Journalism På Kulturhuset Starring Patrick Cockburn

Idag på Kulturhuset diskuterar man journalism och de faror som finns. "För att hedra den mördade svenske journalisten Martin Adler och lyfta frågan bjuder vi nu in till ett internationellt seminarium om den säkerhetspolitiska situationen i världen, hoten mot journalisterna, hur de som rapporterar kan skyddas och hur krigskorrespondenter jobbar."

Dessvärre är det fullbokat sen en tid tillbaka. Med på seminariet är en av mina favoritjournalister, Patrick Cockburn. I den senaste av hans artiklar undrar han Vem Är Muqtada al-Sadr.

"The rise of Muqtada has been one of the surprises of the four years since the US invaded. Saddam Hussein must have been astonished as he went to his execution to hear the name: "Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqatada!" shouted by jeering onlookers. Had Saddam realised the potential of this strange, enigmatic young man before the invasion then he would doubtless have killed him, as he did Muqtada's father and two of his brothers eight years ago."

"It is difficult to avoid Muqtada's presence in Baghdad. Dressed in his dark clerical robes, he peers menacingly from posters on thousands of walls. His Mehdi Army militiamen control not only Sadr City but much of the capital and southern Iraq. He is an essential prop to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which six ministers belong to his movement.
Yet the source of his power has remained a mystery to the US and many Iraqi politicians. Few men have been so consistently underestimated. He is not a great orator, nor does he have huge charisma. His movement has limited resources. Until recently, his militiamen were unpaid and provided their own weapons. He does not have a powerful foreign backer. In spite of US efforts to link him to Iran and claim that he has fled there, he and his movement have traditionally been suspicious of the Iranians, and they of him."

Jag önskar att DN översatte honom oftare. Jag önskar att även hans reportageböcker översätts till svenska.