Iraqi Woman Profits From False Testimony

I see a pattern emerging....

Oh please, as long as they had a "live one" willing to say this shit
they didn't care who they were or if it was true or not. No "fooling" involved at all, except for the idiot freepers who probably believed it.

Because they did the exact same type of thing with the testimony of that Kuwaiti diplomat's daughter who pretended she was a nurse who witnessed babies thrown out of their incubators. The entire story was a lie meant to sway congress into supporting a war.

Deja vu all over again.

n/t

A lot of innocent people are DEAD because of this lying bitch's lies; she's waht I would call a "c-word" and I wish for her exactly everything she deserves.

But ya gotta LAUGH at the rethugs; stupidest MFers on the planet.

Sort of. Well it's actually a different c-word but same meaning.

:D

time. If you can get away with it once, don't you believe they would do it again?

Homeless Iraqi Prostitute know lives in Northern California, at you the "taxpayers" expense. Thank you ever so much.

a break.

Ultimately, they don't HAVE to. They only need the merest excuse. No doubt they're looking forward to the day when they don't have to consider public opinion at all.

Look for oven mitts to become the next eye-wittnesses to future enemy atrocities. Far cheaper than real people, and they are somewhat amusing.

hope the FBI is laughing their asses off at the CIA
bushitas.

originated in OSP with a little help from US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. PNAC all the way.

Most of them are under the control of the CIA...

heard a cab driver tell how someone got fed into a plastic chipper. Story turned out to be false, Assyrians said "We don' kow this foo'," Hussein not really like Bond villain, retraction barely mentioned

I think the admin was in on the story, just a feeling I have.

:kick:

A bunch of Kuwaitis were paid to claim they were tortured by Saddam?

I'm sure Saddam tortured plenty of people, but what's the reason to go and simply pay actors to make it all up? Our tax dollars at work under a Bush administration.

...with these guys and prostitutes?

NO!! This is SIMPLY SHOCKING!!


Mar 6, 2005 Washington
In July 2003, the Washington Post published a harrowing account of the torture of an Assyrian Christian woman in Baghdad. The woman, Jumana Hanna, took Post reporter Peter Finn to the prison where she said she had been jailed, tortured and raped for nothing more than marrying a non-Iraqi. Ms Hanna told the reporter her husband had been killed in a nearby prison and his lifeless body was later passed to her.

After the Post story appeared, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz mentioned it in testimony to the US Senate: "There is a positive aspect in the distressing story of Jumana Hanna. That is her courage in coming forward to offer U.S. officials what is very likely credible information, information that is helping us to root out Baathist policemen who routinely tortured and killed prisoners."

American officials in Iraq protected Jumana Hanna from possible reprisals and the U.S. government eventually helped her resettle in northern California. Her story, considered to be an important document of an evil regime, was to be published in a book, written by an experienced California-based journalist, Sara Solovitch.

“I just thought it was an extremely powerful story, that this was a very brave, fascinating woman who was extremely independent and went against the prevailing culture of her country to stand up for what was right,” says Ms Solovitch. Many women around the world have difficulty admitting rape and when they do, they often refuse to go into unpleasant details. Not so Jumana Hanna. She gave a precise description of alleged rapes, one taking place in the presence of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday. Sara Solovitch says before meeting the Iraqi woman, she had attributed her outspokenness to education. Namely, Jumana Hanna claimed she had a degree in accounting from Oxford University in Britain. But after their first meeting, Sara Solovitch discovered that Ms Hanna barely speaks English, certainly not enough to graduate from a British university. The California journalist says there were a few other problems with Jumana Hanna’s story.

more...

http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2005_03_6_0828.html

And I remember some journalists questioning the authenticity of it, even back then. No matter - we used it anyway.

A little Horst Wessel anyone?

horst i mean ...

for publishing a phony story? Didn't verify her story, didn't verify husband's death, didn't verify her education, blah, blah...

when CBS or Dan Rather makes a mistake.

It only matters if the mistake makes BushCo look bad, it doesn't matter who makes it.

