[Peace-discuss] (no subject)

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

U.S. Troops More Hostile With Reporters
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
Filed at 11:02 p.m. ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- With casualties mounting in Iraq, jumpy U.S. soldiers 
are becoming more aggressive in their treatment of journalists covering the 
conflict.

Media people have been detained, news equipment has been confiscated and some 
journalists have suffered verbal and physical abuse while trying to report on 
events.

Although the number of incidents involving soldiers and journalists is 
difficult to gauge, anecdotal evidence suggests it has risen sharply the past two 
months.

The president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, an association of 
editors at AP's more than 1,700 newspapers in the United States and Canada, sent 
a protest letter to the Pentagon on Wednesday urging officials to 
``immediately take the steps to end such confrontations.''

``The effect has been to deprive the American public of crucial images from 
Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations,'' wrote 
Stuart Wilk, managing editor of The Dallas Morning News.

In October, the Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists, which 
includes unions representing 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries, 
complained of increased harassment of reporters, including beatings of some, 
since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

``Guidance has been passed to units throughout the coalition explicitly 
stating that reporters are not to be interfered with or cameras and films seized,'' 
said Maj. William Thurmond at the Coalition Press and Information Center.

``Does that take place all the time? No.'' Thurmond said. ``We are aware that 
individual soldiers have not followed those instructions.''

In Washington, representatives of 30 media organizations wrote to the 
Pentagon expressing their dismay about the harassment of journalists in Iraq. In a 
letter to Larry Di Rita, acting assistant secretary of defense, the Washington 
bureau chiefs pointed out that the Pentagon's own guidance to troops says 
``media products will not be confiscated or otherwise impounded.''

The military command says it's working to cut down on incidents by issuing 
credentials and badges to journalists. This system worked well with embedded 
reporters during the war, when confrontations were almost unheard of.

But as coalition forces come under increasing pressure from guerrilla attacks 
-- 37 American soldiers have died so far in November -- signs of stress are 
evident.

A number of journalists, particularly Iraqis and other Arabs working for 
foreign media organizations, say they are now routinely threatened at gunpoint if 
they try to film the aftermath of guerrilla attacks. Some have been arrested 
and held for short periods.

Sami Awad, a Lebanese cameraman working as a freelancer for a German TV 
network, said that when his crew tried to check out a report Friday about hand 
grenades being thrown at a U.S. patrol in Baghdad, they encountered a roadblock at 
which soldiers told him to go ahead and film.

But as the crew proceeded down the street, more soldiers appeared, threw them 
to the ground and pointed their weapons at their heads, Awad said.

``They checked our identity badges and then let us go, saying they thought we 
were with Al-Jazeera,'' he said. ``Each group of soldiers acts on its own, 
and most of them are very scared and inexperienced.''

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based television network, has repeatedly been accused 
by U.S. officials of biased reporting, charges the station denies.

Two weeks ago, coalition troops detained two Al-Jazeera staffers covering an 
explosion at a police station in western Baghdad on allegations they had prior 
knowledge of the car bombing. Al-Jazeera dismissed the charges as ridiculous, 
and the men were later freed.

A TV news producer in Baghdad for a major U.S. television network said his 
crews had been threatened at least 10 times in recent weeks with confiscation of 
their equipment. He asked not to be quoted by name because of his company's 
policy against giving interviews to other media.

Journalists have been shot at several times by U.S. troops, including an 
incident in August in which Reuters television cameraman Mazen Dana was killed 
while videotaping near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad following a 
mortar attack.

The military later said the troops had mistaken Dana's camera for a 
rocket-propelled grenade launcher. An investigation concluded the soldiers ``acted 
within the rules of engagement,'' although the U.S. Army has never publicly 
announced those rules, citing security reasons.

In September, U.S. soldiers shot up the car of an Associated Press 
photographer in Khaldiyah after an American convoy was hit with a roadside bomb. The 
photographer, Karim Kadim, and his Iraqi driver jumped from the car and ran for 
cover when they saw a tank aim at them. They were shot at with a machine gun as 
they ran and the car was badly damaged. Neither man was hurt.

In the same incident, a U.S. tank's .50-caliber machine gun fired at AP 
correspondent Tarek al-Issawi as he viewed the scene from a nearby rooftop. He also 
escaped injury.

AP filed a protest and U.S. commanders promised to investigate, but no 
information on the results of the probe has been received.

After a series of missile and rocket attacks in recent weeks on the so-called 
``Green Zone'' in central Baghdad that houses the U.S.-led occupation 
administration, security precautions there have been tightened to unprecedented 
levels.

As a result, journalists invited to cover news conferences at the press 
center are now required to arrive 90 minutes early to be frisked and have their 
equipment checked by sniffer dogs. But guards can announce without warning that 
the building is closed, blocking those still waiting in line outside from 
entering.

``If you don't like the way the military works, I can't help you,'' Capt. 
William Pickett told a group of reporters left standing outside the gate after 
being invited to cover a briefing Monday with Australia's defense minister, 
Robert Hill.