U.S. Freedom Of The Press?

‘What I saw was a bunch of filled-in trenches with people’s arms and legs sticking out of them. For all I know, we could have killed thousands’ (Patrick J Sloyan on how the mass slaughter of a group of Iraqis went unreported )

(Guardian Unlimited) — According to White House officials, no final decisions have been made by Bush, Cheney and current defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “We’re still negotiating with the media,” said one administration official. But Bush has already implemented ground rules that require journalists to give up their mobile and satellite phones to military commanders who would control the movements of these so-called pool reporters during Desert Storm II. If the final rules, organised by the Pentagon, are anything like the pool system designed by Bush Sr and Cheney in 1991, the world will be given a cloudy mixture of video footage and misinformation that will fog the reality of war.

This is not an issue about people being wounded and killed in any number of ways, people die and are wounded in wars - it’s just one of the things that we need to be very aware of if we’re going to entertain the idea of going to war.

What this issue is about is the U.S. Government actively working against the press to ensure that the real news and the real images of war they were engaged in did not get back to the American people - maybe if it had the minority who support this war so whole heartedly would be having second thoughts.