These Times Demand The Times

The Times retracts its story about the abused Abu Ghraib prisoner:

n the summer of 2004, a group of former detainees of Abu Ghraib prison filed a lawsuit claiming that they had been the victims of the abuse captured in photographs that incited outrage around the world.

One, Ali Shalal Qaissi, soon emerged as their chief representative, appearing in publications and on television in several countries to detail his suffering. His prominence made sense, because he claimed to be the man in the photograph that had become the international icon of the Abu Ghraib scandal: standing on a cardboard box, hooded, with wires attached to his outstretched arms. He had even emblazoned the silhouette of that image on business cards.

The trouble was, the man in the photograph was not Mr. Qaissi. [Editors' Note, Page A2.]

That said, this editor's note contains a comedy classic:

...A more thorough examination of previous articles in The Times and other newspapers would have shown that in 2004 military investigators named another man as the one on the box, raising suspicions about Mr. Qaissi's claim.

They should have believed their own reporting!  Here we go, from May 22, 2004:

The testimony also gave identities to those who for the most part have remained nameless victims. Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh testified that he was the prisoner in the photograph showing a man standing on a box, his arms outstretched and his body draped with a blanket.

''Then a tall black soldier came and put electrical wires on my fingers and toes and on my penis, and I had a bag over my head,'' he told investigators. ''Then he was saying, 'Which switch is on for electricity?' ''

Look, it is an understandable mistake - the rest of us don't have a lot of confidence in the Times, either, so why should they?

MORE:  Folks struggling for a mnemonic to remember the name of the guy who was *really* in the photograph might hit on "Sad Fella".  Just a thought.

UPDATE:  The Captain takes no prisoners, but I quibble with this, from his intro:

The Times had reported that Ali Shalal Qaissi was the victim of American abuse and ran a lengthy profile about his efforts to ensure that Americans would no longer torture innocent Iraqis. Well, Qaissi was innocent, all right -- in fact, he was never there:

Well, Qaissi was at Abu Grhaib, and was even photographed in a hood, he just was not in the famous photo.  Well, that is assuming the Times has finally gotten it right:

Certainly, he was at Abu Ghraib, and appears with a hood over his head in some photographs that Army investigators seized from the computer belonging to Specialist Charles Graner, the soldier later convicted of being the ringleader of the abuse.

However, he now acknowledges he is not the man in the specific photograph he printed and held up in a portrait that accompanied the Times article. But he and his lawyers maintain that he was photographed in a similar position and shocked with wires and that he is the one on his business card. The Army says it believes only one prisoner was treated in that way.

Hmm, it appears that I have a similar quarrel with Tigerhawk:

Thing is, Qaissi wasn't there.  Somebody was there, but it wasn't the man who told the Times' credulous Mr. Fattah that he "never wanted to be famous, especially not in this way." Whoever it was who suffered so, it wasn't the lying weasel about which the Grey Dufus wrote this:

Let's not turn the Times embarrassment into our own, gents.

Comments

[davod]

It's the initial reporting that counts. They achieved their objective. Another excuse to bash Bush and the military. The correction means nothing without penalties applied to the writers and editors.

[eric]

seems a bit shrill to color a case of mistaken under-the-hood as "bashing." isn't it more curious that the army says the hood-wires trick only happened to one person?

[topsecretk9]

TM
I was amused at the prior reporting slipping YET again through the cracks...I.E. Your Blonde's will be extinct post...Times PRIOR (before the latter FEATURE) reporting on the study was even mocking other news orgs for running with it.

can't make it up.

[JorgXMckie]

So, eric, he only lied about being the guy in the picture, and except for that he's telling the truth? Got any evidence other than his word?

[Daddy]

TM, Just a word of thanks for your continual good efforts at self-policing the blogosphere. Spotted your valuable comments at both Captain's Quarter's and at Tigerhawks. Excellent job. I take it your college Alma Mater didn't get selected for the big dance, otherwise I can't imagine how you could possibly wind up with so much free time during NCAA Tournament weekend. Go to Hell Duke.

[MayBee]

Hey Daddy-
My team got selected and then unceremoniously upset right out of it.
Unless that is just an internet rumor, one I would be happy to have TM self-correct.

[Daddy]

Maybee,
If I recall correctly, you're in Japan? If so, that probably explains why you're awake this time o' the night. OT do the locals there hate us for cheating them last week with that bogus tag up call in the International Baseball Championships that allowed the US to steal a victory over Japan? And secondly, how are they handling the humiliation of losing to Korea? I'm in country enuff' to know they take that stuff way seriously. Go to Hell Duke, and the Hanshin Tigers with 'em!

[TigerHawk]

You are, of course, correct. Indeed, thank you for being so gentle about it. I have "appended" a correcting "editor's note."

[MayBee]

Daddy-
You know, it would be decidedly un-Japanese for anyone here to tell me they hate us for cheating that call. They would simply wait for me to apologize ;-).
As far as losing to Korea, they got their revenge 6-0. Now Japan gets the last laugh, as they will play for the trophy.
My Spartans will have no last laugh, however...

[Daddy]

Thanks Maybee for the baseball update. Here in Alaska it's now time for bed.

[TM]

I take it your college Alma Mater didn't get selected for the big dance, otherwise I can't imagine how you could possibly wind up with so much free time during NCAA Tournament weekend.

LOL - yeah, I'm just spreading the gloom now.

Tiger - hey, your on the A-team; together, we may have saved some fan of the NY Times from having an aneurysm. (Well, it was still worth doing...)

[kim]

Bradley? Didn't they used to be hot stuff in the Missouri Valley Conference along with Cincinnati and St Louis? Wichita State? Another oldie and goodie.

Sue Smiley Morris, recently deceased, mourns the Spartan loss from her perch in heaven.
===========================================

[Kevin]

Well, while those two fellows go farther than you like, maybe the question needs to be asked if that man lied about this, what else is he lying about?

or is that just too old-fashioned for modern journalism?

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