[casi] Dead Journalists and Cheering Actors

["John-Peter Hopperger" <j-ph@DELETETHISmindspring.com>]

Dead Journalists and Cheering Actors
(Connecting dots between CASI posts and some news stories)

Spanish journalists snub Straw
Journalists walk out of press conference in protest at deaths of Baghdad
reporters
by Ciar Byrne- The Guardian, Wednesday April 9, 2003
http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,933188,00.html

Spanish journalists today snubbed Spain's prime minister and Britain's
foreign secretary in protest at the death of the Spanish TV cameraman who
was killed by a US tank shell in Baghdad.

At a speech at Madrid's senate today, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
expressed his condolences for Jose Couso, a journalist working for Spanish
TV network Tele 5 who was killed at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, and for
Julio Anguito Parrado, a Spanish journalist killed on Monday when an Iraqi
missile hit a US military base south of Baghdad.

However, between 30 and 40 journalists present boycotted the speech by
downing their cameras, microphones and notebooks and standing in stony
silence.

Also today about 20 Spanish journalists walked out of a press conference in
Paris with Jack Straw and his Spanish counterpart, Ana Palacio, after just
one question.

A colleague of Couso at Tele 5 asked Ms Palacio about reports that US forces
had declared the Palestine Hotel a military target 48 hours before the blast
that killed Couso and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk.

The hotel has been the centre for most of the foreign media in the Iraqi
capital throughout the war.

Ms Palacio was evasive, referring the questioner to comments by the Spanish
defence minister, Federico Trillo, who recommended last night that Spanish
journalists should leave Baghdad because the city had grown too dangerous.

But she said Spain was determined to press the US for a thorough
investigation, saying: "I've been told there circumstances that were at the
least surprising."

Mr Aznar was targeted again in the afternoon in the lower chamber of Spain's
parliament as he arrived for a weekly question-and-answer session with the
opposition.

A dozen photographers, who usually gather round to film him taking his seat,
suddenly turned their backs on the prime minister and held up enlarged
photos of Couso. Opposition politicians clapped at the gesture.

Hundreds of journalists also protested on outside the US embassy in Madrid.

Mr Straw declared today he was "very concerned" about the killing of
journalists in Iraq and said he would demand a detailed account about US
attacks on the Palestine Hotel and the offices of two Arabic television
stations in Baghdad.

"I haven't had a detailed report but I'm going to ask for one this morning
about the precise circumstances of these deaths," Mr Straw said.

"Of course, I'm very concerned indeed about the deaths of the journalists,
as I am about the deaths of all innocent people in this conflict," he added.

The US military has given differing accounts of why one of its tanks fired
on the journalists' hotel, initially suggesting there was enemy sniper fire
coming from the building, and later claiming enemy binoculars had been
spotted.

However, journalists on the scene yesterday said they had not heard any
gunfire coming from the hotel and one Associated Press photographer
questioned how the military could have seen enemy binoculars and not
journalists' camera lenses.


War toll: journalists killed, missing and held in Iraq  -The Guardian
Thursday April 10, 2003
http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,926624,00.html

DEAD

1. Jose Couso, Tele Cinco cameraman
2. Taras Protsyuk, Reuters cameraman
3. Tareq Ayyoub, Al-Jazeera cameraman
4. Julio Anguita Parrado, reporter for Spanish newspaper El Mundo
5. Christian Liebig, journalist for German Focus magazine
6. Terry Lloyd, ITN correspondent
7. Paul Moran, freelance Australian cameraman
8. Kaveh Golestan, freelance BBC cameraman
9. Michael Kelly American journalist and Washington Post columnist
10. Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, BBC translator
11. Gaby Rado, Channel 4 News foreign affairs correspondent
12. David Bloom, NBC TV correspondent

MISSING

1. Fred Nerac, French ITN cameraman who went missing in the ambush that
killed Terry Lloyd on March 22.

2. Hussein Osman, Lebanese translator who went missing in the ambush that
killed Terry Lloyd.

DETAINED AND BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN RELEASED

3-9. Seven Italian journalists working for Corriere della Sera, Il Giornale,
Il Messagero, L'Unita, Il Mattino, Il Sole 24-Ore and Il Resto Del Carlino.

10. Marcin Firlej, Polish journalist with news channel TVN 24, escaped after
being captured south of Baghdad

11. Jacek Kaczmarek, journalist with Polish public radio, escaped after
being captured south of Baghdad


[My comment: What's wrong with this picture? The US/UK go to "war" for three
weeks. 17 "incidents" later, this is the result:

12 journalists dead * 2 journalists missing * 9 journalists detained but
possibly released *
Only 3 of the 24 journalist victims cannot be directly attributed to US/UK
fire, although in 2 of these 3 that possibility still exists.

