February 20, 2006
WSJ's Farnaz Fassihi Describes Life 'Under the Gun' in Iraq
Farnaz Fassihi, The Wall Street Journal's Beirut-based "senior Middle East correspondent," tells what working and living "Under the Gun" was like during her three years covering Iraq. She "began going to Iraq in October of 2002, when it was still ruled by Saddam Hussein. I covered the war from the Kurdish northern area, moving to Baghdad after the regime fell," she writes.
Fassihi, left Iraq on Dec. 18, 2005, after "the British security firm we hired had warned in an email that insurgents were plotting to kidnap a female American journalist and advised women not to leave their hotel unless absolutely necessary."
"Several weeks later," Fassihi continues, 'my friend Jill Carroll, a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint as she left an interview in Baghdad. Her Iraqi translator was murdered. As I write this, despite pleas for her release the world over, Jill remains in captivity."
Note: This post can also be found in The Blogging Journalist, my other blog.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2006
ABC's Woodruff and Crew Knew the Risks of Reporting From Iraq
Bob Woodruff, co-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight," and his crew knew the risks of reporting from Iraq. Yet, they probably were surprised to get hit by "a roadside bomb attack in Taji, north of Baghdad." Thankfully, Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, a Canadian living in Paris, escaped with their lives despite injuries to the head and, in Woodruff's case, the shoulders. Hopefully there will be no brain damage.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2005
Special Prosecutor Questions Bob Woodward in CIA Leak Investigation
"Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward testified under oath Monday, November 14, 2005, "in the CIA leak case that a senior administration official told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame and her position at the agency nearly a month before her identity was disclosed," reports Washington Post staff writers Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig in the November 16, 2005 edition of The Post.
I would love to read the transcript of that deposition. Woodward is perhaps the ultimate journalistic insider in Washington. It seems that he may have been the first reporter a Bush Administration official told about Valerie Plame's CIA status.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Did Judith Miller Witness Interrogation of Muhammad Salah?
Chicago Sun-Times reporters Annie Sweeney and Lisa Donovan reported October 18, 2005 that "In an odd twist," the Israeli interrogation of Bridgeview, Illinois " used car salesman" Muhammad Salah "was witnessed by embattled New York Times reporter Judith Miller, and defense attorneys suggested Monday [October 17, 2005] the best way for the U.S. government to prove its case -- and prove Salah wasn't abused -- is to call the controversial journalist to the witness stand."
"We think the government is going to call her," they quoted Chicago defense attorney Michael E. Deutsch as saying.
The reporters said, "A message left for Miller -- author of the book God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting From a Militant Middle East -- at the New York Times on Monday [October 17, 2005] was not returned. "A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who subpoenaed Miller to testify in the leak of a CIA agent's name and whose office is prosecuting Salah, declined to comment on whether Miller might be called to testify in the case," the noted.
For more, please see "N.Y. Times reporter could testify for suspect."
Get a blog and explain yourself, Judy.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
Is Judith Miller a Reporter/Government Agent?
Village Voice reporter James Ridgeway said October 17, 2005 that, "Among the surprising revelations in New York Times reporter Judith Miller's own account Sunday [October 16, 2005] of her activities in the Plame leak case was an admission that she had been given a security clearance while embedded with a military unit searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
Like other bloggers and journalists, I found Miller's revelation surprising. Does this mean that Miller is a government agent as well as a Times reporter?
Here's more of Ridgeway's report.
Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
