Can you believe anything you read? Re: Chemical Ali

[graller]

I was stunned to see this headline in the Boston Globe this morning. My last recollection of Chemical Ali was US Troops at his posh palace in the desert and a story of how we had killed him in a bomb raid in April - including recovering his body. Imagine my shock to see this in the Globe today then:

Feared 'Chemical Ali' caught in Iraq (http://www.boston.com/news/daily/21/iraq_ali.htm)

Somehow the story about his being alive managed to not make the news...until of course we captured him....Maybe....[/url]

[James Gutierrez]

So the fact that he was in the deck of most wanted didn't tip you off that there was some uncertainty about his fate?

[Chris]

I remember hearing where there was doubt he was killed. It was a few days after he was believed to be killed from what I recall.

[Jakub]

I can't wait until they catch him again, this time for real.

[Desslock]

They promised to kill him last.

[graller]

Sorry Chris I did not sit down and memorize the names of each of the people in the deck. I thought the whole idea of the deck was kind of moronic. My point was how many more stories that are hyped coming out of Iraq are going to turn out to be complete bullshit when this whole sad story is done.

[Dirt]

I was reading this headline and I thought that I misremembered, that Chemical Ali was already dead.

[Erik]

My last recollection of Chemical Ali was US Troops at his posh palace in the desert and a story of how we had killed him in a bomb raid in April - including recovering his body.

Seriously, man. Just another example of this whole cocked up misadventure. I can't believe nobody from the Pentagon could be bothered to drop by your house - or even pick a phone and give you a call, which takes like no effort - to make sure that your vague initial impressions and hazy recollections were accurate.

Since the Bush junta is too busy trading blood for oil to carry out its constitutional duty to personally come read the newspaper to you, I guess I'll have to set things straight, which is a fucking disgrace to the entire Boston Tea Party. On April 7, various administration officials and military types said that they believed Chemical Ali might have been killed maybe. Then around April 8th - fourteen hundred minutes later - these same officials completely reversed the definite claims of Ali's death that, thanks to FBI wiretaps, they knew you believed they'd made. But unfortunately for the vast majority of Americans - who get their "news" intravenously spoonfed to them by the Ministry of [Dis!]Information - this story was only reported in widely unread socialist action alt-weeklies like USA Today (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0408war-ali08.html) and FOX News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,88675,00.html).

[Jason McCullough]

I'm sure the retraction ran on page 12.

[Ron Dulin]

So the fact that he was in the deck of most wanted didn't tip you off that there was some uncertainty about his fate?

I get all my news from novelty items.

[TheWombat]

There was actually at least one more report of his death, making a total of I think three, including this one, or maybe four. But in fairness, many of those "claims" were news media folks saying so and so believed he was dead and had told so and so who then told them.

[graller]

Erik I read the Boston Globe and the New York Times every day. I saw the front page stories on Chemical Ami's death. I never saw - must have missed the fine print - where they issued a retraction. If you read the story I linked you would see it actually references the fact that the US Military reported having his body. Which I actually remembered quite clearly. Are you really trying to argue against my central point? Which is every major report out of Iraq regarding deaths, WMD, cheering civilians is quietly changed a few days later? I would not be surprised to see Saddam's sons turn up again sometime soon.

[Daniel Morris]

You never saw a retraction because the papers never reported any facts in the first place. As the "fog of media" descended over newspapers and newscasts, any initial report uttered by a Qatar-based public affairs officer became a front-page headline. "Army Reports..." "Army Confident That..." "U.S. Command 'Near Certain' That..." etc.

If you now wish to retroactively hold newspapers accountable for their work, it is the news media you have a problem with --- not government conspirators.

[Brad Grenz]

Imagine that, newspapers don't run front page stories about how their last front page story was wrong... Obviously a VAST right wing conspiracy! And for the record, it was really the British who thought they got Ali with a bomb. The pentagon was skeptical and determined that he had not died, as others have pointed out, very quickly.

[Chris Nahr]

Imagine that, newspapers don't run front page stories about how their last front page story was wrong...

You know, I'd really like to see a law that would require them to do this... regardless of the story.

[Brad Grenz]

But, where would they put the new news?

[Chris Nahr]

At the bottom of page 23 of course, in fine print so that the upcoming correction won't waste so much space!

The other pages would have pictures of Britney Spears and football stars. Maybe a crossword puzzle, too. And the TV program.

[bago]

I love how comments here indicate a coloring of the story long before actually bothering to check any facts.

[Brad Grenz]

Why would we read the story?


The other pages would have pictures of Britney Spears

Mmm... Page 3...

[Bub, Andrew]

I'm a little mystified by this thread. I remember Chemical Ali being declared "not dead" shortly after being declared "dead" on ABC News with Peter Jennings. I remember it being discussed on This Week. I remember Newsweek publishing an article about it. Regardless, if it's on at 6:30EST in that little half-hour window, it isn't exactly "buried" news folks.

[Jason McCullough]

Well, I thought he was dead. Go figure.

[JeffL]

I'm a little mystified by this thread. I remember Chemical Ali being declared "not dead" shortly after being declared "dead" on ABC News with Peter Jennings. I remember it being discussed on This Week. I remember Newsweek publishing an article about it. Regardless, if it's on at 6:30EST in that little half-hour window, it isn't exactly "buried" news folks.

Yeah, I have to admit I read this thread and got pretty confused myself. Right off the top of my head I remember all three networks jumping to tell everyone we didn't get him (Peter Jennings said it with almost glee), a story on 60 Minutes where the discussed the difficulty of getting good info and using the Ali case as an example of how we were sure we had him but didn't, at least a couple of articles in USA Today discussing it, and all of the morning shows interviewing people and asking with various degrees of antagonism why we thought we had him and didn't. Heck, my 15 year old daughter even said, when the capture was announced, "are they really sure it's him this time?"

[Daniel Morris]

I'm not surprised to learn that Jeff Lackey's 15-year-old daughter keeps closer tabs on developments in Iraq than Jason McCullough.

[Bub, Andrew]

(Peter Jennings said it with almost glee)

He's been that way ever since the last Presidential election. He gets exasperated whenever he has to retract something. My take on this is that he's frustrated when he gets false/premature news (I've heard the early results thing in 2000 really pissed him off)... and it isn't "glee" but sort of him doing a "can you believe this?"

Other people think it's because he is teh bias.

[triggercut]

The "we didn't get him" on Chemical Ali ran on page one of the Washington Post as well. Important too is that the Pentagon *never* said anything substantive about having gotten him back in March or April...it was various news outlets that picked up the reports from the ground and ran with them.

[Jason McCullough]

Really? Damn, I must have been out of it......