Saturday, November 24, 2007

AP Right As Usual, Iraq, US Military & Govt Wrong As Always

The real story:

Pretty Much Everybody Slams AP Chief's Photographer Case

The Associated Press’ plan to launch a public relations case against the U.S. military using one of their photographers in Iraq without discussing his work as propaganda to bolster their anti-Americanism makes a mockery of American journalistic principles an anonymous military source said Saturday.

"This is a poor example—and not the first of its kind—of the way the Associated Press honors journalistic principles and values it says it shares with the American people" a citizen said in a street interview which will never be quoted by The Washington Post nor the AP.

AP President and CEO Tom Curley, his aides Tom Moe and Tom Larry all stated that the sanctity of Bilal Hussein and AP’s right to print what they want to be the truth is more important than America and the War on Terror.

The Associated Press' story:
AP Chief Slams Case Against Photographer

The U.S. military's plan to seek a criminal case against an Associated Press photographer in Iraq without disclosing the charges or evidence against him makes a mockery of American
democratic principles, AP President and CEO Tom Curley said Saturday.

"This is a poor example—and not the first of its kind—of the way our government honors the democratic principles and values it says it wants to share with the
Iraqi people," Curley said in a column in The Washington Post.

The U.S. military notified the AP last weekend that it intended to submit a complaint against Bilal Hussein that would bring the case into the Iraqi justice system as early as Nov. 29. Military officials have alleged that Hussein, 36, had links to
terrorist groups but are refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations would be presented.

Previously, the military suggested an array of possible lines of investigation, including claims that Hussein offered to provide false identification to a sniper seeking to evade U.S.-led forces, that he possessed bomb-making equipment, and that he took photographs that were synchronized with insurgent blasts.

It seems the only reasons to read AP reports and stories anymore is to point out errors and lies and to chuckle over the perceived self importance of anyone remotely connected to the "service". It's kind of like watching the Marx brothers or reading Naomi Wolf to learn about America. Humorous, but not really enlightening.