Shiite Hostage Crisis in Madaen a Canard

Rumors, edgy politicians and a paranoid press all combined to manufacture a crisis that was indeed, nonexistant. The original story decried the taking of 100 Shiite hostages by Sunni terrorist's. Politicians condemned the act as the press hyperventilated over the continuing instability in Iraq. A great story, only thing, it wasn't true.

Three Iraqi Army battalions had surrounded the town of Madaen, just south of the capital, where Sunni kidnappers were said to be threatening to kill hundreds of Shiite hostages unless all Shiites left the town. As the national assembly met, Iraq's top political figures warned of a grave sectarian crisis. Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric issued a plea for restraint. Even the outgoing prime minister released a statement decrying the "savage, filthy, and dirty atrocities" in Madaen.

But as the army battalions arrived in Madaen, they saw streets full of people calmly sipping tea in cafés and going about their business. There were no armed Sunni mobs, no cowering Shiite victims. After hours of careful searches, the soldiers assisted by air surveillance found no evidence of any kidnappings or refugees at all.

I'll offer odds of 10 : 1 that the original spark of this story were fanned into a fire by the press and the politicians not having great deal of experience with a free press bought into it.