Another AP story questioned by Centcom

Flopping Aces:

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Another big update from Centcom. Recall my Update I where I link to this article by the AP: (big h/t to Reihl World View for finding the article)

Separately, police and witnesses said U.S. soldiers shot and killed 11 civilians and wounded five on Sunday night in the Baghdad suburb of Husseiniya. The U.S. military said it had no record of any American military operation in the area.

“We were sitting inside our house when the Americans showed up and started firing at homes. They killed many people and burned some houses,” said one of the witnesses, a man with bandages on his head who was being treated at Imam Ali Hospital in the Shiite slum of Sadr City. The police and witnesses spoke with Associated Press Television News on condition of anonymity to protect their own security.

On Monday, about 250 people attended a memorial service outside the hospital’s morgue for the 11 victims, saying it was being conducted in the slum because the dead had been followers of the radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric and his Madhi Army militia are both based in Sadr City.

Centcom just sent me this update:
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Sir -

Reference the clarification requested on the story by AP below.

Anti-Iraqi Forces opened fire, targeting civilians in the al-Husseiniya area. 10 civilians were killed and six wounded at 11 p.m. Nov. 26. The incident was reported by the Iraqi Police through the Joint National Operations Center (a civilian matter relayed to the Coalition for tracking purposes). There was no Coalition involvement.

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The Iraqis need to find this AP reporter. He is either an enemy agent or his sources are. Somebody is just making it up on the fly in their attempts to spread anti American lies. This is part of a deliberate enemy strategy and the US needs to find a better way to fight back than having to rely on bloggers to expose this enemy activity. It is pretty clear that the media are not interested in cleaning up their own house at this point. AP is yet to provide an explanation for their earlier reports that have proven bogus.

Update: Michelle Malkin has an AP response to the charges on the burning Sunnis. Bottom line, the AP stands by their imaginary captain.