Some of the control is not so subtle. One example is religion. For more than a month, we have had a request in to see U.S. servicemen exercise their constitutional right to practice religion. We have been forbidden to do that on the theory from the military that it's going to somehow upset the Saudis. At the same time, people in the United States have a right to know whether or not servicemen are being allowed to practice their religious freedom. We haven't seen that. The Army tells us that they are getting that privilege but having the Army say that isn't good enough. We have to see it.
. . . What do you think is motivating the people who decide press policy in the military? What's their point of view do you think? Have they told you?
I think it is clearly just public relations. They want to put the best face on the U.S. military. And that's fine, but of course in war and in preparations for war not everything goes exactly according to plan. There's been a lot of snafus, and they don't want those shown.
Collection developer Eddie Foote's information on Chris Burry. In 1991, he had been a correspondent for ABC News for 9 years. Before going to the Middle East he was based in Chicago. The interview was taped in Dhahran.
Transcriber's comments. This interview was transcribed "on the fly". While every attempt has been made to capture the words exactly, no representations of accuracy are being made.
Reviewed . Revised . Refreshed 28 January 2003 and 28 January 2008