That Silence You Hear? It’s Deafening
Here’s a quick summary of everything Michelle Malkin has posted since Thursday, when the Associated Press reported that Jamil Hussein did in fact exist:
1.) Barney Frank is mean!
2.) A wingnut blogger in Fallujah says everything’s going great!
3.) More awesome news from Iraq, reported by more super-credible wingnut bloggers!
And that’s it. Three pathetic little posts, none of them longer than a sentence. For a woman who specializes in writing “GAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! BLARRRRG, BLARRRRG, GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, this relative silence is somewhat surprising. Do you suppose Michelle’s conscience has taken a bit of a hit over being so disastrously wrong about this whole sorry affair? Has she finally realized that her irresponsible braying has gotten somebody arrested for the high crime of talking to reporters? Or do you think she’s frantically searching out for the next “MSM R H8RZ, IRAQ 1Z TEH R0XX0R!” conspiracy theory?
Pffft, who am I kidding? She’ll be trolling through wire photos searching for evidence of darkened smoke in no time.
At any rate, Editor and Publisher has a pretty funny summary of Wingnutistan’s reaction to the news that they were, once again, embarrassingly wrong:
As reported elsewhere on this late this afternoon, Iraq’s Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military — and mocked by conservative bloggers in the U.S. — is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media. […]
The response from the U.S. military has been nil so far, but what about the conservative bloggers?
As recently as yesterday, Michelle Malkin, the best-known blog critic of Hussein’s existence, stated flatly “the fact that there is no police captain named ‘Jamil Hussein’ working now or ever in either Yarmouk or al Khadra, according to on-the-ground sources in Baghdad.” Late this afternoon, she posted part of the AP dispatch about the turn of events, with the comment, “Checking it out. Moving forward….”
She later sent a note to the blog of another Hussein doubter, Allahpundit, stating, “Just to clarify, I’m not apologizing for anything.”
Woo-hoo! Way to go Michelle! Take zero personal responsibility for your behavior! It’s the conservative way!
Previously, in writing about his subject, Malkin had declared: “MSM credibility. R.I.P.”
You can just tell the E&P staff had a grand old time writing this stuff up. I’m almost jealous.
Allahpundit, blogging at Hot Air, admitted, “She and we were wrong about Jamil Hussein. Whether we’re wrong about the rest of it, too, we’ll see. Apologies, though, to the HA readers for having led you on a bit of a wild goose chase, however well founded and well intended our suspicions were.”
But Patterico at Patterico’s Pontifications replied, “I see Allah is apologizing tonight for taking his readers on a wild goose chase. But I don’t think he’s done anything to apologize for.”
Ah, Patterico, that staunch conservative ethicist who thinks it’s perfectly OK to joke about molesting someone’s sister. Truly, these right-wing blogs are society’s bastions of moral authority.
Dan Riehl, another blogging Hussein doubter, responded today, “Fascinating. But let me be the first to say to the Left, before they lose themselves in glee, I don’t see that bloggers have anything to apologize for, nor do I see this story being at an end.” He and others now promise to check out Hussein’s record as a source — now that they have to admit that he actually exists.
Curt at Flopping Aces, credited by Malkin with being first to break the story of the AP’s source likely non-existence, asked, referring to a line in the AP story about Hussein’s phone no longer working: “His phone was turned off? Interesting…..why would his phone be turned off all of a sudden? Would this mean he will once again NOT be produced for questioning?”
Also on the right, Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters admitted, “This certainly tends to discredit the blogospheric attacks on AP if true, as well as the U.S. and Iraqi protestations.” But he raised “the question about the Iraqi intent to arrest Hussein. Why would they want to arrest him if he told the truth to the AP?”
Maybe because he made them look like shit, Ed. Just a thought.
Over at The Jawa Report: “Of course, the alternative to believing he might not exist is to be thoroughly convinced that he does exist despite the conflicting evidence. Anyone who thoroughly convinced themselves of Jamil Hussein’s existence despite the controversy is a credulous fool.”
Brilliant. Plucked straight from the “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I?” school of debate.
A prime Jamil Hussein doubter, Jules Crittenden of the Boston Herald, had written on his blog on Tuesday, “If Jamil Hussein’s apparent failure to exist is ever acknowledged, it will be buried. The AP’s clients, by and large, don’t care. Nor do the ‘ethics’ gatekeepers in the business.”
Tonight he writes, “The existence of cops with several variations of the name Jamil Hussein of varying ranks in several police stations around Baghdad was reported by bloggers several weeks ago. None quite matched. I’d suggest the jury is still out on this guy.”
He adds: “Where the proof? All I’ve seen is just another round of assertions. How about a page out of an AP reporter’s notebook with a Jamil Hussein contact and info for a particular story on a particular day? Reporters are meticulous about their notebooks and retain them for years.”
Confederate Yankee allowed, “As far as the AP’s story goes, it does raise some very interesting questions, and I think I’ll have a very entertaining weekend trying to make sense of it all.”
Am I surprised that Confederate Yankee’s idea of an “entertaining weekend” is sitting at home and reading his friends’ blogs? The answer is, “No.” No I am not.
While a more neutral observer and journalist, Eason Jordan, at his new IraqSlogger site, just two days ago had declared that AP was now in a major “scandal.” He had earlier offered to fly Malkin and the Flopping Aces’ Dan to Baghdad, on his own dime, to search for Hussein.
Now at his site he says that all parties made mistakes in the matter, including AP for not resolving the issue sooner, and even points a finger at the imperiled police captain himself: “Since Jamil Hussein was willing to be quoted by the AP dozens of times, he should have come forward sooner to end the dispute about his existence.”
Yes, he should have come forward sooner so the Iraqi government could have jailed him more quickly.
What a pack of geniuses. Of course, I’m sure this out-and-out buffoonery won’t stop any of them from getting a book deal with Regnery Publishing.
I hope Michelle’s still going to Iraq, despite these minor setbacks.
You see folks, for some damn reason the wussy libs at Lonely Planet Guide insist it’s too dangerous to visit the country now, and I want to prove them wrong. I’d like MM to look into mid range eateries in the Anbar province and best bet hotels in Fallujah, because my Middle East edition editors were too chickenshit to go there. Please report back Michelle! God speed!
I’m sure I speak for all Sadly, No!sians when I say we’d like a detailed report of school paintings. How many and what color.
Well dang, good on Allahpundit.
I know. I ALWAYS react to this crap in this way. But honestly, I do not understand. It seems to me that their construct is “If Jamal exists, Iraq is a horror show, but if Jamal is imaginary, then Iraq must truly be a garden of eden that the ‘MSM’ refuses to tell us about, indeed makes up fake stories and video only to discredit the brilliant and undeserving American government”.
But waitaminute. We KNOW how bad things are in Iraq. Even the Iraqi government acknowledges it. Is the AP faking Maliki’s speeches? Is al Hakim being misquoted? Are the hundreds of corpses that turn up every morning bound, tortured and “riddled with bullets” nothing more than the fever dreams of media interns? This is beyond stupid, and I can’t understand why we can’t just learn to respond to this kind of pointless braying with a shrug and a “so what?”….
mikey
More post-modernism from the right: “Sure, it turned out to be true, but you guys are gullible morons for not being sceptical!”
“Sure, it turned out to be true, but you guys are gullible morons for not being sceptical!�
I know. That really is his fucking argument. My God, what are they smoking? I want some of it.
we’d like a detailed report of school paintings. How many and what color.
The world awaits, breathless. Eggshell or flat or semi-gloss?
“Since Jamil Hussein was willing to be quoted by the AP dozens of times, he should have come forward sooner to end the dispute about his existence.�
The unmitigated self-involvement of these people is amazing.
