Debka File - Politcal Analysis

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
<a href="http://www.debka.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.debka.com/</a>;



NPR profiled this site, citing its accuracy with regard to political happenings, etc. What do y'all think?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Debka's awesome. I can't remember the number of times since 9/11 I read a story on their site, thought "no way...that's nuts", then read about it in the NYTimes or New Yorker two weeks later. Some of the Israel coverage is a bit overblown, but their articles on al-Qaeda and terrorism in general have been spot-on. How Osama slipped out of Afghanistan, al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen, using shipping containers as hotel rooms, and most recently, the ex-Saddam's bodyguard in Jordan who's spilling the beans on Saddam's WMD caches. Debka had that a week before the UK papers picked it up.



    Edit: Have you read yesterday's article on the dangers of future attacks? It mentions that Colin Powell didn't present the "smoking gun" of Iraq-al-Qaeda links because doing so would have revealed the extent of continuing Saudi support for al-Qaeda. I thought it odd that, after Powell's presentation, "senior officials" said they withheld some of the best goodies out of concern for the safety of American troops. I wonder if that's what they were referring to. I can't imagine anything else that might endanger US troops, but revealing the complicity of their host country certainly would.



    [ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: Towel ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 3
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Absolutly the best source for mideast news and intelligence. They wrote about the attacks this past thanksgiving 3 days before it actually happened. The had a 2 part interview with Saddam's former bodyguard weeks before it broke this week in other publications. They covered the US special forces in N. Iraq months ago, which is only now being admitted by the US and reported in mainstream press. They are almost always dead on. It's almost funny reading stuff in the mainstream press covered as though it's new, when Debka had it weeks to months prior.



    Edit:Addition



    They also wrote that Iraq was sending WMD over to Syria weeks if not months ago.



    [ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: Tulkas ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 3
    giantgiant Posts: 6,041member
    [quote]Originally posted by Towel:

    <strong>and most recently, the ex-Saddam's bodyguard in Jordan who's spilling the beans on Saddam's WMD caches. Debka had that a week before the UK papers picked it up.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Funny you bring that up. It is the source of the Herald story, though it was changed.



    You can hardly say this story is responsible journalism. From the Debka article:



    [quote]DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence experts who went over the transcript of the interview portrayed Jassem as a typical Middle East VIP bodyguard, essentially a simple man who, for the most part, told the truth. Content that our experts found to be inaccurate has been expunged.<hr></blockquote>



    So they admit to having an unreliable source. He is patently unreliable because he says Uday was hit with 60! bullets, but he was only hit with 8 and there is a possiblility that Saddam ordered it.



    But even further into fantasy land, the following makes me wonder how Debka decided what was credible (which obviously none of it was):



    [quote]There’s a place called Ouja, near Tikrit. It’s a peninsula of sand dunes. I saw with my own eyes bunkers that move from place to place inside the dunes, underground. It is simply unbelievable. It is done by remote control. <hr></blockquote>



    It obvious that this guy is not highly educated, but still trying to add fuel to the fire through made up stories.



    Now, I find it even more interesting that the Herald changed the story and turned it into an interview with Israeli agents, and then slightly reworded some of the phrases. Just today, after laying dormant for some time, a slew of internt sites picked it up, and one can see a few more manifestations with different 'facts' and such. It's a perfect study on how the internet can make rumors look like news, and how even a blatantly illigitimate story can start to take on a life of its own.



    [ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: giant ]</p>
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