From: Ali Abunimah
To: morning@npr.org
Subject: Al-Jazira is doing important work

October 11, 2001

Dear NPR News,

Your reporter in Quetta, Pakistan, Eric Weiner stated on Morning Edition today that "there are basically no foreign journalists" in the ninety percent of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban, and hence claims of civilian victims of US bombing could not be independently verified.

In fact, Al-Jazira has two fine correspondents in Afghanistan whose excellent report I among tens of millions of people, an witness to ever day. Neither of these reporters is an Afghan.

This morning I have been watching live pictures of US warplanes circling over Kabul in broad daylight and dropping bombs on things. Earlier I saw Afghan civilians standing near the rubble of their newly destroyed homes bemoaning their fate. US networks have relied entirely on these two correspondents for footage. It was these reporters who brought us the footage of the destroyed UN office in which four were killed two days ago.

Of course two correspondents cannot possibly be sufficient to verify claims from all over the country, but Al Jazira has played a decisive role in reporting the situation from inside Afghanistan and Weiner should be prepared to acknowledge it. I am disappointed that he does not consider them his colleagues.

But nor has the presence of a posse of "foreign" reporters when they have been allowed to cover a war from the ground, particularly those from US networks, ever been an absolute guarantee of the requisite independence and aggressiveness required to verify the situation on the ground and hold the government accountable for its war propaganda.

Sincerely,

Ali Abunimah
http://www.abunimah.org