The American Spectator

All this action took place around Ramadi, “a stronghold for Sunni insurgents” (not terrorists). “Few people cast ballots there… out of rejection of the Constitution.” They might not have voted “out of rejection of the Constitution”? How would he know?

Throughout his report Wagner speaks of “witnesses” or of “witnesses who corroborated” certain versions of a story. However, the witnesses of whom he speaks “refused to give their names for fear of their safety.” And on this preposterously unsubstantiated evidence we are supposed to believe that we have “killed 39 civilians”?

Wagner never says whether he was in, or even near, Ramadi for all this action. He tries very hard to give the impression that he was in Ramadi without actually saying so. But, he never says “witnesses told me,” or “I saw.” The story is datelined “Baghdad.” I believe he wrote it in his Baghdad hotel room.

Ironically, as I was writing that last paragraph, Mike Boettcher of MSNBC was on my TV set telling me the same story about the 70 killed by air attack. He then went on to add that: “Other sources have reported that in this operation 39 civilians were killed.” He concluded his report saying: “We are not at all prepared to say that 39 civilians were killed. And, if and when we sort it out, we will let you know.” I will keep listening.

p> Monday Evening br> AS THE DAY WEARS ON, what were described as the “apparent results of the election” this morning are now being offered as the definite final results by an increasing number of news outlets. /p>

One story has it that “an anonymous foreign election observer speaking under rules of anonymity because he is forbidden to speak with the media [that disclaimer should really raise your trust level] stated in an interview with the Associated Press, that passage of the Constitution is almost certain.”

As for Wagner’s AP “report” it had an interesting day. The story’s original headline was: “U.S.: 70 Insurgents Killed in Airstrikes.” By 3;00 p.m. the headline changed to: “Iraqis: Civilians Killed in U.S. Bombing.” The story ran without the change of a single word. At 5 p.m. the identical report became the lead story on Yahoo News with the headline: “Iraqis: 39 Civilians Killed in U.S. Bombing.”

A guy can do a hell of a lot of damage to his country from a hotel room in Baghdad, or wherever he was when he wrote that.