Bilal Hussein finally released

Bilal Hussein (far right) at the Ramadi Government Center, September 2005, Hussein was taken into U.S. custody on April 12, 2006 from the Iraqi city of Ramadi and was held without charge, until Wednesday.


Released AP Photog Will Return To Work, But Not Now

By Joe Strupp

Published: Editor and Publisher April 17, 2008
NEW YORK Just released Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who was freed Wednesday by U.S. military officials in Iraq, will remain on the AP staff, according to Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll.

But editors are in no hurry to rush him back to work after two years being detained by Iraqi and U.S. officials in his home country.

"Bilal is going to rest up and have some time with his family and go from there," Carroll said Thursday. "Absolutely, he is an AP photographer, he still is."

Hussein, who was detained without charge in 2006 and was only recently ordered released by Iraqi officials, had gained international attention after numerous press freedom and human rights groups demanded his reaction. Carroll, executive editor since 2002, had also made his situation a top priority, at one point urging U.S. newspapers to editorialize for his release.

Allegations against him had included the vague claim that he had been too close to insurgents in Iraq. He was part of the AP team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography. AP officials had continuously pointed out that no substantial evidence or charges were ever levied against him.

Carroll declined to comment on specific evidence or other elements of the case, saying: "the most prudent thing to say here is we worked on his case and knew a lot about it and came to believe there was nothing there.

"It doesn’t matter what I think or what anyone else thinks," she added. "He got put into the process and an Iraqi judicial body ruled he should be released."

Despite having taken up Hussein's case as a top cause in her daily duties, Carroll declined to talk about the impact it had on her. "I don’t think it is appropriate to talk about how this affects me - this is part of my job," she said. "I have lots of feelings about how AP journalists put their lives on the line around the world."

Carroll said Hussein's case would not cause the news cooperative to pull back on Iraq coverage or change any of its policies for security or other approaches overseas. "We are constantly calibrating what we need to do to keep people safe and free to do their jobs," she said. "Nothing about this one will change how we cover Iraq."

She would not reveal Hussein's whereabouts or even if he remains in Iraq. She said he will be back on the job at some point. "Down the road, he has just gotten out of two-years' detention," she said. "We will talk about specifics in the future when the time is right."

Asked if Hussein or AP would seek any legal action against the U.S. for wrongful detention, she said: "it's not what we're about."

Pimp your Pooch Fair

Sometimes after waiting around for hours for something to happen, two things happen at once. Today, I missed them both. At the "Pimp you Pooch" fair in Eagle Mountain, I was pre-focused trying to get a dog jumping a hurdle, (some dogs went under, others went around) when I glanced over my shoulder to see a boy being dragged by his dog. I shot a quick photo (out of focus) then turned and missed a great dog jump.

The Blaze

I photographed my first Utah Blaze game the other night. The fans were not happy as they watched the Georgia Force beat them badly.
There are only a couple of places for photographers on the field level, I had a little trouble with fans leaning over the edge, missing this touchdown catch.

Real Jazz

The Real looked good until the Fire scored with minutes left in the game, ending in a tie score.
Another Jazz photo that was not published. Only photos shot in the first half of the game seem to make it in the paper these days?!

Five years - 3992 US Deaths

A small turn out at LIberty Park for the Peace Vigil last night.


The sixth year: The tragic, futile war in Iraq grinds on
Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
03/20/2008

You've heard all the numbers - five years, nearly 4,000 Americans dead, 30,000 Americans wounded; untold Iraqis, perhaps 100,000, dead; $500 billion. But what does it all mean, beyond the obvious, the incredible sacrifice of lives and treasure?
No matter how George Bush and Dick Cheney try to spin it, the war in Iraq has been a terrible, futile waste. And it continues to be.
Saying that the war was "necessary," as the president did the other day, or that "our objective here is victory and we need to be prepared to do whatever it takes in order to achieve that," as the vice president said, doesn't change this basic fact: The Iraq war is an open-ended cycle of bloodletting with no positive end in sight.
The president's argument that the war was "necessary" to keep Americans safe is ridiculous. The president's two major justifications for the war - Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and his supposed collaboration with al-Qaida - proved to be canards long ago. All the American invasion accomplished was to unleash a vicious, fratricidal conflict between tribes and sects in the heart of the Islamic Middle East. It is absurd to contend that this has strengthened American security, especially when this war has ground down the combat strength of the U.S. military.
And what of Cheney's assertion that the United States must fight in Iraq until it achieves victory? If by victory the vice
president means a peaceful, democratic, self-governing Iraq, there is little evidence that this is achievable. Sure, the surge of American forces to 158,000 troops over the last year has tamped down the violence some, aided by the rise of Sunni sheikhs who have tired of insurgent violence.
But this relative peace was supposed to give the Shiite-dominated government the breathing space to achieve political reconciliation with its Sunni and Kurdish opponents, largely through a comprehensive oil law to share the nation's petroleum wealth among the factions and to promote provincial elections that would invite Sunnis into government.
The elections may happen. But other important benchmarks that the Iraqi government was supposed to achieve have not been reached.
The truth is that everyone, Iraqis and Americans alike, are waiting this administration out, counting the days until Bush and Cheney and their Republican enablers in the Congress are gone and the United States can begin to extricate itself from this nightmare.
83-year-old Lydia Whipp, Salt Lake City, holds a Geroge Bush, "Pants on fire" doll her son sent to her

Andre & The Brain

University of Utah student volunteers showed 2nd graders mouse, sheep and human brains as part of Brain Awareness week. I made a video, you can see it below.