Thursday, January 05, 2006

Who is a journalist? Part 2

There's an interesting article about how Steven Vincent might have been the only foreign journalist to have been killed in Iraq last year. The primary data comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists's report. The following table, derived from their information, lists out the names, place and date of demise, affiliation and cause of death of these journalists.

Name Place Date in 2005 Affiliation Cause of death
Raeda Wazzan Mosul February 25 Iraqi state TV channel Al-Iraqiya kidnapped and killed
Hussam Sarsam Mosul March 14 Kurdistan TV, a station affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party kidnapped, tortured and killed
Ahmed Jabbar Hashim Baghdad April 1 Al-Sabah, part of the U.S.–backed Iraq Media Network kidnapped, decapitated
Fadhil Hazem Fadhil Baghdad April 14 Al-Hurriya, a station financed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan suicide bombing
Ali Ibrahim Issa Baghdad April 14 Al-Hurriya, a station financed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan suicide bombing
Saman Abdullah Izzedine Kirkuk April 15 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan–backed Kirkuk TV shot, then body dumped on the road
Ahmed al-Rubai'i Baghdad mid-April U.S.–backed daily Al-Sabah abducted and apparently murdered under circumstances not fully understood
Saleh Ibrahim Mosul April 23 Associated Press "A journalist at the scene, whose name was withheld, told the AP that the Ibrahims had arrived at the scene together after the 2:30 p.m. blast and that U.S. forces were in the area. The journalist told the AP that gunfire broke out and both men were struck, although the report did not indicate who fired on them."
Ahmed Adam Latifiyah May 15 private Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada. The Al-Mada newspaper was mentioned in December 2005 Guardian article.

"On one occasion documented by the LA Times a man with the same name as a Lincoln worker paid editors at the Al Mada newspaper $900 (£520) to publish an article headlined "terrorists attack Sunni volunteers". He paid cash and left no calling card. Records obtained by the LA Times show the man told the Lincoln Group he gave the paper more than $1,200."

throats slit and body dumped
Najem Abed Khudair Latifiyah May 15 private Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada. The Al-Mada newspaper was mentioned in December 2005 Guardian article.

"On one occasion documented by the LA Times a man with the same name as a Lincoln worker paid editors at the Al Mada newspaper $900 (£520) to publish an article headlined "terrorists attack Sunni volunteers". He paid cash and left no calling card. Records obtained by the LA Times show the man told the Lincoln Group he gave the paper more than $1,200."

throats slit and body dumped
Jerges Mahmood Mohamad Suleiman Nineveh May 31 Nineveh TV is part of the U.S.–backed Iraqi Media Network shot
Maha Ibrahim Baghdad June 25 Baghdad TV is a local television station affiliated with the Iraqi Islamic Party "Staff at the Baghdad TV station said Ibrahim's car was hit as U.S. troops attempted to disperse a crowd from a Baghdad road."
Ahmed Wael Bakri Baghdad June 28 Al-Sharqiyah. The Christian Science Monitor mentions them in this context.

"Staffed by a crew of jolly ex-Baathists - most of them worked for Saddam Hussein's Ministry of Information ... Iraq's first privately owned satellite channel."

"The Associated Press, citing another colleague and a doctor who treated the journalist, reported that Bakri failed to pull over for a U.S. convoy while trying to pass a traffic accident."
Khaled al-Attar Mosul July 1 state news channel Al-Iraqiya ... "station's ties to the U.S.–supported Iraqi government" kidnapped, body found bullet-ridden
Adnan al-Bayati Baghdad July 23 TG3 -- "al-Bayati fell victim to revenge attacks by Sunni terrorist groups who do not let Iraqis work with foreigners, especially with Western news media, above all Italian media." killed in front of wife and daughter at his own home
Steven Vincent Basra August 3 "written for a number of U.S. publications and was working on a book" kidnapped "riddled with bullets, his hands were tied with plastic wire"
Rafed Mahmoud Said al-Anbagy Baaquba August 27 Diyala TV part of the U.S.–backed Iraq Media Network shot dead while covering a football match
Waleed Khaled Baghdad August 28 Reuters Shot by US forces.

