 NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell was roughed up in Khartoum Thursday by Sudanese security officials after she asked a tough question during a news conference with Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. | Video, I want video, dammit! |
Mitchell was dragged out of the room by two Sudanese security officers after she asked Bashir during a photo op about his role in the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region refugee camps, where as many as 300,000 people have been killed. Mitchell had asked why Bashir could be trusted to keep his word about stopping the violence in Darfur. "Two goons from his security forces inside the presidential palace dragged me from behind, started dragging me out of the room," Mitchell said on NBC's "Today." "I kept asking the question, they kept dragging me, pulling my arm, unplugging my microphone." | Ok, points for you, Andrea. Maybe your getting roughed up will draw a little attention to this crisis. |
Mitchell, the wife of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, was shaken but unhurt -- and angry. | Well, there goes what little economy Sudan had. I wouldn't want Greenspan pissed at me. |
Rice demanded -- and later received, on her departure -- a formal apology for that and other incidents during the secretary of state's brief trip to Darfur. During the meeting between Rice and Bashir, several U.S. officials weren't allowed to enter the room, and Rice's assistant Jim Wilkinson was slammed against the wall by Sudanese security forces when he tried to get into the room. The other reporters got into the photo op only at the insistence of State Department public affairs official Sean McClellan, Mitchell said. He wouldn't go along with the Sudanese demand that there be no questions. "We have a free press," McClellan said, and Sudanese officials said, "There is no freedom of the press here." Mitchell told MSNBC.com that the treatment of the Americans is nothing compared to what's going on in Darfur and gave little hope of improvement. "Many of the players are the bad guys who carried out these policies in the past, including President Omar al-Bashir, my new best friend," Mitchell said. | Gee, I hope that's a threat. Maybe Andrea has woken up to the fact there are worse people in the world than George Bush. |
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