Journalists are Expendable - "the New Great Game"

Azerbaijan Today has already written about the deaths of journalists, such as the Wall Street Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan back in 2002. Killing those in the public eye serve many objectives, as we wrote about the case of Roddy Scott who was killed in October 2002.

Scott, a young, British reporter and filmmaker, was killed whilst making a documentary on the Chechen rebels. He had accompanied a group of 500 Chechens from Georgia into the Russian republic of Ingushetia. The 31-year-old journalist was killed filming a firefight between Chechen fighters and the Russian army in the village of Galashka in the Ingush region of the Russian Federation. He too understood that there was a story to be told that many did not want to hear. In one of his last correspondences, he wrote:
"I personally think it's a great story [Pankisi], its about the first time I have ever seen the possibility for someone to really lift the lid on everything, rather than the usual 'journo-grasping-at-straws-with-no-good-sources' which seems to emanate from the region. And what really gives it the boost is that it is tied into US policy, which gives it the international rather than local/parochial flavor.

My heart lurched when I read the first line of your mail. It sounds like you're really onto something. Would you mind if I forwarded your mail to Chris Aaron? He is the editor of Janes Intelligence Review. I will suggest you do a piece for him and see if he can help with additional expenses. Though, to be honest, Janes doesn't have the kind of cash a big broadsheet does; but they have so many magazines that the same article recycled might leave you with a decent sum. But there's obviously a hell of a story out there that is yet to be told.

I have grave concerns about my arrival in your neck of the woods. What is the attitude of the local authorities to foreigners rocking up who have connections to the valley? Obviously I don't mean to imply an involvement in supplying cash or hardware to anyone, more a case of just knowing the right (or wrong) people. I guess I'll just have to take my chances at the airport." Roddy Scott never had the opportunity to tell his story.
Deja vu, indeed! Cowboys who shoot first and ask questions later.

The most recent target was the Italian journalist, Ms. Giuliana Sgrena, who had filed many articles harshly criticizing the American war in Iraq, but had also written of the shortcomings of Islamic fundamentalism. Her "accidental" shooting after being freed by Italian intelligence operatives shows what her co-workers well understand. The New York Times reports, the "At the Rome offices of Il Manifesto, the left-wing newspaper for which Ms. Sgrena works, reporters celebrated the news of Ms. Sgrena's release with champagne. The paper's editor, Mr. Polo, told Sky Italia television that the shooting showed that "everything that's happening in Iraq is completely senseless and mad."
But a few days after returning to Italy, some members of the Italian opposition, which had fiercely criticized the presence of Italian troops in Iraq, expressed doubt about the American version of the "friendly fire" incident: "I don't believe a word the Americans are saying," said Oliviero Diliberto, a Communist deputy in the lower house of Italy's Parliament. "I think there is something really dirty about all this business. Next week we will once again propose a measure to pull the troops out of Iraq."
But the freed journalist has suggested that U.S. troops may have deliberately targeted her car -- because the U.S. is opposed to negotiating with hostage-takers. A White House spokesman said that idea was "absurd."

One would have thought things had changed; if you are not with Al Q, other kinds of troublemakers are given far wider berth these days. In sum, "any journalist would deceive and maybe flatter him or herself by thinking that they are the object of some plot by a western government. However, this view does not define who is a troublemaker and who is not. The actual body count of journalists in the fight against terrorism raises many flags and paints another picture. How many of these killings were really accidental?

Who benefits from a death of a journalist? At the local level, when one does not like something that a journalist has written, tripping you up, threats, or a beating, might be more appropriate.

Who really benefited by the death of public figures like the former Prime Ministers of Lebanon or Syria? Few things are done on the spur of the moment. This is basically the line that the Syrians have taken on Rafik Hariri...sure, they are the main losers in this, but maybe they simply miscalculated. Guilty or not, Damascus has been blamed.

Whether or not Syrian President Bashar Assad was behind Monday's assignation of the former of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car bombing is bound to strengthen forces inside the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush who have long argued for a "regime change" in Damascus, which has been a cornerstone of US foreign policy for some time.

In Azerbaijan, the US State Department, in its annual assessment of human rights in Azerbaijan, was quoted in the international media after the murder as saying that defamation suites brought by officials against independent journalist and newspapers as well as high court fines for libel, remained significant problems for the media in Azerbaijan.