Kadhem, the only known eyewitness, was wounded and was held by U.S. forces at an undisclosed location for three days. Kadhem told reporters at the scene that he heard gunfire and saw a U.S. sniper on the roof of a nearby shopping center. Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said Kadhem was detained "due to inconsistencies in his story."

Hind Ismail Mosul September 17 As-Saffir "took a strong pro-democracy editorial position and ran a campaign to educate Iraqis on the importance of the new constitution" single bullet wound to her head
Fakher Haider Basra September 19 New York Times gunshot to the head after being seized by men claiming to be police officers

The Times reported that before his murder, Haider "had just filed a report on clashes between British forces in the area and members of a militia that has infiltrated the Basra police force but is loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."

Mohammed Haroon Baghdad October 19 Al-Kadiya

"In his weekly columns for Al-Kadiya, Haroon often accused Iraqi journalists of collaborating with U.S. intelligence, according to CPJ sources. Haroon had once worked for newspapers overseen by Uday Hussein, son of the former Iraqi president, those sources said."

shot four times while driving to work

 

 

Commentary

Looking at this list I can't help but get the impression that journalists tend to die at the hands of those who may be expected to dislike them. I had gotten the impression from the newspapers that most journalists died at the hands of US or Iraqi forces. But in fact US forces were involved in 4 deaths and they were not obviously "hits" but shootings in ambiguous situations. On the other hand, at least 14 pro-US journalists were clearly murdered; perhaps more, but the motives are not always clear. Steven Vincent was apparently the only foreign journalist to die in Iraq, unless some of the others had foreign passports.

The Washington Post recently wrote a somewhat disparaging article of bloggers on the battlefield, mentioning Bill Roggio in particular. I hadn't realized that a blogger -- and not a regular Western professional correspondent -- was the only foreign journalist to die in Iraq in 2005.

29 Comments:

Blogger Karridine said...

Vincent, in taking a principled stand, was murdered.

It is for us, the living, to honor his commitment and carry forward the courageous investigation of and accurate reporting of the truth!

1/05/2006 03:20:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Record of Safety speaks well for Security in the Green Zone.

1/05/2006 04:51:00 AM  
Blogger 49erDweet said...

Why would anyone expect a regular Western professional journalist to be killed in Iraq. Aren't they on the same side as the terrorists?

/sarcasm off

1/05/2006 06:23:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Those other dead reporter folk were not 'Western' so, as we all know, they count for less. They were also, for the most part, pro US, so they must count for even less.

Truth is , doug, that the country of Iraq can be secured as desired. At every election they, US, have taken steps to secure the country successfully. Eliminated attacks and bombings by the terrorists.

We, they, choose not to maintain that level of security on an ongoing basis. The attacks must be considered as a cost to the Irqi's 'Free' society. It is a cost that, it seems, the Iraqis choose to pay.

I have yet to hear a US Govenment spokesman, appointed or elected, speak of long term basing in Iraq. I have heard both appointed and elected officals discuss complete withdrawal.

Guess they missed the 'wink and nod' policy paper on Iraqi basing. They must not have read C4's insistence that basing US troops in Iraq is required for complete victory by US.

No, I have yet to hear a call or suggestion for a permanent US presence, from US, so it must not be part of the complete victory scenario.

Wonder why?

Same reason, I guess, that Osama cannot be caught.

1/05/2006 06:24:00 AM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

Of all the murders of journalists listed in the table the most suspicious to me seems the final entry, Mohammed Haroon. His previous association with Uday, and his nascent criticism of ‘collaboration’ with US intelligence was bound to put him onto the radar screen. The question is not who would have been motivated to ‘wack-him’, so much as, who would be motivated to warn him?

“Mohammed Haroon, 47, publisher of the weekly newspaper Al-Kadiya (The Cause) and secretary-general of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, was shot four times early Wednesday afternoon, according to CPJ sources. In recent weeks, he told colleagues that he had been threatened, told to resign his position at the syndicate, and lower his public profile, CPJ sources said.

In his weekly columns for Al-Kadiya, Haroon often accused Iraqi journalists of collaborating with U.S. intelligence, according to CPJ sources. Haroon had once worked for newspapers overseen by Saddam's son, Uday Hussein, those sources said.”

