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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Captain Jack who wrote (11791)	12/14/2001 12:48:52 PM
From: Captain Jack	Respond to of 27666

A Small Laugh At The Media's Expense This report from an unidentified paper, possible the Daily Jang of Pakistan, provides a bit of amusing diversion from the horrors of war. Apparently, the CIA may again be using media cover for its field operatives. We had heard about two years back that the CIA had concluded official cover was unproductive in target areas such as the Middle East and Pakistan, and that it had again begun to use Non Official Cover for its agents. The report says: Afghanistan may offer one current example. A high-ranking defector from Afghanistan's Taliban movement told The Washington Post late last month that he was visited "two or three times" by US intelligence agents posing as journalists. Mohammed Khaksar made the claim in an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan. The CIA declined to discuss the matter. The media have long objected to intelligence agencies using the cover of journalism, saying such a practice could expose reporters in the field to potentially lethal suspicion. "That adds an unnecessary risk," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, based in Arlington, Va. A CIA watchdog offered a different perspective. "In their point of view, there may be higher values than the protection of journalists - and I'm not sure they're wrong," said Steven Aftergood, who directs the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "It may save many lives." Ms. Dalglish again displays the arrogance so deeply ingrained in the media when she says "That adds an unnecessary risk." Well, yes, but why should the safety of reporters be given any more consideration than the safety of the nation when a country is at war? They are volunteers, they get paid well - at least by our standards at Orbat.com - and they pursue personal fame with a reckless disregard for reality or facts. Their parent organizations are not in the business as a public service as they claim, but to make money. The media are mercenaries, let them t