One has to imagine it was in the tradition of alternate facts that Kellyanne Conway constructed a fable about a terrorist attack by two Iraqis that never happened as an excuse for Donald Trump’s Muslim ban as having a firm foundation in an imagined 2011 ban by President Obama.

She told Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that,

“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.
 
“Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”

Watch Conway lie courtesy of MSNBC (begins at 2:50 mark):

Sadly, Chris Matthews, as he so often does, let the lie pass. Kentucky journalist Joe Sonka did not.

There were two Iraqi men and they were arrested but there was no massacre. They were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky but not for killing anyone, or even planning to kill anyone. As the Department of Jusice made clear in 2012,

“Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States.”

Rather, they wanted to send money and weapons to al Qaeda. And Twitter is not giving Conway a free pass. The hilarity is to be found under hashtag #BowlingGreenMassacre. Just as an example,

And that is as valid a presentation of any massacre in Bowling Green as can be found, though one other deserves comment:

Condolences to the late lamented Peter Sullivan, but the real victim here was the truth, may it never rest in peace.

Sadly, Trump has decided large red mascots – or liars like Kellyanne Conway – should not be affected by his ban.

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