Dr,
“We, they, choose not to maintain that level of security on an ongoing basis.”

This is a lot like the argument that if planes were built like the ‘black box’, then plane crashes would be survivable. It stands to reason that one can reinforce units, put everybody on heightened alert, and forestall violence, but like the black box, this level of heavy protection is unsustainable in what must be characterized as a ‘Low Intensity Conflict’.

1/05/2006 08:06:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

am
exactly, we choose to not impose road blocks on city streets. we chose to allow 1 million autos to be imported to Iraq and have the gasoline subsidized, at both 6 and 65 cnets per gallon pricing.
We choose to fight a low intesity conflict.
Why no we need a high intesity force to fight it?

Why have we not built a force for that fight, we have had three years to do it in, now.
Poor tactics by US Military.

An article by Tony Core, "World War IV As Fourth-Generation Warfare" is quite lengthy and informative. I found the most interesting paragraph as regards the Battle of Ideas to be:

" ... Now that the famous 2002 UNDP Arab Development Report has revealed that the number of books translated by the whole Arab world over the past thousand years is equivalent to the numbers of books translated by Spain in one year, the most urgent program will have to be an old-fashioned, if massive, book-in-translation program, which will contribute to the shrinking of the role of religion in the public sphere. ... "


and journalist in the War:

" ... the U.S. no longer enjoys the “command of the airwaves.” Throughout the 1990s, the emergence of global satellite televisions in Europe (Euronews) and the Arab world (Al-Jazeera) have combined to create a new correlation of forces; and while the Pentagon has recently traded the traditional concept of “battlefield” for the more comprehensive concept of “battlespace,” military planners and commanders alike have yet to fully realize that ours is as much the age of the “three-screen war” as that of the “three-block war.” ..."

Even Mr Rumsfeld said the US was ill equipped and did poorly at presenting the US in the Idea War.

Mr Corn & WWIV an informative read, with great footnotes.

1/05/2006 08:46:00 AM  
Blogger Das said...

Thanks Wretchard for putting this matrix together. This is the kind of work that the Post should be doing rather than beating up on courageous writers like Roggio. The particulars are especially awfull, the tied hands, the number of bullets, the image of a man cut down before his wife and daughter. This is what we are fighting while the anti-war intelligencia sneers at the word "evil."

1/05/2006 09:34:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

LEDGER:
Can you find your great post on Larry Johnson?
He is part of a group that includes TICE, PLAME, and several other "Whistleblowers."

"Whistleblowers," because the law is for PRIVATE disclosure within the agency, NOT leaks to the NY Times.
...Defeats the whole purpose of the law.
Don't know how Gerst blew that one.

1/05/2006 12:16:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

'Rat, did you see my Malkin link on the bottom of Through a Glass Darkly?
More Cronyism in the most critical places... Homeland Security Dept has been made a joke by GWB.
...and we are paying at the border.

1/05/2006 12:24:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Microsoft Releases Security Update to Fix Vulnerability in Windows
January 5, 2006

1/05/2006 01:44:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

credentials, we don't need no stinkiin' credentials.

In the Bush Administration that seems to be the case in some High Profile instances.
College Roommates & Wives of Cronies get the call, as often as not it seems. Especially in Homeland Security, my oh my.

Mr DeLay's friend copped a plea, says there are 60 or so names on the 'favor' list, my oh my

Wonder how they got their 'credentials'?
Same store as Mr Cunningham?

1/05/2006 02:32:00 PM  
Blogger Cobalt Blue said...

das--

"sneers at the word evil"

But doesn't wishing make it so? And isn't sneering at something to make it go away? If I'm wrong, then the liberal left is sorely mistaken about this world. Perish the thought.

1/05/2006 03:29:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Pope on chances of Reformation for Islam:
Good Luck.
Interview w/Priest on Radioblogger.

1/05/2006 06:22:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Mr. Rogers on
"But doesn't wishing make it so?"
"No"

1/05/2006 06:24:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

SHARON 'SUFFERED VAST BRAIN DAMAGE'...
Party tonight in Tehran with special guest Pat Robertson.