What is the motivation for such an immediate response on the part of spin-doctors and official spokesmen? On February 3rd 2005, Shamil Basaev, the Chechen Field Commander was seen on Channel 4 sharing his views on the Chechen War and issues related to the plight of the Chechen people. Efforts by Russia to prevent the program being shown was not successful and in many respects it backfired and increased the viewing audience.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, "we are convinced that such a step to broadcast to such a wide audience the views and threats of a terrorist wanted by Interpol, is irresponsible. We regard this action as informational support for terrorists."

Thorn in the side

Part of a reporter's job in a place like Azerbaijan is to carefully sift through the miasma of rumor that always abounds in non-transparent places and to keep your wits about you while you piece things together. As one investigative journalist writes to Azerbaijan Today, "of course I am interested to hear what you know about Elmar Huseynov, and how much he had gotten under the skin of the authorities. And you're right, it does seem a clumsy or maybe just brazen execution."

And who would have been such a thorn in the side of the Americans, Azeris, Russians or Iranians that someone would want them eradicated? There are better ways to kill a journalist; accidents, drug overdose, a spouse who catches him in the act, etc. However, he was killed in this fashion for a reason. One source writes, "I want to inform you about the death of the journalist Elmar Huseynov, Chief Editor of the newspaper "Monitor". The Azeri President, Ilham Aliyev, gave an interview for journalists the day after the death of the journalist, and one correspondent of the private TV company ANS, Gamira Pashaeva, asked the question, "who is interested in the death of journalist Elmar Guseynov, may be those powers, which organized the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia and "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, because in these countries everything began from the death of journalist?"

Investigated and Prosecuted

According to the police report, Huseynov died from two gunshots to the heart. The Azeri branch of the Helsinki human rights group condemned the murder as "terrorism against the press". Radio Free Europe quoted Alex Lupis of the Committee to Protect Journalists as saying that press freedom in Azerbaijan "has continued to decline over the last two years, since President Ilham Aliev took office, and we're calling on him to ensure that this case is aggressively investigated and prosecuted".

Ilham Aliyev said that "some may think that this is connected to government bodies, but I can take responsibility to say that I am not interested in his death, this was made by a third party, who wants to cause destabilization in Azerbaijan, perhaps this is the same third party that caused the revolution as in Georgia and Ukraine." It is not always easy for those digging into such things, having to watch their backs and maintain psychological balance at the same time.

Writes one researcher who assisted in writing this article, "I see what they're getting at, if you try to come to the U.S. - they'll snag you and ship you off to Guantanamo for torture. Better to stay there: Azerbaijan may be torture, but torture under Rumsfeld is like going to a Nazi concentration camp. By the way, the ACLU is suing him."

Two major U.S human rights groups recently filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield on behalf of Afghan and Iraqi plaintiffs who claim that they have been tortured and abused while in the custody of US authorities.

"Terrorists Are Here" -- Journalist

This article is written under duress, while trying to get the word out to as many stakeholders, so that the "wise guys" won't think they are only one-on-one. It was understood by "Azerbaijan Today" that a journalist was going to be killed, and it was not the Azeri government that was calling the shots. But then the propensity to hang out in the most dangerous Caucasian recesses can get a journalist into more trouble than just the usual beating. This is well-known, even to this author, in trying to work out what was really happening in those places where the official maps read "Terrorists Are Here" and to have been arrested in Azerbaijan under an old warrant to have a passport confiscated.
Authorities in Azerbaijan are not so obtuse to shut up an opposition journalist in such a crude method, especially in light of the events in Ukraine and the aftermath of the unexplained death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania last month. The gangland-style murder of Elmar Huseynov, Editor-in-Chief of the Monitor magazine, could not come at a worst time, with political externalities and "recriminations" at every turn.

Kiev Connection

Consider, for example, the death of former Ukrainian Interior Minister, Yury Kravchenko, who was found dead in his home on Friday 4th March 2005 in an apparent suicide likely connected to the rapidly accelerating investigation into the murder of the Georgian journalist Georgy Gongadze who lived in the Ukraine. Yury Kravchenko was expected to give testimony within hours as to his role and knowledge of the killing of Gongadze.
Gongadze - the muckraking founder of Ukrainska Pravda, an Internet news site - vanished on 16th September 2000 after authoring a series of stories that uncovered high-level corruption under the previous government of President Leonid Kuchma. Gongadze's headless body was found two months later in a forest outside Kiev. Mr. Gongadze is thought to have been a real thorn in the side of Kuchma and his corrupted minions. Unofficial recordings made by one of Mr. Kuchma's bodyguards included more than a dozen references to him by Mr. Kuchma, Mr. Kravchenko and others. Gongadze's headless body was found two months after his disappearance in a forest 75 miles from Kiev.

