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bombing and the later memo controversy furthered the perception amongst
foreign reporters that America was targeting unfriendly media.
Al-Haj is hardly the only foreign journalist who has been detained
by American forces. Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a freelance cameraman
then employed by CBS, was detained for over a year without charge after
he filmed clashes in Mosul. He was later acquitted by an Iraqi criminal
court. 157 Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer, was detained for two years on
the basis of photos he took in Fallujah, and was finally released in April
2008. 158 Ibrahim Jassam, a freelance journalist, was held for seventeen
months without charge and was released February 2010. 159
D. Humanitarian Law Project—Punishing Those Who Associate with
Terrorists
While the Government’s actions in Bahlul and its treatment of
foreign reporters are of serious concern, proponents of these actions may
argue that the impact of these positions is limited; the disregard of
Brandenberg in Bahlul ought not implicate Americans or lawful residents. Even
if this were true, the recent Government and Supreme Court position with
regard to expansive interpretation of material support statutes clearly
implicates the speech rights of individuals entitled to First Amendment
protection. This result demands special attention for several reasons. First,
by chilling the speech of Americans and American residents, it removes
valuable sources of OSINT that are most easily integrated in the intelligence
cycle—items written in English, prepared for Western consumption.
Second, it represents the clearest failure by the judiciary to restrain the
Government in its ultimately self-damaging quest to silence speech related
to terrorism. Third, the broad scope of the Court’s ultimate conclusion that
ban, allowing U.K. media to repeat accusations that were previously published. However,
these groups may not suggest that these allegations were accurate.
157 Joel Roberts, CBS Cameraman Acquitted In Iraq, CBS NEWS, Apr. 5, 2006,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/05/iraq/main1472263.shtml.
158 Tim Arango, Case Lays Bare the Media’s Reliance on Iraqi Journalists, N.Y. TIMES, Dec. 17,
2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/business/media/17apee.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&o
ref=slogin&adxnnlx=1198184561-4Ss0Q98pNRov6DzbujkKLA.
159 Caesar Ahmed and Liz Sly, Iraqi Journalist Freed after 17 Months, L.A. TIMES, Feb. 11,
2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/11/world/la-fg-iraq-photographer11-
2010feb11.