Al-Jazeera Stumbles Down Haifa Street

"Let's watch together as Al-Jazeera reports on the Iraqi government's latest push to deal with the security crisis in Baghdad. On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera's anchor was speaking by phone with the news service's man in the Iraqi capital, Jassim Abdullah. The anchor noted official reports that 50 armed men had been killed by U.S-backed Iraqi forces during a battle on Haifa Street, and Abdullah responded that the figure was probably correct. But he added that the area targeted is a residential area and that there was no way the Iraqis and the Americans could do anything without harming women, children and old men.

Indeed, Abdullah insisted that the Iraqi forces were entering homes, and setting some of them on fire. He further charged that the Iraqi forces had attacked two Sunni mosques and killed two men who were in the midst of prayer. Abdullah did not say that he had learned any of this information first hand. He quoted no sources. In the great tradition of Arab journalism, he described dramatic events while speaking off the top of his head. Of course, if what he said was true, it would indeed be terrible."
IraqiPundit