At least I can get off Reuters for a change. Here we have reporter Kim Gamel’s AP story about the latest alleged Bin Laden tape that deserves a closer look to appreciate how these rats operate. Not Bin Laden, the journalists.
It’s a long story initially about Bin Laden’s tape but is really about alleged civilian deaths caused by the US military. Confirmed by unnamed “Iraqi officials”, naturally
The U.S. military, meanwhile, kept up pressure on Shiite Muslim militants as well.
Baghdad police said American helicopters strafed a building in the capital’s Sadr City district, wounding a woman and her daughter, the second claim in as many days of civilian casualties from U.S. attacks in the Shiite enclave.
Iraqi officials disputed an American military claim that 49 militants were killed Sunday in a ground and air assault that targeted an Iranian-linked militia chief, insisting the number of casualties was 15 - all civilians.
Yeah right. Name the Iraqi officials douche bag. Then the reporter drones on and on about how Muqtada calls for self-restraint in the face of “the crimes of the Americans.”
After another half a dozen paragraphs about Muqtada al-Sadr…
Al-Sadr later issued his own statement urging his Mahdi Army militia not to harm or kill fellow Iraqis. He also appeared to call on members of Iraqi government forces to stop cooperating with the U.S. military.
“You army and police of Iraq, don’t kill an Iraqi in the name of secular laws or in the name of ‘imposing the law,’” he said, using his phrase for the security crackdown in Baghdad and surrounding areas.
The U.S. military has said repeatedly that it welcomed al-Sadr’s order to his Mahdi Army fighters but pledged to continue its crackdown against what it says are breakaway factions that are being armed and trained by Iran.
One of those suspected faction leaders, who was accused of leading a kidnapping ring, was the target of Sunday’s raid. The military said he was not killed or captured.
Other Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad were rattled by bombs Monday as at least 50 people were killed or found dead nationwide, according to police, hospital and morgue officials.
The figure included 25 bullet-riddled bodies, some decapitated, in a mass grave at Nadhum village in the mainly Sunni region around Lake Tharthar northwest of the capital. Police said the victims appeared to have been killed within the past three months.
…without a literal transition or other explanation those last two paragraphs lead the reader to infer that all the dead bodies and mass graves are the result of US military pressure as a result of the surge. Then believe it or not, it’s right back into the alleged civilian casualties. Names, ages, and sound bites:
“My poor wife and daughter. They didn’t commit any sin or mistake to suffer such serious wounds,” he said. “Who will take care and look after us. I feel a deep misery.”
The military said the U.S. ground and air assault in Sadr City on Sunday left “an estimated 49 criminals” dead, which would be one of the highest tolls for a single operation since Bush declared an end to active combat in 2003.
Iraqi officials maintained 15 civilians were killed, including a woman, a 14-year-old boy and two toddlers.
Again, with the “Iraqi officials.” Finally the last two paragraphs they bury the lede:
An Associated Press reporter counted 11 death certificates linked to the raid Sunday in Sadr City’s Imam Ali hospital, and hospital officials said one person died at the district’s General Hospital and three others at the neurology hospital in central Baghdad.
“At this time, we still have no evidence to suggest there are civilian casualties,” Lt. Justin Cole, a military spokesman, said Monday. He declined to comment on how the military determined 49 militants were killed, saying the information was classified.
Thirty-two paragraphs of propaganda and finally they finally tell you it’s all bullshit.
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