that story has been documented and available for months. and it's true. after a rightwing blogger complained, the charges were trumped up the next day. what's amazing is how the charges match closely with the blogger's interpretation of the law.

From the cited article:

He was awoken by a soldier who took him through the building, including to a repair shop downstairs that contained electronics equipment. Against his protests, Hussein was photographed with the gear, which included cables, scrap copper and appliances to be repaired.

Sound like anything else you've heard? Planting evidence? No. No US soldier (besides the ones who have already confessed) could have done that.

Shoot the messenger? Nah, arrest, frame, convict, and hang the messenger - its the American way! Didn't we already play this war?

"But we have their hearts and minds" - Kang
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/images/2006/10/simpsons_200px.jpg

It's going to be impossible to enforce, but we need self-discipline, there's power in these mice we play with on the web.

A mighty word can cause a mighty sword to fall.

A man is being held in prison on the basis of some jerk's suspicion over here? That's all they have on him? If true, this is truly sickening.

What happened to this story/thread? It was here, then it was gone, now it's back.

I wonder if this "Rusty" is the same guy who spearheaded the Free Republic campaign against Dan Rather, based on the controversial fonts in the documents exposing george w. bush's shameful TANG history. That type of notoriety would surely be cause for unscrupulous people to advance their agenda through Rusty, just as rumor-mongers and nasty political operatives go to Drudge. I may be wrong on the name of the Free Republic agent, but "Rusty" sure sounds familiar. (No reference to Shackleford here on C&L.)

The rat bastard blogger may be anonymous now, but I hope that will soon be a thing of the past.

Preacher Boob @ 6:

It's going to be impossible to enforce, but we need self-discipline, there's power in these mice we play with on the web.

A mighty word can cause a mighty sword to fall.

Only if you already have an in with the gov't or the military being a codpiece for them already.

dothehop @ 14:

Preacher Boob @ 6:

It's going to be impossible to enforce, but we need self-discipline, there's power in these mice we play with on the web.

A mighty word can cause a mighty sword to fall.

Only if you already have an in with the gov't or the military being a codpiece for them already.

Damn, my weird translator key is stuck

the 4th Reich is rising @ 17:

Is this the Rusty Shackleford who´s commenting quite regularly here at C&L?

No. Different guy. I like to think he thought of using it first...

He responded to a similar question a couple weeks back.

The guy here is usually reasoned and, although a little sarcastic, a leftist on most things.

That Jawa jackass is a paranoid freak.

Something tells me "Rusty" is employed by our hostile elite.

Kos Kiddies are Losers @ 21:

You spineless Kos Kiddies can't handle the truth! Read reality at mypetjawa.mu.nu

According to an extensive report issued by McAfee SiteAdvisor in March 2007, .nu domain websites are among the highest-risk TLDs for browser exploits but in most other respects are ranked as a low to moderate risk. -- Wiki

Thing Fish and lefty moonbats: youre afraid of facing facts. Rusty bagged a jihadi and everyone knows it at the Jawa Report

FROM THE FREE BILAL COMMITTEE

"Military Reporters And Editors (MRE) Sends Pentagon Letter Protesting AP Photog's Detention" at:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

By Joe Strupp

Published: November 28, 2007 4:10 PM ET

NEW YORK - Military Reporters and Editors became the latest group Wednesday to weigh in on the controversy regarding Associated Press Photographer Bilal Hussein, who is facing unspecified terrorist charges in Iraq.

In a letter to the Pentagon, delivered earlier today, the group claimed "Hussein's imprisonment is contrary to every notion of justice, fair play and the U.S. Constitution, which every member of America's military swears to uphold and defend."

Hussein, who has been detained by Iraqi officials since April 2006, was told last week he would be formally charged and faces a court date in Baghdad on Thursday. AP officials have protested his detention and the pending charges, claiming there is no proof of any illegal activity.