This guy is an Iraqi in a dangerous place, in a dangerous business, dealing with blown-up dead people, in a place where one’s ability to travel is limited by the very real concern that you’re going to be blown up yourself; where there’s little electricity, where it’s difficult to get fuel, where people fear for their family’s safety, and where conflict is about killing people, not about arguing whether someone photoshopped smoke.
So I’m sure this guy doesn’t give a fuck whether a bunch of fat, pimply cheeto-fingered assholes are typing into their laptops their intricate speculations about WHETHER HE EXISTS OR NOT – and whether he bears any responsiblity to settle a “controversy” about his existence.
He “should have come forward” sooner???? What the fuck????
“Captain, I understand that my existence is a matter of great importance to some bloggers in America. I’d like to call a press conference this afternoon so we can put this matter to rest immediately.”
GAHAHA! The utter solipsistic GALL of these people.
Shit, Did I forget to close the tag?
Did I break it?
It’s broken, alright
mikey
Normal, sane people would take this time to say, “Well, I was wrong about this. Sorry everyone.” then SHUT UP and GO AWAY for a long while.
Why should whatshisname, Tom Brokaw? have been tarred and feathered and hung and quatered for treason over the AWOL letters and what have you, but THIS? Oh, pfff, we have nothing to even APOLOGIZE for.
What?
Goddamn. It’s like trying to drive across country in a mini-van filled with 5 year olds.
Some brave soul should take a running tally of the last time the “Peoples Republic of East Blostania” was actually right about something, then factor out what the rightness to wrongness ratio is.
That’s ok, I got it.
No, really, I got it. I think.
Geez, how many tags are hanging here?
Michelle can rest assured that the people who will be (if they haven’t already) torturing and killing the police officer who didn’t exist won’t be apologizing either. Maybe they can all meet for tea when her plane touches down in Baghdad.
Rats, I think Chris beat me to it. 😀
Look, there are some simple facts we lefites are overlooking:
1.)It would’ve been irrersponsible not to invade Iraq. Just because Bush and Cheney were making stuff up out of thin air didn’t mean they couldn’t be right.
2.) It would’ve been irrespoinsible not to doubt the existence of Jamil Hussein. Just because Michelle and AllahPundit and the rest were confusing their desires with reality doesn’t mean they couldn’t be right.
3.) It is EXTREMELY irrespoinsible to point out that anyone who loves this country ahs ever been wrong about anything. It is tantamount to saying you have more respect for ‘reality’ than you do for America.
Well, do you? DO YOU?
It seems to me the wingnuts were trying to play the atheist gambit on this. There’s just no credible evidence that Jamil Hussein exists, so they don’t believe in him.
This would’ve been more fruitful perhaps, if they didn’t ignore boundless evidence, and then manufacture an entirely different fantasy to replace him with.
In any case, I think the clear message is that the left-wing should be ashamed of itself. Why, if we hadn’t doubted their strident caterwauling that Hussein didn’t exist, they wouldn’t be caterwauling long enough for the MOI to track down Hussein and blackbag his ass.
Man, I should start up a right-wing blog. That illogic was fucking EASY.
I am going to try to use Malkin as my guide to my everyday life.
Boss: Kathleen, did you screw up this project?
Kathleen: Just to clarify, I am not apologizing for anything.
Yep. that is going to work.
“Did you just lose the Thompson account?”
“It has been reported lost. I’m checking it out, moving
forward.”
In other news, another war profiteering corporation gets a no-bid contract.
E&P fucking rules. Not just for this, either.
You know, it’s fun to poke at these Pajama e-tards, but frankly, this is a victory for them and their propaganda goals. It seems to me they’ve gone a long way towards hindering the AP’s ability to report from Iraq by ensuring a dearth of confidential informants.
Seriously, if you’re an Iraqi today (especially one working for the Iraqi Colonial Administration), are you gonna risk being shoved into Abu Ghraib for talking to an AP reporter.
In this instance certainly they’re emulating Beloved Leader™ and failing upwards.