The entire first Gulf "War" claimed 4 journalist's lives. Taking into
consideration the time factor, the rate of harming journalists since the
first Iraq invasion has risen 1,200%. This is much too high an increase to
attribute to chance.


[Citing from:  Targeting Reporters: To Hide the Truth?
by Khaled Mamdouh, Staff Writer - IslamOnline 08/04/2003
http://www.islamonline.net/English/Views/2003/04/article05.shtml :]

Aljazeera office in Baghdad: a US air force A10 "tank killer" plane fired a
missile at the office, then - according to the channel's correspondent - the
pilot circled the building and fired another missile, apparently making sure
the hit was a success.

A huge sign on the roof of the building in yellow, reading "PRESS."  The
exact location of Aljazeera has always been known to the US forces. US First
Officer, General Richard Myers: "We are capable of directing our weapons not
just to certain buildings, but to a certain window in a given building."

[My comment: What a perfectly strange coincidence that the US had also
"mistakenly" bombed the al-Jazeera press office in Kabul during the Afghan
action.]

Palestine Hotel: Residence of all foreign reporters not embedded with the
US-led forces - came under attack from US tanks, killing two reporters and
wounding three others. The US military claimed that they were fired upon
from "the direction" of the Hotel. Personally, I could have bought that had
it not been for a simple fact.

I WAS WATCHING a live coverage when the Hotel was hit, prior to the
explosion that sent Aljazeera correspondent - standing close to the
Palestine Hotel and mourning his colleague who was killed a while earlier -
diving into the ground, then crying out, "They hit the safe area!"

By safe area, he meant the place where the Iraqis ordered all reporters to
stay - away from other hotels adjacent to official buildings that could be
targeted; Palestine Hotel, marked with huge signs in yellow, reading
 "Press."

[Quote from main story above: "A colleague of Couso at Tele 5 asked Ms
Palacio about reports that US forces had declared the Palestine Hotel a
military target 48 hours before the blast that killed Couso and Reuters
cameraman Taras Protsyuk."]

In between both incidents, another Arab TV station office - Abu Dhabi TV -
was also hit, wounding a cameraman

Why would the Americans - in a mission to liberate the Iraqis from the
oppression of a despotic regime - target and kill reporters? And why now,
today? The start of bloody fighting inside the streets of the Iraqi capital?

One correspondent said, "The Americans are killing the witnesses." Is that
reasonable? Why not? Since minute one of that invasion, the Americans have
been facing a serious credibility problem. How many times have they declared
the capture of Omm Qasr? Four times, as I recall.

Now, with the much-feared bloody street fighting in Baghdad, mounting deaths
are expected on both sides. I think this is the last thing the US President
would like the people - especially Americans - to see. It is after all
"Operation Iraqi Freedom," not "annihilation."

US Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks: "We cannot guarantee the safety of
reporters unless they are with us." A joke. This is a declaration that
reporters outside the wing of the US forces are now military targets.

Farewell freedom of the Press! Farewell international law guaranteeing
security and safety of reporters in war zones, farewell truth!

Welcome to law of the jungle!

May God spare us His wrath for allowing a world tyrant to turn innocent
lives into hell.

[End of citations from Khaled Mamdouh, Targeting Reporters: To Hide the
Truth?]


PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ
http://www.gulufuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm

[Excerpts]

The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of
independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent,
Kate Adie.

In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the
consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer
had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned."

According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the
Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the the free spread of
information."

She also warned that the Pentagon is vetting journalists according to their
stance on the war, and intends to take control of US journalists' satellite
equipment --in order to control access to the airwaves.

War author Phillip Knightley: The Pentagon has also threatened they: "may
find it necessary to bomb areas in which war correspondents are attempting
to report from the Iraqi side."

Kate Adie: "What actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years
ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that
reporters should be able to report as they witness."

"In the last Gulf war, where I was one of the pool correspondents with the
British Army. We effectively had very, very light touch when it came to any
kind of censorship. We were told that anything which was going to endanger
troops lives which we understood we shouldn't broadcast. But other than
that, we were relatively free."

"This time the Americans are asking journalists who go with them, whether
they have feelings against the war. If you have views that are skeptical,
then you are not to be acceptable."

"And then on top of everything else, there is now a blackout (which was
imposed, during the last war, at the beginning of the war), ...ordered by
one Mr. Dick Cheney, who is in charge of this."

"I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting,
as the war occurs. You will get it later."

