Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Fax: (703) 695-4299
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld:
The continuing record of killings, attacks and other mistreatment of journalists in Iraq are most troubling and must be stopped.
The record suggests the urgent need for coalition soldiers to be educated and trained to recognize and respect the important non-combatant function of journalists who work hard to keep our citizens informed about the important events happening in Iraq.
A particularly disturbing abuse of journalists occurred on January 2, 2004, when U.S. troops arrested, detained and mistreated for 72 hours three Reuters employees near the town of Falluja in Iraq. Cameraman Salem Ureibi, journalist Ahmad Mohammad al-Badrani, and their driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani were apparently mistaken for enemy combatants.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that the Reuters journalists were blindfolded, forced to stand for hours with their arms raised, and were threatened with sexual abuse. The Reuters journalists said they came under fire by coalition forces while they were trying to cover what followed the downing of a U.S. helicopter.
In his January 27 protest to the U.S. Department of Defense, Reuters global managing editor David A. Schlesinger declared, ?It has been over three weeks since the U.S. military detained and mistreated Reuters journalists in Falluja, Iraq, and issued a highly charged and erroneous public statement that enemy personnel posing as media had fired on U.S. forces.?
Schlesinger repeated his earlier request to the U.S. military to retract or correct that statement, or if there was any basis to the charge, to provide evidence to support it. He noted, correctly, that journalists of all kinds would be even more endangered if troops believed that Iraqi insurgents were disguising themselves as journalists.
Compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and Reuters, summaries of journalists casualties show that more that 20 journalists from Argentina, England, Germany, Spain, Iraq, and the United States have been killed in the 2003 war and the post-war period in Iraq.
We join Reuters@quot; David Schlesinger in his observation that the safety of journalists in Iraq is not improving. The latest journalist killing in Iraq occurred just yesterday on Tuesday, January 27. Duraid Isa Mohammed, a television producer working for CNN, and his driver Yasser Khatab died of multiple gunshot wounds when their two-car convoy came under fire from unidentified assailants on the outskirts of the southern city of Hillah.
Reuters has asked the U.S. military to investigate the treatment accorded the news agency@quot;s personnel who were detained in Falluja. Also, in providing Reuters with a copy of the U.S. military@quot;s report on the death of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, who was shot by U.S. troops on August 17, 2003, will you also provide a copy to the Overseas Press Club of America?
We strongly recommend that you respond positively to the Reuters request for a constructive discussion with the U.S. military on how journalists and our armed forces can carry out their responsibilities with understanding and mutual respect.
Our organization of more than 600 journalists experienced in international and war news coverage would be glad to assist in the planning and conduct of David Schlesinger@quot;s proposed discussion of this subject. Will you please let us know how we can help.
Very truly yours,
Larry Martz
Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee