If the Shoe Fits&#8230;
<p>From <a href='http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/150533.php'>Confederate<br />
Yankee</a> comes the story that an Iraqi journalist named Ali<br />
Fadhil claims U.S. soldiers invaded and shot up his home, then hustled<br />
him off for questioning before inexplicably returning him unharmed.<br />
What&#8217;s supposed to make this especially shocking is that he was<br />
working for a British newspaper, the <cite>Guardian</cite>.</p>
<p><span id="more-250"></span></p>
<p>Yes, that would be the same corrosively anti-American left-wing rag<br />
known to some pro-war bloggers as &#8220;al-Ghardiyan&#8221;, the one that has<br />
called for the assassination of George Bush on its editorial page, and<br />
that cheerfully serves as a megaphone for la Pilger and la Fisk and la<br />
Galloway and every frothing nutcase of a Wahhabist cleric in the<br />
British Isles.</p>
<p>My first thought on reading this was &#8220;What&#8217;s the big deal here?&#8221;  I<br />
mean, I&#8217;ve <em>read</em> the <cite>Guardian</cite>; if I were an<br />
American intelligence officer in Baghdad, I&#8217;d feel safe in assuming<br />
that anybody working for that particular newspaper was not only having<br />
sloppy sex with the local terrorists every night of the week, but<br />
collecting a bonus from the head office for doing it without a<br />
condom.  <cite>Confederate Yankee</cite> says &#8220;This story, as<br />
reported, is shocking and should result in an immediate<br />
investigation&#8221;, but to hell with that &mdash; if anything, some G2<br />
ought to be congratulated on intelligent target selection.</p>
<p>Alas. On reading further, it looks like the whole story is probably<br />
a put-up job a la Juliana Sgrena. There are no witnesses, no physical<br />
evidence, and (most tellingly) Fahdil&#8217;s description of the soldiers&#8217;<br />
behavior doesn&#8217;t match the way American troops are trained to secure<br />
prisoners.  Not that any trifle like the mere lack of evidence is<br />
likely to stop al-Ghardiyan from ranting about &#8220;proven American<br />
brutality&#8221; until well into the next century!</p>
<p>I wish I could expect that CENTCOM would issue an unapologetic<br />
statement reminding everybody that Iraq is a war zone, and that any<br />
&#8220;journalist&#8221; believed on information received to be actively<br />
cooperating with terrorists is at exactly the same risk of being<br />
interrogated, jailed, and consequently shot as any other collaborator<br />
with the enemy.</p>
<p>But naah, that won&#8217;t happen.  If they truly held journalists<br />
responsible for aiding and comforting the enemy, they&#8217;d have to shoot<br />
half the <em>American</em> correspondents in Iraq.  I&#8217;m not yet disgusted<br />
enough with our mainstream media to wish that fate on them.  Not quite,<br />
though they&#8217;re pushing it.</p>
