Barred From Gitmo
Carol Rosenberg can be a real pain in the ass.
I first met her on a trip to Guantánamo in 2008, while I was covering the trial of Salim Hamdan, the man accused of being Osama bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard.
I was CNN’s Senior Pentagon Correspondent, and Rosenberg was — and still is — a Miami Herald reporter who has logged the most time covering Guantánamo.
Carol’s the kind of crusty old hand who knows what’s what, and doesn’t mince words in fighting for the access she needs to get, and tell, the real story.
(As an aside, during my brief visit in 2008 she complained vehemently to some of the public affairs folks that I was getting preferential treatment as some drop-in big shot from Washington. I didn’t hear about that until after I left.)
So I have to say Carol’s not always the most likable person. She’s not one for charming the military officials she has to work with — and sometimes go around — to cover what’s happening at Guantánamo. And having covered Gitmo for eight years, she’s not fooled by spin.
Still one judges reporters, not on how charming they are, but how good their reporting is, and Carol Rosenberg is one of the best, most experienced, reporters covering the military commission process at Guantánamo.
Except, she’s not covering it anymore.
The Pentagon has banned her because they say she, and some Canadian reporters, violated the ground rules for covering the trials by revealing the name of one of the anonymous witnesses, a man that was supposed to be referred to only as “Interrogator #1.”
The thing is, the interrogator’s name was no longer secret. He had gone public several years ago, granting an on-the-record interview to refute allegations that he had abused the detainee in question, one Omar Khadr.
Carol got booted from Gitmo for the following line in her story, (which was written two days before the witness testified.)
“Interrogator #1 has been identified in the Canadian media as Sergeant Joshua Claus, who was subsequently court-martialed for detainee abuse not involving Omar Khadr.”
The military judge insists the ban on naming witnesses applies even if the name of the witness is public and has been previously reported.
And the fine line here seems to be the question of whether — even though Sgt. Claus had identified himself publically as the first person to interrogate the detainee — anyone would know for sure he was in fact the person identified as “interrogator #1″ at the trial.
Right now the Miami Herald is in negotiations with the Pentagon get Carol reinstated, but I have to say, I think she is right when she argues its unreasonable to expect news organizations to pretend not to know pertinent information that they have previously reported.
The government may have a legitimate need to keep some things secret, but that doesn’t extend to controlling how information that is NOT secret is reported.
I think Carol Rosenberg nailed the key point when she told the NPR show On The Media:
“I think the editors are worried about setting a dangerous precedent because if this ban continues, it means the Pentagon can reach into newsrooms across America, across the world, and tell editors what previously published information cannot appear under a Guantánamo dateline. They’re telling editors, even if you reported it five days ago from Washington, D.C., don’t put that paragraph under a Guantánamo dateline or you won’t be allowed to cover this. Even the Bush administration didn’t have this policy. They allowed you to import previously published information under a Guantánamo dateline.”
But just to be clear, Carol is NOT disputing the ground rules, in fact she insists she followed them… to a “T”.
And she’s hopeful when some higher-ups at the Pentagon look at exactly what really happened, they will agree.
(Photo of Carol Rosenberg by Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles)
Tags: Banned, Barred, Carol Rosenberg, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Joshua Claus, Omar Khadr
