Earlier I blogged about Leila Fadel and Mohammed Al Dulaimy authoring an article about 11 murders in Baghdad which turned out to be a complete fabrication. You can read Fadel and Al Dulaimy's article here. A report on the hoax is here.
McClatchy's Baghdad bureau employs several Iraqi correspondents who compile "round-up of daily violence" reports. These reports of violence are often used by left-wing blogs to downplay positive reports about the surge.
A closer look at Monday's "round-up of daily violence" gives a clue how Leila Fadel fell for the hoax.
According to the McClatchy web site, "the daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports."
Yet the daily violence report for Monday includes this: "Gunmen killed 11 members of Diaa Al Kawaz family in Al Shaab neighborhood yesterday (Sunday) morning. Al Kawaz is an Iraqi journalist and is the editor in chief of an electronic news agency. Iraqi police didn’t confirm the incident."
Mohammed Al Dulaimy compiled Monday's round-up. He admits Iraqi police didn't confirm the incident. It's unlikely McClatchy had confirmation from medical or military records since all the people who were reported to have been killed were found alive.
So why did Mohammed Al Dulaimy include information on the 11 murders on Monday's "daily violence round-up" when there was no confirmation? It seems pretty obvious this was a violation of McClatchy's standards of publishing reports of violence without confirmation.
Are there any adults in charge at McClatchy's Baghdad bureau?
Gateway Pundit has more info, including pictures.
