K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
Questionable 4-year-old FBI memo presented as new to stoke terror
fears
Did al Qaeda start the California wildfires?
As more than a million people escaped the flames, Fox News anchors
couldn't help speculating about a terrorism link to the blazes
ravaging southern California.
"I've heard some people talk about this a little bit to me, but have
you heard anybody suggest that this could be some form of terrorism,"
Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy asked Wednesday morning.
Correspondent Adam Housley said he's received "hundreds of comments"
from readers of his Fox News blog speculating about a link to
terrorism.
Investigators have determined that one 15,000 acre fire in Orange
County was deliberately set, and Housley reported that authorities
arrested one man who set a hillside on fire. Causes of most other
fires are still being investigated, and there has been little
speculation beyond Fox News about a terror plot.
A review of Housley's blog posts about the fire reveals that his
characterization of the terror fears perhaps was inflated.
Of his 15 posts on the fires, just two included speculation from
commenters about a terrorism link.
"Is anyone asking how these fires started? I see no comments or
speculations," observed "clyde teeter" in response to a post Tuesday.
"Could it be linked to illegal alien misadventure on the border [...]
Terrorism? ... If you are a journalist, then these questions need to
be asked and investigated. Your coverage is admirable but the
emotional journalism about the loss of peoples homes is not helping to
find the causes."
Fox & Friends co-host Judge Andrew Napolitano tried to serve as the
voice of reason.
"That's a fear, Adam, but is there any evidence of it?" the judge
asked.
Such skepticism could not last, though.
Later Wednesday, Fox anchors returned to fanning the terror fears,
digging up a four-year-old FBI memo and presenting it as new
information relating to an al Qaeda link to the fires.
In June of 2003, FBI agents in Denver detailed an al Qaeda detainee's
discussion of a plot to set forest fires around the western United
States, although investigators couldn't determine whether the detainee
was telling the truth, and his plot did not include setting fires in
California.
Such small discrepancies in dates and details proved to be no
obstacles for Fox anchors, who reported that the memo was from "late
June of this year" and "is just popping up this morning."
The memo was first reported by the Arizona Republic in July 2003,
although a Fox anchor said it was reported "five days ago." That
confusion seems to stem from an inability to read the date on an
Associated Press account of the memo from the time it was first
reported.
A July 11, 2003, AP story, still available online via USA Today,
reported, "The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver
office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic."
On Fox, that information became, "The June 25 memo from the FBI's
Denver offices was reported three days ago, excuse me five days ago,
by the Arizona Republic."
Further distorting the report, Fox failed to mention a key caveat from
the 2003 AP story they appear to have ripped from.
"Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in
Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the
warning but didn't see a need to act further on it."
Partial Transcript from Fox's Fox & Friends, broadcast on October 23,
2007.
#
DOOCY: You're looking live at pictures from San Diego - Santiago, CA,
where the wildfires continue. We were talking earlier in today's
telecast with Adam Housley and apparently police officers in a
hovering helicopter saw a guy starting one of these fires. And Allison
Allison Camerota, an FBI memo from late in June of this year is
popping up this morning and it is ominous.
CAMEROTA: This actually has happened for many years in the past as
well. An FBI sent out to local law-enforcement said that an al Qaeda
detainee had given them some information that the next wave of
terrorism could be in the form of setting wild fires. Adam Housley
said lots of people on his block were asking him about it. Obviously
this is something the FBI has looked into. They will continue to
investigate it.
CARLSON: If they have this person in custody it probably won't take
long to be able to develop a link if there is one.
KILMEADE: A June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver offices reported three
days ago, excuse me, five days ago, by the Arizona Republic, that is a
newspaper, they have been carrying the story and they continue to
expand upon it.
DOOCY: Brian, the plot they say, according to this detainee, and they
don't know if the detainee is telling the truth. The plot was to set
three or four wildfires. But they don't mention California. They
mention Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. We do know for a fact
that a number of the fires in southern California are of a suspicious
nature and they are investigating arson.
fears
Did al Qaeda start the California wildfires?
