NPR shows Iraqis how to practice "journalism"

The Feb. 23 edition of NPR's Morning Edition-Saturday featured a report, "Mukasey Meets the Press in Baghdad" in which reporter Ari Shapiro cites a "confusing" question asked by an Iraqi reporter about the inability of Iraqis to prosecute American soldiers who commit criminal acts. Shapiro mocks the questioner, acts as if he has no idea what the question is about, and then quotes Attorney General Michael Mukasey and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker, who also claimed to be confused by the question.

Yet even in the few seconds of the question Mr. Shapiro played on his report, the intent of the question was clear: the reporter was asking about the fact that American soldiers and contractors are, in fact, immune from prosecution by Iraqi courts. This has been true since the U.S. first became the occupying authority in Iraq, under an executive order by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer.

This immunity has always been a sore point with Iraqis, but it gained increased prominence -- and triggered increased outrage among the Iraqi populace -- when Blackwater mercenaries killed seventeen unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nissour Square. Since then, not a single one of these hired killers has been prosecuted by the U.S., and Iraqi courts and police are powerless to bring these men to justice.

If Attorney General Mukasey and ambassador Crocker are even minimally aware of the attitudes and opinions of Iraqis, they would understand very clearly what the questioner was asking. Isn't it possible that they did understand the question, but chose to feign confusion, to avoid addressing an obvious sore point in US-Iraqi relations?

Of course, this possibility never occurs to Mr. Shapiro, who also seems to be blissfully unaware of the Nissour Square massacre and the outrage many Iraqis feel at seeing the Nissour Square killers go free. Instead, he adopts a patronizing tone, explaining that Iraqi reporters have little experience with a free press, and so aren't as skilled at asking questions as American reporters.

To sum up: American mercenaries kill seventeen innocent Iraqis and get off without prosecution, and when an Iraqi reporter has the temerity to ask a visiting American official about this, NPR's Ari Shapiro steps in to turn the question into an occasion for mirth at the Iraqis' expense. If that's an example of the sort of "skilled" American reporting that is the product of our hundreds of years of experience with a "free press", then I can only hope aspiring Iraqi journalists look elsewhere for their example.

UPDATE: Over the past year, the issue of immunity for U.S. soldiers and contractors has been one of the most serious points of contention between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. Here are some key events:

June 2007: Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki Maliki announces an Iraqi investigation into the case of the rape and muder of a fourteen year old Iraq girl by American soldiers, saying "immunity from Iraqi prosecution granted to foreign troops encouraged them to commit crimes."

August 2007: The U.S. military opens its own grand-jury hearings into the rape and murder case, naming five soldiers alleged to have participated in the crime.

Sept. 2007: Security guards working for the U.S. military contractor Blackwater Security open fire on unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nissour Square, killing seventeen. The Iraqi government announces the beginning of a criminal investigation into the killings. The Iraqi State Security Minister, Shirwan al-Waili, says, “the murder of citizens in cold blood in al-Nissour area by the Blackwater is considered a terrorist action against the civilians just like any other terrorist operations.” Mr. Waili promises that “The criminals will be referred to the Iraqi court system."

October 2007: The Iraqi cabinet sends to parliament a draft law to subject American contractors to prosecution by Iraqi courts. The law repeals Order 17, a measure providing immunity from prosecution to American contractors, issued at the beginning of the U.S. occupation in 2003 by U.S. occupation administrator L. Paul Bremer.

January 2007: The Bush administration begins negotiations with the Iraq government for a long-term "Status of Forces Agreement". One of the principal demands of U.S. negotiators is immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts for U.S. soldiers and contractors.

February 2007: U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey visits Iraq, on what is described as a "rule of law" mission. While his government demands immunity from prosecution for all American military contractors, Mukasey says, "My assessment is that the Iraqis are firmly committed to the notion of the rule of law as distinct from the rule of might, and are committed to the independence of the judiciary." At a press conference in Baghdad, Mukasey and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker claim not to understand an Iraqi reporter's question about the immunity from prosecution enjoyed by U.S. soldiers and contractors.