25 June 2009

Now is the Time to Fire an Officer, President Obama

Stars and Stripes is reporting that the US Army has barred one of its reporters from embedding with a unit because they found his coverage too aggressive:
Asserting that Stars and Stripes “refused to highlight” good news in Iraq that the U.S. military wanted to emphasize, Army officials have barred a Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division that is attempting to secure the violent city of Mosul.

...

Despite the opportunity to visit areas of the city where Iraqi Army leaders, soldiers, national police and Iraqi police displayed commitment to partnership, Mr. Druzin refused to highlight any of this news,” Major Ramona Bellard, a public affairs officer, wrote in denying Druzin’s embed request.

...

The Army’s denial of Druzin’s embed request appears to violate the Pentagon’s established ground rules regarding embedded reporters, which state: “These ground rules recognize the inherent right of the media to cover combat operations and are in no way intended to prevent release of embarrassing, negative or derogatory information.”
Whoever gave this order, and whatever superiors backed them up on this, are in violation of military regulations, federal laws, military policy, and the basic values of this republic, and Barack Obama should fire them.

There is no allegation of a security breach, just that the reporter was not "cooperative."

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