US Army Confiscates Journalists’ Videotape
Some thirty media outlets are protesting that the US military on the ground in Iraq is interfering with their coverage of the ongoing military operations there, in contradiction of the Pentagon’s own guidelines. They say equipment, including cameras and videotapes, have been confiscated, and journalists have been harassed.
Since the ordinary troops almost certainly couldn’t care less about the journalists covering them, one can only imagine that these actions result from secret orders given by officers concerned that the image of the US army is being harmed, and its war aims threatened, by the constant video on US television of guerrilla strikes against the US. If so, the tactic will certainly backfire on them. A public conviction that it isn’t being told the whole story and is being lied to is even more damaging than that constant video of the attacks.