Posted on 09/28/2005 7:09:27 AM PDT by Grendel9
28 September 2005
LONDON - The conduct of US troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public, Reuters said on Wednesday.
In a letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reuters said US forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate.
The letter from Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger called on Warner to raise widespread media concerns about the conduct of US troops with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee on Thursday.
Schlesinger referred to “a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq.”
He urged Warner to demand that Rumsfeld resolve these issues ”in a way that best balances the legitimate security interests of the US forces in Iraq and the equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law”.
US forces acknowledge killing three Reuters journalists, most recently soundman Waleed Khaled who was shot by American soldiers on Aug. 28 while on assignment in Baghdad. But the military say the soldiers were justified in opening fire.
Reuters believes a fourth journalist working for the agency, who died in Ramadi last year, was killed by a US sniper.
”The worsening situation for professional journalists in Iraq directly limits journalists’ abilities to do their jobs and, more importantly, creates a serious chilling effect on the media overall,” Schlesinger wrote.
“By limiting the ability of the media to fully and independently cover the events in Iraq, the US forces are unduly preventing US citizens from receiving information...and undermining the very freedoms the US says it is seeking to foster every day that it commits US lives and US dollars,” the letter said.
“Spiraling out of control”
Schlesinger said the US military had refused to conduct independent and transparent investigations into the deaths of the Reuters journalists, relying instead on inquiries by officers from the units responsible, who had exonerated their soldiers.
Schlesinger said Reuters and other reputable international news organisations were concerned by the “sizeable and rapidly increasing number of journalists detained by US forces”.
He said most of these detentions had been prompted by legitimate journalistic activity such as possessing photographs and video of insurgents, whichUS soldiers assumed showed sympathy with the insurgency.
In most cases the journalists were held for long periods at Abu Ghraib or Camp Bucca prisons before being released without charge.
At least four journalists working for international media are currently being held without charge or legal representation in Iraq. They include two cameramen working for Reuters and a freelance reporter who sometimes works for the agency.
A cameraman working for the US network CBS has been detained since April despite an Iraqi court saying his case does not justify prosecution. Iraq’s justice minister has criticised the system of military detentions without charge.
Schlesinger’s letter said: “It appears as though the US forces in Iraq either completely misunderstand the role of professional journalists or do not know how to deal with journalists in a conflict zone, or both.”
Reuters and other media organisations in Iraq had repeatedly tried to hold a dialogue with the Pentagon to establish appropriate guidelines on how to safeguard journalists. These efforts had failed “and the situation is now spiraling out of control”, Schlesinger said.
He asked Warner to question Rumsfeld specifically about the rules of engagement towards professional journalists, the failure to hold independent investigations into shooting incidents and to ask what was the guidance to US forces on how to distinguish legitimate journalists from insurgents.
In a free and open society, it's a sad testiment to the current state of affairs when I view the culling and harrassment of journalists to be a good thing.
:(
Hey Reutewrs, please post the name of the author. Our Delta squad is interested. :)
My heart pumps piss for Rueters.
The soldiers should be reprimanded for not killing the reporters from 300 meters.
What part of WAR ZONE don't you understand Reuters?
It was a bad idea to let the media into a war zone to being with -- especially an anti-American, anti-military, anti-Bush media -- that just serves to aid and abet our enemies.
Bad decision.
Schlesinger said Reuters and other reputable international news organisations were concerned by the “sizeable and rapidly increasing number of journalists detained by US forces”.
"Reputable" in my humble opinion means being able to present both sides of a story ACCURATELY..perhaps the good guys recognize Reuters for what it is, ANTI-U.S., ANTI-troops, ANTI-war and willing to do whatever it can to embarrass us and sympathize with the terrorists..(Reuters does NOT use the word terrorists by the way, they prefer "insurgents"..political correctness and all)..
This should be taken as an indication of progress in the WOT.
So they sit in their hotels and make up stories that have little basis in fact.
There is nothing that says the military has protect the media, especially when the media is functioning as the enemy. Frankly, I'm proud of the restraint the military has shown. If they had not been showing restraint, there wouldn't be a member of the media alive anywhere on the face of the planet.
Reuters is mad because they want to accompany the terrorists to glorify their actions. They don't like the consequences such as being shot with their terrorist buddies.
The left will accept nothing less than total defeat of our troops unless, of course, the left is in power.
Accidental shootings of of reporters should not be countenanced! It should be policy!
<>g<>
Hey! Let them get their "news" from their usual source, Al Gezeera!
I don't know...embedding the troops worked really
great for the first year. The troops were happy with
the idea; they liked the folks back home being told
where they were (after the action) and what they were
doing, especially re their morale. Then the LEFT
decided send their own reporters into the fray, NOT
embedded, but housed in those poshy hotel rooms. The
good news out of Iraq immediately ceased! From then
on, it was strictly how many American soldiers were
killed that day!
From then on, it was strictly how many American soldiers were killed that day!
-----
Or, how many soldiers, doing their duty and fighting, can we set up as WAR CRIMINALS AND MURDERERS....
We (nominally, "Iraq") do not need to let any reporters in at all. Those who come in, are under no illusion about the danger of being mistaken for the enemy, that is if they aren't actually the enemy already.
I'm guessing that the only news source most freepers would find reputable, would be the ones that denied these charges...
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