Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily, it seems, just can't get enough of its favorite African dictator.
A May 21 WND article by Michael Carl repeats claimsthat the Ivory coast "election late last year apparently won by a Christian candidate when the government found voter fraud in Muslim regions. But that result was overturned following intervention by the United Nations and the United States, who insisted that the Muslim candidate be given the office." In fact, as we've detailed, the constitutional council that declared Laurent Gbagbo (the Christian) the winner over Alassane Ouattara (the Muslim) was headed by a loyal Gbagbo ally, something Carl fails to mention.
Carl's star witness is an anonymous "missionary who asked to be called only Pastor Andrew" who claims that "has shut off the Internet and now likely is tapping the Christians' telephones." As happens so often with anonymous sources WND cites -- in defiance of WND editor Joseph Farah's dismissal of quotes from anonymous sources as "usually quotes made up out of whole cloth to help make the story read better" -- Carl offered no reason why he granted anonymity to "Pastor Andrew."
Surprisingly, Carl did give space to a Heritage Foundation Africa analyst who said that "Ouattara won the election. I think that's been verified by a number of independent observers." But he went on to obsess of "Muslim-on-Christian violence" in the Ivory Coast while not mentioning that Gbagbo and his supporters have also been accused of human rights violations -- which WND has regularly failed to report.
