A huge hue and cry was made in our “print media” as well as “private news channels” and “blogs” about a well known American journalist Seymour Hersh saying in an interview he gave to an Arab channel that there was a death squad formed by Dick Cheney and headed by the now commander of American forces in Afghanistan which indulged in the murder of high profile targets like Rafiq Hariri and Benazir bhutto.
I wrote a post on this yesterday and was immediately informed by two of my readers as to this being a total fabrication of facts. Since then “Dawn” who ran the story on their website till yesterday issued an apology and Hersh has vhenemently denied any such statement.
In short Seymour Hersh has denied that he ever alleged or said any of the above in an interview to an Arabic channel, he says that although he has been critical of some us actions under Cheney there is certainly no death squad and that he has no idea or info about who murdered Hariri or Benazir. His denial is in front of the world in this article. In his words these reports of him alleging Cheney had some kind of death squad are “pure madness”
Goes to show exactly what I have been harping on about in several articles of mine on the integrity and the fact checking indulged in Pakistani media and print. The fact that any of our newspapers would publish such a story without confirming it from the source itself tells us what?
There is one piece of the puzzle still missing though, Benazirs statement that Osama Bin Ladin has been murdered, wonder whether she believed in something she was told to?
So much for journalistic integrity