The Mysterious Case of the AP Photographer
EmailA talented Iraqi war photographer detained by the U.S. military because his photos portrayed the war too accurately? Or an insurgent spy who infiltrated the Associated Press to better gather information for Sunni militants who were targeting U.S. troops in Fallujah and Ramadi? The truth, as ever in this complicated war, may lie somewhere in the middle. Bilal Hussein was part of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005. In April 2006, he was detained in Ramadi after the U.S. military says it found bomb-making components and documents linking him to the insurgency in his apartment. Bilal has been held since then without charge in a detention center at Baghdad Airport. His lawyer says the U.S. charges have not been substantiated. But two Iraqis in Fallujah who know Bilal have been interviewed by ABC News and have provided a more complicated picture of the 36-year-old photographer. Neither wanted to be identified for fear of retaliation by insurgents. Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. One man from Fallujah told ABC News that one of Bilal’s brothers is known locally to belong to one of the main Sunni insurgent movements and now lives outside Iraq because he is wanted by the U.S. military. He says that when Bilal was arrested, there were also some gunmen in his apartment, and that he had taken pictures of insurgents executing a foreign hostage, suggesting a relatively close relationship with the insurgency. Another man who had been detained in the same facility as Bilal and spent several months in the same holding pen as him before being released, however, told ABC News that the photographer does not appear to be a militant and does not express any support for the insurgency in the prison camp. What was Bilal Hussein’s relationship, if any, with the Sunni insurgency in Fallujah and Anbar, which until recently were two of the most dangerous cities in Iraq? An Iraqi journalist known to ABC News who works in Ramadi and Fallujah says that to operate as a journalist in those cities required at least some level of contact with the insurgents. Otherwise the journalist risked his or her life trying to report. But he says that there is a big difference between those who simply told the insurgents who they were and whom they worked for, and those other journalists who went out with the insurgents on operations. It is no secret that a number of Iraqi journalists working for foreign news organizations had developed relationships with the insurgents by late 2003 and early 2004, for two reasons: their own safety in accessing zones of conflict and the knowledge that some Western news organizations paid handsomely for footage of car bombs and other attacks that could only be obtained with some degree of foreknowledge. Some news organizations chose to turn a blind eye to the practice, but the U.S military had a list of cameramen and photographers who uncannily happened to always turn up just before a major attack or car bomb. The Iraqi government accused the Arab television channel al Jazeera of relying on insurgent contacts to get some of their more dramatic video — something the network denied — and subsequently expelled al Jazeera from the country. The extent of Bilal’s links with insurgents, if any, remains unclear. The U.S. says that after 19 months of detention, Bilal is due to be handed over to an Iraqi court, at which point concrete evidence will have to be produced or he will simply be released. Whether he’s innocent or guilty, the story of Bilal Hussein and journalists like him show how entangled ordinary life has become with the insurgency in many parts of Iraq — an entanglement the U.S. is only now beginning to undo. Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
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And if he is innocent… how does he make up for the loss of earnings and time, locked up under false imprisonment as it might turn out!!! Compensation???
Posted by: Jazz_jeff | November 23, 2007, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm
The news media has undermined the war from the beginning. Terrorist or traitor – what’s the difference?
Posted by: Neo Politicus | November 23, 2007, 1:40 pm 1:40 pm
How can you undermine a war that was started on lies and fake data told to the world and the UN???
Get Real.
Bush has doomed America to being a third class empire with the next few years. The and Cheney have lied to the public, made money for their friends companies “Halliburton” whom is raking in the war funds, have legalised torture in America for the first time ever, overrode citizens rights and reduced the (trust) word of Americans to being considered a joke!
And Neo Politicus blames the media???
Someone needs to get their heads out of the sand and see the fuller picture.
Posted by: Jazz_jeff | November 23, 2007, 2:33 pm 2:33 pm
It’s WAR. Nobody’s innocent in war.
Posted by: peggysue | November 23, 2007, 3:16 pm 3:16 pm
Perhaps, he stumbled on something allied forces didn’t want him to see or know. They couldn’t just do away with him without raising suspicion. So they come up with these “aiding the enemy” trumped up charges. What did he see and when did he see it?
Posted by: What Did He See | November 23, 2007, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
Oh MY GOD Listen to you all…has it occured to anyone the possibility that he is guilty? What about the compensation for that? The lives unjustly lost. I find it hard to comprehend how people can justify what he may or may not have done based on their opinion of whether or not we should actually be at war. Whatever happened to wrong just being wrong.
Posted by: Linda | November 23, 2007, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm
If he has some sort of damning information against the U.S., why would we arrest him?
He would have been the victim of a terrorist bomb or errant U.S. fire.
Posted by: Jerry | November 23, 2007, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm
IMPEACH BUSH. DOLE FOR PINEAPPLE
Posted by: Anarchary | November 23, 2007, 5:06 pm 5:06 pm
Is he guilty? Guilty of what? On its own web site the AP posted as story which claimed that they had reviewed all of his submitted material and that in their view it did not at all demonstrate that he had a “too close” relationship with the insurgents. All of the other facts (like his brother) amount to “guilt by association.” Of course, the US military does not need to adhere to US standards of justice over in Iraq. But I personally feel this is a travesty!
Posted by: Elbonian | November 24, 2007, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
No wonder this country has a moronic leader as we do, considering the idiot postings I read on here, it’s people like this that put Bush in the White House.
Posted by: Truth Speaker | November 24, 2007, 4:14 pm 4:14 pm
If you doubt his innocence do some research on his pictures and the fact he too often coincidentally turned up right when attacks were happening. How about the fact that he was taken into custody in the apartment of a terrorist leader and that weapons and bombs were also found. This guy is so guilty only a terrorist apologist could suggest anything else.
