May 22 (Reuters) - An Iraqi television station accused U.S. troops on Thursday of shooting dead one of its cameramen as he walked to his Baghdad home.The body of a second journalist, Haidar Hashim al-Husseini, a reporter for al-Sharq newspaper, was found dumped in a field with nine other corpses in Diyala province, police and colleagues said.
Truthdig tips its hat this week to former Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne, who has defied her one-time higher-ups by speaking out about how military officials knew that a target list in April 2003 contained the name of Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, which was shelled by a U.S. tank on April 8 even though embedded reporters were staying there. Two journalists were killed in the attack; one of them even filmed his own death.Kinne recently talked to “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman about the Palestine Hotel incident, describing how both she and one of her superiors, Warrant Officer John Berry, knew from an internal e-mail that the hotel was on the target list.
[...]
Kinne noted how then-Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that the hotel “was not attacked during any phase of the aerial campaign”—with emphasis, perhaps, on aerial. She also revealed what she considered to be illegal wiretapping by the military to monitor certain NGOs and described how information from the Iraqi National Congress that later turned out to be false was given high priority in the U.S. government’s chain of command.
Many U.S. military analysts used as commentators on Iraq by television networks have been groomed by the Pentagon, leaving some feeling they were manipulated to report favorably on the Bush administration, The New York Times said in Sunday editions.A Times report examining ties between the Bush administration and former senior officers who acted as paid TV analysts said they got private briefings, trips and access to classified intelligence meant to influence their comments.
But they resisted, of course.
Some analysts said they had suppressed doubts about the situation in Iraq for fear of jeopardizing their access.
I’ve seen this excuse offered from overseas reporting to White House press corps. What’s the point? That they will lose access to more lies???
"Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks," the newspaper said.
This is not news. This is the real lesson learned from Viet Nam. Control the media.
"[Bilal Hussein] now joins a growing list of journalists detained in conflict zones by the U.S. military for prolonged periods and eventually released without any charges or crimes ever substantiated against them," said Simon. "This deplorable practice should be of concern to all journalists. It basically allows the U.S. military to remove journalists from the field, lock them up and never be compelled to say why."
Perhaps the U.S. military figures we know why.
Click the picture to view a clip. Other clips are at Comedy Central.
[Reuters] Photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, were killed in Baghdad on Thursday in what witnesses said was a U.S. helicopter attack and which police in a preliminary report called "random American bombardment".
Apparently in Baghdad they get 4 or 5 hours of electricity per day, up from last October's rate of 2.4 hours. Now that's progress.
Pre-invasion rates were 16-24 hours per day.
Another journalist has been killed.
The memo alleges that President Bush expressed his frustration with al-Jazeera, which is the equivalent of a large broadcast news company such as CNN and has a viewership of 50 million, and wanted to bomb their headquarters using US bombers stationed nearby.Blair, according to the memo, dissuaded the President from this action because Qatar is an ally of the US and such an action would result in severe backlash.
Well, the leakers, a Foreign Office official in the Cabinet, David Keogh and Leo O'Connor, researcher for former Labor MP for Northampton South, Tony Clarke, were tried and found guilty of breaking the Official Secrets Act.
Larisa Alexandrovna (at-Largely) writes:
So, two government officials acting out of their conscience to expose President Bush's plans to bomb journalists are found guilty. So I suppose the next time the EU demands that Russia investigate the murder of countless Russian journalists, Vladamir Putin can point to this case and laugh. Qatar is a US ally and the US planned on bombing a major broadcasting organization.
In fact, what the US did do, was bomb al-Jazeera in Iraq, and apparently, that's okay.
....hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
In a stunning display of hypocrisy, one day before the anniversary of the deaths of three journalists in Iraq from US bombing attacks on their media offices, Centcom issued a press release condemning "criminal attacks on journalists" in Iraq.
Ohio is one of the latest States to turn down federal money to opt out of the Abstinence Education program, joining Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Montana and New Jersey. California never participated from the inception. Some of Ohio's objections: "Among other things, the money cannot be used to promote condom or contraceptive use. Students are to be taught that bearing children outside wedlock is likely to harm society and that sexual activity outside marriage is 'likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.'"
Avon Park, Florida, police arrested a 6-year-old girl, put her in handcuffs and took her away, for throwing a tantrum in school. The police chief says she's not the only 6-year-old they've arrested. "Believe me when I tell you, a 6-year-old can inflict injury to you just as much as any other person." Keeping Avon Park safe from 6-year-olds with attitude.
