Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: US censors Iraqi newspaper, incites protests

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Monday, March 29, 2004

US censors Iraqi newspaper, incites protests

Protests continued in Iraq as things get worse...as one person was quoted on CNN. Things will get even worse before they get better. Great, just what we need. More chaos and violence. According to this New York Times story (registration required), this newspaper was supposedly publishing lies but instead of countering those lies the US just shut the place 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."

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