The Bowling Green "Massacre" - Never Remember to Never Forget

Trump administration senior advisor Kellyanne Conway made a false claim in an MSNBC interview which aired Thursday night. While defending President Trump’s executive order banning refugees and immigrants from 7 countries, Conway claimed that Bowling Green, Kentucky had been the site of a massacre carried out by Iraqis. She further accused the media of neglecting to cover a massacre occurring on U.S. soil. She claimed the two Iraqis carrying out the massacre had been radicalized refugees.

Problem is, there was no such event.

Friday morning, Conway explained in a Tweet that she had made an honest mistake. Since she used the fake news story to attack the press, she will likely not be able to put the embarrassing incident behind her any time soon.

In 2011, two Iraqi men were arrested in Bowling Green and charged with attempting to provide weapons and money to terrorists in Iraq. (They had not planned any attacks on U.S. soil.) They were sentenced in 2013.
 
The interview can be found here, along with the National Public Radio story about the massacre that never happened.
 
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/03/513222852/bogus-bowling-green-massacre-claim-snarls-trump-adviser-conway

A press release from the Department of Justice about the 2013 sentencing can be found here.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-iraqi-terrorists-living-kentucky-sentenced-terrorist-activities
 
Ms. Conway may learn an important lesson from this episode: When you routinely attack the press for any perceived criticism, reporters and the public are unlikely to cut you any slack when you make false claims. This is appropriate in a country that values a free press, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.
 
A New York Times opinion piece, by Jim Rutenberg, on the mistake and its implications can be found here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/business/the-massacre-that-wasnt-and-a-turning-point-for-fake-news.html
 
A Politifact article can be found here.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/feb/03/kellyanne-conway/fact-checking-kellyanne-conways-bowling-green-mass/
 

Image Credit: ​http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028600519