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 The U.S. War on JournalistsPosted on May 7, 2008By Amy Goodman Sami al-Haj is a free man today, after having been imprisoned by the U.S. military for more than six years. His crime: journalism. Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs. The principal target these past seven years has been Al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network based in Doha, Qatar. In November 2001, despite the fact that Al-Jazeera had given the U.S. military the coordinates of its office in Kabul, U.S. warplanes bombed Al-Jazeera’s bureau there, destroying it. An Al-Jazeera reporter covering the George Bush-Vladimir Putin summit in Crawford, Texas, in the same month was detained by the FBI because his credit card was “linked to Afghanistan.” In spring 2003, the U.S. dropped four bombs on the Sheraton hotel in Basra, Iraq, where Al-Jazeera correspondents—the only journalists reporting from that city—were the lone guests. Another Al-Jazeera staffer showed his ID to a U.S. Marine at a Baghdad checkpoint, only to have his car fired upon by the Marines. He was unhurt. That can’t be said for Tareq Ayyoub, an Al-Jazeera correspondent who was on the roof of the network’s bureau in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, when a U.S. warplane strafed it. He was killed. His widow, Dima Tahboub, told me: “Hate breeds hate. The United States said they were doing this to rout out terrorism. Who is engaged in terrorism now?” Then there is the story of Sami al-Haj. A cameraman for Al-Jazeera, he was reporting on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. On Dec. 15, 2001, while in a Pakistani town near the Afghanistan border, Haj was arrested, then imprisoned in Afghanistan. Six months later, shackled and gagged, he was flown to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Haj was held there for close to six years, repeatedly interrogated and never charged with any crime, never tried in a court. He engaged in a hunger strike for more than a year, but was force-fed by his jailers with a feeding tube sent into his stomach through his nose. Haj was abruptly released this week. The U.S. government announced that he was being transferred to the custody of Sudan, his home nation, but the government of Sudan took no action against him. He was rushed to an emergency room, and soon was seen on his old network, Al-Jazeera: “I’m very happy to be in Sudan, but I’m very sad because of the situation of our brothers who remain in Guantanamo. Conditions in Guantanamo are very, very bad, and they get worse by the day. Our human condition, our human dignity was violated, and the American administration went beyond all human values, all moral values, all religious values. In Guantanamo, you have animals that are called iguanas, rats that are treated with more humanity. But we have people from more than 50 countries that are completely deprived of all rights and privileges, and they will not give them the rights that they give to animals.” He described the desecration of the Quran as part of the effort to break him: “They hold the Quran in contempt, destroyed it several times and put their dirty feet on it. They also sat on the Quran while trying to get us angry. They repeatedly committed violations against our dignity and our sexual organs.” At least one official in the Defense Department has denied the charges. Asim al-Haj, Sami’s brother, told me in an interview last January about the 130 interrogations: “During these times, the interrogations were all about Al-Jazeera and alleged relations between Al-Jazeera and al-Qaida. They tried to induce him to spy on his colleagues at Al-Jazeera.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 10 journalists have been held for extended periods by the U.S. military and then released without charge. Just weeks ago in Iraq, the U.S. military released Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after holding him without charge for two years. The military had once accused Hussein of being a “terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP.” The committee reports that 127 journalists and an additional 50 media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003, well more than twice the number killed in World War II. We need to remind the Bush administration: Don’t shoot the messenger. Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 650 stations in North America. Her third book, “Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times,” was published in April. © 2008 Amy Goodman Distributed by King Features Syndicate Previous item: Battle of the Hawks Next item: Hillary Plays the Crazy Card Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment |
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Washington’s Overrated ‘Old Hands’
