For those who try to deny it, here's an open letter requesting the military please stop trying to suppress information being reported from Iraq. I'm just the messenger in this folks, and trying to give you the facts and links to get the real story to you on many topics. The letter:
Mr. Larry Di Rita
Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
The Pentagon
Dear Mr. Di Rita:
We are writing to protest actions being taken by U.S. troops that appear intended to discourage journalists from covering the continued military action in Iraq. During the past three months, journalists have been harassed, have had their lives endangered and have had digital camera disks, videotape and other equipment confiscated.
These actions are unacceptable and contrary to the Pentagon's own guidelines distributed to troops in the field. The effect has been to deprive the American public of crucial images from Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations. Because of these actions, it is more difficult to distribute vital, timely information about ongoing developments.
The Associated Press Managing Editors, an association of editors at AP's more than 1,700 member newspapers in the United States and Canada, requests that the Department of Defense immediately take the steps to end such confrontations and to allow journalists to fully cover a story of vital interest to U.S. citizens, servicemen and -women and their families, and the world community at large.
We join the leaders of news offices in Washington in asking for your assurance that troops and officers in the field have been told that they cannot confiscate journalistic tools or otherwise harass journalists.
Sincerely,
Stuart Wilk
President, Associated Press Managing Editors
Vice President/Managing Editor, The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2003 By The Associated Press
Please feel free to comment to this blog, or e-mail me at:wahkonta@graffiti.net. Do you feel it should be stopped? Does security of government in time of war justify such censorship? Let me know because as to this, I'm just being the messenger, and getting the fact out to you that there is dissent even in the media, which is also not getting through to us. Blog On.