US Military Spokesperson In Iraq
Circulates Fake Islamic State Document As Genuine
By Moon
Of Alabama
December 22, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "MOB"
- It seems that the U.S. military is propagandizing
against the Islamic State by distributing fake
Islamic State documents. This, in effect, will make
the Islamic State look better than it is.
Iraqi Forces Fighting for Ramadi Make Their Way
Toward City Center
In a
telephone briefing on Tuesday, [Col. Steven H.
Warren, the United States military spokesman in
Baghdad,] said that coalition forces had
recovered Islamic State leaflets in the nearby
city of Falluja urging its fighters — if they
lose control of the city — to impersonate Iraqi
security forces and commit atrocities. “Some
acts that they’re instructed to do on this
document include blowing up mosques, killing and
torturing civilians and breaking into homes
while dressed as I.S.F. fighters,” Colonel
Warren said, referring to Iraqi security forces.
“They do all this to discredit the I.S.F.”
Colonel
Warren called the instructions in the leaflets
“the behavior of thugs, behavior of killers, the
behavior of terrorists.”
Colonel
Warren also tweeted the "Islamic State leaflet" and
its translation:
COL Steve
Warren Verified account @OIRSpox
ISIL
fighters ordered to dress as ISF and commit
atrocities before fleeing Fallujah.
[Photo
of the document and its translation]
7:30 AM - 22 Dec 2015"
The
document was immediately
identified as fake by
Aymenn Jawad
Al-Tamimi, a well known researcher who
curates a large collection of all published
Islamic State documents:
Aymenn J
Al-Tamimi @ajaltamimi
Aymenn J
Al-Tamimi Retweeted COL Steve Warren
Dear
Col. Steve Warren @OIRSpox, this purported
'Fallujah withdrawal' document is an obvious
fake:
7:43 AM - 22 Dec 2015
Al Tamimi
gives
two main
reasons why he believes the document is fake:
- the
document allegedly from Fallujah is under an IS
letter head from Ninawa province. Fallujah is in
Anbar province,
- the
document refers to the government militia with
its real honorable name "Hashd Sha'abi" while
the regular derogatory Islamic State term for
the militia is "Hashd Rafidi".
Another
writer with deep experience in the region also
believes that the document is fake:
Anand
Gopal @Anand_Gopal_
Anand
Gopal Retweeted COL Steve Warren
Here’s
a US military spokesman circulating fake ISIS
documents as propaganda
9:41 AM - 22 Dec 2015
An Iraq
security analyst concurs:
Alex M. @Alex_de_M
COL
Warren needs a chat with his G2 section. The
leaflets are pretty obviously fakes...
9:45 AM - 22 Dec 2015
One would
think that the behavior the Islamic State displays
in its own propaganda videos is argument enough to
condemn it. By using obviously fake IS documents to
condemn the Islamic State the U.S. military creates
the opposite effect. That the U.S. needs fake
evidence to let the Islamic State look bad actually
makes it look better than it is. This not only in
the eyes of its followers. |
