My BBC interview.

I'm supposed to have a brief on-air telephone conversation with Chris Vallance of the BBC radio program "Up All Night" tonight at 9:25 or so, Eastern time (I guess that translates to 2:25am London time).  He'll ask me about the Kaloogian fib photo story, and how the case was cracked.

I'll try to put the DKos community in a good light!  (Of course, speaking only for myself.)

Kind of doubt it would be worth it, but if anyone wants to scrutinize what I say, I think you can catch the thing live at this link.  Click on "listen to the show."  I believe it will be on the "pods and blogs" feature of the "Up All Night" program on "Five Live."  I might have some bit of that wrong; I don't follow the BBC, I'm afraid.

One point I have thought might be worth making is that, as Kossacks made really clear, the scandal didn't end when Kaloogian admitted the original photo was wrong and yanked it.  The fact that he was insisting on the phone that the original photo was Baghdad until proven otherwise, and the fact that the replacement photo was essentially an aerial view of the city, strongly suggest that he has never even been to Baghdad.  That means that his whole narrative is a fib, and not just one story.  At any rate, I think I'll only have about 2 minutes, so obviously I won't be able to go into a whole lot of detail about anything.

Should be fun.

•  Also, if you have last-minute suggestions

  for things to toss in, put them here.  Thanks.

  by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:06:53 PM PDT

  •  Congratulations!

    I admit I didn't follow the later part of the story too closely, but I thought it was determined that the picture was taken from a hotel in the Green Zone, no?

    by Olds88 on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:11:47 PM PDT

    •  Oh,

      I meant the second picture was from the Green Zone, obviously.

      by Olds88 on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:15:12 PM PDT

      •  Yeah, londonbear amazingly

        lined up features of the photo with a BBC graphic and sattelite photos.  I meant that in some sense the guy had gone to Baghdad (we think), but either cowered in his hotel room or hung out with soldiers in their barracks or something... but I'm bet a dollar he didn't go out and buy an apple from a street vendor!

        by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:25:57 PM PDT

        •  yep

          they were definitely in Iraq. Kaloogian and a PR firm put together a trip last summer for Kaloogian and a bunch of winger radio talkshow hosts to talk about how great the war is. There are plenty of pictures of them in Iraq ... wearing body armor, and surrounded by soldiers. Not too many of happy liberated Iraqis.
          Thanks again to you and Anthony for nailing this guy!
          remember to mention that other photo altered to make him look almost as tall as Bush. (I'll put in a link when I find it again) I think it's safe to say Kal has only a tangential relationship with the truth.

          by HiBob on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:35:46 PM PDT

          •  I know this was discussed on dailykos as well

            but I guess it wasn't tagged:
            http://www.tpmcafe.com/...

            Kaloogian posted a photo of himself on his website that has been clearly altered to make him appear several inches taller.

            by HiBob on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:47:23 PM PDT

            •  Thanks --

              I had forgotten that.  I squeezed it in!

              by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:38:38 PM PDT

  •  One minor bit

    Are you sure his replacement photo is an aerial view?  I thought it was tracked down by some bloggers as being high up, eg a balcony, from the viewpoint of the Rashid hotel within the green zone?  Not sure if the balconies go that high, though.
    

    
    Anyway, good luck!

    by Bush B Gone on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:23:51 PM PDT

    •  Yeah, I was using poetic license....

      Before londonbear tracked down the Rashid location precisely, people were guessing it might be a helicopter shot.  I just meant it was pretty freaking far removed from downtown Baghdad!

      by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:35:06 PM PDT

•  Good luck!

  Kaloogian's disingenuous actions are emblematic of the entire Republican administration.  It's smoke and mirrors from top to bottom.  We seem to find something disgusting every time we turn over a stone.  Makes me dread to think what they've got away with over the years, all the times we haven't had the opportunity to turn the stone over.

  Every time we go digging, we find dirt.  That's how it feels to watch Republicans at work these days.

  by Loquatrix on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:17:40 PM PDT

•  Awesome!!!

  BBC News is my homepage.

  I would have suggested a bookmark to this site before I knew you would be on it. Now it's mandatory..

  by Sanuk on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 05:22:33 PM PDT

•  congrats

  yeh, I don't think he actually went to Baghdad; or maybe he thought Istanbul was Baghdad.

  by Errol on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:02:16 PM PDT

  •  And that

    apparently he didn't even go through Istanbul on his way back but Greece.

    by Bush B Gone on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:24:42 PM PDT

•  Listening to you now!

  Enjoy your 15 minutes.  This is so cool!

  by LarryInNYC on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:28:24 PM PDT

•  good job

  You were effective in speaking about the implications of the lying photo - how it was a deceitful attempt to use it as evidence that all was quiet on the Iraqi front.  You got the point across well!

  by sele on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:41:38 PM PDT

  •  Thanks!

    "Hit 'em over the head with the big picture you want them to come away with" is what I always hear people saying.  Or something like that.

    by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:56:02 PM PDT

•  Darn it, missed you.

  Thanks for the compliment, it was actually remarkably easy to do the co-relation between the "Koolieagain" picture and the GoogleEarth image, despite the two being taken at different angles to the ground. Actually the longest bit was downloading GoogleEarth and finding that BBC graphic. Once you assumed he lied and stayed at the main hotel for semi-VIPs (only the top brass get to stay at the "Palace" AKA US Embassy) and checked the area around, the key points became glaringly obvious.

  By the way, they re-broadcast the programme for the week after transmission so you can pick it up from this page which may be a bit better to get to the segment you want. Up all night as I write has the links to last week's programme but presumably this will change later on Tuesday.

  by londonbear on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:51:36 PM PDT

  •  Still seems tricky to me.

    I do see that narrowing it down to a plausible target is the main trick.  That was what did it for me, too: Once I knew the name of the neighborhood it was trivial.

    Thanks for the info on the rebroadcast!

    by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 07:01:41 PM PDT

•  Darn it, missed you.

  Thanks for the compliment, it was actually remarkably easy to do the co-relation between the "Koolieagain" picture and the GoogleEarth image, despite the two being taken at different angles to the ground. Actually the longest bit was downloading GoogleEarth and finding that BBC graphic. Once you assumed he lied and stayed at the main hotel for semi-VIPs (only the top brass get to stay at the "Palace" AKA US Embassy) and checked the area around, the key points became glaringly obvious.

  By the way, they re-broadcast the programme for the week after transmission so you can pick it up from this page which may be a bit better to get to the segment you want. Up all night as I write has the links to last week's programme but presumably this will change later on Tuesday.

  by londonbear on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 06:53:06 PM PDT

•  Fib alert!

  Whereas jem6x would have you think she is being interviewed by the BBC of London, further research strongly suggests that is not true. First, the top she is wearing right now (you can't see it) would not be regarded as hip or cool in today's fashion-conscious London (sorry). Second, you will be able to hear a slight Brazilian accent in the interviewer's voice, supporting the hypothesis that this is really a scam run out of Rio for partisan political purposes. Third, there is no Arabic, Urdu, or Hindi script at the linked website, casting doubt on the claim that it is really the BBC. Fourth, the coffee depicted in the picture is Turkish, and not the usual instant crap the British drink. I think we need to make a concerted effort to prove that jem6x will stop at nothing to get elected. Oh, and the BBC don't have that font.

  (well done, btw)

  by mapantsula on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 07:21:49 PM PDT

  •  Busted!

    Curses!

    by jem6x on Mon Apr 03, 2006 at 08:05:21 PM PDT