That’s right. Even in this day and age, freelance and independent journalists working for such outfits like Reuters are fair game for the American brass. The United States has, and continues, to imprison foreign journalists. This behaviour calls into question the principles upon which the nation was founded. Double-standards are de rigeur in the land of the free. Last May, the United States demanded that captive US journalists be released in Iran and in North Korea. And yet, and yet…
For 17 months, and without charge, Iraqi TV cameraman and photographer at Reuters was imprisoned by the United States. September 2008, his door was smashed in by the US military. Last week, he was finally released. And for what? Because as is so often the case in time of war, truth is first the casualty.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 14 similar cases whereby the United States imprisons without charge foreign journalists. The United States is not above impunity. Journalism is already under threat throughout the world. Detaining journalists without charge for any period of time is a crime that runs counter-current to morals of a country that has ‘mandated’ itself to police the world. OohRah!
