Thread by @aaronjmate, Now that @Bellingcat has admitted that it published disinformation (https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1321848573680619522?s=20), let's look [...]

Now that @Bellingcat has admitted that it published disinformation ( https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1321848573680619522?s=20), let's look at those who tried to accuse others of doing what Bellingcat in fact did themselves, and even gloated that the falsely premised article was some kind of vindication.

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1321848573680619522?s=20

Let's start with @Bellingcat's @N_Waters89, a likely author of the anonymously bylined & discredited Bellingcat piece.

Nick has deleted a number of tweets, but luckily I saved them for us. #Bellingcaught

. @N_Waters89:

"For anyone who's been paying attention, it was clear the 'OPCW leaks' were based on flawed information from the start.

The correspondence we obtained proves it. There was a coverup, but it wasn't the OPCW doing it."

Nope:

. @N_Waters89: "...Peter Hitchens, Aaron Mate, Robert Fisk, Wikileaks, the Courage Foundation and others have been caught red handed either practicing 'journalism' of the most shoddy kind, or participating in a cover-up of a chemical attack."
( https://twitter.com/N_Waters89/status/1320742686077440000?s=20)

Deleted:

https://twitter.com/N_Waters89/status/1320742686077440000?s=20

. @N_Waters89: "Mr Maté got played by his source because he didn’t do proper due diligence." ( https://twitter.com/N_Waters89/status/1320788386303672321?s=20)

Nope, Mr. Waters either got played by his source, didn't do proper due diligence, or both.

Deleted:

https://twitter.com/N_Waters89/status/1320788386303672321?s=20

. @N_Waters89: "Just to emphasise this: if my entire career was built on a story in which I hadn’t bothered to check possibly the most vital piece of information, namely the reply from the OPCW DG to my source, my response would not be 'haha.'

Fair point: my response is HAHAHAHA

Then there's @Bellingcat, which also took to Twitter to laughably accuse OPCW inspector Brendan Whelan and @Wikileaks of possibly concealing a supposedly damning letter that, in reality, they never received.

Not deleted yet: https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320734222521434113

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320734222521434113

Bellingcat: "The only question that remains is whether @wikileaks, @couragefound, @ClarkeMicah, @aaronjmate et al were fooled, or whether they participated in obscuring this truth."

Now that we know the truth, that question only applies to @Bellingcat. https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320738031515639808?s=20

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320738031515639808?s=20

Then there's @Bellingcat founder @EliotHiggins, who reveled in what he thought was some grand scoop that disproved the OPCW scientists and journalists that he's attacked, and vindicated the US-UK-France bombing of Syria in April 2018 that he's shilled for.

In a tweet that he decided to pin to his profile, @EliotHiggins took glee in announcing that I never received a letter that, in reality, was never sent to anyone except for Eliot's propaganda outlet, for the purposes of spreading pro-war disinformation. https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320756518510338049?s=20

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320756518510338049?s=20

"The question is [how] did @wikileaks and @ClarkeMicah also get played by their source like poor old @aaronjmate and @TheGrayzoneNews"

I actually know how poor old @EliotHiggins & Bellingcat got played: they didn't verify their leak, because they're dumb.
https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320757031964418051?s=20

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320757031964418051?s=20

Recap: @Bellingcat published part of OPCW "letter." They claimed it proved: a Syrian chemical attack; no OPCW cover-up; Russia-Syria admitting guilt; AND me & others possibly concealing it!

@TheGrayzoneNews then exposed that the "letter" was never actually sent, plus ridiculous.

Now let's continue our look at those who spread @Bellingcat & their source's disinformation, and in the process accused others of being what they in fact were themselves: useful idiots.

First up, more gems from @EliotHiggins. After he published his fake letter, Eliot accused @TheGrayzoneNews of being "shameless" given that " @bellingcat showed the leaker withheld key documents that showed his claims were a load of bunk."

( https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320785131637035009?s=20)

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320785131637035009?s=20

First up, more gems from @EliotHiggins. After he published his fake letter, Eliot accused @TheGrayzoneNews of being "shameless" given that " @bellingcat showed the leaker withheld key documents that showed his claims were a load of bunk." ( https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320785131637035009?s=20)

. @EliotHiggins also continued to spread his conspiracy theory that somehow a source had concealed from me evidence that, in reality, didn't actually exist.

Higgins: "so it looks like he got played, as did those who believed his reporting, oops." Oops!
( https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320758002169905152?s=20)

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1320758002169905152?s=20

In one of the funniest bits from this episode, @Bellingcat claimed that Russia and Syria -- despite vigorously objecting to the Douma allegations in public -- had secretly admitted guilt, which was somehow kept secret until @Bellingcat got the scoop!

( https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320733437628731397?s=20)

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320733437628731397?s=20

In one of the funniest bits from this episode, @Bellingcat claimed that Russia and Syria -- despite vigorously objecting to the Douma allegations in public -- had secretly admitted guilt, which was somehow kept secret until @Bellingcat got the scoop! ( https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1320733437628731397?s=20)

"Goodness, this is embarrassing" war lobbyist @Charles_Lister exclaimed. "Turns out the whistleblower was ill-informed; the @OPCW investigation was entirely proper & definitive; and #Syria & #Russia even privately agreed with it." Goodness, this is embarrassing.

Here's @Charles_Lister's tweet, still not deleted:
( https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1320755844267606016?s=20)

https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1320755844267606016?s=20

"Another shocker from the 'things that are obvious unless you’re a moron or acting in bad faith” school: the ‘OPCW leaks‘ were total nonsense. Make sure to remember the ‘journalists’ that hyped it next time they come with their next line of bullshit," @DGisSERIOUS declared.

Still not deleted: https://twitter.com/DGisSERIOUS/status/1320736084205195265?s=20

https://twitter.com/DGisSERIOUS/status/1320736084205195265?s=20

In response to @EliotHiggins gloating that I "DID NOT receive a crucial email" that was never actually sent, probably because what Bellingcat published under false pretenses actually hurt OPCW's case, @DGisSERIOUS opined that I was "Judith Miller-esque!". Anyone catch the irony?