Shut yo mouth

It must seem like Rupert Murdoch's in charge of the military in Baghdad. Al Jazeera reports that the rate of attacks on journalists in Iraq has remained steady in the past few months; the shocking part is who the attacks are coming from.

Several journalists in Kirkuk have accused American and Iraqi security forces of assaulting them and their crews as they tried to report on the worsening security situation in the northern city.

In at least six separate incidents since June, Iraqi reporters said they had been physically beaten, had their equipment confiscated and been falsely accused of "terrorism".

Senior US and Iraqi military officials admit such attacks have occurred and a series of investigations are underway.

Yup. You read correctly. The U.S. Army has been attacking journalists apparently right and left, in a kind of indiscriminate lashing-out born of the same mindset that has banned American media from showing any images of corpses or funeral caskets.

This, however, is the crowning glory:

[Army Spokesman Col. David Gray] insisted his troops respected press freedom and that there was no policy of interference. However Colonel Gray he said insurgents were trying to manipulate the media.

"We have to be honest that the enemy we are fighting is very skilful at using propaganda so there is a concern among police and soldiers that there may be people filming who are not accredited journalists, but in fact bad guys trying to get propaganda material," [said Col. Gray.]

His remarks came in an emergency meeting of journalists on July 23. Reporters had wanted to film the proceedings and make the situation public but US officials refused.

They fucking wouldn't even let reporters film their admission and explanation! The lockdown on the amount and type of information coming out of Iraq is mindboggling. I find it both hilarious and sickening that I only found this story on Al Jazeera, and that it's nowhere in sight on any American news websites. Which only begs the question, what else aren't we hearing about? What else don't we know?

Which is exactly why we need to fight to support the freedom of the press and the First Amendment.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week.