Reuters says U.S. troops obstruct reporting of Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28327739.htm

Reuters says U.S. troops obstruct reporting of Iraq


LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The conduct of U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. troops with Defense 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 U.S. 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 U.S. forces in Iraq and the equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law".

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Ah, so THAT'S why we are not getting the Rosy Picture - because

reporting on all of the great things is being blocked. tsk. tsk.tsk...

[Dover]

2. A very honest and civil response considering their employees

have basically been murdered and abused. And seeing how Reuters seems to be bearing the brunt of these problems, my guess is they are the most accurate, otherwise they wouldn't be such a target.

And of course it spells out what we already know about the comprehensiveness and reliability of the coverage served up to Americans.

[Dover]

3. *

[Justice]

4. wow, is that why Reuters people keep getting detained or worse

[Roland99]

5. The only thing this administration fears is the truth itself!

[sabra]

10. truth it really is a scary thing..... for Bushco.

[cantstandbush]

6. Now you know you can't depend on Warner to bring this subject up and

do it any justice. I think the DU community will have to put the word out. More in Congress need to know about this.

[acmavm]

7. You really think that they don't?

.

[Mountainman]

8. We are losing that war if troops are doing this on their own initiative.

It could be a self preservation motive if we are losing the war. The troops may not want the fact that they are losing to get spread all over the place which would give their enemy more support. I know this sounds like the right wing meme but it is just how it is or at least it is what they think would happen. In any case we must be losing badly and they don't want it to be known.

When I was in Nam my mother knew more about what was happening around me then I did. One day I saw that one of our open air equipment depots was on fire. It was burning for a couple of days. I asked G-2 what had happened and they would not tell me. A couple of weeks later my mom sent me a picture of that depot on fire that was in our local newspaper. The caption on the picture gave the location which my mom knew was where my company was located. The depot had been hit by North Vietnamese rockets according to the newspaper. The next weekend was Tet. This was at Long Bihn 50 miles from Saigon which we thought was very safe.

[Festivito]

9. Soldiers don't get AAR, but do get line of command.

I doubt that Air America is getting to our troops, but that Rush and FOX do. The top military brass have families making bucks off our huge tax dollar military investment. If your biggest known boss says George is great and all the bosses inbetween say it hard, so that you will say nothing else should any boss walk by and hear you, you will say George is great even if you think him a jerk. Only a few good men would know enough to say different or listen to it where it can be overheard, and they get fragged.

What would you be saying if you did not know any better?