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US attack on Baghdad media hotel no accident: rights group
 BAGHDAD (AFP) - A media rights group has called for a full probe into the 2003 shelling of a Baghdad hotel by US troops which killed two foreign journalists, claiming that new evidence showed the incident was not an accident The International Federation of Journalists said the United States should "tell the whole truth" about the incident at the Palestine Hotel on April 8, 2003, just a day before Baghdad fell to US invading forces. The IFJ said a former US army sergeant had reported seeing secret US documents that listed the hotel as a possible target, in a statement which it said "exposed as a cover-up" contained in the US allegation that the shelling was an accident. "Slowly, the awful truth about the events of that day are emerging," IFJ general secretary Aidan White said in a statement. "This latest information adds to our concern that the failure to properly investigate and report on this attack is covering up the reality that the US was recklessly putting media lives at risk." Spanish cameraman Jose Couso, who worked for the private television station Telecinco, and Ukraine-born Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, were killed at the hotel, which was home to about 150 journalists and media staff at the time. A Spanish court last week threw out murder charges against three US soldiers over the Couso killing, saying there was insufficient evidence indicating an "intentional desire" by the US soldiers to target civilians in the hotel. There was no immediate confirmation from the US military in Baghdad to the IFJ statement. Iraq remains the most dangerous country from which to report. According to Journalism Freedom Observatory, a group monitoring and defending the rights of Iraq journalists, 232 media employees -- including 22 foreigners -- have been killed since the 2003 US led-invasion. Among them, 179 of them were killed while on the job, while the remainder were killed for sectarian reasons or in random acts of violence. At least 14 journalists are also being held hostage by various groups, according to the media watchdog. Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-05-19 |
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