Posted by: Cosmicview | November 25, 2007, 1:14 am 1:14 am
Sounds like Bush the Moron is the leader of a nation of morons, judging from the comments here.
Posted by: ZipperHead | November 25, 2007, 2:29 am 2:29 am
The AP says he’s innocent? On their very own web page? Wow, that settles it then!
Posted by: Uh Yea | November 25, 2007, 9:12 am 9:12 am
This war was started by Bush. Just lkie Bush had the Twin Towers done.(watch the videos on Google,to see what I mean!)He needed a reason to start this war and blamed it on Bin Laden. Isn’t that what Hitler did????Do it your self and blame it on them, to go to war with them.
Posted by: Mike_John | November 25, 2007, 10:29 am 10:29 am
This is all based on unverifiable information – as usual!
“But two Iraqis in Fallujah who know Bilal have been interviewed by ABC News and have provided a more complicated picture of the 36-year-old photographer. Neither wanted to be identified for fear of retaliation by insurgents.”
Posted by: Gary | November 25, 2007, 12:05 pm 12:05 pm
Geneva Conventions allow for the detention of suspects without charge for as long as military security requires. Propaganda kills. He should have been locked up a long time ago.
It’s legal, proper, and justified. Get over it.
Posted by: Randy | November 25, 2007, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
Posted by: Elbonian | Nov 24, 2007 1:24:39 PM ==
“Is he guilty? Guilty of what? On its own web site the AP posted as story which claimed that they had reviewed all of his submitted material and that in their view it did not at all demonstrate that he had a “too close” relationship with the insurgents.”
Wow. The AP claims all is OK because they have reviewed their own material and proclaimed it to be OK. And we’re supposed to believe this – why?
Posted by: Cosmicview | Nov 25, 2007 1:14:43 AM – “If you doubt his innocence do some research on his pictures and the fact he too often coincidentally turned up right when attacks were happening… This guy is so guilty only a terrorist apologist could suggest anything else.”
Cosmicview, you are absolutely correct.
Posted by: reine.de.tout | November 25, 2007, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
The rest of you crybabies who whine about “torture” don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Water boarding cannot be compared to oh, using bolt cutters to remove thumbs and big toes, for example.
If the unpleasantness of war bothers you, just give thanks that other people are picking up your slack and keep your criticisms to yourself.
Posted by: VinnyT | November 25, 2007, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
What has happened to this journalist / photographer may well be happening to U.S. Citizens at home, if Bush and particularly Cheney get their way.
Posted by: Jordan | November 25, 2007, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm
I am just amazed, watching all the news channels, less than two minutes on some Palestinian peace talk, opening with the Malibu fire, and the football. In Australia a landslide election took place sweeping John Howard’s Government out of office, changing the known expression “Terrorism” back to it usual interpretation of Gang leaders and criminal, back into everyday language. The reformation of a nation by decree has been ordered. One of America’s leading allies has been given notice to stop the BS, never made a single breathe on the nations news services. Can we be so naive.
Posted by: Mo Morris | November 25, 2007, 8:39 pm 8:39 pm
The way you stop this is by adhering to the doctrine of no foreign entanglements. We are seeing the fruits of the military/industrial establishment. War is good for business and those in charge are trying to prop up their bottom lines.
Posted by: Jason L. | November 26, 2007, 11:38 am 11:38 am
If the truth is in the middle as ABC suggests, this man cavorted with new in advance of terrorist plots, knew the locations of hostages, and received information regularly on terrorist activities.
What is startling is that the AP tries to defend this guy. What this shows is that they had (as others in the press) inside people in the insurgency that knew in advance of plots and watched many innocent people killed – just so they could get a picture and/or a story. They are a disgusting sad lot of people – they aligned their interests with ruthless terrorists and will now pay the price.
Posted by: duhize | November 26, 2007, 3:13 pm 3:13 pm
This issue is not as black and white as we always want our news stories. I congratulate ABC News for attempting to paint the nuances of the circumstances. Would we think about prosecuting an intelligence asset for not stopping a terrorist action. Of course not. It is likely that Bilal has information that would be helpful to the US but would be equivalent to rolling over on his family. He is very likely guilty of not being a good citizen and reporting what he knew. At the same time he is likely being true to his beliefs.
Posted by: BooMan | November 26, 2007, 3:53 pm 3:53 pm
This is America and you certainly do not Think like an American. Freedom of speech is very dear too this country, and you just don’t get that part. Water Boarding is Un-American. If you condone it. that’t your fault. I won’t allow others too destroy this country. People like you are The Dictators of the world and Terrorist’s. This Man appears to be guilty but only a court of law can leagally determine that.
Posted by: Adeeb N. | November 29, 2007, 3:04 pm 3:04 pm
Why didn’t he try to help the hostage being executed? Instead he went and took photos….
Not a nice guy at all – who cares what happens to him.
Posted by: Deborah | February 9, 2008, 10:13 am 10:13 am
Abdeed – you are another terroist apologist?
Showing up to a murder…an execution –
shame on the reporter!!
He ought to give back the Pullitzer prize money.
Having bomb making materials, and gunmen
in one’s apartment — is quite some evidence.
Wait till they get him into the courts..
in Iraq.
Supporting someone who did not help a victim of a terrorist execution is one of the most anti-American idealogies anyone could have….
get it abdeeb?
Posted by: Deborah | February 9, 2008, 10:20 am 10:20 am