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 Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Hostage videos Isn't it about time news organisations got together and agreed not to show - or at least to show much less prominently - images from hostage videos? Staring out from the front of British papers today is the grim visage of Norman Kember, the hapless peacenik who thought he could help out in Iraq by talking things through and is now being held by people styling themselves "the Swords of Righteousness Brigade". He was abducted in the formerly upmarket Baghdad district of Mansour, where Ken Bigley and Roy Hallums, among others, were seized; he and his three colleagues could not have ventured into a more dangerous part of Iraq. One of the things that fuels hostage taking is the knowledge that it will gain massive publicity. By giving the kidnappers exactly what they want in terms of disseminating their propaganda there is a grave danger we are doing their bidding by raising the prices on the heads of hostages and spreading, quite literally, terror. I once made this point to Martin Newland, the then Daily Telegraph editor. His response was: "But it's news, isn't it?" Well, I believe we can think about these things a little more carefully than that. And if it ever happens to me, I'd be grateful, for once, to be kept off the front page. #posted by Toby @ 6:53 PM Monday, November 28, 2005 Back from Iraq Back in London after an eventful, productive 10 days in Iraq. Left the Al-Hamra Hotel with Julian Simmonds (my Zimbabwe cellmate) at about 11pm on Thurs Nov 17th to go to the Green Zone for our US military flight to Ramadi. The Georgian soldiers on the gate at Checkpoint Three - who did not speak English or Arabic and appeared very scared - would not let us in. Despite our pleas and those of the US Army press officers they would not relent. We very nearly returned to the Hamra but in the end the US troops arranged for us to get in through another checkpoint - far from ideal as it was well past curfew time (a hero in this was our driver Haki who stayed until he knew we were safely inside). Some time after 8am, the Hamra was attacked by suicide bombers and Building Two, in which we had been staying, was very badly damaged. The three Western journalists there (Kim Sengupta, Liz Sly and Jason Howe - all Brits) all had miraculous escapes as windows blew in, ceilings fell down and furniture turned to firewood. Who knows what would have happened had I been in bed in Room 404, which I had just vacated, but the lives of anyone in any of those Building Two rooms during that bombing were in grave danger. Here's a fine piece by Liz, of the Chicago Tribune, on what happened: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/chi-0511210217nov21,0,568026.story?coll=ny-top-headlines Got shot at in Ramadi while out with a US Marines explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) team - a few minutes earlier I'd got back into the Cougar vehicle because the road seemed exposed, the vibes weren't good and basically I wasn't gaining much journalistically by being outside. Sometimes, thankfully, there's a sixth sense that kicks in and you do the safe thing. When the shots rang out, landing at the feet of the two marines outside, they jumped back in head first and landed at my boots (see Sunday Telegraph piece for full account of being out with EOD team). Getting out of Ramadi was pretty hairy and involved. First we had to take a convoy from Camp Corregidor to Camp Taqqadum (TQ). The journey was about 25 miles but it took more than an hour of stop start. We were in the lead Humvee and the convoy commander (Sgt "Woody" Wood) proudly told us that they had been hit by 56 IEDs in 300 odd convoys. I just put my hands around my private parts and went to sleep, figuring I would wake up when something bad happened or when we got there. We got there and were turned away from a Sea Knight (USMC version of the Chinook) on the tarmac because of lack of space and had to stay in a transit tent overnight. Then on Friday we managed to get on a Black Hawk that was accompanying the Governor of Michigan to Baghdad. Once at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) we had to cadge a lift from a Texan contractor who drove us round to the commercial side of the airport (an hour's round trip) - we didn't even know his name and he had no reason to help us but it was one of those random acts of kindness that are so appreciated. At the right terminal we managed to get through customs despite lots of questioning by grim-faced men with heavy moustaches and leather jackets (wonder what they did under Saddam?), nearly fell at the last hurdle of immigration (no exit visas and not enough cash to offer a meaningful bribe) but Royal Jordanian had held the flight on the runway for us, thereby saving us a night sleeping in the terminal or venturing back into Baghdad centre, where there are now no safe hotel rooms available for journalists. After all that, the Four Seasons in Amman felt pretty good even if I did have to stay up into the early hours to write my article. Should have two or three more pieces out of Iraq, including one on the insurgency in Ramadi and one on the US Army snipers there who registering some pretty high numbers of "kills". #posted by Toby @ 11:27 PM Monday, November 21, 2005 Welcome to tobyharnden.com. The site is not complete yet but I am hoping to make modifications and improvements in the coming weeks. I am currently in Ramadi, Iraq. In the meantime, here is an announcement from the forthcoming marriages section of last Thursday's Daily Telegraph: Mr T.J.Harnden and Miss C.K.Bosse. The engagement is announced between Toby, elder son of Keith and Valerie Harnden of Exmouth, Devon, and Cheryl, elder daughter of the late Gerald and of Linda Bosse of Phoenix, Maryland, USA. #posted by Toby @ 6:10 PM |
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