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Current Events » in reply to But buy staying, they gave Sadam legitimacy he did not deserve.

Re: By staying, they gave Saddam witnesses he didn't want but could not afford to expel
Mary Anne — (archived)

I hesitate to post this because I haven't got an online source to cite, and I haven't access to the print sources I need to confirm it, but I'm 99% sure that there were reports of the Holocaust from independent journalists working with the underground and from refugees that were not published in the Allied press. The Holocaust was reported after the fact as the camps were liberated by outraged GIs who would not keep silent.

It might have been different had there been satellite link-ups in the 1940s.

The press plays a very important role that isn't always obvious to people. If the press is there, the story is noted. It's not always published, but it's noted, because reporters are about telling stories. Editors aren't, but many of them started as reporters and understand this.

Also, a place with reporters is a place with local contacts such as embassies and intelligence agencies, as governmental organs, have no ability to get. These people are invaluable in times of peace and in times of war.

To demand that the press either withdraw or get itself thrown out on "principle" is to give those whose actions require silence a free hand and no possibility of witnesses whatsoever.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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