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The dangers of Iraq

There's something about this — Baghdad is 'too dangerous for Western journalists' — that's been bothering me through most of the day. Andrew at WordBlog quotes Terry McCarthy, ABC's Baghdad correspondent, speaking about two of his Iraqi colleagues who had been killed:

They are really our eyes and ears in Iraq. Many places in Baghdad are just too dangerous for foreigners to go now, so we have Iraqi camera crews who very bravely go out. Without them, we are blind. We cannot see what's going on.

Baghdad isn't only too dangerous for foreign reporters. Andrew cites Reporters Without Borders when he points out that of the 21 journalists killed so far this year in Iraq, 20 have Middle Eastern sounding names and one a name which sounds Russian.

Reporters Without Borders reports that at least 177 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since March 2003. The organization says:

"Iraqi journalists take incalculable risks to continue doing their jobs. The press is being targeted because it now plays a very significant role in the country's reconstruction. Without these brave professionals, Iraq would become a news black hole."

There is something horribly sad and ironic about this. Iraqi journalists are dying in a war unleashed by Western countries, whose journalists can't get out and report because the situation is too dangerous.