United states Armed Forces (private mercenaries) in Baghdad, Iraq, conduct a pre-dawn raid on the home of Dr. Ali Fadhil, a recipient of the Foreign Press Association Young Journalist of the year award.  Fadhil had been working on an expose on the malfeasance of tens of millions of “dollars” in reconstruction funds, for the United Kingdom’s Channel 4.  The raid is conducted under the pretense of looking for an Iraqi insurgent; but several of Fadhil’s video tapes are also seized.  Although Fadhil his released from custody a few hours later.  His videotapes are not returned.  The U.s. Armed Forces in Iraq had learned just a few days previous that Fadhil was working on the expose.

       [restored 1/6/2024]