You could caption this Reuters photo, but Dependable Renegade beat you to it.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Al Jazeera pulled its remaining reporters out of Baghdad after the attack. "We got the message," a station director at the Qatar headquarters said. The very next day after the three attacks, the US Army entered Baghdad and staged the destruction of the statue of Saddam Hussein. (The "end of major operations in Iraq" - Mission Accomplished.)
Coincidence?
During the Afghan war, two supposedly smart US bombs hit the Reuters office in Kabul and many suspect the attack was no accident. It happened at a strategic moment, two hours before the Northern Alliance took over the city.
And on this day in particular, with its divine coincidence - the day Christians celebrate a young man laying down his life for the truth - take a moment to reflect on the fact that these young men gave their lives so that we might know the truth.
Tarek Ayyoub, Al Jazeera
Mongrel image
Taras Protsyuk, Reuters
 Reuters image |  Reporters Without Borders image |
Jose Couso, Telecinco
 AFP image |  smh.com.au image |
Rest in peace.
No, it shouldn't. And I might add that it wasn't necessarily "the wrong cab." I wonder what has become of the cab driver, whose crime at this point, as far as we know, was having a washing machine timer with him.The family of Los Angeles filmmaker Cyrus Kar said Saturday that State Department officials had told them he would be released within a few days after having been imprisoned in Iraq by the U.S. military since mid-May, when a common component for explosives was found in the cab in which he was riding.[...]
On Tuesday, Modarress and her daughter Shahrzad Folger expressed fear that they might never again see Kar, who was born in Iran, came to the United States as a boy, served three years in the Navy and became a citizen 20 years ago.
He was taken into custody May 17 soon after he arrived in Baghdad to continue making a documentary film about Cyrus the Great — the king of Persia 500 years before the birth of Christ — who is believed to have written the first charter of human rights known to mankind.
Pentagon officials said last week that the taxi Kar was in was stopped at a vehicle checkpoint, where Iraqi soldiers found a number of washing machine timers that could be used as components in improvised explosive devices. They turned him over to the U.S. military, the Pentagon said.
Modarress said she had been told by Los Angeles FBI Agent John D. King, who helped investigate the case, that just one timer had been found in the cab and that the driver had said he "had picked it up from a repair shop as a favor for a friend."[...]
Frustrated that the government continued to hold Kar, Modarress and Folger filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Washington, contending that their relative was being held in violation of the U.S. Constitution and should be released immediately.
[...]
Modarress said State Department Consular Officer Sara Francia told her that Kar "is in good health" and would be released "in a couple of days" with his cameraman, Farshid Faraji, an Iranian citizen. The officer also told her, "We need you to wire some money" for Kar, Modarress said.
[...]
Last week, a Pentagon official told The Times that a hearing would be held in Iraq to determine whether Kar was "a security threat, involved in the insurgency, has committed a crime or is found innocent after a thorough investigation."
The official, speaking on condition that he not be identified, confirmed that Kar had not been charged with a crime, but said "circumstances were such to raise the level of suspicion and warrant [Kar's] questioning and detention." He said he had no idea when the hearing would be held.[...]
Mark D. Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which is representing Kar's family in the lawsuit [...] said he was driving to his office Saturday morning to prepare for a federal court hearing in the case that had been scheduled for noon Monday in Washington, when Modarress called him with the news. He and co-counsel Ranjana Natarajan immediately called Francia to confirm what Modarress had told him, Rosenbaum said.
[...]
Rosenbaum said he was pleased that Kar would be freed soon, but added, "It shouldn't take eight lawyers working around the clock and filing a federal habeas corpus petition to get a U.S. citizen released who is a Navy veteran and been cleared by the FBI, but has been held more than 50 days just because he stepped into the wrong cab."
Unfortunately, they don't stop it.The ACLU suit contended that Kar had been "imprisoned by the United States military in Iraq without the slightest hint of legal authority. His arbitrary military detention is unaccompanied by any charge, any warrant, any writ or any process. The most elemental legal principles by which we govern ourselves cannot countenance the lawless detention without justification of a United States citizen by his own government."
What can he be thinking? Maybe he only watches Fox News.Modarress said Francia told her that Kar, who has been obsessed for more than three years with his Cyrus the Great film, wanted to stay in Iraq for a while to finish the project.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Corexit: More toxic than the oil
IVAW: Iraq Veterans Against the War
