[optimistically_conservative]

It would seem to me that it would be fairly easy to run a sting in Iraq looking for journalists that would pay for access to cover an attack, or would receive payments or "gifts", to provide such coverage.

I seem to remember stories here of journalists accepting Rolex watches and such excusing it as customary for that region. And CNN's intentional burying of unfavorable reports about Saddam's regime comes to mind.

[winstonchurchill]

It would seem to me that it would be fairly easy to run a sting in Iraq looking for journalists that would pay for access to cover an attack, or would receive payments or "gifts", to provide such coverage.

You raise an interesting issue. In such a sting, the payor could not, in truth, actually 'give aid and comfort.' The crime would be 'attempted treason'. I wonder if there is such a thing. Come to think of it, 'attempted treason' sounds like the raison d'etre of the NYT.