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To Free Iraq from Dictatorial Oppression

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Universe Prince:
I apologize if this has already been posted.

Excerpts from an article found at the New York Times website...

For those of you still reading, here we go:


--- Quote ---Under a broad new set of laws criminalizing speech that ridicules the government or its officials, some resurrected verbatim from Saddam Hussein’s penal code, roughly a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged with offending public officials in the past year.

Currently, three journalists for a small newspaper in southeastern Iraq are being tried here for articles last year that accused a provincial governor, local judges and police officials of corruption. The journalists are accused of violating Paragraph 226 of the penal code, which makes anyone who “publicly insults” the government or public officials subject to up to seven years in prison.

On Sept. 7, the police sealed the offices of Al Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite news channel, for what the government said was inflammatory reporting. And the Committee to Protect Journalists says that at least three Iraqi journalists have served time in prison for writing articles deemed criminally offensive.

The office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has lately refused to speak with news organizations that report on sectarian violence in ways that the government considers inflammatory; some outlets have been shut down.

In addition to coping with government pressures, dozens of Iraqi journalists have been kidnapped by criminal gangs or detained by the American military, on suspicion that they are helping Sunni insurgents or Shiite militias. One, Bilal Hussein, who photographed insurgents in Anbar Province for The Associated Press, has been in American custody without charges since April.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---At Al Arabiya, the Baghdad station shuttered by the Iraqi authorities earlier this month, the studio door handle is sealed in red wax and bound in police tape. (The door is adorned with a photo of Atwar Bahjat, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Samarra in February while reporting on the bombing of a Shiite shrine.)

Some news executives express support for Al Arabiya’s closing.

“It is the right of the Iraqi government, as it combats terrorism, to silence any voice that tries to harm the national unity,” said Mr. Sadr, of the Iraqi Media Network.
--- End quote ---

SOURCE: The New York Times

Plane:
How will this government justify all this to its people?

Elections will come around again , I hope.

Universe Prince:

--- Quote from: Plane on September 30, 2006, 09:54:06 PM ---
How will this government justify all this to its people?


--- End quote ---

I'm sure there will be talk of national security and "responsible journalism" and stuff like that. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that America's efforts to spread democracy and freedom are having as one result in Iraq the passing of laws that criminalize criticism of the government and/or government officials. I wonder if there is, somewhere in Iraq, a discussion about this that includes someone saying (in his native language of course), "Yeah, but what freedoms have you really lost?"

Plane:

--- Quote from: Universe Prince on October 01, 2006, 12:11:59 AM ---
--- Quote from: Plane on September 30, 2006, 09:54:06 PM ---
How will this government justify all this to its people?


--- End quote ---

I wonder if there is, somewhere in Iraq, a discussion about this that includes someone saying (in his native language of course), "Yeah, but what freedoms have you really lost?"

--- End quote ---

Since the time of Saddam what freedoms were there to loose?

hnumpah:

--- Quote ---Since the time of Saddam what freedoms were there to loose?
--- End quote ---

Hmmmm...An article in the paper this morning (and on the 'net yesterday, something about Iraqi's being quick change artists these days) was telling how Shia's, travelling from one neighborhood to another, carry a picture of one of the bigwig Sunni leaders with them, to convince people they are Sunni if they are stopped. If they don't lie about their religious affiliation, they run the risk of being killed by militias.

I don't recall that that was a problem under Saddam.

(Wait for it...wait for it...)

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