Everyone's the Enemy for War Reporters

When talking about how dangerous the war in Iraq is for journalists, I should note that it's usually Iraqi journos taking the worst hits, despite complaints by Iraqi government officials. Even when killed while on duty for English-language news services, Iraqi journalists barely get a mention in the US press. When they're "merely" detained -- often for months without trial -- they're usually ignored.

Well, since one of them worked for CBS, we're hearing just a little bit more. The Wall Street Journal reports on the saga of Abdul Amir Younes Hussein, described as a "timid" 25-year-old cameraman who was shot by U.S. soldiers in April, was arrested and has been incommunicado since. The WSJ says CBS "has lobbied senior military and civilian officials to try to win the cameraman's release....[and] has spent tens of thousands of dollars gathering evidence in Iraq that could be presented at review board hearings for Mr. Hussein and hiring a Washington law firm to press his case with the Pentagon, Congress and the State Department."

Iraqi journalists are suspected -- and often targeted -- by insurgent forces and American soldiers alike. "Western media organizations increasingly complain that their Iraqi hires are routinely detained by the U.S. military without charges," the WSJ reports. "In addition to Mr. Hussein, at least four Iraqi journalists -- including two cameramen for the Reuters news agency -- remain in American custody." Reuters has previously complained about its journos being detained and even tortured in US custody. Two of its guys are still in custory -- for what, nobody knows. True, it's not entirely impossible that one or more of these reporters is actually a double- or triple-agent like Pham Xuan An, a correspondent for Time in the Vietnam War (oh, there's that parallel again). He's interviewed in the July/August issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, but unfortunately it's not on line.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials have their own gripe about the US Army still running the show (how many months has it been since the Coalition "turned over sovereignty" to the Iraqis?). "There is abuse [of human rights] due to detentions, which are overseen by the Multinational Force [MNF] and are not in the control of the justice ministry," Justice Minister Abdul Hussein Shandal told Reuters. The legal/diplomatic tangle is that the US military justice system is holding -- and not trying -- Iraqi suspects that Iraqi courts would allow to walk free, because the US military courts have access to all sorts of secret evidence that they won't let the Iraqi courts see. But what really sticks in the official Iraqi craw is that US military are immune from Iraqi laws. He wants to change it "so that anyone who violates Iraqi law or assaults any citizen is held accountable. This is a matter of sovereignty."

At least the minister gives the obligatory lip service for the role of the journalist in time of war. ""Full freedom should be given to journalists to take pictures and film in the field," he's quoted by Reuters. "Without images what would we know of history? ... We would know nothing."