Freedom of the press....

At times, our press is frustrating, focusing more on hype than facts. But stories like this remind me that despite the flaws of our media and our government at least things like this aren't accepted. It's rather disappointing that this "new" democracy we've created in Iraq doesn't appear to be one....

Iraqi police have detained a correspondent of Dubai-based television Al-Arabiya at Baghdad airport after confiscating film footage, the interior ministry confirmed.

"He was arrested at the airport because police found in his baggage a cassette about Falluja," a bastion of resistance recaptured in a US-led offensive late last year, a ministry official said on Monday.

The television said it was in contact with the ministry to secure the release of the correspondent, whom it named as Wail Isam.

According to the station, another correspondent based in Falluja was detained for 11 days in November by the US military, which led the massive onslaught to wrest the city from anti-US fighters.

Arresting Journalists if you don't like the story is common in the middle east, for democracy to really work that is going to have to stop, as well as incidents like today when they stopped covering the National Assembly. Arguments broke out and the feed was cut replaced with an Iraqi folk singer, ala Saddam days. Yes, creating a democracy is hard work but you have to start with a foundation of really wanting freedom and truth or the rest of it will crumble around you like todays Assembly did.