I can't believe it. Someone must have slipped something in my coffee this morning. I actually just read a "fact checking" article on the AP, by Nedra Pickler, of all people, and it's...actually good journalism! What is the world coming to?
Here's the Obama quote from Monday causing politicial buzz. He was asked about his plan to deploy more troops to Afghanistan.
"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there," Obama said.
Damn...Obama said we're a bunch of baby killers. Predictable responses:
The suggestion whispered by Obama's opponents was that he was maligning the efforts of troops fighting in Afghanistan by stating they are "just" out there killing civilians.
A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the comment showed Obama's lack of experience for the job of commander in chief. "It's also an entirely inaccurate condemnation of the efforts of the men and women of the United States military who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," spokesman Kevin Madden told the Washington Examiner.
The Republican National Committee simply repeated the comment as one of their "They Said It!" series used to highlight statements by opponents that supposedly put them in a bad light.
The AP even labeled the above...SPIN. Wow! Calling it like it is?
And then....this from the AP.
THE FACT CHECK:
A check of the facts shows that Western forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents.
The U.S. and NATO say they don't have civilian casualty figures, but The Associated Press has been keeping count based on figures from Afghan and international officials. Tracking civilian deaths is a difficult task because they often occur in remote and dangerous areas that are difficult to reach and verify.
As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can't be attributed to one party.
My jaw hit the floor. Damn. Fact checking. Journalism. By Nedra Pickler. What is the world coming to?
Link:
http://www.forbes.com/...