G.I.'s Ban Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies

NY Times ^

[TheBigManSentMe]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 — American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence.

Thousands of outraged Iraqis protested the closing as an act of American hypocrisy, laying bare the hostility many feel toward the United States a year after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"No, no, America!" and "Where is democracy now?" screamed protesters who hoisted banners and shook clenched fists in a hastily organized rally against the closing of the newspaper, Al Hawza, a radical Shiite weekly.

The rally drew hundreds and then thousands by nightfall in central Baghdad, where masses of angry Shiite men squared off against a line of American soldiers who rushed to seal off the area.

The closing of the newspaper illustrated the quandary Americans faced in trying to strike a balance between their two main goals — encouraging democracy while maintaining stability. But as the days wind down to the June 30 target date for handing sovereignty back to the Iraqi people, security seems increasingly elusive.

On Sunday, the Iraqi public works minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the northern city of Mosul, and two foreign workers were shot to death nearby in front of a power plant.

Many Iraqis said closing down a popular newspaper at such a crucial time would not curtail anti-occupation feelings but only inflame them.

"When you repress the repressed, they only get stronger," said Hamid al-Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a prominent Shiite political party. "Punishing this newspaper will only increase the passion for those who speak out against the Americans."

The American authorities said Al Hawza could reopen in 60 days. The paper's editors, however, said they had been put out of business.

"We have been evicted from our offices, and we have no jobs," Saadoon Mohsen Thamad, a news editor, said as he stared at a large padlock hanging from the front gate. "How are we going to continue?"

Among Iraqi journalists, Al Hawza was known for printing wild rumors, especially anti-American ones. A broadsheet of about eight pages, the paper is considered a mouthpiece for Moktada al-Sadr, a fiery young Shiite cleric and one of the most outspoken critics of the Americans.

The letter ordering the paper closed, signed by L. Paul Bremer III, the top administrator in Iraq, cited what the American authorities called several examples of false reports in Al Hawza, including a February dispatch that said the cause of an explosion that killed more than 50 Iraqi police recruits was not a car bomb, as occupation officials had said, but an American missile.

Many newspapers and television stations have sprouted in Iraq since the fall of the Hussein government. But under a law passed by the occupying authorities in June, a news media organization must be licensed, and that license can be revoked if the organization publishes or broadcasts material that incites violence or civil disorder or "advocates alterations to Iraq's borders by violent means."

But the letter outlining the reasons for taking action against Al Hawza did not cite any material that directly advocated violence. Several Iraqi journalists said that meant there was no basis to shut Al Hawza down.

"That paper might have been anti-American, but it should be free to express its opinion," said Kamal Abdul Karim, night editor of the daily Azzaman.

Omar Jassem, a freelance reporter, said he thought that democracy meant many viewpoints and many newspapers. "I guess this is the Bush edition of democracy," he said.

Tom Rosenstiel, vice chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, said there was a basic irony in Americans' practicing censorship in Iraq.

"If you're trying to promote democracy in a country that has never had it, you have to lead by example," Mr. Rosenstiel said. "I'm not in Iraq. But it's hard for me to see how the suppression of information, even false information, is going to help our cause."

[TheBigManSentMe]

Here is my question: The newspaper apparently was shut down because it expressed anti-american views that were detrimental to building stability in Iraq. Was it the way we should have gone about it? Just because we KNOW we are right, and they are wrong, does it give us the right to use force to silence the opposition that we KNOW is wrong? Wouldn't it be wiser to counter that newspaper with our own media that we already should have established in Iraq?

And here is the follow up question: What happens if there is a democratic election in Iraq, and they elect an extremely anti-american government. Are we going to cancel that too?

ungrateful bastards...

[gortklattu]

A paper was accused of printing lies and the story appears in the NY Times?

The irony

[roses of sharon]

Calling for the murder of innocents in a public forum is not democracy.

Of course the NYT knows that, and has written an article for the conspirazoids that call Cpsan in the mornings.

Just more from Saddams defense team.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Gratitude is one of the most fleeting of emotions. As one reporter said last week, we have freed the Iraqis and like the French, they may never forgive us for it.

I say take out this jerkwad "cleric" and all his followers.

[TheBigManSentMe]

these are the people we are trying to help ?

[TankerKC]

"No, no, America!" and "Where is democracy now?" screamed protesters...

You are able to protest, right? I'd say things a better that they were 18 months ago.

Still, I question the wisdom of shutting down a popular paper.

[gortklattu]

I don't understand the photo. Are these people in Iraq or are they the DNC faction that's issuing orders to Kerry?

[TheBigManSentMe]

the thing though, this paper was smart about it. they never called or supported any kind of violence, they just bashed americans 24/7. so how the hell do we explain to an average iraqi the reason for closing it without looking like hypocritical bastards?

[MEG33]

Welcome to Free Republic.What are your views on being in Iraq,the possibility of "perfect" in a country that will overstep the newfound freedom,print lies that we were the cause of the explosion where many people were killed and injured in order to incite animus against the soldiers.

[TheBigManSentMe]

lol, that's the picture of iraqi protesters from this morning. i am not sure if kerry is there, could be somewhere outside the frame, i don't know

[TheBigManSentMe]

"Welcome to Free Republic.What are your views on being in Iraq,the possibility of "perfect" in a country that will overstep the newfound freedom,print lies that we were the cause of the explosion where many people were killed and injured in order to incite animus against the soldiers."

I don't have any answers for you, that's why I am asking questions here, lol

In general, don't our soldiers fight for the rights of people, here and abroad, to be able to express their views freely even when they are being assholes, as long as they don't actually plan or advocate any violence?

[Gefreiter]

I don't know that there are any functioning courts there in which to file libel suits.

What many people don't understand is that democracy, even in the republican form we have here, is includes a healthy dose of individual responsibility. That attitude does not appear prevalent in that part of the world.

[Austin Willard Wright]

"ungrateful bastards." The lament of all advocates of empire when things don't go as planned in the colonies.

[MEG33]

You ,sir, are speaking with a great deal of simplicity.I fear you need to study more of what is going on with the struggle.I know if you read here more often,especially the posts of Ragtime Cowgirl,you will be more enlightened.

[TheBigManSentMe]

Ragtime Cowgirl?
That doesn't sound right

[zarf]

They will never understand it in that part of the world.

Violence is encoded in the Arab DNA.

After we dispatched Saddam we should of left.

This attempt to introduce a sense of Western ethics into the Arab world is akin to trying to teach monkeys how to read.

[MEG33]

The Big Man Sent Me does?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Critizing the US occupation and even spreading lies is not prohibited. But when they openly advocated violence, the stepped over the line. However, this will only push them underground.

[AmishDude]

Welcome to Free Republic. I see you signed up today.

[MEG33]

We could not just leave.It would have become one big terror training camp.