Politics: Un-Embedded Ire

I think the points I was trying to make yesterday in my item about the dangers of the embedded journalist program are emphasised by this Washington Post item. I feel like Howard Kurtz wrote the item a little too tongue in cheek, like, "what a riot, this reporter is defying the military's embedded mouthpiece program and now nobody can find him." It isn't a riot, it's an attack on the freedom of the press.

The military is very aware of the value of the embedded reporters, but also the danger they perceive from unembedded journalists doing the work that helped Americans to understand what was actually happening in past conflicts. They've decided that this reporter, who had signed no document promising to censor his reports for the government (unlike embedded reporters), was a threat to them because he was speaking freely. They either confiscated his equipment or detained him. Shouldn't this be something we should worry about? Isn't it freedom that the Bush administration keeps claiming it is fighting for?