Nonetheless, such murders sound more like the work of special services, Virginia farm boy types, Russian military intelligence (GRU) and all those in the shadows who have these old tricks up their sleeves. Iranian or Russian intelligence too may have a vested interest, not in the murder of a specific journalist but in the bigger picture, and it is equal measure for what happened in Syria and the regional "bang for a buck" would be even greater in the Caucasus. It is as if the preferred choice of victim by the "fingered perpetrators" could not be worse in their timing or any less politically expedient.

It is well understood that Azerbaijan fully appreciates the ramifications that the US has discussed about using Azeri territory to attack Iran over its nuclear program. In fact, the plans are already prepared. With Navy Seals training over the summer in Baku, the targets for special operations have already been picked. Nevertheless, this would be political suicide for the Azeri leadership. The excuse of an antiterrorist operation, as in Afghanistan, and the possibility of Azerbaijan providing its airspace and territories for operations against Iran, cannot be put under the same cover this time around. Informed sources have stated, "the Azeri Preisident, Ilham Aliev, will never agree to Azerbaijan being used for offensive military action against Iran."

Despite contradictions between Azerbaijan and Iran on the issue of the dividing the Caspian among littoral states, relations between Tehran and Baku have improved. Iran expressed it is building trust with the current leadership, by agreeing to the visit of President Ilham Aliev early this year to the historical homeland of Azeris - Tebriz. Peaceful neighbors are to the dismay of the US administration and flies in the face of the New Great Game.

Ever since Ilham Aliev became President in November 2003, Azerbaijan's policy towards Russia, USA and Iran has become more balance d. It is expected that there is now a regional potential for growth of the national economy but this may be quashed if the US starts a war in Iran. What then, will be the potential consequences for Azerbaijan?
Nevertheless, there are always less obvious ways to kill a journalist or Prime Minister, so there was a reason why he was killed in this manner. Reading about and investigating this killing makes any journalist want to keep a low profile.
For those who haven't been following, one cutting-edge website states that Georgian Prime Minister, Zurab Zhvania, died on February 3rd 2005 from carbon monoxide poisoning; authorities there have so far called the death accidental. Zhvania's young friend, his host for the evening, also died in the fatal "leak from a faulty Iranian heater."
Is it accidental that this young friend was Azeri? The heater in question is sometimes referred to as a "badly installed Iranian-made heater" or an "Iranian heater that was recently installed ignoring safety codes," but, oddly, if it's a Georgian official speaking, they inevitably bring up the fact that the heater was from Iran.

Conspiracies Theories: "Georgian Case Study"

In another conspiracy theory, some Russian media reports have alleged that plots to disrupt ongoing peace efforts with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, for comparison purposes, are connected to Zhvania's death and regional intrigues. Many in Georgia "did not like" Zhvania's call for negotiations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, his talks with former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze, or his support for a troop withdrawal from South Ossetia in August 2004", said a commentary published by the daily Noviye Izvestiya on 5 February.

By placing the blame on "external forces" for the events in Gori, where a bomb blast took its toll on the regional police station, and within days, the Prime Minister was found dead, the daily newspaper Gudok commented on 5th February, "Tbilisi is seeking justification for possible hard-line measures against the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. At the same time", the daily concluded, "the Georgian government hopes to secure additional Western pressure on Moscow in connection with the status of both breakaway regions, which depend heavily on Russia for economic and political support".

Russian legislators, echoing the media's tone, expect Tbilisi to adopt a harder line in its dealings with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Andrei Kokoshin, head of the Russian Duma's Committee for Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, was quoted on 8th February by the RIA-Novosti news agency as saying that "[t] here are numerous signs which confirm that Tbilisi is far from rejecting its plans over a forceful settlement of the South Ossetian problem. It has not ruled out that Tbilisi will try to escalate tensions in South Ossetia by spring."

Chain Smoking and Men.

Some Moscow analysts consider Zhvania to be a victim of political intrigue in Tbilisi. "The Georgian premier's death was not an accident," said Vladimir Razuvaev, head of the Economic and Political Research Center, a Moscow-based think-tank. "It could have been connected with the party of war within the Georgian leadership." This January, media attention in Georgia focused on an alleged dispute between a so-called "party of peace" headed by Zurab Zhvania, who favored negotiation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and an alleged "party of war" that urged a more aggressive approach toward regional integration. Aside from his passion for a dry, temperate national stability, Zurab Zhvania was also known in Georgia for his two other loves: chain smoking and men.