US forces prevent journalists from covering protest
US troops in Iraq have tried to prevent journalists from covering protests outside the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, according to Reuters.
Up to 300 Iraqis gathered outside the Palestine Hotel to express rage at what they said was the US failure to restore order after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. For the first time, visibly angered US military officials sought to distance the media from the protest, moving reporters and cameras about 30 metres from the barbed-wired entrance to the hotel. "We want you to pull back to the back of the hotel because they (the Iraqis) are only performing because the media are here," said a marines colonel who would not give his first name or title. - AFP, US bans media from protests.