The Ever Elusive Jamil Hussein

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Well, well, well….maybe it’s time to put that Free Jamil Hussein corner icon back up on my front page.  Recall when the AP triumphantly announced that the Iraqi Ministry of Interior had admitted that there was in fact a Jamil Hussein and he was the source for the AP:

The Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media.

Ministry spokesman Brig.Abdul-Karim Khalaf, who had previously denied there was any such police employee as Capt. Jamil Hussein, said in an interview that Hussein is an officer assigned to the Khadra police station, as had been reported by The Associated Press.

The captain, whose full name is Jamil Gholaiem Hussein, was one of the sources for an AP story in late November about the burning and shooting of six people during a sectarian attack at a Sunni mosque.

Of course I discovered that was NOT his real name back on January 11th and that the AP had used a pseudonym without telling their readers.

Now Bob from Confederate Yankee has received confirmation that the MoI denies….DENIES telling the AP that "Jamil Hussein" was the source for the AP:

This morning, Civilian Police Assistance Training Team (CPATT) liason to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Bill Costlow, provided me this morning with a direct quote from the above referenced Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Khalaf regarding Jamil Hussein. This statement flatly contradicts what Steven R. Hurst claimed BG Abdul-Karim Khalaf said in his January 4th article.

Brigadier General Abdul-Karim Khalaf stated:

“We couldn’t identify CPT Jamil right away because the AP used the wrong name: we couldn’t find a “CPT Jamil Hussein” — but later, when we saw the name “Jamil Gulaim Hussein”, it became obvious that they were talking about CPT Jamil Gulaim Innad XX XXXXXXX [Name redacted for security reasons — Editor]” as the only ‘Jamil Gulaim’ assigned there (ever) and whose assignment records show he previously worked in Yarmouk, as also reported by the AP. Since the issue for us is the release of false news into the media, we’re satisfied that the AP is no longer quoting a questionable source.”

The General flatly states that Jamil Hussein is not Jamil Hussein as AP still contends, but is instead, CPT Jamil Gulaim Innad XX XXXXXXX.

A previous email sent to several bloggers from Costlow on January 11, 2007, stated that that the Associated Press reporters who had interviewed Abdul-Karim Khalaf prior to Hurst’s January 4th article verified to him that CPT Jamil Gulaim Innad XX XXXXXXX was the Associated Press source.

This seems to directly contradict all present and previous AP claims that Associated Press reporters knew Jamil Hussein as Jamil Gholaiem Hussein. Instead it indicates that they knew at some point prior to the Hurst article being published, that Jamil Gulaim Innad XX XXXXXXX was the actual name of their source.

Which jives with my earlier communication with Bill Costlow last month:

Curt,

Seems like every time I talk to somebody about this guy, his name changes.  His personnel record says his name is: Jamil Gulaim (Redacted).

Spokesman BG Abdul-Kareem has spoken with members of the AP in Baghdad and has confirmation that he is their source.  That said, CPT Jamil still denies ever speaking to them.

As far as the MOI is concerned, CPT Jamil gave the AP bad information: there’s still no evidence the six murders occurred.

V/R
Bill

So the MoI had acknowledged to the AP that they had an employee who’s name was similar (except of course the two last names which is no where near similar to Hussein) to the name the AP gave them.  Which means the AP KNEW the real name of Jamil but decided to run "Jamil Gholaiem Hussein" instead without acknowledging a pseudonym. 

This is called a lie. 

Bob also has a post up that gives much more background on the story if coming to the show late. Also check out my round up of all the facts of the case here.

Other’s Blogging:

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I’m sorry. I must be getting old at 56 because I can’t follow this. If you get a chance please lay it out simply for those of us who have trouble following all the twists and turns of this story.