[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S11313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IRAQ'S TOLL OF SLAIN JOURNALISTS CONTINUES TO RISE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Iraq is a dangerous and chaotic place for 
our brave American soldiers there, for our coalition partners, and for 
Iraqi families who must struggle just to make it safely through each 
day. It is also a perilous place for the journalists who attempt to 
cover the situation on the ground. They are at the front of the front 
lines of this conflict, and the dispatches from Iraq produced by 
representatives of a free and independent press are a vital conduit of 
information that helps the American people--and their representatives 
in government--to make more informed decisions. These are print 
reporters, television correspondents, photo journalists and the other 
professionals who help journalists in gathering and transmitting the 
news.
  We learned in recent days of the deaths of two more news 
professionals. Raad Jaafar Hamadi, a journalist with the daily Al 
Sabah, was shot dead in his car in the east of Baghdad on November 22. 
Fadhila Abdelkarim, an administrative staff worker of TV station 
Nainawa, was shot outside her home in Mosul on November 26.
  American media professionals have been among the casualties. They are 
as well known to us as NBC correspondent David Bloom, and those who we 
will never know by their bylines or on our TV screens. Director General 
Koichiro Matsuura of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural 
Organization--UNESCO--this week noted that the number of media 
professionals killed in Iraq continues to grow unabated, and that 
``since January more than 35 journalists have paid with their lives for 
their determination to fulfill their mission.''
  According to Reporters without Borders--RSF--137 journalists and 
media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 
2003, while 51 have been kidnapped. According to RSF, four of the 
kidnap victims are still being held hostage.
  Some in the administration have chosen over the years to disparage 
the journalists serving in Iraq--for instance, labeling them ``lazy'' 
or unwilling to leave their bureaus or hotels.
  The reality is far different. Day after day, journalists in Iraq 
face, and accept, incredible dangers just to do their jobs. As news 
professionals on one of the most challenging and important news beats 
on the planet, they deserve great credit for their courage and their 
commitment, and they deserve our appreciation.

                          ____________________