Aug 19th, 2008
Posted by Frank Knaack, First Amendment Working Group at 2:41pm	Free Speech, National Security

A Free Press: The Latest Casualty in the "War on Terror"

Beyond indefinite detention, numerous allegations of torture, and a massively deficient court system created by the Military Commissions Act, the case of Sami al Hajj, an Al Jazeera reporter, adds the prospect of uncovering a new and equally disturbing side of Guantánamo: its use as a mechanism to further silence the the press.

Illustration drawn by Sami al Hajj while detained at Guantánamo.

Sami al Hajj was arrested in December 2001 by Pakistani authorities as he tried to re-enter Afghanistan, the location of his news assignment. He was turned over to United States officials and arrived in Guantánamo in June 2002. Sami al Hajj was released six years later on May 1, 2008, without ever having been charged with a crime. Although the longterm detention and seemingly arbitrary release of so-called "enemy combatants" without charge is, quite disturbingly, not unique, what does make his case unique is the fact that he is a journalist, and the U.S. government has consistently failed to show that he was acting in any other manner when he was detained and sent to Guantánamo.

The extremely troubling nature of Sami al Hajj’s case was highlighted in a recent article by Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle. The article cites allegations made by Sami al Hajj and his attorney, Clive Stafford Smith of the Londonbased human rights organization Reprieve, that assert that Sami al Hajj’s detention may have been due to the fact that he worked for Al Jazeera, the largest broadcaster in the Arab world and nothing more. Al Jazeera has been consistently attacked by the U.S. government for its alleged inaccurate coverage of the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as U.S. policy more broadly. This criticism has been countered by people across the Arab world, as well as here at home who view Al Jazeera’s coverage of the U.S. led wars as a welcome reprieve from the censored imbedded journalism conducted by the mainstream U.S. media. Al Jazeera English was also recently nominated for two Emmy Awards in the news and current affairs categories.

Egelko’s article quotes Sami al Hajj’s human rights attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, stating that Sami al Hajj and he “calculated about 135 times [Sami had] been interrogated, and about the first 120 the only interest [his interrogators] had was Al-Jazeera.” Clive Stafford Smith was further quoted as stating that the interrogators of Sami al Hajj “told him that they thought Al-Jazeera was an al Qaeda front.” While we have no independent way of verifying the validity of this statement, the state of press freedom in the United States gives added weight to the seriousness of such allegations. As Reporters Without Borders’ most recent press freedom index shows, the United States’ rank is far from its rhetoric. The U.S. is ranked 48th in the world for press freedom, and 111th in the world for press freedom when viewing the U.S. extraterritorially.

The freedom of the press is vital to the maintenance and security of our republic. Allegations such as Sami al Hajj’s, while unverifiable, should make us all more aware of both the importance of such a freedom and the ease with which the government can take it away.

Permalink |	Free Speech, National Security

1. Chris Robinette Says:
   Aug 19th, 2008 at 1:53pm

   Fowarded: President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.
   Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.
   Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.

   And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.
   Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.
   Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military.
   Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

   You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.
   And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!

   Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs co uld be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

   There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.
   No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.
   It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

   We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause... Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. So... We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

   America is not at war. The military is at war.
   America is at the mall, or watching the movie stars.

   (Remember Obama said in his book 'Audacity of Hope', 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction'.....what better place for the Muslins to control our country, than in the office of the President of USA .

2. kimberly Says:
   Aug 20th, 2008 at 11:06am

   i need help fighting the postal service regarding sexual harrassment

3. kimberly Says:
   Aug 20th, 2008 at 11:06am

   please help me to fight the postal service

4. The Chemist Says:
   Aug 20th, 2008 at 3:56pm

   Kimberely, if you really need help with sexual harassment, I don't think the ACLU can help since it's not in their organization's mission. There are plenty of other organizations that can help if you just Google "Sexual harassment legal help"

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