[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[AmishDude]

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

[man of Yosemite]

I hope our own government would step in if the majority of Americans were being led by the National Enquirer. The hope of theirs is to incite violence against Americans and put in a Islamic state like Iran. That's already a failure in Iran, but who can tell them that?

[Steel Wolf]

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.

Printing something like this in Baghdad is like throwing gasoline on a burning house. There are vast numbers of people here sitting on the fence that easily could be swayed by lies and propaganda and commit acts of violence. It seems like almost every swinging al-Richard over here has an AK and an anger management problem. Many of them want us to help them; many are not yet sure.

Iraqis that buy into this stuff will be susceptible to joining groups that are trying to kill U.S. soldiers and destabilize the country. It is happening all the time. People on both sides deserve better, especially considering the circumstances. Right now is not the time for wild, baseless, incindiary publications.

[secretagent]

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.

I agree. The answer to the lies: print the truth. Show how debate works in an open society.

Bad move by Bremer.