* * * * * * * * * *
On December 2, 2007… The Dwelah Massacre made major headlines.
In the reports 13 people were slaughtered by Al-Qaeda in their sleep and their homes were torched in the village of Dwelah, Iraq… including a young child.
This was also a lie.
MAJ Peggy Kageleiry from Task Force Iron PAO responded to the reports:
“The story you are reading in the news is NOT true… CF assessment: Wildly inflated, irresponsibly exaggerated claims-no 600 families displaced, no 200 terrorists, no evidence of civilian KIA.”
It was just another bogus media report from Iraq.
* * * * * * * * * *
On December 10, 2007… There was an explosion at a refinery in Baghdad.
The media immediately reported it as a rocket attack:
A plume of smoke rises from Doura refinery after a rocket attack in Baghdad December 10, 2007. A rocket attack sparked a big fire at a domestic oil refinery in southern Baghdad on Monday but the plant was still operating, Iraqi police and officials said.
(REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud)
Flames and smoke rises from al Dora oil refinery in South Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. A rocket or a mortar shell hit the oil refinery, early Monday, police and an Oil Ministry spokesman said. The U.S. military confirmed an attack in the area. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
However, the fires were not set off by a a rocket attack.
The MNF-Iraq Press Desk confirmed:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20071210-03
December 10, 2007Baghdad refinery fire deemed accidental
Multi-National Division — Baghdad PAOBAGHDAD — Multinational Division — Baghdad forces determined that the cause of a fire at the Doura Oil Refinery today was the result of an industrial accident.
The fire, which began around 9 a.m., was initially believed to have been started by indirect fire, but when units of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div. arrived on the scene, its cause was determined to be the result of a pipe explosion.
(The MNF-I forces have not been able to conduct a definitive crater analysis to resolve what caused the explosion.)
* * * * * * * * * *
On December 13, 2007… The media reported that 12 mutilated bodies were found in Muqdadiya.
CNN reported:
Iraqi soldiers have found a mass grave of mutilated bodies in a restive region north of Baghdad, a local security official told CNN Thursday.
It was another bogus report.
Task Force Iron’s PAO- “This appears to be false reporting.”
* * * * * * * * * *
In roughly six and a half weeks the mainstream media reported 6 bogus stories from Iraq and Afghanistan.
There certainly could be more.
They all reflected poorly on the US and US military.
Isn’t it past time that the media be held accountable for their horrible record?
And… Is it really surprising that only 29% of Americans, Germans and Brits trust their media?