Decapigate, the name given to erroneous reports by The Associated Press that headless bodies are being found all over Iraq, was uncovered last week by Bob Owens, a Raleigh blogger known as Confederate Yankee. Since his reports last week, other bloggers, and even some news agencies, are reporting on the hoaxes. Not surprisingly, The Associated Press has yet to correct its erroneous reports. As Agence France Presse points out, there are ulterior motives on the part of those selling these hoaxes:
The US military accused the international media on Saturday of exacerbating Iraq’s violent tensions by reporting false claims of massacres which it said were deliberately fabricated by extremist groups.
This week several newspapers and agencies reported that Iraqi police had found 20 beheaded corpses in Salman Pak, just south of Baghdad.
AFP did not carry the report after its sources were unable to confirm the rumour.
UPDATE: Triangle-area blogger Lorie Byrd writes that Reuters has retracted its beheading story. I missed that. Now, AP, the ball is in your court.