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By sol fisher, May 26 at 4:56 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The bedrock foundation for America’s unconscionable, murderously brutal imperialism is the insatiable demand for hegemony over the world’s resources for the benefit of profit-oriented “private” capitalism, which has overcome national sovereignties. Consistently, workers’ wages and living conditions are being ruthlessly depressed, e.g. by outsourcing production to lower wage countries and forcing American workers to accept lower wages by threatening to shut down factories. The idealistic attempt at a transformation of capitalist society to a compassionate socialist system was unfortunately corrupted by Stalin. It seems the best we can hope for is the gradual amelioration of the cruelties of the capitalist system. oldsol
Report thisBy Neil J. Thompson, May 13 at 4:24 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I don’t know where to begin. I’m staring at my monitor, tears streaming down my face, wondering how we got to this dreadful place in time. I just finished watching Democracy Now, the report from that wonderful lady in Vermont who was in Military Intelligence, finally speaking out against the atrocity that is our federal government. Then, not being angry and sad enough, I watched the excerpt from Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness. I’ve witnessed more tragedy in my 53 years than any single individual should ever have to bear, but NEVER have I felt such anger and frustration before. How is it that the evil triumverate remains free to do whatever they choose to do? How can they arbitrarily overturn the Constitution at will, in order to serve their own purposes? Why has the general population not risen as one voice and demanded that these 3 evil men (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) be recognized for what they are, and prosecuted as the war criminals that they have proven themselves to be? These men do NOT represent me. These men do NOT speak for me. These men are a constant source of humiliation and rage to me. These are questions that never seem to be far from my mind at any given time. I’m bursting with grief, anger, and frustration, and don’t know where to turn, or what to DO to help in the struggle to try and make things right again. It seems to me that participating in demonstrations and lifting my voice just isn’t enough, yet I simply don’t know what to do :( I love my country, I love the principles on which it was founded, yet I no longer recognize it as the great democratic and free-thinking nation that it was. I can no longer even LOOK at news clips featuring these three individuals. Listening to Rumsfeld’s glib, sarcastic nonsense or Bush’s fumbling attempts to rewrite history only serve to anger and confuse me even more. I simply don’t know what to do :(
Please forgive my venting, good people. I thought that doing this would be cathartic in some way, and somehow the heavy veil of sadness and uncertainly would lift itself from my shoulders. Naturally, it hasn’t, and I find myself even sadder and feeling more helpless than ever. We MUST do something :(
Report thisBy Mossad, May 10 at 6:35 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
“We need to remind the Bush administration: Don’t shoot the messenger.”
Since they are doing it on purpose, don’t remind them. They’ll just up the ante!
Report thisBy Apostle Gideon, May 8 at 1:39 pm #
The U.S. attack on Jounralism is well noted by the lack of journalists, in media, with the title, journalist, actually doing journalism.
It is time to bring back real journalsim.
A story about someone, or something, about an event of which actually occured, and of which the journalist was not a partaker, except as an indpendent observer.
Please my blogs:
Report thishttp://benevolentlybeloved.com
By Don Stivers, May 8 at 11:19 am #
Here we go again and again and again.........
When will justice be reached?
Report thisBy Purple Girl, May 8 at 11:19 am #
Well it still does not excuse their actions and Inactions for AT least the last 7 yrs.
Report thisFailing to point out the obvious BS which began on 9/11 helping to pertpetuate the Lie is unforgiveable. any thinking person knew the attacks we NOT agaisnt US, Nor our Freedoms, Nor our Liberal Ways nor standard of living- the targets plainly explained who they were after and Who caused such a horrific retailation. They did not hit the Statue of Liberty, the Mall of America or San Fran. they targeted the MIC and the Foreign Policy Center! Considering the state of our Country, our freedoms and Our rights one can only deduct it is those in power Here who hate our Freedoms, our way of life and our liberties!They have done more to bring down our country then any two bit ‘terrorist ‘ orgnaization could have ever dreamed of achieving!
And with th ecurrent Rhetoric from the WH, congress, SCOTUS and Clinton & Mac they appear not to be Done with US yet!
