U.S. says shooting of cameraman was justified

[Aidoneus]

U.S. says shooting of cameraman was justified
Mon 22 March, 2004 13:50

LONDON (Reuters) - An American soldier who killed Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana in Iraq was justified in opening fire, a U.S. army report says.

The report, made public on Monday seven months after Dana died, found that the soldier's "decision to fire at Mr Dana, though tragic and regrettable, was justified based on the information available to him at the time."

Reuters said it could not agree that the death of Dana, a prize-winning Palestinian cameraman, was justified and called for the urgent implementation of recommendations in the report to improve the safety of journalists in war zones.

It said Dana would not have died in the shooting outside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison on August 17 if the recommendations had been in place.

The Army report said the soldier, who shot from a tank, had a "reasonable certainty" that Dana was about to fire a rocket- propelled grenade (RPG), having mistaken his camera for a launcher. But it said the tank commander recognised Dana was holding a camera immediately after the fatal shots were fired.

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http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=480872§ion=news

[Jack_Dawson]

1. I can't judge - I haven't been in War

It's easy for us to sit here in front of our computers and say what we would or wouldn't do. But living 24/7 on a battlefield with your life at risk, and an Arab gentleman points something at you - I might shoot too. Who the fuck knows unless you've been there.

[Bozita]

2. Funny how many journalists have died in Iraq

Funny how all seem to have been killed by American forces.

Keep moving, folks. Nothing to see here. C'mon, keep moving.