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View Full Version : CBS stringer arrested in Iraq


ChiTownAbs, Inc
04-09-05, 02:31 AM
Wow.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A CBS stringer has been arrested as a suspected insurgent, U.S. military officials said Friday.

The video cameraman was wounded during a firefight in northeastern Mosul between U.S. troops and insurgents Tuesday.

U.S. military officials said the man's camera held footage of a number of roadside bomb attacks against American troops, and they believe he was tipped off to those attacks.

A U.S. military statement said troops believe the man "poses an imperative threat to coalition forces" and that he "will be processed as any other security detainee."

CBS said the photographer was hired about three months ago, and it asked news organizations not to identify him.

In a written statement, the network said the man was referred to the network by a "fixer" in Tikrit "who has had a trusted relationship with CBS News for two years."

"It is common practice in Iraq for Western news organizations to hire local cameramen in places considered too dangerous for Westerners to work effectively," the network said.

"The very nature of their work often puts them in the middle of very volatile situations."

One official said at least four videos in the man's camera show roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops.

All had been shot in a manner that suggested the cameraman had prior knowledge of the attacks and had scouted a shooting location in sight of the target.

"The individual in question was carrying press credentials from CBS News. Military officials detained this individual and are conducting an investigation into his previous activities as well as his alleged support of anti-Iraqi insurgency activities," a U.S. military statement said Friday.

The U.S. military has said that the cameraman was shot by soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment after it appeared to them he had a weapon.

The U.S. military said the shooting occurred amid the chaos of a suicide bombing and that the cameraman was standing next to an armed insurgent at the time.

U.S. troops have been fighting insurgents in Mosul almost daily.
Execution-style shootings

Meanwhile, the bodies of 10 civilians shot to death execution-style have been found near Baquba in northern Iraq, a hospital official said Friday.

They were found Thursday inside black body bags in Balad Rooz, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Baquba in Diyala province.

Iraqi soldiers took the bodies to a hospital morgue late Thursday.

Iraqi security forces are investigating the shootings, the doctor said.

In other violence, an Iraqi police officer was killed in Baghdad and a U.S. Marine died in Falluja.

That death brings to 1,544 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the Iraq war.

CNN's Barbara Starr, Mike Mount and Enes Dulami contributed to this report.

Giantrobo
04-09-05, 06:11 AM
I'm shocked this hasn't happened more often.

nemein
04-09-05, 08:01 AM
I wonder if that's what this comment/thread was in about http://dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=415627?

bhk
04-09-05, 02:02 PM
Well, so what. For many years CNN had an agreement to look the other way while Saddam tortured and killed hundreds of thousands in exchange for an exclusive.

Myster X
04-09-05, 02:08 PM
waiting for outrage comments from liberals....

Ranger
04-09-05, 02:43 PM
We know this would never happen to Foxnews. :)

I can't really bash CBS for this though. A lot of the networks have been paying locals to film stuff there, hoping they'd be able to get close to the action, and the gamble sometimes backfires.

Mutley Hyde
04-09-05, 02:45 PM
The guy is an Iraqi national... or who knows, maybe he's a foreign insurgent. He's basically been working freelance for CBS for three months.

From the CBS article...

But on Friday, the military said the cameraman was detained because there was probable cause to believe he posed "an imperative threat to coalition forces."

"He is currently detained and will be processed as any other security detainee," the statement said.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports the military became suspicious when they examined the contents of the camera and found pictures of what appears to be the aftermath of four separate attacks by insurgents using IEDs, improvised explosive devices. The footage, taken so soon after the attacks, suggest the cameraman had to have foreknowledge that the attacks would take place, officials told Stewart. The scenes and timing of the taping are very disturbing, said one official.

Reporting from Baghdad, CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan told Bob Schieffer that CBS News is cooperating with military investigators. The cameraman came with good recommendations, Cowan said.

"From every indication we had, the work he had done for us the past three months has been exceptional,'' Cowan said. He noted the all the networks employ locals in Iraq that help get footage that U.S. photographers couldn't get.

A spokesman for Task Force Freedom, Capt. Mark Walter, said the reporter suffered minor wounds and was with "a number of people" involved in the shootout.

Walter said the reporter was detained immediately after the incident, in part because of statements from witnesses to the battle.

Officials are investigating the man's previous activities as well as "his alleged support of anti-Iraqi insurgency activities," the statement said.

On Friday, CBS News issued a statement saying the cameraman had been working with the network for about three months, and had been referred by a trusted source with whom CBS has had a two-year relationship.

full CBS article (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/08/iraq/main686858.shtml)

Mutley Hyde
04-09-05, 02:53 PM
We know this would never happen to Foxnews. :)

I can't really bash CBS for this though. A lot of the networks have been paying locals to film stuff there, hoping they'd be able to get close to the action, and the gamble sometimes backfires.

I don't think anyone is bashing CBS. I do wonder what ChiTownAbs thoughts are on this though, other than 'wow'.

I personally don't see anything wrong here, and at this point can only guess as to whether ChiTownAbs does or doesn't.

OldDude
04-09-05, 03:19 PM
Well, CBS is probably pissed they won't be getting that great anti-war footage of how insurgents are outwitting and defeating our troops ('cause we wounded and caught their enemy photographer :lol: )

Thor Simpson
04-09-05, 03:21 PM
Yeah, I wasn't really suspecting CBS as having any sort of suspicious role in all of this, until this official document surfaced... -eek-

<img src="http://www.imageadventures.com/other/cbsDocs/insurgent.jpg" border=1>

DVD Polizei
04-10-05, 12:21 AM
I think Thor has a scoop.

Thor Simpson
04-12-05, 12:17 AM
So how long is this guy gonna be interrogated before we get a stinkin' follow-up? :(

sfsdfd
04-12-05, 12:32 AM
<img src="http://www.imageadventures.com/other/cbsDocs/insurgent.jpg" border=1>
Hey, wait! THAT MEMO IS FAKED! It uses a proportional-spaced font, and those didn't exist before this week...

- David Stein

Thor Simpson
04-12-05, 12:39 AM
Hey, wait! THAT MEMO IS FAKED! It uses a proportional-spaced font, and those didn't exist before this week...

- David Stein
I was gonna say it is an obvious fake because it was clearly typed 30+ years ago... ;)