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Journalism of Courage
A US tank fired on a Baghdad hotel packed with foreign journalists on Tuesday, killing two cameramen, one from Reuters, the other from Spanish television Telecinco. A third journalist, from Al Jazeera, was killed in what the Arab television channel called a US air strike on its office.
Three other Reuters staff 8212; a reporter, a photographer and technician 8212; were wounded in the hotel shelling.
Reporters saw an American tank point its turret gun at the Palestine Hotel, home to most international media in Baghdad. Seconds later, a shell slammed into the Reuters office on the 15th floor with a deafening crash.
The US military said it had been fired on first from the hotel but journalists there questioned the claim. The military said it regretted any casualties but said Baghdad was a war zone and safeguards could not be given.
Reuters8217; Warsaw-based Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, died in hospital. The international news organisation8217;s editor-in-chief Geert Linnebank said the loss was 8216;8216;so unnecessary8217;8217; and raised questions about US troops8217; judgment.
Protsyuk, who had worked in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, was one of Reuters8217; most experienced television journalists and part of an 18-member Reuters team in Baghdad.
Spain8217;s Tele 5 Telecinco television said Jose Couso, 37, also died in hospital after being hit in the jaw and leg.
Lebanese-born Samia Nakhoul, Reuters8217; Gulf bureau chief based in Dubai, and Iraqi photographer Faleh Kheiber suffered facial and head wounds and concussion. Television satellite dish coordinator Paul Pasquale, a Briton, suffered leg wounds.
On a grim day for journalists covering the war, Al Jazeera television said its reporter-producer Tarek Ayoub died in a separate US strike that hit its offices. A day earlier, an Iraqi strike killed a German and Spanish reporter near Baghdad.
In a statement from its Doha headquarters, Al Jazeera denounced Ayoub8217;s death as a 8216;8216;tragic act8217;8217;. 8216;8216;Al Jazeera believes that the real victim is journalist and professional integrity,8217;8217; it said.
The network said Ayoub, who leaves behind a one-year-old daughter, was a 8216;8216;martyr8217;8217; 8212; a label it has often used to describe Iraqi civilians killed in the 20-day-old war.
Jazeera8217;s Baghdad correspondent Majed Abdel Hadi called the US missile strike and Ayoub8217;s death a 8216;8216;crime8217;8217;. 8216;8216;We were targeted because the Americans don8217;t want the world to see the crimes they are committing against the Iraqi people,8217;8217; he added.
US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, spokesman for Central Command war headquarters in Qatar, said: 8216;8216;Reports indicate the coalition force operating near the hotel took fire from the lobby of the hotel and returned fire.8217;8217;
But when asked why the tank hit a floor so high up, he said: 8216;8216;I may have mis-spoken on exactly where the fire came from.8217;8217; He said that Iraqi fighters were using all kinds of civilian buildings like the hotel for cover as they fought.
8216;8216;Baghdad is a dangerous location8230;When we potentially take fire from those locations, decisions have to be made at a very low tactical level. This coalition does not target journalists so anything that has happened8230;would always be considered as an accident.8217;8217;
