[iwar] [fc:Rumsfeld:.Leaker.Disregards.Lives]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-22 21:55:01


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Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 21:55:01 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Rumsfeld:.Leaker.Disregards.Lives]
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Rumsfeld: Leaker Disregards Lives

By Matt Kelley Associated Press Writer Monday, Oct.  22, 2001; 7:00 p.m. 
EDT

WASHINGTON ญญ Defense Secretary Donald H.  Rumsfeld denounced the person
who revealed to news media information about special forces operations
in Afghanistan as a lawbreaker who showed "disregard for the lives of
the people involved in that operation."

"I just think that the idea of someone in this building providing
information to the public and to the al-Qaida and to the Taliban when
U.S.  special forces are engaged in an operation is not a good idea,
besides being a violation of federal criminal law," Rumsfeld said Monday
at a Pentagon news conference. 

News of Friday's overnight raid leaked as 100 Army Rangers and other
special forces were inside Afghanistan.  The troops attacked an airfield
near Kandahar and a residence of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban
leader; destroyed a cache of weapons; killed Taliban fighters; and took
documents and other evidence to try to find terrorist leaders. 

CBS, one of the first networks to get word of the raids, delayed
reporting them for security reasons, said Janet Leissner, the network's
Washington bureau chief. 

Rumsfeld admitted the news reports did not endanger U.S.  troops, since
all returned from the mission safely.  But he said: "It was something
that (amounted to) disregard for the lives of the people involved in
that operation."

He said the Pentagon was trying to provide as much information about the
attacks in Afghanistan as possible without putting soldiers' lives or
missions at risk. 

Many news organizations say the Pentagon has been particularly stingy
with information during the anti-terrorism campaign.  Reporters have
been denied access to bases that U.S.  forces are using in Pakistan and
Uzbekistan.  Those interviewing troops involved in the campaign normally
are told they can refer to the service members only by their first names
or nicknames, in order to shield their families from possible
retaliation. 

Reporters are sympathetic to many of the restrictions, particularly the
one on using soldiers' full names, said Doyle McManus, Washington bureau
chief of the Los Angeles Times. 

"I don't think identifying fighter pilots by their call signs is a major
blow to the First Amendment," McManus said.  "The more serious test will
be whether down the road we get any information from bombing damage
assessments.  The question of the effectiveness of bombing measured
against whether civilian damage occurs is a serious question that the
public deserves a look at."

Bureau chiefs of top news organizations met with Rumsfeld last week
seeking greater access to news about attacks in Afghanistan.  Rumsfeld
said then that he had under consideration letting reporters onto the USS
Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier being used as a floating base of
operations for some special forces units. 

"The war has gotten to a new phase, and we need to get to a new phase in
coverage," CBS' Leissner said.  "We need some access to the ground
operations."

Rumsfeld said he doubts that reporters ever will be brought along during
commando raids and repeated his assertion that some missions in the
anti-terror campaign may remain secret forever. 

More openness could mean fewer leaks, said Lucy Dalglish, executive
director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

"We're going to see a lot of war coverage by leak," Dalglish said.  "As
the ground war develops, we're going to need independent sources of
information to be confident our military is behaving appropriately."

Military officials admitted two cases where bombs either went off target
or mistakenly hit civilian areas and Red Cross warehouses, which McManus
of the Los Angeles Times sees as a positive sign. 

"That's admirable and suggests this generation of military leaders has
learned lessons from previous wars; that if something goes wrong, you're
better off acknowledging it immediately than in prolonging the agony,"
he said. 

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