Open Letter To My Congressional Representatives

This is the message I am sending to both Minnesota senators and my Congressional representative in response to Eason’s Fables, urging public hearings into Eason Jordan’s allegations. I encourage you to send something similar or even identical to your representatives as well.
CNN executive Eason Jordan has on two occasions in the past four months accused the US military of targeting journalists for torture and murder. In a November 2004 News Xchange forum in Portugal, Mr. Jordan said the following (quoted by the British newspaper The Guardian):
Eason Jordan, chief news executive at CNN, said there had been only a “limited amount of progress”, despite repeated meetings between news organisations and the US authorities.”
“Actions speak louder than words. The reality is that at least 10 journalists have been killed by the US military, and according to reports I believe to be true journalists have been arrested and tortured by US forces,” Mr Jordan told an audience of news executives at the News Xchange conference in Portugal.
Two weeks ago, in Davos, Mr. Jordan then asserted that the US military targets journalists for death in Iraq. This has been confirmed by Rep. Barney Frank, who attended the same conference at which Mr. Jordan spoke. Sen. Chris Dodd also attended but so far has refused to comment.
A growing number of Americans are expressing concern and outrage over these comments. After all, if true, the US military has a critical leadership failure and must be investigated. If untrue, the Eason Jordan has lied about our military while conducting overseas business and damaged our reputation significantly, considering his position at CNN. In either case, Congress must act to determine the validity of the charges.
I urge you to conduct public hearings into this matter to establish once and for all whether the US military has a policy of assassinating and torturing journalists, in Iraq or anywhere else, and correct the terrible damage Mr. Jordan may have inflicted on our image abroad. Only Congressional hearings will do this.
Thank you,
Edward Morrissey
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/