1/05/2006 06:28:00 PM  
Blogger al fin said...

The Washington Post and its moronic sisterhood of obsolete media is frightened of the thing that is coming. They and their circle jerking disciples are a dying breed and they will fight tooth and nail to preserve their sway. Too late, sisters, too late.

1/05/2006 07:20:00 PM  
Blogger Papa Ray said...

Fakher Haider who was an Iraqi who worked for The Times, knew Steven Vincent and was basicly trying to complete Vincents story about the corruption and take over of the Basra police force.

He was murdered no doubt by the same men that killed Steven.

Something is going to have to be done about Basra and the south of Iraq, it is Iran S.W. at the present time and the Brits have no intention of doing anything but getting back home.

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

1/05/2006 07:26:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Should the US ever willingly cede parts of the American Southwest to Mexican gangsters, I'd be echoing similar sentiments as Pat Robertson. As regards the brain damaged leader responsible for that scheme, the sad part is that nobody seems to have noticed the brain damage up until this week. Maybe now that he’s gone they'll take notice. Though I doubt they will; not until a power plant, or an oil storage depot, or an incoming international passenger plane are hit.

1/05/2006 07:45:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I take it your argument is not theological.
(Just mean spirited!) ;-)

Follow my 12:24 PM post to Rat, ie
Malkin link, and you'll see our president is doing exactly that.
...just by a thousand cuts.

1/05/2006 07:56:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Papa Ray,
But they were kinder and gentler at the outset than our cowboy GI's.
...bought them some time, now the piper must be paid.

1/05/2006 07:59:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

What can I say, Doug. Maybe you should take up Kabbalah. ;)

1/05/2006 08:07:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Me and Madonna.

1/05/2006 08:31:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

"The Kabbalah, at its heart, is a way to bring man closer to the divine. In order to accomplish this, it has to make the divine understandable to the common man.
"In the terminology of the Kabbalah, God is referred to as Eyn Sof (Without End), and is never pictured in human form. Eyn Sof is without form or sex, completely beyond human comprehension. In order to create the universe, Eyn Sof created 10 Sefirot (Channels) each corresponding to a different element of his/her divinity. Think of them as electrical cables. The energy created by a power plant is too great to be of any use, so it is channeled through electrical cables, being stepped down and controlled until humans can make use of it. The power of Eyn Sof is the power plant, and Sefirot are it's cables, channels that bring power to the universe in a more usable form.
"Mankind could not exist without Eyn Sof providing the power. However, in Kabbalah, it is a true circuit. Just as we could not exist without Eyn Sof's power, Eyn Sof could not exist without our belief. We are partners in creation, in our own way equal to Eyn Sof in the care of the universe. In fact, in Kabbalah, angels (melakh in Hebrew, meaning "messenger") are non-physical embodiments of Eyn Sof's power, that can be sent by Eyn Sof or created by the actions of Mankind, for good or evil. These angels are essential for the practical uses of Kabbalah that (according to legend) can create such things as golems. [Sharon] Practical Kabbalah makes use of letters, words and numbers to channel the power of Eyn Sof and it's messengers, using the two way connection to the divine created by the Sefirot, just as machines are designed to take the power we receive from the power plant via cables, and make use of it practical fashion."
.
.
http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/scripts/kabbalah.html

1/05/2006 08:37:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I wonder if I'd need an uninterruptible power supply for backup?

1/05/2006 10:33:00 PM  
Blogger ledger said...

Wretchard: I can't help but get the impression that journalists tend to die at the hands of those who may be expected to dislike them...

First, Wretchard your "misspent life" at Harvard was not spent in vain.

In fact, this current post and your vivid chart demonstrates your ability to analysis events. Many of us are grateful for your analysis.

And, sure the WoPo disparages web log writers such as yourself as a defensive move (the MSM is losing market share to web logs and has an ax to grind - expect more snide remarks).

There's an question about how whether Steven Vincent might have been the only foreign journalist to have been killed in Iraq (I think there was another journalist killed in Iraq at that the start of the war and certianly there was Daniel Pearl who clearly knew of the impending Iraq war). But, I will take your stats as correct.

