U.S. Seeks to Prosecute Pulitzer Prize AP Photographer

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!

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

When was the last time the declaration of independence used in a foreign country as a basis for that country's laws. This clown probably used his "freedom of the press" to give locations and patrol schedules to al qaeda and may be directly responsible for some of the dead US soldiers that are blamed on the administration. Speaking of basic human rights, don't all people have the right to live in freedom? So far I've seen Islam as a state of being where women are property to be hidden and infidels are insects to be exterminated. By their silence the Imams are all condoning the violence and encouraging the suicide bombers. Religion of peace, bah.

Memoraresays...

The declaration of independence - a document written by revolutionaries, protestors, anarchists and terrorists who were often imprisoned and killed for simply revealing the truth and fighting for freedom.

rychansays...

I'll presume he's innocent, but I also won't rule out the fact that the evidence against him is legitimate. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_Hussein

"According to the U.S. military, Hussein was arrested in April 2006, when bomb parts and insurgent propaganda were found in his house in Ramadi after the U.S. military asked to use it as an observation post during an operation. The military said that Hussein was found with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaida forces in Iraq. According to a May 7, 2006 e-mail from U.S. Army Major General Jack Gardner, "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces." Gardner continued, "The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities.""

Of course, the propaganda could be leaflets picked up from the street or other materials he would have a legitimate interest studying as a journalist. The bomb making materials could be lots of cell phones (he was a cell phone salesman before the war).

I hope he gets a fair trial.

Farhad2000says...

"In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims. Every claim we've checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance. Now, suddenly, the military plans to seek a criminal case against Bilal in the Iraqi court system in just days. But the military won't tell us what the charges are, what evidence it will be submitting or even when the hearing will be held."


- Tom Curley Washington Post

pavel_onesays...

And Norman Mailer nearly killed his wife with a knife. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and an attempted murderer. BUT it must have been a frame-up because OBVIOUSLY, if you win a prize, you can't be a criminal.

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