Examination of Witnesses (Questions 860-862)
MR MARTIN
IVENS, MR
ALEX THOMSON
AND MR
MARK URBAN
2 JULY 2003
Q860 Chairman: Did you have armed
guards?
Mr Thomson: I do not think so,
but I never actually frisked them to find out. The context of
that was that as the embedding process broke up, as it inevitably
does, it fractures and falls apart, there were two security guards
on site basically trying to find out what had happened to Terry,
Fred and Hussain and investigate that, recover bodies and so forth.
That was what they were there for, but they were living where
we were living and you get chatting, you begin to take their advice,
they see the world as soldiers do, which is enormously beneficial
because as a journalist you will never do that. In terms of using
armed guards, it is without question one of the most serious issues
now facing journalistic organisations, just in terms of health
and safety, because there have been a number of instances, particularly
since the invasion finished, where a number of companies have
quite definitely had people who not only accompanied them with
guns, but have at least brandished them and I think I am right
in saying maybe even used then on a number of occasions. It is
extremely dangerous.
Q861 Chairman: Are there any guidelines
for the hiring?
Mr Thomson: Do not carry guns.
Do not do it.
Q862 Chairman: I presume in some
cases they might be soldiers and in some cases militia and in
some cases maybe hired contract security guards. I know of occasions
when the BBC, going into dangerous areas, has to hire protection.
I just wondered.
Mr Thomson: It just depends. When
I was working in Mogadishu, for instance, the first vehicle I
was involved in had a horizontally mounted four-bar anti-aircraft
rig and the man who was driving that said "Taxi, Sir?".
That is Mogadishu. You do not exactly stand out. When it is in
the culture that everyone goes around with people who have an
AK, that is how it works and that is kind of understood. What
we are getting to in somewhere like Baghdad is a very different
situation, when you may very clearly become a target through misunderstanding.
Somebody might see people with you have guns, might suspect you
of being special forces or something like that. It is pretty obvious
and it is a pretty dangerous path.
Chairman: Gentlemen, we would go on much
longer but thank you very much, very enlightening. Although we
do find your profession somewhat irritating on occasions, as you
occasionally find ours, I am afraid we are both stuck with each
other and you generally do a very, very professional job. Thank
you so very much.
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