Associated Idiots

File this under: Associated [with terrorists] Press trash.

AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll is calling on news organizations to protest the continued imprisonment of Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein. He has been in custody for 6 1/2 months.

Among the images that likely drew U.S. military interest in Hussein was a 2004 photo he shot of masked insurgents firing on U.S. forces, which was among those that won AP a Pulitzer Prize in 2005.

In an interview with NPR, Kathleen Carroll, she discussed the circumstances of his arrest.

MARK JURKOWITZ: Let's talk about the specifics of this case. What happened? Where was he when he was detained? Can you give me the circumstances of that day?

KATHLEEN CARROLL: Sure. The most detail we have about that comes from the U.S. military, which says that he was in a building with two other people when he was arrested in the morning.

MARK JURKOWITZ: Two other people that the military have characterized as enemy combatants or insurgents. Is that correct?

KATHLEEN CARROLL: That's what they told us, yes. We have been in touch with them, but he says that, you know, he was doing his job as a journalist, which involves talking to all kinds of people, and making himself available to talk with them so that he can make pictures of them without endangering himself.

MARK JURKOWITZ: Are you aware to any extent what his relationship with members of the insurgency might be? Do you know, frankly, whether he has just sources within the insurgency or would have any special knowledge about what's going on there?

KATHLEEN CARROLL: I would say two things about that, Mark. One, we are not particularly interested in trying to suss- out the details and evidence and try Bilal, you know, on your program or any other way in the media.

As for his close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnapping, smuggling, improvised explosive attacks and other attacks on coalition forces, Carroll had this to say.

Bilal grew up in Fallujah. I don't know about you, but not all the people that I grew up with turned out exactly well. You know, some of them ended up doing things that our mothers might not like. I don't know whether that's the case with Bilal, because we've never had any names associated with this.

What she doesn't say is that Hussein was captured with two insurgents, including Hamid Hamad Motib, an alleged"\ leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, something NPR kinda left out when they were discussing the e-mail from the military. Nor does she mention that bomb-making materials were found in the apartment where he was arrested and how he tested positive for traces of explosive.