Ok, I don't get it.
There is an AP photo with this byline at this link on Yahoo! News:
Why are they only "alleged" to be Iranian? Is the AP afraid that Iran will sue them for defamation of character?This image released by the US Navy Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, and shot Sunday, Jan. 6 from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, shows 2 small boats, alleged to be Iranian, purportedly racing near the wake of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. The incident, which President George W. Bush denounced Tuesday as a 'provocative act,' was videotaped by a crew member on the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, one of the three ships that faced down five Iranian boats in a flare-up early Sunday.
(AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Does the AP hold out hope that the boats are really just filled with native fishermen out for a pleasure cruise through eel-infested waters?
Why are they only "purportedly racing near the wake of US Navy ships" (sic - I always thought plural ships left plural wakes, but maybe that's because I'm not an ace AP reporter).
So, the boats that we can see with our own eyes in the photographs are only "alleged" and "purportedly", yet the film itself was most definitely shot by a crew member (whom we don't see with our own eyes in the photo) on the bridge of a ship (which we also don't see in the photo) that definitely faced down (no question of a conflict there) definite Iranian boats (now we've decided they ARE Iranian, apparently) in a definite flare-up (and not nice Iranians either) on a day that was definitely Sunday (although evidence of the day of the week is also not present on the film).
I know that taking shots at the MSM is not fair, as they can't think clearly enough to shoot back, but every once in a while the kettle boils over a bit.
I remember not long ago, the Iranians attacked the British in the same way, and the British just let themselves be taken hostage.
ReplyDeleteBut now that they tried the same kind of piracy against our ships, but then ran off when we trained our guns on them and prepared to blow them and their little rubber dinghies out of the water, we're supposed to say "alleged" and "purported." I guess we should have just surrendered and let ourselves be taken hostage, so the AP would actually say unequivocally what the Iranians did.
With such treasonable pro-U.S.-defeat journalism so common, is it any wonder the war has become so unpopular? (Well, granted the horrors of Abu Ghraib and the various other blunders we've committed in the war haven't exactly helped either.) But the AP has become more and more brash and bold about displaying their bias and their sympathies. Henceforth we must refer to the AP as an "alleged" newswire service and their members as "purported" journalists.