The media better start remembering WHO actually Butters their Bread- Who can eliminate their livlihood by merely turning them Off. Better start singing and Stop playing the ‘Ministry of Truth’ scam. You either stand with US- or go Down with Them!! I hear Gitmo has at least rather nice weather- but you will never see it!
By Bill Blackolive, May 8 at 7:38 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Amy, what can stop the war faster than you and 1200 plus (hundreds of engineers already) at Patriotsquestion9/11 ganging up and ever pulling in hundreds more of prominent folks to point out the 9/11 coverup - how the official version is physically impossible. To get this dialogue into corporate news would instantly show the war has no excuse, besides that it is losing, hurts this glass house and will widen.
Report thisBy cann4ing, May 7 at 9:51 pm #
Yes, Cyrena, and let’s not forget the direct role played by Henry Kissinger & AT & T in the violent overthrow of the Allende regime on, of all dates, September 11, 1973.
Report thisBy cyrena, May 7 at 7:32 pm #
Thanks for the addition Ernest. I’ve combined it with the piece from Amy.
As an aside, I am currently RE-reading the book “War Law, Understanding International Law and Armed Confict” by Michael Byers.
This obviously isn’t a new subject for me, since I’ve been studying it a while now, and actually only returned to the book for some direct quotes and my reference sources. I hadn’t really intended to go over the portion on the protection of civilians, (an absolute priority in the laws of war) but it’s there, and I could only feel the total depression that comes from knowing tha for 6 years now, this regime has not only totally ignored the protection of civilians ANYWHERE, but has in fact targeted them by the millions..Afghanistan, Iraq, and most recently Somalia. Just bombing, bombing, bombing from the air, and snipers, snipers, snipers everywhere.
That these absolute prohibitions, (torture and the targeting of civilians) have continued to blatantly makes us know exactly why these journalists have been targeted as well.
When you mentioned what Rumsfeld had said about it all being lies and propaganda, (THE TRUTH OF THE FILM), it reminded me of a quote from Augusto Pinochet: “Lies ---all lies. The author is a liar and a hypocrite!” May 1992
So says Pinochet, when confronted with the written account of his crimes. So says Rumsfeld, when confronted with his.
Guess I don’t need to remind that the USA/CIA was the creator of Pinochet. (as they have produced so many other purveyors of evil around the world)
Report thisBy cann4ing, May 7 at 5:49 pm #
Although she covered previously at Democracy Now, Amy left off an incident that is vital to understanding whether the Bush administration deliberately targeted al Jazeera journalists. On April 9 & 10, 2004 al Jazeera broadcast live the devastating impact of the U.S. assault on Falluja’s civilian population that were captured by al Jazeera’s Ahmed Mansur and his cameraman Laith Mustaq.
On April 11, General Mark Kimmit, a senior military spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said, “the stations that are showing Americans intentionally killing women and children are not legitimate news sources. That is propaganda, and that is lies.” According to Mansur, General Kimmit singled him out by name for criticism. An al Jazeera colleague, Hamoud Krishen, then asked Kimmit, “Ahmed Mansur only transfers pictures. Do pictures themselves lie...?” Kimmit did not respond. Mansur asserts that when a delegation of citizens from Falluja met with the US military to negotiate an end to the siege, the military informed them there would be no cease fire unless Mansur and his al Jazeera camera team left the city, a condition to which Mansur readily agreed.
On April 15, when asked by a reporter if he could “definitely say that hundreds of women and children and innocent civilians have not been killed,” Rumsfeld exploding stating that “what al Jazeera is doing is vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.”
April 16, 2004 was the day of a Bush-Blair summit. On Nov. 22, 2005 the London tabloid “Daily Mirror” exposed the existence of a five-page memo stamped “Top Secret.” According to the Mirror, the memo reflects that during the summit, Bush “made clear that he wanted to bomb al Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere” and that “Blair replied that would cause a big problem. There’s no doubt what Bush wanted to do--and no doubt Blair didn’t want him to do it.”
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