Baghdad

Does a photo on social media show an attack on a U.S. military base in Baghdad? No, that's not true: The scene in the picture is of a fire in 2011 at a facility in New Jersey. There is no evidence that an explosion occurred at a U.S. military base in Baghdad in September 2024. The claim appeared in a…

Are the heads of vaccinated people exploding and combusting when the 5G signal in Israel is turned up? No, that's not true: These video clips are real, but the headline is baseless as the video clips have nothing to do with Israel, COVID-19 vaccines or 5G. The first two graphic clips show 2019 footage of Iraqi protestors who were killed…

Yousuf Basil is a freelance journalist whose career in media started with the onset of the Iraq war, where he covered the violence, political chaos and regional and global repercussions from Baghdad. He relocated to Atlanta,where for more than a decade he worked at CNN on top global news stories, including the rise and fall of ISIS, the Covid pandemic…

Did "Julian Assange's Organization" release a series of clips exposing "brutal WAR CRIMES" of the U.S. and British militaries after WikiLeaks founder Assange was ordered to be extradited to the United States? No, that's not true: When the British government on June 17, 2022, formally ordered Assange to be extradited, the videos cited had already been publicly available for more…

Did a 15-year-old school kid from Minnesota get an A+ for writing a poem, "New School Prayer"? No, there is no evidence that is true: This poem has been circulating for decades with some revisions. There is no record of a grade given, no link to Minnesota or a traceable attribution to the original poet or their age at the…

Did the militant group ISIS not exist before Barack Obama became president of the United States in 2009? No, that's not true: Since 2006 ISIS has existed, according to a former member of the National Security Council and according to The Wilson Center, a nonpartisan policy forum in Washington, D.C. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on…

Did a recent video published on TikTok and other places, showing red tracers going up in the sky and a missile impacting, depict events in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The video dates back to January 13, 2022, and shows a C-RAM system engaging a missile near Baghdad's Green Zone and an impact followed by an explosion. The video originally…

Was a female army sergeant who became a hero for her war-time actions the first woman to earn a Silver Star since WWII? Yes, but the story is misleading. Leigh Ann Hester was awarded the Silver Star, but the recirculated story is more than a decade old, and it doesn't note that, since she was honored, another woman was awarded…

Was Candace Claiborne, a former U.S. diplomat, charged with spying for China after serving as a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department under Hillary Clinton? No, that's not true: Claiborne was sentenced for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from two Chinese intelligence agents, not for spying. She began working for the State Department in 1999 and was…

Did Nancy Pelosi assure Iran that U.S. President Trump will "pay for his crimes" following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani? No, that's not true: The U.S. House Speaker did say Trump was not "straight with Congress" about the drone killing on January 3, 2020, but she never assured Iran Trump would "pay for" Soleimani's killing.…