Joshua Foust catches Asia Times/Adkronos reporter Philip Smucker fabricating quotes about Al Qaeda and Chechen fighters in Afghanistan.
Foust writes:
I was able to get in touch with Major Schulz (Smucker misspelled his name), and he had something startling to say. “I never said the quote that he used,” he told me via email. Major Schulz continued, “I stated that there have been reports that Chechens have been in the area but we have no way of verifying this information.”
That’s quite a different story than the one Smucker told, and Major Schulz offered several additional complaints about Smucker’s conduct and questioning while he was there. Major Schulz argues that Smucker, “chose to print contrary statements even though we told him the information he was getting was wrong.” Among the assertions Smucker made was that most of the violence in the area was driven by Al Qaeda; Major Schulz claims he and his team told Smucker they were actually tribal and local, not Al Qaeda.
Foust contacted Smucker, who “insisted his version of the story was drawn directly from his notes, and that he presented an accurate account of the conversation.”