Malkin apologizes — for sliming Kerry in the “Mr. Lonely” photo.
[…] However, Malkin has yet refused to apologize for spearheading an attack on the Associated Press’ credibility surrounding Police Captain Jamil Hussein. For weeks, conservative bloggers questioned the credibility of an AP story on six Sunnis being burned alive and Iraqi soldiers standing by doing nothing. In the article, Capt. Hussein was the AP’s source.It turns out Capt. Hussein does exist and he faces imprisonment for speaking to the media.Sadly, No!’s Brad R. writes about Malkin’s “deafening silence.” TRex, at Firedoglake, declares Michelle Malkin’s credibility “R.I.P.” […]
This is so ridiculous, I don’t even see how anyone with half a brain can give any credibility to these people. What’s amazing is that the mainstream media outlets such as FOX actually give people like Malkin a podium to shout their insane ideas.
“Since Jamil Hussein was willing to be quoted by the AP dozens of times, he should have come forward sooner to end the dispute about his existence.�
Yeah, I’m sure he keeps up with whatever idiocy the wingnut blogs are chattering about during his copious free time. Because rightwing blogs are the axis of the universe around which all of creation spins and toward which all the peoples of the world look when they wish to be informed.
Right. He probably didn’t know about any of this jackassery until they arrested him.
Actually, I doubt the existence of Michelle Malkin. I mean seriously can there really be an Asian-American in favor of WWII internments of Japanese-Americans?
Being Michelle Malkin is never having to say you’re sorry.
From the E&P article :
But Tom Zeller, Jr., who runs The New York Times’ blog called The Lede focused not on the positive I.D. of the police captain but on the “unanswered questions” about his reliability as a source, endorsing the conservative bloggers’ view that this “more substantive issue remains unresolved.”
The abused housewives rationalizing, as always.
It pains me to say this but…I’d hit it.
Colin,
Please consider quitting it before you hit it [apologies to James Brown].
She just added a footnote to her latest post.
Oh, by the way;
“I relayed information from multiple sources–CPATT, Centcom, and two other military sources on the ground in Iraq– that the Associated Press’s disputed source, Jamil Hussein, could not be found. As I noted on the 4th, the AP reported that the Ministry of Interior in Iraq has now said a Captain Jamil Hussein does work in the al Khadra police station. I regret the error. But no blogger should apologize for raising legitimate questions about AP’s transparency, its reliance on local foreign stringers of dubious origins, and information that sources such as Hussein have provided the AP. I will continue to pursue some of the unresolved issues related to this.”
Malkinbitchfuckcunt.
Michelle shows her grace and style :
She also points out that wacko lefties had pursued weird theories about this incident. Like the weird theory that the datestamp inside the digital photo might have been accurate. (It wasn’t.) Talk about weird theories! Responsible right-wingers would never push weird forgery theories!
Ms. Malkin also points out that the New York Times has made unacknowledged errors (*), but she just issued a correction, so her credibility is way way more credible than the un-credible New York Times.
***
(*) that were documented in a column in the New York Times
I will continue to pursue some of the unresolved issues related to this.�
Hey, Michelle? While you’re at it, maybe you could check around and see if there’s any WMDs laying around over there. ‘Cause theres no end to a story if a wingnut likes it…
mikey
Confederate Yankee allowed, “As far as the AP’s story goes, it does raise some very interesting questions, and I think I’ll have a very entertaining weekend trying to make sense of it all.�
—
Hmm … you better clear your calendar for oh … the next millenium … to “make sense of it all.”
BTW, Yankme sez the Bible and Jesus sanction murdering people who don’t convert to Christianity.
When newspapers run a correction for an error, they don’t say “we’re thinking about this, it’s all very interesting, there are, however, several unresolved questions.”
They just run the fucking correction.
