2 murders and a lie

[donsu]

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=9045&var_recherche=Palestine+Hotel


Two murders and a lie
An investigation of the US Army's firing at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on 8 April 2003


Reporters Without Borders called today for the reopening of the enquiry into who was really responsible for the US Army's "criminal negligence" in shooting at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on 8 April 2003 and causing the death of two journalists - Ukrainian cameramen Taras Protsyuk (of Reuters news agency) and Spaniard José Couso (of the Spanish TV station Telecinco).

The call came in a report of the press freedom organisation's own in-depth investigation of the incident, which gathered evidence from journalists in the hotel at the time, from others "embedded" with US Army units and from the US military soldiers and officers directly involved.

The report said US officials at first lied about what happened and then, in an official statement four months later, exonerated the US Army from any mistake or error of judgement. The report provides only some of the truth about the incident, which needs to be further investigated to establish exactly who was responsible.

Pentagon spokespersons said right from the start that an M1 Abrams tank opened fire on the hotel in legitimate self-defence in response to "enemy fire" coming from the hotel or the area around it. This line was maintained and emphasised at the highest official level in the days that followed.

Sgt. Shawn Gibson, the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) tank gunner who fired the fatal shot, and his immediate superior, Capt. Philip Wolford, who authorised it, denied they had fired because of shooting from the hotel. They said the 4-64 Armor Company of the 3ID's 2nd Brigade, which was stationed on the Al-Jumhuriya Bridge soon after US troops entered Baghdad, was in fact seeking to neutralise an Iraqi "spotter" monitoring and reporting on US military activity. Some of this data caused the US Army to change its line slightly in its official report released on 12 August 2003. It did not speak of direct shooting but of an "enemy hunter/killer team" which required a response in legitimate self-defence. This too was a lie - by omission.
-snip-
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more power to Reporters Without Borders

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Ah well, just more "collateral damage".

As everyone knows, "collateral damage" aren't people. They are "acceptable" casualties of "unfortunate mistakes".

What is really sad about this is, had the two reporters been Iraqi civilians, it would have gone unnoticed and uncommented on.

[Gyre]

2. Non-embedded journalists

Are de facto considered "the enemy". That tank shell was a warning to other non-embedded "journalists". Who did the American army learn this despicable practice from? You tell me. (hint: acronym is IDF).

Gyre