Oh, some things make my heart sing, and one of them is when being part of this site's institutional memory pays off.
Go read devtob's diary about how wingnuts from San Diego County -- please, leave us Orange Countians out of this one! -- are spending heavily for scurrilous radio ads against Scott Murphy in next week's dead-heat NY-20 special election.
The co-chair of the organization? Howard Kaloogian. Yes, our Howard Kaloogian, the one that DKos helped to destroy when he was a candidate in 2006 the 2006 special election to replace Duke Cunningham in CA-50.
Let me tell you a little bit about Howard Kaloogian.
By the time I'm done, maybe you'll want to head to UpstateAlan's diary on NY-20, where you can pick up all the info you need to be the anti-Kaloogian in this race through phonebanking.
I wish that DKos had a page with the heads of people we here had found out -- Jeff Gannon-Guckert of course being perhaps the most famous -- mounted on a virtual wall so people could learn of our storied history.
But we don't, so let me put it this way: if Howard Kaloogian were a bull in Tijuana, his ears and tail would have been awarded to old-school Koster anthonyLA, who started writing about Kaloogian exactly three years ago this Friday.
Kaloogian was (and I expect still is) an unprincipled liar for Bush and Cheney, as anthony described:
As part of his work with the pro-military nonprofit "Move America Forward", Howard Kaloogian, Republican candidate for CA-50's congressional seat, just completed a ten day visit to Iraq, and he wants us to know that:
"Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism."
Kaloogian would have us believe that Iraq and Baghdad are calm and stable and that we should be suspicious of the media "scream"ing about the gross atrocities occuring there...why, then, praytell, does he support our continued occupation of that country?
The next day, in an 812-comment, 259-rec diary (and in March 2006, that really meant something), anthony lowered the boom on Kaloogian with a diary entitled Fake photo of Baghdad used to bolster GOP's claims?
It's a thing of beauty. anthony said "hey, something doesn't add up here." This photo shows peaceful streets, all right, but
- The signs are all in Roman script. (the signs that read edo, 2.Noter, etc.) Where's the arabic?
- The couple holding hands in the front, right side of the picture. First, the fact that they are walking down the street holding hands makes me think this is not from Baghdad. Second, look at the woman's top (shirt). It has spaghetti strap sleeves (shoulders exposed) and is awfully tight for Iraq.
Am I crazy, or is this not of Baghdad at all?
Check out the photo on Kaloogian's site here:
http:// www. kaloogianforcongress .com/... [NOTE FROM SENECA DOANE: link intentionally broken. Site name has been bought by someone who does not seem nice.]
This is extremely important because Kaloogian is claiming that Iraq is much more calm and stable than most Americans believe. His direct quote: "We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism."
Kosters were onto this story like locusts on a wheat field. The peaceful scene that proved that Bush and Cheney were right was quickly identified as being from Istanbul, Turkey. Kaloogian was quickly identified as a liar -- just read the comments about Iraqi clothing mores and the color of Baghdad taxis unfolding in real time -- and soon a liar about lying (which makes it all the more surprising that he would eventually lose the primary, given that GOP qualification.) Kaloogian, after all, had written this:
Downtown Baghdad:
We took this photo of dowtown [sic] Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.
Here is how Quicksilver summarized that comments section:
a summary of the thread (8+ / 0-)
Recommended by:SarahLee, hind, marjo, peraspera, NYC Sophia, fhcec, Ellicatt, Native Light
AnthonyLA, this thread currently stretches to more than 700 comments. It is in need of an update summarizing what was discovered by Kossacks.
Here's my take:
Although Kossacks carefully examined whether this could reflect some part o Baghdad, and a few comments flirted with other possible locales around the world, the broad consensus was that this photo was taken in Turkey. The street signs and other details are Turkish. Kossack daristani deserves credit for the most incisive revelation:
Photo definitely taken in Turkey (76+/0-)
The photo was definitely taken in Turkey; the sign "2.Noter" is for the "2nd Notary Public" (in a given district); the yellow taxicab in the front/right is a typical Turkish cab. The words "carsi" (market or bazaar) and "alis" (first part of the word "alisveris" = shopping, as in "alisveris merkezi" = "shopping center") are not EVER used in Arabic.
