On May 4, WorldNetDaily.com reported that the graphic photos “of U.S. servicemen raping and sexually abusing Iraqi women were actually taken from American and Hungarian pornography sites.”

However, the Boston Globe ran the photos as authentic after Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner “unveiled graphic photographs at a Tuesday press conference, suggesting that the images portrayed the rape of Iraqi women by US soldiers,” according to a Globe editorial.

The Boston Herald writes, “A number of news outlets — including the Herald and The Associated Press — attended the conference but did not run a story after determining the photos were highly suspicious.”

“While stopping short of claiming authenticity, Turner argued that ‘the American people have a right and responsibility to see the pictures’ in light of recent revelations regarding abuse of Iraqi prisoners,” the Globe editorial continues.  “Turner’s photos appear to match ones found on a pornographic website. Yesterday the Globe apologized for including a photo showing the images with the article about Turner’s claims.”

The Globe says Turner left “authentication to news media.”

WorldNetDaily asked for an explanation for the Boston Globe’s having not checked or verified the photos: “Not even as much as a Google search was performed by the reporters and editors involved.”

WorldNetDaily says Boston Globe staff was “furious at WorldNetDaily for exposing their gaffe.”

“Within minutes of the posting of the story, the Globe reporter and editors were angrily demanding WND editors retract the story, pull it from the website, make it go away. … The reporter first told WND editors that our reporter, Sherrie Gossett, had not identified herself as a journalist.

“After Gossett produced e-mails in which she clearly identified herself as a journalist and offered up links to four previous stories she had written on the subject of the bogus rape photos in an effort to help the Globe, the story changed. … More than 24 hours after publishing the photos, the Boston Globe had still not offered up a correction.”

Sherrie Gossett wrote on ChicagoBoyz.net that the Globe’s lack of verification was particularly damning, given that “WND expose of the photos was mentioned at Monday’s White House press briefing, and the day after my report on May 4, the US Embassy in Cairo issued a statement demanding that Arab newspapers that ran the photos as proof of US crimes, retract them. So it was ridiculously easy to verify not only the photos, but the story itself.”

An Editor’s Note in yesterday’s Globe states “at no time did the photograph meet Globe standards. Images contained in the photograph were overly graphic, and the purported abuse portrayed had not been authenticated. The Globe apologizes for publishing the photo.”