Iraqi News Agency

The announcement that Iraq is to have it own news agency, Aswat Al-Iraq (Voices of Iraq), staffed and managed by Iraqi journalists, was most welcome. However, my enthusiasm was tempered somewhat by the realization that Aswat Al-Iraq is a project being overseen by the Reuters Foundation and the United Nations, two organizations that frequently exceed the threshold of reasonableness in avoiding use of the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism.' Frankly, I'm sickened when a murdering, thug terrorist is referred to as a militant or an insurgent or a freedom fighter.

Consequently, my expectations are that reporting from Aswat Al-Iraq will be accommodating to the terrorists while displaying a bold anti-American bias. This belief is supported by the fact that the journalists themselves will become targets for the terrorists. They will be reporting in an environment of fearfulness. I hope I'm wrong.