Posted on 05/14/2008 9:13:23 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
A Spanish court has thrown out murder charges against three US soldiers accused of killing a Spanish cameraman during the war in Iraq.
Jose Couso, 37, died in April 2003 after a US tank fired on a hotel used by foreign journalists in Baghdad.
Madrid's National Court dropped all charges, ruling there was "insufficient evidence" to continue with the trial.
The court ruling underlined that the case was being definitively dismissed, with no further opportunity to appeal.
US officials ignored two international arrest warrants issued for Sgt Thomas Gibson, Cpt Philip Wolford and Lt-Col Philip De Camp, in 2005 and 2007.
The men had been charged with murder and a crime against the international community. Under Spanish law, this is defined as an excessive attack against civilians during war.
Attack footage
The attack happened at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, the base for almost all the foreign media crews in the capital during the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Mr Couso was working for Spain's Telecinco television station at the time.
Reuters cameraman Taras Portsyuk, a Ukrainian, was also killed in the blast and three other Reuters staff were injured.
The US admitted its tank crew fired at the Palestine Hotel but cleared the three soldiers of blame.
The soldiers say they thought they were being shot at when they opened fire.
Footage of the incident on the day before the fall of the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - which did not record any fire from the hotel - was witnessed around the world.
A US review of the incident ruled that the use of force by the tank was justified, but the family of Mr Couso decided to press criminal charges through the Spanish courts.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Once one of my favorite countries in Europe...now just a bunch of surrender monkeys.
“US officials ignored two international arrest warrants “
A boy was trying to sell newspapers on a busy street corner while eating a sandwich, but pigeons kept annoying him, wanting the bread crumbs.
He kept swatting at them with a newspaper and yelling, “F___ OFF!”
A little old lady approached him and said:
“Young man . . . if you will just tear off a crust from your sandwich and toss it away, and say `shoo! shoo!’—why then the pigeons will f___ off.”
Never again.
You show up on a battlefield in the middle of a fight. You start pointing a telephoto lens at tanks while holding a mobile phone to your ear. What do you think happens next?
Same thing goes for being in a combat zone... don't these reporters sign a waiver or something?
Will AP be trumpting this story as much as they did when the charges against their journalist who was captured in the company of terrorists was put on trial?
The point never told in foreign media was that Couso, the reporter killed, was subcontracted by Telecinco, a Spanish national channel fiercely opposed to the war in Iraq, which clearly leans left.
Whoever, so much left leaning did not translate into better working conditions for Couso, who was subcontracted and had no insurance.
Therefore, when he died, he left woman and son without the most elementary support.
Then came Mr. Aznar, the right wing devil, you know, and approved to his family a subsidy. However, at that point Couso had been promoted to a “Martyr of the Left” - the Left loves martyrs so sometimes they actively collaborate in created them-.
You can see how an issue regarding poor working conditions is finally blame to America, whilst Telecinco (or Telecirco - Telecircus, as we say) is kept well covered by the Left and its media.
Just another day in Europe.
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