Muzzling the Watchdogs

The New York Times reported yesterday that reportage from the front lines in Iraq is in jeopardy (''Not to See the Fallen is No Favor.''):

“Many of the journalists who are in Iraq have been backed into fortified corners, rarely venturing out to see what soldiers confront. And the remaining journalists who are embedded with the troops in Iraq — the number dropped to 92 in May from 126 in April — are risking more and more for less and less.”

The military has severely tightened restrictions on what images are allowable, disallowing any pictures with clear name, unit designation or facial recognition. ''And memorials for the fallen in Iraq can no longer be shown, even when the unit in question invites coverage.” In addition,

“If Joseph Heller were still around, he might appreciate the bureaucratic elegance of paragraph 11(a) of IAW Change 3, DoD Directive 5122.5:

“'Names, video, identifiable written/oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without the service member’s prior written consent.'”

“James Glanz, a Baghdad correspondent. . . (said) some military leaders seem determined to protect something besides the privacy of their troops.

“'As the number of reporters there dwindles. . . the kind of work they are able to publish becomes very important,' Mr. Glanz said. 'This tiny remaining corps of reporters becomes a greater and greater problem for the military brass because we are the only people preventing them from telling the story the way they want it told.'”

“Capturing the brutal realities of war is a tradition in this country dating back at least to Matthew Brady, and it is undoubtedly part of why Americans, regardless of their politics, have come to know and revere the sacrifices that generations of soldiers have made on their behalf.”

“When this war began, the government attempted to manage images by banning photographs of coffins returning to United States soil. If the government chooses to overmanage the wages of war in Iraq, there is a real danger that when this new generation of veterans, whose ranks grow every day, could come home to a place where their fellow Americans have little idea what they have gone through.”

Let us hope that enough Americans back home have the stomach and inclination for a reality which is not quite as pretty as those they are fed via Hollywood's un-reality show circuit.

--Lisa