You've probably heard it on the radio, read it in the paper, seen it on television--Shiite militiamen destroyed four Sunni mosques and killed hundreds.

But it was Mr. Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, that Sunni residents blamed for the attacks on Friday. From morning until afternoon, at least four mosques were attacked in Hurriya, a mixed neighborhood in the capital. Two were destroyed, and at least 5 Sunnis were killed and 10 wounded, an Interior Ministry official said. A hard-line Sunni Arab group, the Muslim Scholars Association, said 18 people had been killed when one of the mosques burned down.

Iraqi security forces were absent, unwilling or unable to stop the attackers.

Terrible right? All is lost in Iraq. Civil war!

A complete fabrication.

Contrary to recent media reporting that four mosques were burned in Hurriya, an Iraqi Army patrol investigating the area found only one mosque had been burned in the neighborhood.

Soldiers from the 6th Iraqi Army Division conducted a patrol in Hurriya Friday afternoon in response to media reports that four mosques were being burned as retaliation for the VBIED attacks in Sadr City on Thursday.

The Soldiers set up a checkpoint near the Al Muhaimen mosque at approximately 2 p.m. and found the mosque intact with no evidence of any fire at the location.

Something clearly happened, but as in the Lebanon war, exaggeration is the rule. One mosque becomes four. one casualty becomes 200.

Curt at Flopping Aces finds that the source is a Capt. Jamil Hussein, and alleged spokesman for the Iraq Ministry of the Interior--alleged because the ministry's policy is that no one below the rank of chief can act as spokesman for the ministry. The ministry has warrants out for the arrest of several alleged spokespersons so they can be questioned. Hussein is a go-to Associated Press source for much of what goes on in the Sunni area. Curt finds example after example of stories about atrocities that name Hussein as the source. Not surprisingly, the U.S. military has warned the AP about using self-appointed spokespersons from the MOI, but been ignored.

We are essentially have our news from Iraq being written by the enemy.

H/T Mudville Gazette