BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Wednesday, May 12, 2004
CHUCK TURNER, IRAQI RAPE
ALLEGATIONS, AND THE GLOBE. The right-wing website
WorldNetDaily.com
is having a wicked good time over an apparent fraud perpetrated on
(by?) Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and African-American
activist Sadiki Kambon, and reported
in today's Boston Globe.
At a City Hall news conference
yesterday morning, Turner and Kambon showed photos that they claimed
depicted American soldiers raping Iraqi women. "The American people
have a right and responsibility to see the pictures," Turner was
quoted as saying.
Today, Sherrie Gossett
writes
in WorldNetDaily.com that the photos are identical to pictures "taken
from pornographic websites and disseminated by anti-American
propagandists," a story that she's been reporting
on in recent days.
Gossett also writes that today's
Globe "came complete with graphic photos" of the alleged gang
rape. But that's not quite right. The Globe story, by Donovan
Slack, is accompanied by a photo by George Rizer of Turner and Kambon
displaying four of the pictures for the benefit of journalists who'd
come to the news conference. The pictures look like they might be
graphic, but it's hard to tell given the size and the angle. Still,
I'm sure Globe editors wish they hadn't run Rizer's
photo.
Gossett includes some extremely
entertaining quotes from Slack:
Asked whether the photos
were the same as the porn photos WND already investigated,
reporter Donovan Slack said, "I have no idea. I'm surprised the
editor even decided we should write about it."
She added: "Oh my God, I'm
scared to answer the phone today."
"It's insane," said Slack. "Can
you imagine getting this with your cup of coffee in the morning?
Somehow it got through all our checks. Our publisher's not having
a very good day today."
Slack sent the photos to WND,
which immediately confirmed they were the same porn photos
reported on last week.
Slack quipped, "I'll be working
at Penthouse soon."
The photos aside, Slack's story
sounds all the right notes of skepticism. She quotes a spokesman for
the Defense Department as saying, "I would caution that there are
many fake photos circulating on the Internet." She also notes that
the Nation of Islam, which purportedly supplied the photos to Kambon,
would not verify their authenticity. Turner told reporters, "We
cannot document their authenticity. But you have the ability to do
that."
Nor did the Globe give this
story a lot of play. It's a short piece on page B2, beneath the bland
headline "Councilor Takes Up Iraq Issue." The subhead, "Turner
Releases Purported Images of Rape by Soldiers," reinforces the notion
that the story is about a city councilor speaking out more than it is
about the subject of his outrage.
Now, I'm sure the Globe will
be publishing some sort of statement, maybe as early as tomorrow. But
the person who really has something to answer for is Chuck Turner.
Kambon is Kambon. No one would take seriously the notion that photos
of Iraqis being abused by American soldiers would somehow fall into
his hands.
But Turner is a prominent elected
official who lent both his good name and the imprimatur of City Hall
to this fiasco. Without Turner, this story never would have been
reported.
posted at 2:54 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
