Thursday, December 23, 2004

AP: Mosul Celebrates Suicide Bombing


So it turns out that it was a suicide murder. This doesn't change anything in my eyes, but it certainly answered some questions I had. I couldn't comprehend how they could have scored a direct hit on the DFAC without any other rounds dropping anywhere else (at least initially). It just didn't add up. And we knew all along that ball-bearings were used, and that's not normal for a rocket or mortar blast.

Every DFAC that I've ever been to has a "no bags allowed" policy. Somehow this terrorist got through with a backpack. As we all know, a determined suicide murderer is going to find a way to blow up a bunch of people. We can take all the precautions in the world to prevent it, but as long as the will exists, it will happen. It will continue to happen as long as we allow this murderous and psychopathic pseudo-culture to fester in the Arab world.

Never before, in all my years of reading the news, have I seen such obvious terrorist propaganda passed off as legitimate "news." This article was the first one on Yahoo's list of "Top News Stories." I opened it this morning, and I could not believe my own eyes. I don't want to beat around the bush, so here goes:



There was little apparent sympathy for the dead Americans on Mosul's deserted streets, where hundreds of U.S. troops, backed up by armored vehicles and helicopters, blocked bridges and cordoned off Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq's third-largest city.


The hard-hitting reporter then goes on to prove this by providing three quotes from the locals:



1) "I wish that 2,000 U.S. soldiers were killed," declared Jamal Mahmoud, a trade union official.

2) Sadiq Mohammed, a grocer, expressed concern that the U.S. military would use the attack as a pretext for a major crackdown in the city. "Yesterday's attack on the American base will for sure lead to an escalation in U.S. military activities in Mosul," he said.

3) Izdihar Kamel, a civil servant, praised those who had carried out Tuesday's attack. "It was a heroic operation," Kamel said. "This is jihad and he who carried out this attack is a hero."


This is what the AP wants you to know about how the locals feel about this suicide murder-which also claimed the lives of 3 Iraqis. One guy wishes thousands had died, one guy is an armchair General, and one guy thinks the terrorist was a "hero." Not a single quote from anyone else in Mosul. Not one. Must be that everyone in Mosul was either happy about it, disappointed that it didn't kill more people, or just simply didn't care. Un. Be. Lievable.

I am here to tell you that if I were to go into downtown Mosul, the University, or just about anywhere else in the city- the overwhelming majority of Iraqis would be expressing their heartfelt condolences. I know this for a fact, because it's exactly what happened during the days following our incident with the 2 Black Hawks. The people felt absolutely terrible about what happened, and many of them were tearful when expressing their sorrow. I am going to make an accusation here, and I need you to know that this accusation is not based on an assumption- this is something I know for a fact:

This AP reporter deliberately sought out pro-terrorist/anti-American Iraqis to quote for this article.

If you were to travel through Mosul, and ask 3 random people how they felt about this event, at least 1 of them (more likely 2 or all 3) would express shock and outrage. If, by some miracle, you find 3 random Iraqis and all 3 of them happen to condone or dismiss the act, then you would be absolutely irresponsible to include them all in your story without making any effort to find even one Iraqi with opposing views.

Imagine how outraged we would be if they published a story that suggested that Americans didn't really care about the attack- proving it by publishing 3 disdainful/apathetic quotes from renegade "Americans" like Tim Mcveigh or Terry Nichols- and neglecting to present one quote from the obviously overwhelming majority of Americans who are shocked and outraged. Well, this is exactly what happened- they just did it in Iraq.

I've had my problems with AP in the past. Many others have as well. But this is the first time I have ever seen anything like this. They should be humiliated and ashamed for allowing this piece to be published. That's all I have to say about that.

UPDATE:

You'll notice that the story that I linked to has completely changed. The whole article is different, and I can't find the original story (from which I pulled the quotes) anywhere. I wonder if the AP bigwigs are reading my site? Could they have possibly realized the error of their ways? I wonder...

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Bob Anderson (thanks, Bob) confirms that the story was pulled. He found this story, which looks like a watered-down replacement- trying to make their efforts a little "less obvious," no doubt.

AND ANOTHER UPDATE:

Flight Pundit found the original article at Salon. AP can run, but they can't hide their Islamofascist propaganda. Somebody should seriously have to answer for this...

AND FINALLY:

Charles from LGF weighed in here- and he managed to find the original article on Yahoo! (he's good at that). Thanks, Charles.

Bashing Moore

Most of you know Michelle Malkin. She's on Fox News a lot, and she's one of the best bloggers in the business. Obviously, I'm a sucker for a good Moore-bashing, and Michelle- well, let's just say Michelle has the "skinny" on Mike's latest crockumentary.

And of course there's this and this from LGF.

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