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Journalists are viable targets?


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 [2003] 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.

The report concluded that lack of procedures for communicating the presence of journalists among U.S. troops contributed to the tragedy.

Dana's widow Suzan said in the Palestinian city of Ramallah: "I am not satisfied with the investigation at all. They said that Mazen did not do anything wrong, but at the same time they did not criticise the soldier who killed him. They are only trying to justify their actions."


The Guardian's report at the time of the shooting suggests that the American forces were more than aware of the presence of Mazen and other journalists

Nael al-Shyoukhi, a Reuters soundman, said the soldiers "saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission.

"After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film.

"I followed him and Mazen walked three to four metres. We were noted and seen clearly.

"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest. I cried at the soldier, telling him 'you killed a journalist'. They shouted at me and asked me to step back and I said 'I will step back but please help, please help'."

He said they tried to help but Dana was bleeding heavily. "Mazen took a last breath and died before my eyes."





Meanwhile the bodies on both sides pile high. As of Thursday, April 8, 642 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 448 died as a result of hostile action and 194 died of non-hostile causes.

No one defines "non hostile causes" but a quick scan through the web site seems to suggest that bullets from American guns and road traffic accidents are the biggest causes of casualties. Just like being back home eh?
posted by kwacky at 8:49 am