Press Conference From Hell

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"I don't know what the news is from the rest of Iraq or even what's going on with the governor of Najaf," writes Chris Albritton, a freelance journalist who has been covering the fighting in Iraq. "I do know what's happening with the police department, however. They're raiding the Sea of Najaf hotel and rounding the 100 or so journalists at gunpoint and subjecting them to mass arrest." Albritton describes his recent experience, when police "raided the hotel and forced all the journalists out onto the street. We were terrified. The cops yelled at us and pointed their weapons toward us. Several large trucks were waiting and knew we would be loaded onto them. Then they started shooting. ... BANG BANG! They fired their weapons just over our heads forcing us to crouch." The reporters were hauled off to the police station, where they were treated to what Albritton describes as "the most bizarre press conference of my life." The police chief informed them that "The Shrine would be stormed tonight, ... and we would be allowed to get on a bus and go visit it tomorrow to see the damage the Mahdi Army had done to it. The Sistani protesters in Kufa were really Mahdi guys and they had to be killed. Oh, and thank you for coming." Albritton says the Najaf police are "like the old regime, only less disciplined. They're terrifying and they're the most dangerous element in this conflict. ... The police here have been engaging in a systematic intimidation of us for three weeks now. The governor of Najaf has reportedly threatened to jail journalists who don't write down exactly what he says when he says it in interviews."