War Games with the Press

Increasingly the Americans can be seen as preaching to everyone how they ought to behave - free elections, rule of law, etc. etc. - but not following their own edicts. A case of good ol' double-standards!

Not for the first time the way the US has dealt with the press, especially in the light of the recent Saberi case in Iran, is raised again - this time by lawyer Scott Horton writing on Harper's Magazine.

"Recently, Iranians arrested and tried a young North Dakota-reared journalist named Roxana Saberi. She was accused of espionage and held under harsh conditions. The Obama administration cried foul, and newspapers around the United States raged against the Iranians and their abuse of the denizens of the Fourth Estate. The objections were well taken and had commendable effect, as Saberi’s sentence was reduced, and she was freed and allowed to return to the States. But there’s another country whose treatment of journalists might put even Iran to shame: the United States. The U.S. has detained dozens of journalists in Iraq. Most of these were fleeting, and the journalists were allowed to return home after their identity was confirmed. A number of journalists, however, weren’t so lucky."

Continue reading here. As Horton concludes:

"In an address two years ago to the Naval Academy, Secretary Robert Gates told the midshipmen that the press was not “the enemy.” It’s taking some time for this message to sink in. But maybe the Obama Administration’s new crew looking into detainee affairs will see they have a problem with journalists that will take little to fix. Just respecting the law."