What makes this particularly sad is the fact that Ross is widely regarded as one of the most serious reporters on network television—and human rights activists credit him with breaking many genuinely important stories about torture.

Final Strange Fact: This was only one of two stories that John Kiriakou starred in on ABC last week. The other one—also featured on World News Tonight and Nightline—described how the ex-CIA man was hired by Paramount Pictures to go to Afghanistan to rescue the young cast members whose lives might have been endangered by the opening of the The Kite Runner. Which story did Kiriakou come to the network with first? An ABC spokesman would not comment.

Postscript: Eight days after Ross’s story aired, and one day after FCP commented on it, Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus of The Washington Post published a definitive account of the ongoing war between the CIA and the FBI over who Zubaydah was and how he should have been questioned. The Post’s piece did everything Ross had failed to do.

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