US Troops Seize UK News Video

From today's Studio Briefing:

Britain's Guardian newspaper charged today (Monday) that American troops in Baghdad blasted into the home of a reporter working on a report for its TV news unit, Guardian Films, forced him to lie on the floor, tied his hands, then confiscated video tapes that he had shot for a documentary. (The film, which was scheduled to air on Channel 4's Dispatches program, reportedly looks into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.) He was then reportedly hooded and taken into custody. The Guardian said that the reporter, Dr. Ali Fadhil, had only two months ago won the Foreign Press Association's young journalist of the year award. Veteran documentary filmmaker Callum Macrae, who is directing the film, told the Guardian, "The timing and nature of this raid is extremely disturbing. It is only a few days since we first approached the US authorities and told them Ali was doing this investigation, and asked them then to grant him an interview about our findings. We need a convincing assurance from the American authorities that this terrifying experience was not harassment and a crude attempt to discourage Ali's investigation." Fadhil said later that the troops shot up the door of his home as they entered while he and his wife and child were asleep, telling him they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent. Although they released him several hours after his arrest, the Guardian reported, they have not yet returned the tapes.

If only President Bush could authorize this kind of action in the US...