9.26.2004
Did Allawi "Murder" six of his countrymen?
I received a comment to an earlier post about the Iraqi Prime Minister's recent visit Stateside.
"Yeah, great Iraqi PM there...this is the guy that murdered six men, by his own hand, within days of taking power, as a way of making an example. He's one step above Saddam . . . " writes Phil von Bargen of Private Idaho. I enjoy frequent forays to Phil's left-of-center site; I abhor the tunnel vision which develops from sticking close too close to 'the comfort zone' of one's own point-of-view.
The gist of this tale is that "Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings." According to two anonymous witnesses, 12 Iraqi policemen and four Americans in Allawi's personal security detail "stood by in stunned silence" as the new Prime Minister shot the men, just days before the transfer of power in Iraq.
The Allawi government, of course, issued patent denials.
I recalled the incident. There was a fair amount of internet traffic about it in early July of this year. A few news outlets picked up the story, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, and ran reports and editorials. The story is abominal, and if true...my commenter would be correct in his assertion that Allawi is akin to Saddam. Equally wretched, however, is the fact that so many people take the allegations as gospel, and if false, their belief would be akin to a national pathos in line with that of many Al Jazeera readers the world over.
So, I performed the most rudimentary of Google searches. I found no MSM treatment of the Allawi-as-killer meme. No stories from CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, WaPo, NYT, or LAT? What gives? None of these organizations are construed as shills of the current administration, folks. If these secretive witnesses spoke to Paul McGeogh of the SMH, then why not with other reporters. Sixteen witnesses (in addition to the two secretive ones?) are said to exist...and nothing from them since? I know statesiders love a good conspiracy theory, but that many people can't keep a secret of such magnitude...and still live and breathe.
Interestingly, I did find a response of sorts from the NYT. It is in the form of a letter from NYT Public Editor Daniel Okrent, in response to an earlier letter from one James Conachy of World Socialist Web Site, dated 19 July 2004. See here.
Dear Mr. Conachy,
I’ve checked with the editors, and have learned that The Times is well aware of the allegations concerning Mr. Allawi. However, repeating them without either substantiating them or disproving them would be exactly the sort of journalism I frequently condemn. I am assured that one of the paper’s best reporters is investigating the charges, and if they are found to be true The Times will certainly publish the details.[emphasis added]
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Okrent
Public Editor
N.B.: Any opinions expressed here, unless otherwise indicated, are solely my own.
29 July 2004
Well, here it is late September, and not a peep from the MSM. I like to think of the silence as nothing more than good, responsible journalism. Whether the Allawi story is true or not, no good comes from bandying about rumor and innuendo as fact. And the fact is, in many circles, the Allawi rumor is treated as stone-cold, hard fact.
I received a comment to an earlier post about the Iraqi Prime Minister's recent visit Stateside.
"Yeah, great Iraqi PM there...this is the guy that murdered six men, by his own hand, within days of taking power, as a way of making an example. He's one step above Saddam . . . " writes Phil von Bargen of Private Idaho. I enjoy frequent forays to Phil's left-of-center site; I abhor the tunnel vision which develops from sticking close too close to 'the comfort zone' of one's own point-of-view.
The gist of this tale is that "Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings." According to two anonymous witnesses, 12 Iraqi policemen and four Americans in Allawi's personal security detail "stood by in stunned silence" as the new Prime Minister shot the men, just days before the transfer of power in Iraq.
The Allawi government, of course, issued patent denials.
I recalled the incident. There was a fair amount of internet traffic about it in early July of this year. A few news outlets picked up the story, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, and ran reports and editorials. The story is abominal, and if true...my commenter would be correct in his assertion that Allawi is akin to Saddam. Equally wretched, however, is the fact that so many people take the allegations as gospel, and if false, their belief would be akin to a national pathos in line with that of many Al Jazeera readers the world over.
So, I performed the most rudimentary of Google searches. I found no MSM treatment of the Allawi-as-killer meme. No stories from CBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, WaPo, NYT, or LAT? What gives? None of these organizations are construed as shills of the current administration, folks. If these secretive witnesses spoke to Paul McGeogh of the SMH, then why not with other reporters. Sixteen witnesses (in addition to the two secretive ones?) are said to exist...and nothing from them since? I know statesiders love a good conspiracy theory, but that many people can't keep a secret of such magnitude...and still live and breathe.
Interestingly, I did find a response of sorts from the NYT. It is in the form of a letter from NYT Public Editor Daniel Okrent, in response to an earlier letter from one James Conachy of World Socialist Web Site, dated 19 July 2004. See here.
Dear Mr. Conachy,
I’ve checked with the editors, and have learned that The Times is well aware of the allegations concerning Mr. Allawi. However, repeating them without either substantiating them or disproving them would be exactly the sort of journalism I frequently condemn. I am assured that one of the paper’s best reporters is investigating the charges, and if they are found to be true The Times will certainly publish the details.[emphasis added]
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Okrent
Public Editor
N.B.: Any opinions expressed here, unless otherwise indicated, are solely my own.
29 July 2004
Well, here it is late September, and not a peep from the MSM. I like to think of the silence as nothing more than good, responsible journalism. Whether the Allawi story is true or not, no good comes from bandying about rumor and innuendo as fact. And the fact is, in many circles, the Allawi rumor is treated as stone-cold, hard fact.
// posted by HunterByrd @ 5:30 AM 
