David Sirota: America’s Newest Global War
from truthdig:
Americas Newest Global War
Posted on Jun 28, 2013
By David Sirota
Out of all the harrowing storylines in journalist Jeremy Scahills new film Dirty Wars, the one about Abdulelah Haider Shaye best spotlights the U.S. governments new assault against press freedom.
Shaye is the Yemeni journalist who in 2009 exposed his governments cover-up of a U.S. missile strike that, according to McClatchys newswire, ended up killing dozens of civilians, including 14 women and 21 children. McClatchy notes that for the supposed crime of committing journalism, Shaye was sentenced to 5 years in prison following a trial that was widely condemned as a sham by watchdog groups and experts who noted that the prosecution did not offer any substantive evidence to support (its) charges.
What, you might ask, does this have to do with the American governments attitude toward press freedom? Thats where Scahills movie comes in. As the film shows, when international pressure moved the Yemeni government to finally consider pardoning Shaye, President Obama personally intervened, using a phone call with Yemens leader to halt the journalists release.
Had this been an isolated incident, it might be easy to write off. But the presidents move to criminalize the reporting of inconvenient facts is sadly emblematic of his administrations larger war against journalism. And, mind you, the word war is no overstatement. ..........................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/americas_newest_global_war_20130628/