As more than a million people escaped the flames, Fox News anchors
couldn't help speculating about a terrorism link to the blazes
ravaging southern California.
"I've heard some people talk about this a little bit to me, but have
you heard anybody suggest that this could be some form of terrorism,"
Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy asked Wednesday morning.
Correspondent Adam Housley said he's received "hundreds of comments"
from readers of his Fox News blog speculating about a link to
terrorism.
Investigators have determined that one 15,000 acre fire in Orange
County was deliberately set, and Housley reported that authorities
arrested one man who set a hillside on fire. Causes of most other
fires are still being investigated, and there has been little
speculation beyond Fox News about a terror plot.
A review of Housley's blog posts about the fire reveals that his
characterization of the terror fears perhaps was inflated.
Of his 15 posts on the fires, just two included speculation from
commenters about a terrorism link.
"Is anyone asking how these fires started? I see no comments or
speculations," observed "clyde teeter" in response to a post Tuesday.
"Could it be linked to illegal alien misadventure on the border [...]
Terrorism? ... If you are a journalist, then these questions need to
be asked and investigated. Your coverage is admirable but the
emotional journalism about the loss of peoples homes is not helping to
find the causes."
Fox & Friends co-host Judge Andrew Napolitano tried to serve as the
voice of reason.
"That's a fear, Adam, but is there any evidence of it?" the judge
asked.
Such skepticism could not last, though.
Later Wednesday, Fox anchors returned to fanning the terror fears,
digging up a four-year-old FBI memo and presenting it as new
information relating to an al Qaeda link to the fires.
In June of 2003, FBI agents in Denver detailed an al Qaeda detainee's
discussion of a plot to set forest fires around the western United
States, although investigators couldn't determine whether the detainee
was telling the truth, and his plot did not include setting fires in
California.
Such small discrepancies in dates and details proved to be no
obstacles for Fox anchors, who reported that the memo was from "late
June of this year" and "is just popping up this morning."
The memo was first reported by the Arizona Republic in July 2003,
although a Fox anchor said it was reported "five days ago." That
confusion seems to stem from an inability to read the date on an
Associated Press account of the memo from the time it was first
reported.
A July 11, 2003, AP story, still available online via USA Today,
reported, "The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver
office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic."
On Fox, that information became, "The June 25 memo from the FBI's
Denver offices was reported three days ago, excuse me five days ago,
by the Arizona Republic."
Further distorting the report, Fox failed to mention a key caveat from
the 2003 AP story they appear to have ripped from.
"Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in
Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the
warning but didn't see a need to act further on it."
Partial Transcript from Fox's Fox & Friends, broadcast on October 23,
2007.
#
DOOCY: You're looking live at pictures from San Diego - Santiago, CA,
where the wildfires continue. We were talking earlier in today's
telecast with Adam Housley and apparently police officers in a
hovering helicopter saw a guy starting one of these fires. And Allison
Allison Camerota, an FBI memo from late in June of this year is
popping up this morning and it is ominous.
CAMEROTA: This actually has happened for many years in the past as
well. An FBI sent out to local law-enforcement said that an al Qaeda
detainee had given them some information that the next wave of
terrorism could be in the form of setting wild fires. Adam Housley
said lots of people on his block were asking him about it. Obviously
this is something the FBI has looked into. They will continue to
investigate it.
CARLSON: If they have this person in custody it probably won't take
long to be able to develop a link if there is one.
KILMEADE: A June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver offices reported three
days ago, excuse me, five days ago, by the Arizona Republic, that is a
newspaper, they have been carrying the story and they continue to
expand upon it.
DOOCY: Brian, the plot they say, according to this detainee, and they
don't know if the detainee is telling the truth. The plot was to set
three or four wildfires. But they don't mention California. They
mention Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. We do know for a fact
that a number of the fires in southern California are of a suspicious
nature and they are investigating arson.
