Did US military target journalists in Iraq?
While media organizations say reporters not targeted, they charge US troops are killing journalists 'because of negligence or indifference.'
When top
CNN news executive Eason Jordan made comments at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the US military
had targeted journalists in Iraq, he set off a firestorm of controversy that eventually
led to his resignation. (Mr. Jordan eventually "backpedalled" from his remarks, and said he did not mean to imply that "US forces acted with ill intent when US forces accidentally killed journalists.")
But while Jordan's resignation may have temporarily quieted the storm around his particular comments, the charges he made continue to reverberate.
The Guardian reports that Friday the International Federation of Journalists accused the US government of hiding behind a "
culture of denial" over the deaths of journalists in Iraq, and said the US had to take "responsibility for its actions."
Joel Campagna of the
Committee to Protect Journalists writes that while there is no evidence the US military is targeting journalists,
too many journalists are dying "at the hands of the hands of US soldiers because of negligence or indifference ... And when journalists are killed, the military often seems ... unwilling to launch an adequate investigation or take steps to mitigate risk."
Mr. Campagna notes that while insurgent violence is the leading cause of death for journalists in Iraq (34 out of 54), "US military fire is the second-leading cause of death. At least nine journalists and two media support staff have died as a result of US fire in Iraq in the last 23 months."
Writing in
Lew Rockwell.com, a Libertarian commentary website, Paul W. Lovinger notes several examples of journalists who were
killed or wounded by US troops in Iraq. Specifically, he mentions the tank shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, even though the US military had been told that there were journalists at the hotel.
The French Press Agency reported next day that footage by France 3 television 'shows a US tank targeting the journalists' hotel and waiting at least two minutes before firing.' The Department of Defense claimed the shooting was self-defense. Reporters Without Borders said that all the facts indicated 'exactly the opposite.' The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), based in Brussels, accused the Pentagon of a 'cynical whitewash.' "
But the
Boston Herald's Jules Crittenden was embedded with the US military, and was on the scene when a US Army tank fired on the Palestine Hotel. In an online interview with a blogger, Crittenden
tells in detail his story of how the soldiers took pains not to target civilians.
Reporters Without Borders made the
following comments in their 2004 annual report on media in Iraq
As guerrilla attacks increased in Iraq during the summer of 2003, US soldiers became more aggressive with the media, especially Arab journalists, who were accused by the US of sympathizing or even collaborating with the attackers. US obstruction of journalists reached the point where on 12 November, the US media expressed their joint concern about it to the Pentagon. A press spokesman for the US-British forces, US Maj. William Thurmond, said 'guidance' had been given to military units "explicitly stating that reporters are not to be interfered with" but he admitted that 'individual soldiers' had not followed these instructions. Liberal magazine
The Nation looks at comments made by
Reuters and the
BBC, about the
attitudes of the US military towards journalists in Iraq.
"We have had three deaths, and they were all non-embedded, non-coalition nationals and they were all at the hands of the US military, and the reaction of the US authorities in each case was that they were somehow justified," David Schlesinger,
Reuters's global managing editor, said in November [of 2004]. "What is the US's position on nonembeds? Are nonembedded journalists fair game?"
One of the
BBC's top news anchors, Nik Gowing, said recently that he was "speak[ing] for a large number of news organizations, many of whom are not really talking publicly about this at the moment," when he made this statement about the dangers facing reporters in Iraq: "The trouble is that a lot of the military – particularly the American...military – do not want us there. And they make it very uncomfortable for us to work. And I think that this...is leading to security forces in some instances feeling it is legitimate to target us with deadly force and with impunity."
Phillip Knightley is one of Britain's most reknowned journalists and author of "The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist and Myth-Maker," considered by many to be the 'definitive work on war journalism and government spin.' He reportedly told a Media and War conference at Berkeley University last year that there will be no
investigation into whether the US targeted journalists because the military has won a "
clear-cut victory" over the media in Iraq by decisively controlling the battlefield.
Campagna, of the
Committee to Protect Journalists, says that while some good steps to improve security for journalists have been taken by the US military, Mr. Campagna says
a lot more needs to be done.
For starters, the Pentagon should act swiftly to implement the military's own safety recommendations from its Mazen Dana report [a
Reuters cameraman killed by US tank fire outside Abu Ghraib prison in 2003], which include calls to improve military communication regarding the presence of journalists in conflict areas, improve communications between the military and the media, and reassess the rules of engagement for US troops.
US officials should also work closely with news organizations on addressing specific safety concerns on the ground all of which would constitute an important step toward avoiding more needless deaths.
Also...
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Army destroyed mock execution pictures (
ABC News)
•
Putin confident Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons (
Radio Free Europe)
•
Syria 'out of step' in Mideast, Bush says (
SignOnSanDiego.com)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
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