Government Censoring the Media? Is it possible?

The man pictured on the left is Mark Manning. He went to Fallujah, Iraq, to document the war. What he found was shocking - the United States had used chemical weapons against the civilian population of the city. He returned to the US with the intention of making as many Americans aware of what happened using the footage he shot while in Iraq. (see the Italian RAI News video under the "Important Media" links on this blog) The following is an excerpt from the Santa Barbara Independent. Click here for the whole story.

Manning’s biggest surprise came after he’d returned home to the United States. Arriving in San Francisco late on the night of February 11, Manning and Natalie Kalustian, a close friend and filmmaking partner, crashed at the Oceanside Motel on 46th Avenue. The next morning, after a stroll near Baker Beach, they returned to their car to find one of the windows smashed. Expensive camera and computer equipment lay in plain view, but only Kalustian’s purse was gone. Inside the purse, Manning said, were keys to their motel room. And when Manning and Kalustian returned to the motel, he recounted, someone had broken into their room. Even though there was jewelry and more film equipment lying about, he said, none of it was touched. In fact, said Manning, none of the suitcases had even been opened. The only thing missing, Manning said, was the big bowling-ball shaped bag containing his camera — and all his taped interviews.

At that time, Manning had not been back in the United States for more than 10 hours.