Right-wing blogs score a propaganda victory with the AP Hussein story

[Ian_rd]

The recent embarrassment (that is, if they are capable) of the right-wing blogosphere over their invented controversy about a recent AP story is actually a chilling and gruesome victory.

In November, the AP reported a story, with an Iraqi police officer named Hussein as a source, that six people were shot and burned at a Sunni mosque. The U.S. Military and Iraqi government raised doubts about this policeman named Hussein and the right-wing blogosphere used that as a launching pad for their lunatic journey deep into the theory that AP had invented Hussein as a means to spread false information about the conditions in Iraq.

This is just what the right-wingnuts needed - proof, even if only one story among thousands, that everything in Iraq is going just dandy and that all the negative reports were a product of liberal terrorist-loving bias and outright lies.

Just yesterday, however, the Iraqi government not only stated that this police officer does in fact exist, but that he might be arrested for speaking to the press without authorization.

One might think the right-wing blogosphere would suffer a defeat with the debunking of their most precious story of late. But the message it sends Iraqis is different than the message it sends us here, sitting safely in the United States. While we chuckle at yet another incident of the wingnuts whipping themselves into a frenzy over something they essentially pulled out of their ass, Iraqis who might feel tempted to speak to reporters might instead feel more inclined to keep their mouths shut for fear of being exposed.

That is the message sent by the right-wing blogs: If you speak to the media without government authorization, we will not rest until you are found and arrested. If you fail to conform to the narrative produced by the government of an Iraq getting better everyday with the promise of stable democracy, we will hound the press until you are exposed and placed in danger from retribution, possibly in the form of torture and murder, by militia groups you might have angered with your statements.

The right-wing blogosphere should be patting themselves on the back for sending out a warning to Iraqis everywhere: Keep your goddamn mouths shut and look happy for the cameras.