Real story vs. reported story - here we go again...

Oh-oh. Here's a story. US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo and Iraq, Afghanistan: UN source. According to a story released by Agence France-Presse (essentially the French AP), we do in fact have TORTURE at Gitmo.

Boy are my cheeks red. I'm going to have to apologize to Senator Durbin, aren't I?

Uh, no. I'm not. Because, as one would expect, they've buried the lede. What's the story here? It's the same basic story that was so mangled by the world-wide press on Abu Ghraib.

Here's the story that AFP reported:

GENEVA (AFP) - Washington has for the first time acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.

The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.

But here's the real story, buried down in the middle of the story:

"They said it was a question of isolated cases, that there was nothing systematic and that the guilty were in the process of being punished."

The US report said that those involved were low-ranking members of the military and that their acts were not approved by their superiors, the member added.

So the actual lede should have read something like this:

The United States Military continues to monitor its members, and to act against them whenever they act unlawfully. Certain members of the military have acted unlawfully at Guantanamo Bay, and are facing charges as a result.

But no, it doesn't sound like the US are the bad guys when you write it that way. So it doesn't get written, despite the fact that that's what the story actually is...




Others on it:

Captain Ed

The Anchoress

Wizbang