Whenever I see the names of Shahid Ahmad and Grim on a story I know that 1) it will contain Gulf regimes propaganda; 2) that it will be badly researched and documented.
From Nauman: "This is the main article on the Huffington Post website
"Phillip Smyth, an expert on Shiite militias at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the founder of Jihadology.net."
So there you have it - two anonymous sources, a member of the Kagan family, a WINEP expert, the Executive Director of an organization funded by anti-Muslim donors - and Huffington Post can reveal what's going on in Iraq."
From Nauman: "This is the main article on the Huffington Post website
It is co-written by Akbar Shahid Ahmed and Ryan Grim. And what are the sources the authors quote to arrive at this assertion?
Two are anonymous:
"An American source who has worked for years with the Iraqi government."
"An Iraqi government official who spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity."
"An Iraqi government official who spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity."
The other three are described as follows:
"Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War."
"Phillip Smyth, an expert on Shiite militias at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the founder of Jihadology.net."
"Iraqi-American activist Zainab Al-Suwaij. As the executive director of the American Islamic Congress, Al-Suwaij runs conflict resolution centers in Iraq and is in touch with political actors on the ground."
Now Kimberly Kagan is a well-known cheerleader for the Iraq war (among other wars) and a member of the Kagan family of war-mongers (husband Frederick, father-in-law Donald, brother-in-law Robert). Phillip Smyth's affiliations are sufficient to understand where he is coming from.
I looked up the 3rd named source, Zainab Al-Suwaij. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the US invasion of Iraq and actually spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention reiterating her support for the invasion. As for American Islamic Congress, Electronic Intifida did an expose of its funding by anti-Muslim and pro-Israel donors.
So there you have it - two anonymous sources, a member of the Kagan family, a WINEP expert, the Executive Director of an organization funded by anti-Muslim donors - and Huffington Post can reveal what's going on in Iraq."
Now Angry Arab speaking: PS I will add this: the article that they link to cites this source: "Joseph A. Kechichian, a political scientist based in the Gulf, believes "People are now becoming aware that non-sectarian rights are necessary and need to be developed."" They just forgot to mention that he is a senior fellow at King Faysal Center for whatever. As for the entire thesis of the article is ridiculous and rehashes the stuff we find in sleazy Saudi propaganda outlets.
