Freeper Expertise Needed - Bomb Damage Assessment on the Palestine hotel in Baghdad

Yahoo News Photos ^ | 4-8-03

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Tue Apr 8, 6:14 AM ET

Impacts of a U.S. tank shell are seen on the Palestine hotel in Baghdad, Tuesday, April 8, 2003. The Palestine hotel took fire Tuesday after U.S. troops said snipers were shooting at them from the building. At least five journalists were injured, as earlier Tuesday a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network was killed when its Baghdad office was hit during a U.S. bombing campaign. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I'm no expert on BDA but the multiple impacts appear to be small arms fire, and the larger impact seems pretty small for an Abrams tank round.

Thoughts?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Small arms, .50 cal max, even to my untrained eye.

I think the Palestine Hotel was where Pacifica Radio type "journalists" were staying. No loss.

[Retrofire]

Yes, small arms. M1 120mm round would have taken off the balcony at least, even if it grazed the corner...

That must not be the damage caused by the round that peed in Reuter's Wheaties...

[sarasota]

I'm a little late to this news so bear with me: what was the location of the journalists that were wounded? On a balcony? Inside the hotel? I heard they were waving white sheets...yeah, and the Iraqis haven't done that one....

What makes these journalists think they are on sacred ground because they are shacking up with the Minister of Progaganda? Get a clue, people. You're in a war zone and you might get hurt/killed.

[CatoRenasci]

You would certainly be correct if the 120mm round was high explosive. On the othe hand, if the round in the chamber was an armor-piercing sabot round, it could leave such a small hole (and keep right on going through the building like a hot knife through butter). Similarly, a HEAT round, a shaped charge anti-tank round (also a likely candidate for being kept in the chamber of a tank) it could leave such a small entry hole. However, there would be more blast effect with the heat round, I expect. (It's been more than 25 years since I looked at a target we'd fired live heat rounds into)

[Gefreiter]

I would agree with other posters. .50-ish ipacts; not sure about that big chunk taken from corner of structure. I also feel that tank round (HEAT) would've either taken balcony or at the very least made a much larger hole. And a hole through to the interior space, not a bite taken from facade. Sabot would also have penetrated to interior space, but with much smaller hole.

[Feckless]

"M1 120mm round would have taken off the balcony at least"

A HEAT round would but a Sabot round would not do lots of damage to a wide area.

[angkor]

Here's a photo of the tank that purportedly fired into the hotel

And this is the balcony of the Reuters office on the 15th floor.

It looks like whatever hit the room did most of the damage on the balcony, where you can see what looks like a camera tripod.

[atomic conspiracy]

Maybe 25mm sabot from a Bradley? We have no way of knowing if the tank actually fired at the hotel, that could only be an assumption by a reporter whose knowledge of weaponry probably does not rise to kindergarten level.

[craig61a]

It would seem most of these reporters want to be right up front; The video feeds they get from there are great; It's like being on the sidelines of a football or hockey game; of course if you happen to get crushed by football players while on the sidelines, or hit in face with a hockey puck, most realize it goes with the territory.

So why do the reporters get all upset when all of a sudden the war rolls up in their front yard?

HELLO This a war! not a spectator sport. People get killed.