The entire MRE letter, signed by MRE President James Crawley and delivered to Pentagon Public Affairs Officer Bryan Whitman, is below:

**************************************

An OPEN LETTER from Military Reporters and Editors Regarding Associated Press Photographer Bilal Hussein

It could happen, we fear, to any journalist covering the war in Iraq. A soldier confiscates your notes, cameras and gear, and takes you into custody.

Once jailed you have no rights – not to remain silent, to call a lawyer or see a judge.

That was the fate of Bilal Hussein, an Associated Press photographer who was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005. He has been jailed for 19 months by the U.S. military. They claim Hussein is an insurgent or has links to insurgents. The U.S. military so far has offered no proof of its allegations against Hussein, one of many Iraqis working as journalists for American news organizations, but vows to hold him indefinitely.

We at Military Reporters & Editors wonder how this incident has been allowed to go on for so long. We also wonder if it could happen to other Iraqi journalists who have risked their lives to tell America and the world about life in Iraq. Without their work we would know far less about the fighting there and how it affects both the millions of Iraqis and the thousands American troops, and for that matter, the world. We wonder if U.S. military authorities would show the same respect for American journalists in Iraq, or if one of us, too, could end up like Hussein.

Bilal Hussein's imprisonment is contrary to every notion of justice, fair play and the U.S. Constitution, which every member of America's military swears to uphold and defend. Bilal Hussein may be a true threat to security in Iraq or he may be innocent. We do not know, and we cannot know as long as he remains locked up without the opportunity to defend himself and to hear the specific "evidence" against him.

Therefore when the U.S. military says, "Trust us," we simply cannot.

We realize that our troops are operating in a war zone far from home, that the U.S. Constitution doesn't carry the force of law in Iraq. That is no excuse for American and Iraqi authorities to hold any individual without some form of democratic due process for an indefinite period. Mr. Hussein should have an opportunity to address his arrest and imprisonment.

Military Reporters & Editors does not demand Hussein's immediate release. We do not ask that American and Iraqi military authorities jeopardize innocent lives. We do ask, however, that the United States government do the right thing and give Hussein his day in court.

This is the only way the Army can make public its evidence against Hussein, whose previously good name has been tainted by the military's allegations. A trial would put to rest the issues that have been unresolved for 19 months. It would give Hussein a chance to regain his freedom and clear his name, and let the world see once more that the United States does not just make a big show about supporting the rule of law, but lives it.

Justice deferred or delayed is justice denied. Bilal Hussein knows that all too well.

For Military Reporters and Editors

James W. Crawley

President

Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.

--
Free Bilal Committee
www.freebilal.org

``````````````````

See also:

Harper's

"U.S. Seeks to Prosecute Pulitzer Prize-Winning A.P. Photographer" at:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001717

BY Scott Horton

PUBLISHED November 21, 2007

"Reports out since Monday note that the United States Department of Defense will seek to have criminal charges brought against Bilal Hussein, an Associated Press photographer who belonged to a team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for photographs of the war in Iraq. Hussein’s contribution to the package included a series of arresting photographs of close up fighting from the assault on Falluja.

"The story was first broken by a right-wing blogger who has has been used as a regular dissemination point for information about the case by senior Pentagon figures. That fact is one of the dead give-aways of the case. This blogger and several of her associates published histrionic attacks on Hussein before he was arrested, claiming that his photographs showed that he was associated with insurgent organizations and attacking the Pulitzer Committee for its decision to honor the A.P.’s submission of war photographs. In the end, the order to arrest Hussein came from very high up, and the reason for the arrest was unmistakable: he was the man who took those damned photographs!..."

"....The source also stated that the Pentagon’s public affairs division, now headed by Dorrance Smith, had been deeply engaged in the matter from the outset. He said that the Pentagon would say that all decisions were made on the ground in Baghdad. “In a formal sense that is true, but Baghdad is dancing to the Pentagon’s tune.” The source also stated that using right-wing bloggers as a means of disseminating the story was a strategy formally embraced by Pentagon public affairs at a very high level. “They’re natural allies. Our message is their message. And they have no particular interest in fact-checking. It drives the mainstream media nuts.” He likened the right-wing blogosphere to sheep dogs who would keep the American mainstream media in line...."