Any Turk would recognize this as a typical street scene in Turkey.
by daristani on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 12:55:27 PM PST
Where specifically in Turkey was this photo taken? We apparently don't know yet, although the Turkish press has been notified. But one thing is for sure: it does no good to Google the phrase “2.noter” and look for a phone number, because that won’t narrow anything down. Countless cities and towns in Turkey have a “2.noter”, as well as a “1.noter”, “3.noter”, “4.noter”, etc. Someone published a phone number for a “2.noter” in Marmaris, a Turkish seaside resort, and other Kossacks ran with the assumption that the photo was specific to that town. (That notary almost certainly woke today to find his voicemail full...)
There are ethnic Turks in Iraq. So was this just simply some sleepy cosmopolitan corner of Baghdad, where signs are in Turkish? Where Edo ice cream, a Turkish brand, is sold out of shops with yellow awnings? Where brown UPS trucks deliver packages, as the eagle-eyed conjcm pointed out? (Yes, it turns out, UPS delivers to Iraq.) We discovered, from the thread, that although Edo Ice Cream had hopes at one point of opening a branch in Baghdad, as it has in many other countries in the Mediterranean and Middle East, it has apparently not done so yet in Baghdad.
The thread revealed that many Kossacks had been to both Baghdad and Turkey. Though Baghdad mostly has white cabs, we learned, it does have some yellow cabs; however, the cabs in the image closely resemble Turkish cabs in shape. Other observations: the flowerpots strongly resemble others seen in Istanbul, though similar flowerpots may exist in other parts of Turkey. My favorite observation was from Kossack huppster, who pointed out the large Lenny Kravitz billboard on a building on the right of the street. (Anyone know the specific album?) To put it mildly, that Lenny Kravitz billboard is quite unlike other signs and advertisements typically seen in the Green Zone.
Why is all of this important? It wouldn’t be, obviously, if Howard Kaloogian hadn’t published the photo with this caption:
Downtown Baghdad
We took this photo of dowtown [sic] Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.
Kaloogian is making an ideological point, accusing the media of lying about the conditions in Iraq. Kossacks, in turn, are accusing him of lying on his website and lying about what he saw on his visit to Baghdad.
Another important point: even though this photo is from Turkey, not Iraq, there are a thousand other ways that a photograph can misrepresent what daily life is like in a country at war (as Juan Cole pointed out in an e-mail about this to MarkinSanFran).
Having been involved in the unmasking of Ben Domenech, I’m aware that the news media is sometimes unaware (or lazy) when it comes to reading a Kos thread as opposed to a Kos diary. The news media doesn’t always put the comments in a wider context, or weigh the evidence the way we do. But the problem can be avoided if a Kos diary summarizes what the thread has found.
Maybe this comment will help them, or anyone else who surfs into this late. And thanks again, anthonyLA, for a great catch! Sleuthing around this has been fun for many of us, and has shown the startling power of a convergent web intelligence. Kos at its best.
by QuickSilver on Wed Mar 29, 2006 at 07:01:05 AM PDT
Denials by Kaloogian, bloodhounding by Kossacks, and eventual admission of error (and blaming liberals for it!) followed over the next several days, in diaries like this follow up as well as this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and finally jem6x's definitive proof that the photo was taken in the Istanbul suburb of Bakirköy. Among those links, you'll find ones documenting the story making it into Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among others venues. Kaloogian came up with a second photo, which diaries in the above list also discredited.
Those were good times, people. We can have good times like that again. Kaloogian, the liar about Iraq, is now attacking Scott Murphy for not being pro-war the way Kaloogian likes. Let's hang Howard Kaloogian around Jimmy Disco's neck. Let's ask Jimmy Disco if he approves of Kaloogian's lies to extend a war. Jimmy Disco will happily see Kaloogian buy him a seat in Congress, but he doesn't want a distraction like this right now. So let's make sure that that's exactly what he gets.
And did you really think we'd forget so soon, Howard? It is still not safe for you to show your face in a political campaign after the lying you did! Go find another hobby -- maybe amateur travel photography. As for the rest of us, let's remind Howard Kaloogian of how we feel about warmongering Republican liars by giving money and volunteer time to Scott Murphy. If Kaloogian helps bring Jimmy Dico to defeat, maybe he'll finally get out of the "spending lots of money to lie about war" game. OK, maybe he won't, but it's still worth the effort.