U.S. Holds AP Photographer in Iraq 5 Mo - without charges

[chat_noir]

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.

Hussein, 35, is a native of Fallujah who began work for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained on April 12 of this year.

"We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable," said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer. "We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2454961

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20060917/API/609171361%26cachetime%3D5

[ShortnFiery]

1. Allow Dear Leader to have his way with DETENTIONS and

Secret Prisons, we'll soon see Environmentalists and Protesters disappear. :scared:

[Cronus Protagonist]

24. He DID say it was a crusade

People thought he mis-sp

[NOLADEM]

2. Coming soon to a theatre near you

[onehandle]

3. He probably missed shooting the "freshly painted schools."

He needs to alternate.

Dead American soldiers and Iraqi citizens.

Freshly painted schools.

Dead American soldiers and Iraqi citizens.

Freshly painted schools.

Of course the "freshly painted school" shots will be mostly repeats...

[Supersedeas]

22. either you are embedded or they will embed you....for months at a time

[enough]

4. k&r

[Olney Blue]

5. Shooting crimes now include cameras.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. they do that locally - amtrak stations, airports, oil refineries, bridges

cannot be photographed here in the states. them bastards.

[Gregorian]

6. Pinochet. Hitler. Bush.

Pick your fascist. It's all the same. Different name.

Gay- Jail.
Journalist- Jail.
Protestor- Jail.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. this is condi's rule of law in iraqNam?

Oh wait. We rule, and we decide what laws apply.

now I get it.

[Supersedeas]

15. Condi's way or the Gulag -- Corp Media...you decide!!

[NeoConsSuck]

9. "photographed events in Fallujah "

that says it all. Feed the sheep hours and hours of 9/11 footage, but never show them phosphorous burned babies.

[wicket]

10. K & R

:kick:

[Supersedeas]

11. Freedom is sometimes 'messy'??

[HuffleClaw]

12. he will be released AFTER

the election, so that what he witnessed won't be news till afterwards.

[Roland99]

13. Wouldn't this be termed "disappeared" if it were done under Saddam?

[Supersedeas]

20. the Cable News pundits have no time to compare standards...odd

[HuffleClaw]

14. and the folks at free republic's response?

- - -

My plan for this photographer:
(1) Send him to Egypt and find out what he knows
(2) Cut his throat.

Or grab one of his loved ones and film their pain and suffering as he has so joyously filmed the pain and suffering of our soldiers and show it to him during interrogation. Payback could be a real bitch.

- - -

If they catch him with insurgents, they should pop a few in him - after all a camera with a big telephoto lens looks a lot like a rifle from a distance.

- - -

“We’re not in this to choose sides, we’re to report what’s going on from all sides.”

absolutely ridiculous

- - -

“We’re not in this to choose sides, we’re to report what’s going on from all sides.”

That sounds like a noble objective. When are they planning on starting to report some of the good news from our side?

- - -


'the good news from our side?' kool-aid drinking folks DO believe administration propaganda i suppose, but i've gotta say its pretty funny that they weep and wail about FREEDOM unless that freedom involves some unpleasant truths.

[gratuitous]

16. Yes, tell the good news about your illegal captors

What the fuck passes for thinking in their empty little heads?

[spanone]

17. War crime.

[Eugene]

18. AP: Pentagon defends its detention of Associated Press photographer

Pentagon defends its detention of Associated Press photographer

The Associated Press

Published: September 18, 2006
NEW YORK The Pentagon defended on Monday its months-long detention
of an Associated Press photographer in Iraq, asserting that it has
authority to imprison him indefinitely without charges because it
believes he had improper ties to insurgents.

But journalism organizations said that covering all sides in the Iraq
war sometimes requires contacts with insurgents. They called on the
Pentagon to either bring charges against photographer Bilal Hussein
so he can defend himself, or release him.

Hussein, an Iraqi photographer employed by the AP, was captured in Ramadi
on April 12 of this year. AP executives, who worked on his case behind
the scenes for five months, on Sunday made a public call for the military
to transfer him to Iraq's criminal justice system or release him.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Monday that the military
has not changed its position.

"All indications that I have received are that Hussein's detainment
indicates that he has strong ties with known insurgents...

-snip-

Full article: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/18/america/NA_GEN_US_Iraq_Photographer_Detained.php

Still no details about what the photographer supposedly did.

[Supersedeas]

19. disengaging from the Propoganda line has its costs--both sides won't do

[MountainLaurel]

21. Where is the Society of Professional Journalists?

Why aren't they and other organizations screaming to the high heavens?

[OregonDem]

23. "We must give up our freedoms in order to protect them."--Bush

n/t