7 December 2001
Tight Control Marks Coverage Of Afghan War Curbs Exceed Those of Past;
Broader Access Is Promised
Carol Morello
Washington Post

The journalists, confined to a warehouse, sprang to their feet.

Could a photographer take pictures of the wounded arriving? No.

Could print reporters just stand to the side and observe? No.

Could reporters talk to Marine pilots who had airlifted the wounded to the base? No.

Could they talk to doctors after they had finished treating the wounded? No.

Could they talk to injured Afghan fighters who also had been transported to the base? No. None spoke English.

The spokesmen eventually relented after reporters protested long and vigorously, even leading them on a stumbling run in pitch darkness to an airstrip where the bodies of two Americans who had been killed were said to be arriving in a helicopter. But the bodies were already in a morgue, which reporters were not permitted to visit.

In every war, there is an innate tension between the military and the journalists who want to cover battles up close and capture the poignant and horrific reality of combat. With U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan, however, reporters have operated under limitations even more restrictive than those imposed on pools during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, when reporters traveling with troops had their stories read and cleared by military escorts.

In Washington, Victoria Clarke, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs and the Pentagon's primary spokeswoman, issued a memo to news organizations today saying "we owe you an apology" for the "severe shortcomings" in the way the Pentagon has handled the news media. She pledged that "we intend to provide maximum media coverage with minimal delay and hassle." (..)

In other conflicts, such as the Gulf War, the Vietnam War, the Korean War and World War II, reporters have been permitted to "embed" with military units and cover their daily operations. But not this time. For example, more than 1,000 regular infantry troops from the Army's 10th Mountain Division have been in Uzbekistan for nearly two months, and in Afghanistan for at least two weeks, but no reporters have been allowed to cover them. Almost all information has been released from the Pentagon, far away from the conflict, and much of it has been dated and vague. The extremely restrictive policy toward the release of information was set by Rumsfeld, who has argued that the new constraints are made necessary by the nature of the war against terrorism. Rumsfeld has pointedly noted in several statements that defense officials who leak information may be in violation of federal criminal law.

The first news media pool, a small grouping of reporters who are the eyes and ears of their colleagues and share their reports with others who are not present, was airlifted to the Marine base in Afghanistan for five days that ended early this morning. While at the base, the reporters were not permitted to accompany troops on expeditions from the base, were prohibited from reporting much of what they saw, were diverted toward feature stories such as church services and promotion ceremonies, were not allowed to speak to senior commanders (except one produced in their final hour with the Marines) and were barred from reporting details even after they were leaked -- and announced -- by the Pentagon. Working under Pentagon guidelines that require public affairs escorts at all times, reporters could cover everything but the news.

Walt Rodgers, a senior international correspondent for CNN and one of 12 pool reporters at the base, said he had not worked under such tight restrictions when covering Israeli forces in Lebanon or even the Soviet army. "We had greater freedom of coverage of Soviet military operations in Afghanistan than we had at Camp Rhino, which we could never say," said Rodgers, who was prohibited by U.S. military rules from saying he was reporting from Camp Rhino even when anchors used that location in introducing him for live reports. (..)

When seven more journalists, including a Washington Post reporter, arrived in Afghanistan as a media pool on Nov. 30, they were given background briefings by two public affairs officers. The reporters were given floor space to spread their sleeping bags in a warehouse facing south, with a fine view of the gate leading to the latrine and the desert, but with no view of the front gate, the airstrip, administrative buildings, the hospital or the parking lot where new machinery was placed and from which reconnaissance patrols departed. (..)

Once, however, journalists overheard an on-the-record analysis of the war's progress. Last Sunday, the pool was taken to church services in the compound courtyard. The layman leading the Roman Catholic service spoke about preparedness. After he finished, the pool asked his name, rank and job. He was the senior intelligence officer. For five minutes, he answered questions about the war's progress, as the public affairs officer stood nearby shaking his head. The reporters scribbled notes, and all filed a story that day on the off-the-cuff, after-church briefing. (..)