Iraq's Interior Ministry Confirms Existence of AP Source Jamil Hussein

Posted on January 4, 2007

An Iraqi police officer named Jamil Gholaiem Hussein is going to be arrested for talking to the press. Apparently, talking to the press is forbidden if you are an Iraqi soldier -- it must be one of those new "freedoms" now provided in Iraq.

What is significant about Jamil Hussein is that some conservative pro-Iraq War bloggers actually believed Jamil Hussein, a frequent Associated Press (AP) source, might not exist. Recent news reports indicate that not only does Jamil Hussein exist -- even the Iraqi government has now confirmed his existence -- but that he is going to be arrested for talking to reporters.

Some blogs that incorrectly doubted Hussein's existence include Aces of Spades, Flopping Aces, Thought Mesh, Dave in Boca, IraqSlogger, Dread Pundit, Jossle, Confederate Yankee, Media Lies, Winds of Change and Libertyblog.

Progressive Values writes that some of these bloggers were "wrong for smearing the reputation of AP over their absurd premise based solely over the mistaken translation of an Arabic name."

Alist blogger Michelle Malkin was even planning to take a trip to Iraq to "to investigate the Associated Press/'Jamil Hussein' story." With this latest news Malkin's "big story" may no longer need investigating.