October 11, 2005

Big Lizards' Commenter Scoops NYT!

Hatched by Sachi

Back on October 6th, one of our Japanese commenters, Silverlining, noted in the comments to Were British Soldiers Hostages From the Start? that the militiamen who had infiltrated the Basra police were a gang of thugs called "the Jameat."

Some Iraqi policemen in Basra have been acting like gang, indeed: assassination, murder, smuggling, and extortion. Such gang-like policemen, with connection at ministerial level in Baghdad and allegedly funded by Iran, is allowed to carry on with impunity and remains at large and in uniform.

Specifically, the al-Jameat police headquarters in southwestern Basra is the base for about 200 Iraqi policemen and included units of the Internal Affairs Directorate and Serious Crimes Unit, both heavily implicated in a series of abductions and killings in Basra.

The identical information was featured three days later in this October 9th story in the New York Times, In Basra, Militia in Control After Infiltration of Police.

The most feared institution in Iraq's third-largest city is a shadowy force of 200 to 300 police officers known collectively as the Jameat, who dominate the local police, who are said to murder and torture at will and who answer to the leaders of Basra's sectarian militias.

Do we have the greatest commenters, or what?

Hatched by Sachi on this day, October 11, 2005, at the time of 11:47 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

*EXCELLENT*!!! Thanks for pointing it out, and Congrats to Silverlining for Scooping the NYT's!!!

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2005 3:30 PM

The following hissed in response by: Jimmie

I'm pretty sure that these are the same guys Steven Vincent were onto when he was killed. Remember, his big editorial in the NYT was about the corrupt police department in Basra (or at least much of it was about that).

The above hissed in response by: Jimmie [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2005 6:44 PM

The following hissed in response by: Sachi

Jimmie,

That is correct. He is not the only NYT correspondent who got killed in Basra. It seems NYT should have been featuring a lot more about this issue.

Steven Vincent is needed now more than ever.

The above hissed in response by: Sachi [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2005 7:53 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

Well, whomever (Silverlining, Vincent, 'Joe Doe', or even NYT) got onto this makes no difference, because such is a refreshing 'Thang. i've seen Women proudly holding up a purple digit to the camera...Children with a *NEW* spark in their eyes...and, Men bashing the head of a torn down statue of Saddam with their shoes.

The Middle East has a new 'Player' in 'Da Game, and MSM is underreporting such obvious facts. Shame on MSM!!!

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 12, 2005 9:03 PM

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