Sunday, September 17, 2006

Uh-oh, there goes BushCo

Holding people for no apparent reason.

The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an Associated Press photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing.

Military officials said Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, was being held for "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations resolutions. AP executives said the news cooperative's review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system.

I guess they didn't bother to Yahoo Image Bilal Hussein. Just to see what might be out there.

Granted from the few pics of his close-up and intimate insurgent pictures, he doesn't measure up to Al Reuters in the Photo Shop department he still seems pretty friendly with our enemies. In spite of the fact that:"We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."
said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer.

It's not like he was just picked up walking along the street, either:
The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces," according to a May 7 e-mail from U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jack Gardner, who oversees all coalition detainees in Iraq.

"The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities," Gardner wrote to AP International Editor John Daniszewski.

Hussein proclaims his innocence, according to his Iraqi lawyer, Badie Arief Izzat, and believes he has been unfairly targeted because his photos from Ramadi and Fallujah were deemed unwelcome by the coalition forces.

That Hussein was captured at the same time as insurgents doesn't make him one of them, said Kathleen Carroll, AP's executive editor.

"Journalists have always had relationships with people that others might find unsavory," she said. "We're not in this to choose sides, we're to report what's going on from all sides."

I think the case is pretty much closed. In my mind.
Because I've seen enough anti-American slant from the Legacy media that they'll need to prove that they weren't in collusion before I give them the benefit of the doubt anymore.

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