[My comment: With the US openly declaring war on non-embedded journalists,
and having thus far murdered a good number of them, how can any sane person
here in the US give ANY credence to what comes from the TV screens or the
newspapers? ANY!]

[Citing from Li Saavedra [casi] "the REAL Iraqis are not dancing in the
streets":]

"The American Army and the Bush administration have used lots of horrible
weapons ... but the most lethal weapon of all ...is the savage people, that
they have unleashed in the streets of Baghdad, calling them...the people of
Iraq!"

"Those people that you see on the streets, are the people of "Althowra city"
or as they call it sometimes "Saddam's city." Those people do not in
any way resemble the people of Iraq. They resemble the community of
criminals in Iraq."

"As you can see, they are not only dancing , but they are also looting,
robbing stores, stealing cars, burning places, and trashing the
streets!Those people whom you see dancing were the very same people who
used to appear on TV, clapping for Saddam like crazy, when everyone else was
against him."

"They are opportunists who have no principles at all. Always with the
winner, ... and they sell very cheap. I don't think that it was a
coincidence that the American army has decided to enter Baghdad from this
city."

"We don't see people on the streets ... we only see a group of men who are
trashing the place and act like idiots. The movie of "Baghdad Dancing"
apparently was successful, because everyone believes it. And no one is
asking about what is happening in the rest of Baghdad."

"The reporters are afraid to move, but they've visited Al-Sinek area ... and
there it was a different story. The streets looked dark and deserted...No
one was dancing."

[Citing from Hassan Zeini's response to [casi] "the REAL Iraqis are not
dancing in the streets":]

"The "jubilant" crowds at Saddam City were not expressing a specific
political thought, in as much as they were jubilant at the chance to loot...
Sorry to say that, but one has to understand the structure of Saddam City
and how Bagdadis view them."

"The inhabitants of that city (first called Thawra "revolution") are almost
fully Shi'a Muslims. Illiteracy rate is high, and the city has been a
dangerous area for outsiders to venture into, especially at night. Since the
sanctions, it has become a harbor for army deserters, wanted criminals and
illegal trade in stolen medicines and stuff."

"This is not an exaggeration, and I am an eye-witness to this.. Cars that
pass though the city are stoned, and the scenes remind one of those we see
of dangerous areas in the US in Hollywood films!!"

"The most important fact is that a large number of the police, security and
army in Baghdad come from this city. They are the ones on whom Saddam's
regime depended for keeping law and order... They also make
the largest constituent of the Ba'th party in Baghdad.."

"That they turned against the regime now is not new. They had done it
before. The same elements served before that Arif's regimes, and would
certainly serve the new regime... "

[My comment: Three guesses why CNN and the other "embedded" media fail to
point out this important little detail.]

Journalistic casualties in Iraq have risen with alarming speed in recent
days as coalition forces advanced on Baghdad.

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian national who had worked for
the news organisation since 1993 and covered conflicts in Afghanistan,
Bosnia, Chechnya and Kosovo, was killed at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad
yesterday.

Jose Couso, a cameraman with Spanish network Telecinco, also lost his life
when a US tank allegedly opened fire on the hotel.

An al-Jazeera cameraman, Tareq Ayyoub, died and one of the channel's
journalists disappeared when a coalition bombing raid hit the Arabic TV
station's Baghdad office yesterday.

BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed was killed in the worst "friendly
fire" incident of the war so far on Sunday, which also left BBC
correspondent John Simpson with minor shrapnel wounds.

Kaveh Golestan, a freelance cameraman working for the BBC in northern Iraq,
was killed when he stepped on a landmine last week. Stuart Hughes, a
producer working alongside Golestan, has had his foot amputated after being
injured in the same incident.

Paul Moran, an Australian freelance journalist working in northern Iraq,
also died in the first few days of the conflict.

Veteran ITN reporter Terry Lloyd was also believed to have been killed in a
friendly fire incident on March 22, when two of his colleagues - Fred Nerac
and Hussein Osman - went missing.

Not all of the 12 journalists who have lost their lives so far died as a
direct result of combat.

Washington Post columnist Michael Kelly was killed last Friday in a Humvee
accident. NBC TV correspondent David Bloom died of a pulmonary embolism
while covering the war, while Channel 4 News correspondent Gaby Rado was
found dead at a hotel in northern Iraq. He is believed to have fallen from
the roof. [And then got up dead and went to his hotel room?]
_________________
They read good books, and quote, but never learn
a language other than the scream of rocket-burn.
Our straighter talk is drowned but ironclad:
elections, money, empire, oil and Dad.

Andrew Motion


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