US threatens to eliminate independent war journalists

IN A CYNICAL bid to ensure that the people of the world see only what they need to see, the US has threatened to target independent journalists working in Iraq when the invasion kicks off.

Star BBC war reporter and UK national treasure Kate Adie told Irish radio, "The Americans... take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information."

She said she was told by "a senior officer in the Pentagon" that "if uplinks -- that is the television signals out of... Baghdad, for example -- were detected by any planes ...electronic media... mediums of the military above Baghdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists .."

Adie was joining a discussion hosted by Tom McGurk on the issue of media freedom during the expected war on Iraq. The veteran reporter said she feared many more restrictions on the press than those that were enforced last time around.

She said, "this time the Americans are: a) Asking journalists who go with them, whether they are... have feelings against the war. And therefore if you have views that are sceptical, then you are not to be acceptable.

"Secondly, they are intending to take control of the Americans' technical equipment ...those uplinks and satellite phones I was talking about. And control access to the airwaves."

"And then on top of everything else, there is now a blackout (which was imposed, during the last war, at the beginning of the war), ...ordered by one Mr. Dick Cheney, who is in charge of this."

"I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs. You will get it later."

Website Gulufuture.com has posted a transcript of the interview here. µ