With Egyptians horrified at photos showing Americans torturing Iraqi prisoners, the US ambassador to Egypt accused some publications -- again -- of needlessly inflaming an already heated atmosphere. Shaden Shehab reports Lurid photos that appeared in three prominent Egyptian publications, allegedly depicting US soldiers sexually abusing Iraqi women, ended up sparking yet another chapter in US Ambassador to Cairo David Welch's long- running skirmish with the Egyptian press. The American Embassy in Cairo called the publication of the fake photos, which appeared as part of the press frenzy surrounding the very real photos of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison, a "fundamental violation of journalistic integrity". The two newspapers -- the daily Al-Wafd and the weekly Al-Osbou' -- as well as the weekly magazine, Al-Mussawar, that ran the photos (which actually originated on a pornographic Web site) later acknowledged their mistake, while remaining adamant that the embassy's statement, as a whole was skewed. The embassy -- which issued the statement almost a week after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke on 28 March -- had said that although "there is no excuse for the kind of abuse perpetrated by a small minority of people at Abu Ghraib," there was no justification for "exacerbating the situation by publishing fake photos and claims designed to raise the emotional temperature even further." The embassy also questioned the journalists' integrity and intentions. A simple Internet search, it said, would have clearly revealed the photos to be fakes; the publications, however, chose not to make that kind of effort. The embassy also asked the publications for a "retraction". Although the 7 May front page of Al-Wafd featured extracts from the embassy's statement, it also featured the paper's response: " Al-Wafd does not pause for too long regarding the [fake] rape photos [incident], since it was just one part of a larger issue and does not affect the general conclusion of the events." That conclusion, the paper said, was that a superpower had occupied a nation and killed its people for no valid reason. Not only did 12 years of US-mandated sanctions turn Iraq into a weak state with a flimsy army, the paper said, but all the reasons provided for the war -- possible links to 9/11, Al-Qa'eda and WMD -- had proven false. Nor, the paper said, was it justifiable to attack a country and occupy it just because it was being ruled by a dictator. The press syndicate also expressed its "refusal of the embassy's and the ambassador's attempts to interfere with the Egyptian press". It urged journalists, at the same time, to verify their material so as not to allow such mishaps to distract people from the real issue. The syndicate said it was "astonished" by the American Embassy's "attempts to divert attention from the shameful, horrific crime that was committed by the American occupying forces to male and female Iraqi prisoners ... by claiming that some of the photos published by the Egyptian press are fake." The syndicate also said it was steadfast in its "rejection of such interference in the Egyptian press that has become normal for the American Embassy and the ambassador himself." The Egyptian and Arab press, the syndicate said, had a duty to actively participate in revealing American and Israeli crimes in Iraq and Palestine. Arab Journalists Federation Secretary- General Salaheddin Hafez, a prominent Al- Ahram writer, told the Weekly that, "such accusations are trivial. Yes, journalists have to check the factuality of printed or photographic material. But the Egyptian press did not provoke the world by publishing a few fake pictures. The real pictures had already done the job ... Rumsfeld himself confessed that worse pictures remain unpublished. So what are we arguing about?" Speaking to reporters on Monday during a grant distribution event at the Hope Village Society Centre as part of the US Embassy's self-help programme for non-governmental organisations, Welch said, "I know and you know that [the torture scandal] causes public outrage not just here, but in my country also. To say that that is a big problem ... should cause us to realise that we do not want problems that are not real." The ambassador said he respected "the objectivity of journalists. We have never run away from this story. Quite the contrary, we are the ones who put it out in public." However, he said, "it is my job as the ambassador of the United States to Egypt [that] when I see things that are not factual I will disagree with them. And when I see something that I do not like because I reject it in human terms, such as the mistreatment that has occurred, I will say that specifically also." Because "the real photos are provocative and incendiary," Welch wondered, "why add to the problem unless you have a bad intention?" According to Press Syndicate Secretary- General Yehia Qallash, the syndicate council is tired of Welch's complaints about journalists' professional standards. "The US ambassador has the right to defend his country's policies and explain them. But we do not expect the ambassador to accuse newspapers of enflaming the atmosphere at a time when the injustice being inflicted on the Arab people is too much to bear," Qallash said. Welch's first high-profile critique of the press came during a speech he made at the American Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting on 28 May 2003, when he said that although "Egypt had modern newspapers since 1875, give or take a year ... the craft of journalism in Egypt is nowhere near as developed [as it should be]." Welch cited a column by prominent Al-Ahram and Al-Ahram Weekly columnist Salama Ahmed Salama as an example. Salama's comparison of Saddam Hussein and Donald Rumsfeld, Welch said at the time, represented an "obtuse" judgment "that should not stand without rebuke". Today, it would appear that Salama's harsh criticism of Rumsfeld as being "no less brutal nor less unfair than ... Saddam Hussein" has even more relevance. At the time, Welch suggested that Egyptian journalists might benefit from American "offers to support programmes that will help Egyptian journalists enhance their professional skills and broaden their horizons." A few months later, while speaking at the American University in Cairo, Welch called for journalists "to demonstrate some responsibility and exercise sound judgment before allowing hostile and unprofessional attacks into print". This time his reference to "regrettable articles" in the Egyptian press that are "proposing crazy conspiracy theories" pointed to a piece in Al-Gomhouriya that described a September 2003 suicide attack in Haifa as an "act of martyrdom" rather than an "act of terrorism". That outburst resulted in a Press Syndicate request that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher summon Welch and notify him of the syndicate's anger. The syndicate also called on journalists to boycott the ambassador, and stop publishing news about him. Maher ended up describing Welch's attempts to influence the media as being undemocratic.
