KUWAIT CITY, 8 March 2003 — Hurry up and wait. That is more or less what American journalists here in Kuwait are told. Informed by the Pentagon that “embeds” (journalists embedded with military units) should be in Kuwait by a certain date, word then followed — after tickets were bought and hotel reservations made — that there was a delay in the arrival of the media’s gas masks.
So now the “embedders,” the military servicemen and women assigned to processing the journalists, are doing their best to mollify them and their editors.
This is not easy. Despite the luxurious hotel on dazzling beach front property, few press people appear to be enjoying the amenities. Most want to move out and up to Baghdad, as soon as possible. “Sitting around kills me,” one journalist said, “we’re here for the story.”
As a result, the media frenzy is in full force. Yesterday, the Kuwait Ministry of Information organized a press trip to the Burgan oil fields, the second largest oil field in the world after Saudi Arabia, south of Kuwait City.
At the oil field, over 100 journalists and cameramen mobbed any engineer who agreed to speak with them.
Even worse, there was no real news to be had. Just a visit to the oil facilities damaged by the Iraqis 12 years ago, with statements from the engineers that measures were in place to either up production or close down and evacuate, depending on the scenario.
Back at the hotel, with nothing to do but turn in circles and placate their anxious editors — who are paying a fortune to put them up here — journalists use their time speculating on rumors, which are rampant.
Today’s hot topic revolves around the subject of gas masks: Is there really a delay in gas masks (which the military says is due to inclement weather back home) or a darker, more sinister reason?
The majority of journalists seem to weigh in on the skeptical side, which only fuels further suspicion.
Other topics du jour include news that the media should anticipate being embedded for up three to four months unless they choose to jump ship early. Once out, however, they cannot return to their unit. Three or four months means being out in the Kuwaiti desert in ridiculously hot weather. “It is never as easy, or as short, as they say it will be,” one journalist — here during Gulf War I — told the rookies.
Added to this is the fresh rumor that press should buy single person tents to sleep in inside the military tents, because once it gets hot, scorpions and snakes will emerge from hibernation and start investigating their surroundings.
This is followed by news that journalists may spend at least two weeks on the ground with their units, before moving or seeing any action. “They want to give journalists enough time on the ground to see if they can hack it or not. Because there are a lot of them who are going to miss their espresso coffee makers and bail,” said one veteran war correspondent.
But embedding is a serious topic. Before leaving Washington, a Pentagon official told Arab News that the future of embedding journalists with the military depends on the outcome of this effort. “If a journalist compromises his unit in any way, that will be the end of it for the next 100 years.”
The embedding process aims to correct the military’s prickly relationship with the media — particularly since the 1991 Gulf War when journalists were censored and penned up in Saudi Arabia.
Ground rules issued yesterday say, in the first paragraph, that they “recognize the right of the media to cover military operations and are in no way to prevent the release of derogatory, embarrassing, negative or uncomplimentary reports.”
While the rules allow journalists theoretically to report troop movements, casualties, areas under attack, numbers of enemy soldiers captured and the date or time of military offensives, ultimately the commander in the field will determine what when or what they can report. There is also a ban on photographing and interviewing detainees and on pictures showing the face or revealing the identity of a dead soldier.
Journalists — while praising the overall guidelines — worry this could hamper their ability to get news out. Another serious issue for the military regards the embeds themselves. The Washington official told Arab News the Pentagon had little time to do detailed background checks on overseas correspondents who wanted to be embedded. “A big fear for our commanders stems from the lesson we learned about [Afghani] Gen. [Ahmad Shah] Masood,” he said. Masood was assassinated, three days before 9/11, by terrorists posing as journalists. — Additional input from Reuters.
