Inexcusable if True

Reporters Without Borders says New Orleans police assaulted correspondents:

Reporter Tim Harper and photographer Lucas Oleniuk of the Canadian Toronto Star daily were the victims of police violence while covering a clash between police and looters. The police threatened them several times at gunpoint and, when they realised Oleniuk had photographed them hitting looters, they hurled him to the ground, grabbed his two cameras and removed memory cards containing around 350 pictures. His press card was also torn from him. When he asked for his pictures back, the police insulted him and threatened to hit him....

A second incident involved Gordon Russell of the New Orleans-based Times-Picayune daily as he was covering a shoot-out between police and local residents near the convention centre where hurricane victims were awaiting evacuation. The police detained Russell and smashed all of his equipment on the ground. Russell was forced to flee to avoid further violence and reportedly left the city the same day.

One side of the story, in the middle of mass disorder, etc. But if this report captures the essence of the thing, every friend of liberty must condemn it.

I've read elsewhere on the blogosphere (I'll try to find the link) that some government LEO raised a weapon in the direction of reporters to fan them back from some perimeter--this might have been one of those places where reporters were trying to shoot photos of corpses. Forget about the politics for a moment. If true, that's amateur hour and a blot on whatever agency was represented by a bush-league employee. I'm no Navy Seal, but as any basic NRA instructor will tell you, you never point a gun at anyone unless you intend to shoot him.  And for all practical purposes, you don't shoot at anyone unless you intend to kill him.

The standard for taking life in this country is supposed to be higher than being annoyed by know-it-all reporters.