...Why do you think they'd ever want to do that? ;-)

Republicans really that stupid?

Who is more stupid -

those who think they will get away with the stupidity....
or
those they think we are stupid and will believe it all....

because they said it.

more or less

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1284969

So,...what else is new with these nefarious neoCONs? :shrug:

I am shocked that we're all allowing them to continue to get away with this shit. Of course, the press is especially egregious in that regard. :grr:

They should get Jeff over there to do a little investigative work before releasing this stuff.

But remember these lying liars...they claimed that nearly everything Gore did in his life was a lie. And they laughed about him on world television even after they knew the truth.

This story broke over two months ago.

http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Esquire/2005/01/01/680085?from=search&criteria=hanna

before all the nightmarish hell descendended on ALL those people, while a lot of Americans sat around on their thumbs. From the article:

“Some of the best known stories, anecdotes in American journalism, stem from war coverage. Once these myths and urban legends take hold, they can be very enduring, and they can defy any efforts by scholars and journalists to debunk the myth,” says Professor Campbell.

Jumana Hanna’s story of torture was something politicians needed, journalists were looking for and the American public expected. Sara Solovitch says that’s why for a long time no one thought to verify the facts, which would have been easy enough. Unfortunately, the dreary true story does not seem to hold the same appeal as the false one of torture.
(snip/)

Poor, sweet Jumana!

And from VOA, too! Amazing.

Bush Administration Used Fake Torture Story to Influence Public

Mar 6, 2005 Washington

In July 2003, the Washington Post published a harrowing account of the torture of an Assyrian Christian woman in Baghdad. The woman, Jumana Hanna, took Post reporter Peter Finn to the prison where she said she had been jailed, tortured and raped for nothing more than marrying a non-Iraqi. Ms Hanna told the reporter her husband had been killed in a nearby prison and his lifeless body was later passed to her.

<snip>

It did not take long for a professional journalist to find out that very few if any details of Jumana Hanna’s account were true. She was not married to a foreigner, but to an Iraqi Arab. Her husband was not killed and was probably never in prison. Ms Hanna may have been jailed for a few months, but most likely for prostitution. One of her key witnesses appears to be a boyfriend to whom she has been sending money from the United States. So what is the true story of Jumana Hanna?

“It’s just a story about a homeless prostitute who single-handedly fooled the Pentagon, the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Washington Post,” says Sara Solovitch. Jumana Hanna also fooled many ordinary Americans who, touched by her story, rushed to deposit charitable contributions into the Iraqi woman’s account.

But while the false story of an alleged victim of a brutal regime commanded the front page of a major American newspaper, Ms Hanna’s sordid real story did not get much attention. The Washington Post published a retraction only after Sara Solovitch’s account appeared in the “The Esquire” magazine earlier this year.

http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2005_03_6_0828.html

this is also why our intelligence department fails. if they hear a story that will benefit their cause, it's automatically true and they run with it. if they hear a story that makes them sound bad or is against their cause, they dismiss it as heresy. we don't know the truth until it's too late, if ever at all.

Or does that only happen to people like Dan Rather?

Anyone see a pattern forming here?

good one...lol

Peace.

That is typical American journalism tactics. Leave the false stories in the heads of the sheeples and never let the real story get the attention. That is why so many people still believe Saddam had a hand in Sept.11. This country's media is the PITS!


~snip~

“I was a little disappointed frankly that the Post didn’t publish its revised version of this woman’s story on its front page,” says Joseph Campbell, professor of journalism at American University in Washington. He adds that war reporting is prone to exaggeration, which tends to capture the public imagination.

“Some of the best known stories, anecdotes in American journalism, stem from war coverage. Once these myths and urban legends take hold, they can be very enduring, and they can defy any efforts by scholars and journalists to debunk the myth,” says Professor Campbell.

Jumana Hanna’s story of torture was something politicians needed, journalists were looking for and the American public expected. Sara Solovitch says that’s why for a long time no one thought to verify the facts, which would have been easy enough. Unfortunately, the dreary true story does not seem to hold the same appeal as the false one of torture.

