AP photographer rots in US prison in Iraq. AP pleads his case

[chill_wind]

in the press. And good luck with that.

He's been in there for 6 months already. Under our spanky new dictatorship just codified by Congress two days ago, he may never get out, eh?

Oh, we can console ourselves- we can hope the SCOTUS will overturn his fate. Someday. Possibly. Maybe. Maybe not. PROBABLY not- NOT soon enough to save humans like him. He is a marked man inside. How many more like him will die this way in the meantime?

Please read his story. In the end, it's not about the AP. It's not about the fate of just one man. It's about the consequences of what we let happen on September 28--- and the fate of so many more human beings that won't survive our calculations and comprimises. Our "Republican Catfights", as Harry Reid called them, just shortly before the debates, and apparantly best sat out by the Dem leadership just prior.

And apparantly not even worth the moral metal or precious powder of the filibuster.

"But Bilal's incarceration delivers a further bonus. He is no longer free to circulate in his native Falluja or in Ramadi, taking photographs that coalition commanders would prefer not to see published."

In Iraq, a journalist in limbo
POSTED: 8:19 a.m. EDT, September 29, 2006

By Tom Curley
The Associated Press


Editor's note: Tom Curley is president and chief executive of the Associated Press. This column first appeared in The Washington Post.

NEW YORK -- Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer who helped the Associated Press win a Pulitzer Prize last year, is now in his sixth month in a U.S. Army prison in Iraq. He doesn't understand why he's there, and neither do his AP colleagues.

The Army says it thinks Bilal has too many contacts among insurgents. He has taken pictures the Army thinks could have been made only with the connivance of insurgents. So Bilal himself must be one, too, or at least a sympathizer.

It is a measure of just how dangerous and disorienting Iraq has become that suspicions such as these are considered adequate grounds for locking up a man and throwing away the key.

After more than five months of trying to bring Bilal's case into the daylight, AP is now convinced the Army doesn't care whether Bilal is or isn't an insurgent. The Army doesn't have to care. Bilal is off the street, and the military says it doesn't consider itself accountable to any judicial authority that could question his guilt.

more:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/28/culey.commentary/

*************************************************************

"Last week, the AP quoted Harry Reid (D-NE) saying the Dems were sitting on the sidelines "watching the catfights" among Republicans and quipping that the GOP was debating border security "because they have nothing else to do." Well, Harry, they found something to do. (...)

- http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/joshua/41988

[C_U_L8R]

1. no wonder our press is scared sh*tless

Bush has gotten to em - too afraid to report the truth anyore

[midnight]

2. Did this happen to any Vietnam photo journalist?

[Poll_Blind]

3. The filibuster was sold down the river for a chance to defang the...

...legislation. A friend just told me on the phone "That makes no sense. If a grizzly's coming at you, you don't defang it: you shoot it."

  I recommend this message. I share most of the sentiments and confusion. This message outlines what we'd have to do to make this "right" again.

  Both hold some very disturbing truths. Neither is particularly long. If I can convince you only to read one of them, read the second, by Jack Rabbit. He lays it all out in just a few paragraphs. I'm still picking myself up off the floor.

PB

[chill_wind]

4. "Crisis of Faith". Not a bad term for it. At any rate, thnx PB. nt

[ShortnFiery]

5. This type of treatment is against EVERYTHING our Country Once

Stood for. :cry: I want THAT Country back!

I've noted before, how thankful I am that my beloved Father, a combat veteran of WWII, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm three months ago. That is, the only positive thing I can cling to in my grief for the loss, is that he does not have to see the EVIL of The Executive Branch and Rubber-Stamp Republican Congress stripping The American People of their Civil Liberties.

A few years before his death, my father went into great detail about how The German Soldiers rushed to surrender to The Americans. Of course, our memories are always embellished, but I believe that the CORE of my Dad's stories rang true: The American Soldiers were widely believed to be much more FAIR and HUMANE to their captors than The Russian Soldiers.

Rest in Peace, my beloved Father, a soldier with the heart of a compassionate social worker, and my forever hero. Like all others who have honorably served their Country, your service was not in vain. Many of us will soldier on to regain the honorable reputation that was representative of The United States of America . :patriot: :grouphug:

[chill_wind]

6. "Not in vain". That's a beautiful, thoughtful and intensely mindful

perspective. And I thank you, and your fine decent patriot and beloved father for it, dear SNF. Man, I've really been struggling, but there's a phrase that really resonates for me.

[ShortnFiery]

8. Thank you ... I guess that I am trying to convey to you and others

that many of us are having "a crisis of faith" and that we must support each other and KEEP HOPE ALIVE. :shrug:

I excelled in my college studies and have worked in the Addiction Counseling Field. I thought that because Social Psychological studies often find - that if you have a GOOD relationship with a loved one - their loss would be much easier to work through ... to grieve.

No one in this world was as "in tune" with me than my late father. For the life of me, my grief is profound and still raw. Therefore, I can say with all sincerity that my heart goes out to anyone who has lost a parent or a child. Up until a few months ago, I thought that I had life all figured out. :blush:

Yes, let's not lose hope and support each other toward reclaiming our Democratic Republic? We should stay strong - for our beloved ancestors as well as for our children and all the youthful people in this world.

Best to you and yours. :hi: :hugs:

[Time for change]

7. This is so awful

Everytime I hear a story like this it is so difficult for me to understand what motivates the tyrants in charge of our government, and why there isn't more outrage about this. Here are some thoughts on this that I just put down today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2269258

[EFerrari]

9. At least he's still alive.

:(