Informed Speculation

Michelle Malkin takes a lot of heat from the left, who like to use her as a punching bag and standard-bearer for ‘right-wing extremism’, but Malkin is no Jane Hamsher, nor is she Ann Coulter.  Her beliefs may be seen by some as right-wing (and probably by her, as well), but ‘extremism’ is in the eye of the beholder and I’ve never thought Malkin fits the bill.

Regardless, Malkin has been afforded an opportunity to put her money where her mouth is, so to speak, from the most unlikely of sources (Eason Jordan!), and she’s stepping up to the plate in a way that I have a hard time believing many of her critics would do if the situations were reversed.

What the heck am I talking about? Well, this:

As you know, ex-CNN newsman Eason Jordan extended an invitation to me three weeks ago to go to Iraq to investigate the Associated Press/”Jamil Hussein” story. He offered to pay for a trip. As you’ll recall, I asked if he would offer to cover travel and security costs for Curt from Flopping Aces–who broke open the story of AP’s dubious sources on Thanksgiving weekend and continues to lead the blogospheric search for the truth. Jordan agreed.

I spoke with Jordan by phone before Christmas to learn more details of his offer, which I’m not going to get into for privacy and security reasons. (He asked that his discussion be off the record.) I let him know that I had received invitations to embed with the military and planned to follow up on some of these offers concurrently with the investigation of the AP’s reporting. Since our conversation, things have moved at a fast pace on the embed side. Over the holidays, my Hot Air colleague Bryan Preston and I received word that our embed applications had been approved. We have been busy preparing our families and ourselves for the journey. Our overarching goals are two-fold:

1) to report on how the troops perceive mainstream media coverage of the war (with a particular focus on the wire services relying on local stringers); and

2) to report on progress and interaction between U.S. troops and Iraqi Army trainees.

The “Jamil Hussein” story is one important item on our agenda, but not the only one. As Curt and other bloggers on this story have noted from the beginning, Jamilgate isn’t just about “Jamil Hussein.” Bryan and I plan to do as much on-the-ground reporting as we can to nail down unresolved questions–not only about Jamil Hussein and the Hurriya six burning Sunnis allegations, but also about the AP four burning mosque story discrepancies and the many other AP sources that our military has publicly challenged–including “Lt. Maitham Abdul Razzaq” and more than a dozen police officers listed by U.S. military spokesman Navy Lt. Michael Dean. There’s also the issue of detained AP photographer Bilal Hussein. And we are looking forward to reporting first-hand on the security situation in Iraq outside the so-called “Green Zone” (International Zone) and talking to as many American and Iraqi Army troops with insights on these and other broader matters.

Now, that’s a great opportunity, but it holds obvious dangers, even considering Michelle will be embedded with troops, so I hope that fans and foes alike will join me in wishing Michelle a safe journey there and back, and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with…