Score another win for Rove, Geobbels, Bernays, and ever other Professional Propagandist and Liar down in Hell roasting since the dawn of time...

Guess it got lost somewhere in the midst of all this:

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Washington Post

Bush And His Administration Will Not Be Cowed By The Truth , meyerson
Bush Says God Is Telling Him What To Do. Perhaps That's Why He Asserts Policy Without Proof. , cohen
Bush Medicare Bill "Swindles" Poor Kids To Benefit Wealthy Elderly Backers , ed
Vietnam, II: U.S. General Says We're Fighting A "Guerrila" War In Iraq , wp
Hey, The Staff Didn't Tell Me About Iraq Uranium --Tenet , wp
Eisenhower Speech Writer Says Public Expects Presidents To Lie Through Exaggeration Of Facts. , wp
Six GOP State Attorneys General Have Asked Corporations For Campaign Funds While In Legal Trouble , wp
D.C. Has Highest AIDS Rate In America , wp
Voucher Strategy: Hatch Says Guns Should Be Sold In D.C. Even Semi-Automatic "Machine Guns" , wp

New York Times

Repubs Reject DEM Request For Panel To Look Into Prewar Intelligence, Inc. Bush SOTU Lie , nyt
Lack Of Pre-9/11 Sources To Be Cited As Intelligence Failures , nyt
Bush Threatens To Veto House Plan To Slow Down Corporate Takeover Of Media , nyt
Congress Has Thwarted Network Giants, But Only For The Time Being , safire
Bush Has "Betrayed" His Promise To Support Volunteer Effort , ed
Despite Promises, Bush Treatment Of Latin America "Heavy-Handed And Patronizing." , shifter
DeLay's "Hubristic...Perrymandering" In Texas May Lead To Another Special Session , ed
Puerto Ricans Angry That Ashcroft Overrode Their Death Penalty Ban , nyt
Illinois Will Require Taping Of Homicide Interrogations , nyt

Readings

Did Bush cronies blow CIA spy's cover to punish her husband for blowing whistle re uranium lies? ,Corn
U.S. gives troops in Iraq shoddy equipment; troops using own meager paychecks to buy supplies ,Hightower
SPTU fiasco reminds Us: Bush is still the bumbling, ignorant, sock-puppet-in-chief he was pre-9/11,Huffington
The Dubious Suicide of George Tenet , Pitt
It's not really a lie; it's, as Nixon's man Ziegler would say, "inoperative" , Reeves
Making Medicare compete with private insurance bad idea ,Reese
Arrogant Pentagon Civilians Botched Iraq Postwar Planning , Landay and Strobel

Guardian

Shadow neocon network, White House sandbagged the CIA , borger
Intelligence committee grill Blair and Straw in private , wintour
UK must hold the line over Iran against reckless US hawks , hilton
Blair's Britain is now a vassal state , leigh+norton-taylor
Blair must end his self-destructive kow-towing to rightwing US administration , ed

Independent

Leaders face growing pressure for answers over Iraq , cornwell
Blair waters down claim linking Iraq to Niger uranium , grice
UN attacks Britain for withholding evidence , buncombe

Haaretz

Sharon and Abbas may meet for talks today , regular+benn
Israel also made commitments , ed

Madison Capital Times

Tax shelters cost states billions , mct
Listen up, lefties -- it's time to change strategy and win, Schroeder
Bush's wars, tax cuts fill Nader voter with regret, Salzman

Boston Globe

The Press Gives Bush a Free Ride on His Lies , Kuttner
Muslim Group Says Bush Fostered Climate for Bias , Mobley
Limbaugh Brings Baggage with His ESPN Blabber , Jackson
Iraqis Weigh Trials for Regime Figures , MacQuarrie + Bender
Chirac Rules Out Sending Troops to Iraq, No UN Mandate , Reid
A Wahhabi Sheds His Disguise , Barry
White House Projects Deficit of $455 Billion , Washington
A Dangerous Deficit , ed

