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Flopping Aces continues to follow the stories on recent violence in Iraq.
But lost amidst the growing uproar over who Jamil Gholaiem Hussein is (which in any case offers little insight to the accuracy of his claims) are the more pertinent points reported from over the weekend.
This one should be easy to verify:
From morning until afternoon, at least four mosques were attacked in Hurriya, a mixed neighborhood in the capital. Two were destroyed, and at least 5 Sunnis were killed and 10 wounded, an Interior Ministry official said. A hard-line Sunni Arab group, the Muslim Scholars Association, said 18 people had been killed when one of the mosques burned down.
Here's CENTCOMs response. Eighteen people burned to death seems more significant than six, but note the source of the claim - the Muslim Scholars Association - the same folks who ultimately claimed 184 Sunni Mosque attacks in the wake of the Shrine bombing months ago.
To accept these stories as fact, you must accept that the Sunnis are unarmed and/or not willing to put up any fight when Shiites enter their neighborhoods to burn their mosques down with people inside them. That goes against most of what I hear about Iraq today (everyone has an AK 47 and each neighborhood has a militia), and the Muslim world in general (mosques are sacred locations) but I suppose it's possible that's not completely accurate.
Video of the destroyed mosques would certainly bolster the media claims. Since even in Iraq people carry cell phones with video capability, and since most terrorist groups video their acts, video of the attacks should be widely available on line any time now, but even video taken tomorrow of the aftermath would be compelling evidence.
This should be easy to verify too:
A Times correspondent in Ramadi said at least 15 homes were pulverized by aerial bombardment and families could be seen digging through the ruins with shovels and bare hands.CENTCOM says it didn't happen. So to counter them, show footage of the 15 recently pulverized homes.
The death tolls may always fall into the unverifiable category, and the bona fides of an Iraqi Police Captain will be difficult to prove, but there are some more obvious elements of all these stories that could be supported - if not absolutely proven - with simple video.
Too dangerous? Hell, in these cases the US military might be willing to provide security for the media to go out and get the footage. Couldn't hurt to ask, then both sides of the dispute could see the reality together.
Or we can just pretend the important thing is the identity of Jamil Gholaiem Hussein.
