"All The Lies That Are Fit To Print"

No sign of those cartoon Mohammeds at the New York Times; but plenty of room to re-run their favorite Abu Ghraib photos. After a lengthy front page interview with the famous hooded and cloaked detainee; it turns out that, well, the man they profiled was not the man in the photo at all:

The online magazine Salon is challenging the identity of a man profiled by The New York Times who says he is the hooded figure in a published photograph who was abused by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.

Salon bases its challenge to the article that appeared Saturday in The Times and the International Herald Triubune on an examination of a set of 280 Abu Ghraib photographs it has been studying for several weeks and an interview with an official of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, known as the CID, who says the man identified by The Times is not the detainee in the photograph.

On Monday, Chris Grey, chief spokesman for the investigations unit, asked about the challenge, confirmed to the paper in an e-mail message: " We have had several detainees claim they were the person depicted in the photograph in question. Our investigation indicates that the person you have is not the detainee who was depicted in the photograph released in connection with the Abu Ghraib investigation.

"As always, we will take this information into consideration in the course of our investigative duties to determine if there is any credibility to the person's allegations."

The man identified by The Times, Ali Shalal Qaissi, often called Haj Ali, was also interviewed and described as the hooded man forced to stand on a box attached to electric wires in an article in Vanity Fair and a broadcast on PBS.

Susan Chira, foreign editor of The Times, said: "We take questions about our reporting very seriously, and we will carefully investigate Salon's findings. We attempted to verify the claims of Mr. Qaissi thoroughly. We spoke with representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who had interviewed Mr. Qaissi and believed him to be the man in the photographs."

Geez, you think that a paper that actually claims to be all about reporting standards would inquire of someone other than Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Says something about the standards of the Times when this is whom they choose to source on stories of this type…

Incidentally, it appears as if the Times has also anointed Hillary as heir apparent to the White House throne, as they disfigure and distort anyone, even a Democrat ,who dares stands in her way:

Friends of the man who could be Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's top Democratic 2008 presidential rival, Mark Warner, saw red when the New York Times Magazine cover featured his photo with a weird purple tinge - and now the Gray Lady has apologized.
"The Times's policy rules out alteration of photographs that depict actual news scenes and even in a contrived illustration, requires acknowledgment in a credit," said an editors' note yesterday.
"In this case the film that was used can cause colors to shift and the processing altered them further."

The photo made Warner - the former Virginia governor - look cartoonish with a sallow and saturnine look featuring huge white teeth, a maroon velours jacket and a lavender shirt.
The Times yesterday noted he was actually wearing far more traditional colors - a charcoal jacket and a light blue shirt with a dark blue striped tie.

Can it get any worse for the Old Grey Whore? Oh, boy, we are gonna find out:

Lawyers for former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter' Libby are seeking records from reporters at several news organizations that might help in his perjury defense, the media outlets said on Thursday
The New York Times, NBC News and a lawyer for a Time magazine reporter said they received subpoenas from the defense team for Libby, once chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. The Washington Post said it expected to receive a subpoena as well.

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said the newspaper had not yet decided whether to comply with the subpoena. ..

So the Times uses falsified sources to re-hash the Abu Ghraib story; photoshops distortions onto their political enemies, and debate whether the rule of law applies to them when issued a subpoena.

By comparison, the Times makes the Oil Companies look like good global citizens…

UPDATE: LGF link to the Times' correction on this issue:

The Times did not adequately research Mr. Qaissi’s insistence that he was the man in the photograph. Mr. Qaissi’s account had already been broadcast and printed by other outlets, including PBS and Vanity Fair, without challenge...

Well, if it's in Vanity Fair...