Washington Post – November 24, 2007:
At long last, prize-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein may get his day in court. The trouble is, justice won’t be blind in this case — his lawyer will be.
Bilal has been imprisoned by the U.S. military in Iraq since he was picked up April 12, 2006, in Ramadi, a violent town in a turbulent province where few Western journalists dared go. The military claimed then that he had suspicious links to insurgents. This week, Editor & Publisher magazine reported the military has amended that to say he is, in fact, a “terrorist” who had “infiltrated the AP.”
We believe Bilal’s crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man.
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.
I hardly ever post a comment – after all, many of the “comments” I’ve read in response to news stories sound like a Jerry Springer-meets-Judge Judy audience: they’re either judging or ranting at one another. I am very concerned with our responsibility to maintain our freedom AND our civil rights and the imprisonment of Mr. Bilal Hussein is a mere scratch at the surface of the shamefull actions our current government leaders have made in response to the 9/11 attacks. Prime example: extraordinary rendition. My prayers are with Mr. Hussein and his family and I would encourage other readers (particularly those who have commented before me) to continue to review the facts as they are presented. The “alleged” bomb making material found in his apartment were in a storage room adjoining an electrician’s shop located downstairs from his second-story apartment which he did not have access to and the military soldiers needed to, literally, break into. The “insurgent propaganda” was photos he had taken of Iraqi citizens for AP stories. Please take the time to read Paul G. Gardephe’s report posted on the AP web site. Maybe we’re missing the biggest lesson 9/11 ever could have taught us: if it can happen over there, it can most certainly happen right here – to us.