Fox News host Geraldo Rivera wants his followers to read his lengthy Facebook post describing what really happened in Tora Bora in 2001, and not what “lying leech” David Folkenflik, now an NPR correspondent, alleged as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Rivera’s post apparently was inspired by Folkenflik’s appearance on C-SPAN to promote his recent book, “Murdoch’s World,” and his allegations that Rivera lied about being on the scene of a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan that killed three Americans.
Unfortunately, Rivera posted the wrong URL to his Facebook post, but Folkenflik himself popped up with the correct link, as well as some tweets of his own.
Plz read now what really happened in Tora Bora Afghan December 2001. Not the lies the rat Folkenflik's been spewing http://t.co/6b3L96xAtQ
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 14, 2014
>Sadly, I think @GeraldoRivera included an extraneous @ in his facebook URL on his tweet. Try this URL instead: http://t.co/ECNnIjoByu
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
Rivera writes, in part:
For the last 12 years I have been haunted by a slanderous hatchet job by a left-wing public radio reporter who worked at the time for the Baltimore Sun. David Folkenflik’s December 2001 story essentially accused me of pretending to witness an incident of friendly fire in Afghanistan. As I explained in an on-the-air apology to my audience and via satellite phone from Tora Bora to Folkenflik himself, (he’s a TV critic who has never covered combat), I made an honest mistake.
In the fog of war, on a day I narrowly escaped a sniper’s bullet, I confused the aftermath of a friendly fire incident I covered in Tora Bora, with a more widely reported friendly fire incident several hundred miles away in Kandahar.
…
What is clear is what I have consistently maintained; that I made an honest mistake, confusing one incident of friendly fire in Tora Bora with another in far-off Kandahar. I again apologize for the error. To judge how grave a mistake it was, ask yourselves, to what extent would it have been commented on if it concerned any other correspondent? Folkenflik is a phony, and those of you in the press who lauded him should be ashamed of yourselves. In your desperation to get Fox News, you slandered me, my brave team, and much more importantly, the innocent victims of both al Qaeda and the allied bombing in Tora Bora on and around December 5, 2001.
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Folkenflik still isn’t buying it.
https://twitter.com/davidfolkenflik/status/423233299285168128
1. @geraldorivera: I choked up & prayed over the tattered uniforms of US soldiers killed in friendly fire. Me: you were 300 miles away.
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
2. @geraldorivera: My mistake: I prayed in Tora Bora over Afghan allies killed by friendly fire. Me: DOD says no such allied deaths at time.
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
2a. The raw videotapes @geraldorivera provided to the BaltSun showed no remnants of dead soldiers, no tattered uniforms
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
3. @geraldorivera: 12 year old press release from human rights org says US bombs killed civilians there. Me: Tragic. No mention of fighters.
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
4. @geraldorivera: I made “on-the-air apology to my audience” Me: Rivera made no on the air apology of which I’m aware.
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
4a @geraldorivera on Fox, 12/10/01: “I know Kandahar …suffered that dreadful friendly fire incident… but we had one here as well.”
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
4b. Be interested in link to on-air apology for chief Fox war corresp @geraldorivera’s errant account of praying over site US troops killed
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
5. Here again is link to @GeraldoRivera posting. https://t.co/edMEWaSHxg
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
6. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, @geraldorivera!
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 14, 2014
NPR’s Steve Inskeep weighs in.
Continuing to follow @GeraldoRivera v @davidfolkenflik. Folkenflik just now recapping so many facts it seems almost unfair.
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) January 14, 2014
Rivera’s parting shot (for now):
This guy Never would have reported this story in 2001 if it was done by any MSM reporter- Never. He's an NPR ass kisser
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) January 14, 2014
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