Chicago Sun Times

Alleged Spy for Saddam Charged with Perjury , Robinson
Bremer: Gis Will Depart When Iraq Is a Democracy , Hendawi

Chicago Tribune

No Apologies From U.S. or Turkey , Collins
Iraqis Say Prisoners Were Used to Test Gases , Salopek
Marine with Dream, Army Veteran Dies Doing Job , Morales
Pfc. Lynch to Go Home for `Long' Rehabilitation , AP

San Diego Union Tribune

US Troops in Iraq in a Foul Mood , Van Deerlin

Christian Science Monitor

US-Brit backslapping or backbiting? , O’Neill
Test for Blair's 'loyalty' strategy , LaFranchi & Rice-Oxley
When presidential words don't line up , Feldmann

Los Angeles Times

Iraqgate: Bush Adopts Head In Sand Approach As Scandal Could Grow Worse Than Watergate , Huffington
Iraqgate: Where Is The Mystery In “Who Lied In Bush’s SOU Speech?”, Kinsley
Bush Continues To Dither On N. Korean WMDs , Efron
Bush Unconcerned About Record Deficits As Hill Repubs Start To Worry , Hook and Chen
Bush FERC Orders Enron To Repay Cal. $32.5 Million For Market Manipulation Despite Company’s Earnings of $3 Billion From Cal. Crisis , Reuters
EPA Ignores Own Findings That Rocket Fuel Ingredient Is Health Threat, Refuses To Add To Clean Water Contaminants List , Bustilo & Zitner
Bush Proposal “Disastrous” For Head Start, LAT
Rocky Road For Lieberman Campaign , Barabak

San Francisco Chronicle

$455 billion reasons to freak , Lazarus
Nothing left to lie about , Morford
Record federal deficit forecast , sfc

Canada.com

Iraqis try to shoot down American plane with surface-to-air missile , Hurst
Iran confirms Canadian photojournalist died of brain hemorrhage , Wyatt
Exchange of gunfire along Korean border heightens tension , cp

The Globe And Mail

Invaders at the gate , schmid/ap
War stories , donlo

Sydney Morning Herald

Japan Warns Australia: Softly, Softly On Korea , Riley
Australian Analyst Joins US Push For Weapons Inquiry , Overington

The Herald

Baghdad dangers worse after war , Lyst
More troops needed to secure country, says former envoy , Bruce
North Korea has finger on nuclear trigger , Bruce
Cost of ministers' advisers and spin doctors rises to £5.4m , Summers

The Sierra Times

Impeach Bush! Justification: Offsetting Political Expediency , Lang

Press Herald

Another scenario emerges in death of Army reservist , Fish

Dawn

US reaches out to communists in Iraq , afp
Post Sept 11 policies harmed US interests , Dauenhauer
Indian troops to Iraq was a non-starter , Devraj
Ironing out the wrinkles: Pakistan & Afghanistan , ed
Victims of hate crime , ed
Can Tony Blair be trusted? , Idris
Bush's Africa trip long on rhetoric, short on specifics , Lobe
Bush's trip to Africa , Margolis

Asia Times

US Soldiers Pay in Blood , Blank
Bush Spin Machine is Breaking Down , Lobe

Deutsche Welle

Overburdened German Army not likely to head to Iraq , DW

TomPaine

The President Is Still Lying And No One Utters The Word 'Impeachment' , Paine
The False Dichotomy: Security Or Freedom , Milchen

TomDispatch

On India's Refusal To Send Troops To Iraq , ed

Working for Change

To show loyalty, Rice lies for Bush , Conason
'End of story'? Sorry, Rummy -- the fact-checking has just begun , Goodman
Veteran drug warrior nominated by Bush to head the DEA , Berkowitz
http://www.bushwatch.net/bushreportjuly03.htm

---

edit to add:

All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest...
The Boxer - Paul Simon

the Nick Berg beheading was a hoax.

and the heroism of Jessica Lynch and and and and all the other truths to consider.

Who knew they'd fly a plane into a building??? :shrug:

Right?... right?...