Just for the record, I clicked through on Malkin’s link about the Blogger posting good news from Fallujah. Here’s the short version:
“Within five minutes of arriving at the Fallujah-Iraqi Police Station headquarters, I was welcomed by the sound of shouts and hurried footsteps. An Iraqi policeman had been shot at the northwest perimeter of the station — a sniper had found his mark.
“Is he going to live?� I asked a Marine standing by on the fringes of the press.
“Dunno, his guts are hanging out.�
With the wound dressed and the patient stabilized, the Iraqi Police carried their wounded comrade down to an Iraqi Police patrol truck (ambulances are juicy targets for insurgents) and transport to Camp Fallujah Surgical.
Navy corpsmen are a key component of a Marine Police Transition Team, an elite advisory unit responsible for equipping and training local Iraqis to take back the city from the confusing alliance of foreign terrorists and local insurgents currently sowing havoc.
In addition to the medical treatment they provide their Marines, also critical is the lifesaving care given to the Iraqi Police, who are subject to murderous intimidation outside of police headquarters, and who take traumatic injuries at an exponentially higher rate than their advisors.”
…. So the good news is that snipers are shooting policemen literally in front of their doors. Note that there’s no indication of any effort to track the sniper, its just par for the course. He’s been disembowelled. He’s carted away in a truck because ambulances, outside the police station, are too dangerous. Police are taking traumatic injuries at exponential rates. The city…. the same city that was levelled months ago… is overrun by foreign and local insurgents.
This is clearly a version of good news with which I am unfamiliar. Or perhaps its good news for Sunni insurgents.
“Jurgensmier is a thin, baby-faced 21-year-old who joined up after his brother took part in Operation al Fajr, the famed Marine assault on the city. He is well-loved by his Iraqi charges.”
Well, there’s no racism here. I imagine he rubs their heads for luck, them happy childlike charges.
“Some of these guys have seen a doctor once, maybe twice in their life.”
Suuuuuuuuurrrrrrrreeee they have. This was a country with the most advanced health care system in the middle east, the centre of medical technology and advanced techniques in the Arab world, free universal health care. At least until the Americans came along.
” I’m doing it not only to help them, but because if I help them they feel like they owe me something, and that’s good for the team. They come back with information, they’ll turn someone in or actually start doing their job.”
Uh huh.
“I’ve had it happen a couple of times — one guy brought in a list of names of possible insurgents in the area and where they live.”
Or maybe just a bunch of people he doesn’t like?
” In the beginning I just wanted to help them, but it turned out that they have an impressionable mentality. ”
Them darned childlike Iraqi’s. Deep down, they’s just happy pickaninnies who need a white man to set them straight.
“Two hours after the belly wound was evacuated for surgery, one of Watson’s former trauma patients came in to have a bandage changed on a feeding tube in his stomach. A month ago, the man was shot clean through both cheeks while guarding a post office.”
Seems the post office isn’t any safer than the police station.
” We usually get about three to four seriously wounded per week. The most was 12 in one week. That was crazy.â€?
Uh huh.
If Malkin figures this is good news, she’s on crack.
My Introduction to Marie Jon’ was a “good news” story a wingnut friend linked to, a story Marie said the media would never report.
It was about the life of a wonderful person, beloved by friends and family, serving in Iraq.
Who died.
Yes, that’s right, the good news from Iraq was that a wonderful soldier was killed.
Marie is a sick fuck.
“Michelle’s conscience”- Hahahahahahaahaha-losing myself in glee at the absurdity, the brain-stem-twisting dreamfields absudity of that image.
[…] Uh, he didn’t just “dispute” it, Michelle. He flat-out claimed that the guy wasn’t for real. And as you yourself wrote, “the fact that there is no police captain named ‘Jamil Hussein’ working now or ever in either Yarmouk or al Khadra, according to on-the-ground sources in Baghdad.” And when it turned out that Jamil really did exist, you just chalked it up as a minor “oopsie” and went on to post your usual manufactured outrage about Barney Frank saying mean things about the poor defensewess pweisident. […]
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