RUMINT as news

Contrary to previous reports (and note that my colleague made note of the lack of confirmation at the time), it seems the CF has seen no evidence of the slaughter of Afghan civilians by Taliban thugs at Bazar Talukan.

A NATO official dismissed a report last night of a civilian slaughter by the Taliban in the Panjwayi district.

"We've heard these reports, we've done overflights," said Lt. Cdr. Kris Phillips, spokesman for the Canadian task force in Afghanistan.

"And we've seen absolutely nothing to support this rumour," he added.

According to a report from a journalist embedded with Canadian troops in the Panjwayi district, up to 26 local Afghan men were butchered by Taliban insurgents Monday.

The report says the men were beheaded and their bodies were put on public display by the Taliban, as a grisly warning to any Afghan civilians considering co-operation with NATO forces.

It's possible the report out of Panjwayi originated with the Taliban themselves, meant to frighten locals into refusing to support Operation Baaz Tsuka, a NATO troop movement active in the district.

When Brian Hutchinson says he got the story from "coalition sources" in the first paragraph, does that give the impression that he's talking about an "Afghan source" as confirmed in the fourth paragraph of his story? Between that and his "shattered hopes" line (military objectives and plans are rarely so brittle as to shatter at the first setback), I get the distinct impression Mr. Hutchinson needs to take a step back and get some perspective on the context of his reporting. Jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions and inflating and sensationalizing rumours serves no one's interests. I know that restraint is difficult in a business of immediate deadlines and scoops, especially when navigating in unfamiliar cultural waters (and I speak of both military culture and Afghan culture), but his readers deserve a little less sizzle and a little more steak in the future.

The butchery in question may well have occurred: despite what LCdr Phillips believes, he can't categorically deny it happened just because he has no evidence it did. But in this case, I'd suggest it's incumbent upon Mr. Hutchinson to support his claim rather than LCdr Phillips to disprove it.

Unless additional evidence turns up on this, I'm going to chalk it up to a Taliban info-op. Hopefully Mr. Hutchinson will glean a lesson from this episode and use it to improve his reporting in the weeks to come.

Update: Looks like the "fog of war" was involved, and that Hutchinson had some basis for the story:

Talukan is the village where up to 26 residents were beheaded and hanged by Taliban fighters last week. While NATO has not confirmed the scale of the slaughter, first reported by CanWest New Service, Canadian officers have received intelligence reports that describe the carnage and count the number killed at 26.

Sounds like the PAffO was out of the loop on this one. My admonition still holds true, but for the Public Affairs Officer rather than the reporter: nobody is well served by misinformation.