I would say that your notion that Saddam killed his enemies is an understatement! Saddam and his sons were just as bad as Stalin. They would kill at the drop of a hat.

Walter Durante of the NYT survived by writing puff pieces for Stalin. One would guess Saddam was just as bad (given the admission by CNN that they propagated Saddam's line of BS knowing full well it was a lie).

It would not surprise me to find that other "reporters/stringers" were killed in that time frame. As a final note, as long as Saddam is alive reporters will fear him.

I agree with Annoy Mouse that Mohammed Haroon (reporter/stringer) was killed by Saddam's thugs. The other Iraqi journalist are just too hard to investigate (I have to take spread sheet at face value - and I think it's correct).

Now, al Jazzera had some journalist (stringers) die in an unexplained explosion at their HQ (possible due to a IED that they and associates were constructing which prematurely exploded).

And, there is a case were an al Jazzera (?) reporter (stringer) was filming beside a disabled US vehicle which was destroyed by US air fire and the resulting shrapnel killed the reporter.

In deed, it does look like Saddam's thugs took steps to silence their media adversaries. And, I would guess Saddam took steps to influence the remaining MSM to burnish is image as an understood dictator who had to kill his opponents to "hold Iraq together." Which is akin to Hitter's moves. I would expect this propaganda to continue until Saddam is buried.

OT:

LEDGER:
Can you find your great post on Larry Johnson?


Doug, Larry C. Johnson (Rev. Larry) can be researched by anyone with the time to google him (assuming this is the same Larry C. Johnson that I know of).

He used to post frequently on TMF Political Asylum board and TMF Current Events board (you must register to get some of the posts, further because of Larry's abusive posts - many were deleted by TMF - and the TMF would delete the entire tree).

But, I will tell you if this is the same guy - it's just not worth the effort to read his BS.

1/05/2006 11:05:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

You don't remember what a detailed post you made on Larry the Leaker, Ledger, it was great, I don't have time for him now either.
Here was today's story behind Gerst piece linked on drudge.
AJ Strata has some good links, and text below is from Limbaugh.
False Alarm

Supposed NSA "Whistleblower" Tied to Wilson/Plame
Folks, there's something about this that really smells, because I don't believe that Tice is actually this big a player in all this.
I've done a little research. Clarice Feldman today at one of our favorite blogs, the American Thinker, has done a little research, too, on this, and has found out that this guy Tice is part of a group called the National Security Whistleblowers.
This group was formed in August of 2004. If you look up the group, the National Security Whistleblowers group, you'll notice that the founder, director, and chief spokesperson of the group is Sibel Edmond.
She's faced a real uphill battle in her struggle with the FBI which fired her.

Her story about why she was fired from the FBI has a number of variations -- although she, like Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, numbers among the darlings of the people that hate George W. Bush.
Also other members of the National Security Whistleblowers, Daniel Ellsberg, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson. These are members of VIPs, V-I-Ps, the group that encouraged intelligence agents to leak.
This is the group that shopped Joe Wilson and his story

-- and if you're wondering who Larry Johnson is he was in the CIA with Valerie Plame, is close to her. They seem to have been behind much of the Plame-Wilson story.
This whole VIPs NSW group has ties, it appears, to the Valerie Plame-Joe Wilson story.
This guy's letters go to Congress and at the same time the New York Times James Risen story appears about all of this.
It seems to me that we have an orchestrated, premeditated campaign with the media as willing accomplices and participants.
But I'm going to tell you what I think. I think this is all an attempt to divert our attention, because I don't think Russ Tice is the guy leaking all this stuff. I don't think Russ Tice is in this.
I think the leakers are in Congress

1/06/2006 01:09:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

W's figures are from this year.
The great Mike Kelly was one of the first reporters lost in OIF.

1/06/2006 01:11:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

" but vulnerable political allies (or go-alongs) at home and overseas."
---
Definitely has affected the rhetoric overseas.

...and it took me a while to figure, but it definitely has worked at home.
One guy that gets under my skin as much or more than McBain is his VP, Lindsay Graham.
What a disgusting jerk.
Like Wesley Clark w/a law degree.

1/08/2006 01:30:00 PM  
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