A Liar Called Muhammad

Lies and disinformation about the war in Iraq and the so-called "Iraqi Resistance" are rampant on the internet. It's gratifying to happen to have the information at hand to catch them in the act. A source in Iraq emailed me today to point out an outrageous post on the website Liberty Forum.

Prisoners rebel, kill four US guards in Camp Bucca prison camp Monday night.

Four US troops were killed and five more wounded in battles in Camp Bucca prison camp near the southern city of al-Basrah on Monday.

An officer in the Iraqi puppet army told Mafkarat al-Islam that a large number of prisoners, armed only with their fists and sharp objects like knives, attacked US soldiers and killed four American troops and wounded five more, one of those mortally.

The source added that the fighting erupted after one of the prisoners cursed one of the American soldiers during the evening meal. The Americans took that prisoner out and attempted to torture him on the field in front of the rest of the inmates. Then the prisoners, armed with knives and razor blades, attacked the four American troops who were tying up the prisoner in the middle of the field. They stabbed those four to death and wounded five more. The prisoners also set fire to one of the Americans’ tents.

My source happens to be serving at Camp Bucca. There was a prisoner riot on April 4 sparked by some prisoners being transferred. Four soldiers were injured during the riot. No soldiers were killed.

The post had been copied from the poster's website The 7th Fire, which is registered to "White Eagles Soaring" and purports to be an American Indian site. He or she is probably simply a dupe. The 7th Fire had reposted the story from Free Arab Voice, where "Muhammad Abu Nasr" had translated it from an Arabic language site.

In researching Muhammad Abu Nasr, I discovered that he is considered a liar by the US State Department, and has a prominent place on their website.

Muhammad Abu Nasr faithfully translates the Islam Memo's many phony "news items" into English every day and posts them as "Iraqi Resistance Reports" on his Web site. They are also posted on other Web sites, including Jihad Unspun.

Islam Memo, or Mafkarat al-Islam, is perhaps the most unreliable source of "news" about Iraq on the Internet. For example, on March 27, 2005, Islam Memo "news items" translated into English by Muhammad Abu Nasr claimed that more than 88 U.S. soldiers had been killed that day. In reality, none had been killed. Such disinformation fabrications are typical of Islam Memo. In the ten-day period from March 20 to March 29, 2005, they claimed that more than 334 U.S. troops had been killed. The real number was eight.

It's bad enough having people like Muhammad Abu Nasr telling deliberate lies. What makes it worse is when gullible fools like "White Eagles Soaring" repeat the lies as fact.

For more on how propaganda is being spread, click here.