Detained AP photographer had "strong" insurgent ties

Michelle Malkin has been all over this. Click here for the full story, along with a photo collage of some of Mr. Hussein's handiwork, including photos of the jihadists with Italian hostage Salvatore Santoro...shortly before they killed him. Amazing access, I'm telling ya...too amazing!

The Pentagon said on Monday that an Iraqi photographer working for The Associated Press and held by the U.S. military since April was considered a security threat with "strong ties to known insurgents."
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there was sufficient evidence to justify the continued detention of Bilal Hussein, 35, who AP said was taken into U.S. military custody on April 12 in the Iraqi city of Ramadi and held since without charge.

He declined to elaborate on what that evidence was.

"All indications that I have received are that Hussein's detainment indicates that he has strong ties to known insurgents, and that he was doing things, involved in activities that were well outside the scope of what you would expect a journalist to be doing in that country," he said.

In three separate "independent objective reviews," Whitman told reporters, "it was determined that Hussein was a security threat and recommended his continued detention."

Naturally, the AP is getting defensive about themselves and Mr. Hussein. They'd been pretty silent, but now they're madder than the moonbats will be when Ned Lamont loses to Joe Lieberman. Cries the AP:

The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an Associated Press photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing.

Military officials said Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, was being held for "imperative reasons of security" under United Nations resolutions. AP executives said the news cooperative's review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system.

Hussein, 35, is a native of Fallujah who began work for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained on April 12 of this year.

"We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable," said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer. "We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."

Hussein is one of an estimated 14,000 people detained by the U.S. military worldwide — 13,000 of them in Iraq. They are held in limbo where few are ever charged with a specific crime or given a chance before any court or tribunal to argue for their freedom.

In Hussein's case, the military has not provided any concrete evidence to back up the vague allegations they have raised about him, Curley and other AP executives said.

The military said Hussein was captured with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces," according to a May 7 e-mail from U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jack Gardner, who oversees all coalition detainees in Iraq.

"The information available establishes that he has relationships with insurgents and is afforded access to insurgent activities outside the normal scope afforded to journalists conducting legitimate activities," Gardner wrote to AP International Editor John Daniszewski.

I am just sure that Hussein's presence with Motib was a big fat coinkidink. AP then defends Hussein's access to terrorists thusly: "One of Hussein's photos was part of a package of 20 photographs that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography last year. His contribution was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004." Considering the Pulitzers handed out to the MSM for criminally leaking national security classified documents, coupled with Hussein's up-close-and-personal with the jihadists, one could reasonably assume that MSM-led efforts to provide aid and comfort to our enemies will always win recognition, praise, and adoration from your MSM colleagues.

Sorry, AP, but you'll get Mr. Hussein back when America, not you, is good and ready to give him back...assuming he isn't sent to Club Gitmo.