Posted on 04/08/2003 5:48:59 AM PDT by m1911
JOURNALISTS HIT IN HOTEL
Sky News correspondent David Chater was inside the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad when the very floor he was staying on was hit by American tank fire.
A cameraman for Spanish television died, as well as one Reuters journalist. At least three others have been seriously wounded in the attack on the high rise hotel.
A US 3rd Infantry commander admitted a tank had fired a single round at the media's hotel.
He said the strike came after shots were fired from the building but Chater has insisted he heard nothing coming from the Palestine Hotel and called the claim "patently absurd".
US deputy director of operations Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said it is too early to say exactly what happened, but maintained that US troops were returning fire that had come from the hotel.
He said bluntly: "This Coalition does not target journalists."
But he added that Saddam Hussein's regime is known to endanger the lives of non-combatants, indicating that it is possible an Iraqi fighter was hiding among the journalists for cover.
Chater speculated that the glint of a camera lense from working journalists may have been mistaken for a rocket-propelled grenade, triggering US troops to shoot.
Sky News' correspondent immediately contacted Sky News Centre and told presenters: "I was about to go out onto the balcony.. when there was a huge explosion then shouts and screams from people along our corridor.
"They were shouting, 'Somebody's been hit. Can somebody find a doctor?' They were saying they could see blood and bone."
The room hit by the strike was just a few doors down the corridor on the hotel's 14th floor from Chater and his team. Two other floors were also hit.
He said: "There were a lot of French journalists screaming, 'Get a doctor, get a doctor'. There was a great sense of panic because these walls are very thin."
A Reuters journalist, a photographer and a cameraman were all hurt in the attack.
Dubai's Arabiya television channel said its bureau on the 17th floor was also damaged.
US tanks are in the city and have been firing at targets in the area.
"We saw the tanks up on the bridge," Chater said.
"They started firing across the bank. The shells were landing either side of us at what we thought were military targets. Then we were hit. We are in the middle of a tank battle."
Seconds before the blast Chater had looked out at a tank facing his hotel.
"I remarked at the time, 'One of those barrels is looking straight up at us'."
With the sound of people running and shouting in the background, evacuating the building, he said: "I don't understand why they were doing that. There was no fire coming out of this hotel - everyone knows it's full of journalists.
"Everybody is putting on flack jackets. Everybody is running for cover," Chater said. "We now feel extremely vulnerable and we are now going to say goodbye to you."
The line was cut off but minutes later, after Chater had taken cover, he contacted Sky News again saying: "I'm taking what cover I possibly can. I'm no longer on the 14th floor."
He told how the Palestine Hotel is in the middle of the battle zone saying: "It's an extremely dangerous place."
Chater said the journalists at the hotel had been watching the progress of Coalition troops from their hotel balconies and how forces had surely been aware of their presence.
"They knew exactly what this hotel is. They know the press corps is here. I don't know why they are trying to target journalists."
He added: "The whole hotel shook with the impact. It was an incredible sound."
"You never know where the military targets are here. It's the same for the journalists here as it is for the civilians.
"There are bound to be casualties but that tank shell was aimed at us. This wasn't an accident. This seems to be a very accurate shot."
Matresses and sheets were used as makeshift stretchers to get the injured out of the hotel and into vehicles to be rushed through the beseiged streets to hospital.
Still in direct view of the tank and speaking live on Sky, Chater said: "There are awful scenes around me. There's a Reuters tent just a few yards away from me where people are in tears."
After stopping to hold his emotions in check and in respect of the Reuters correspondents, David said: "It makes you realise how vulnerable you are."
He added: "What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to carry on if American shells are targeting Western journalists?"
It seems to me that the last place I would want to be is on the balcony of a multi-story building, during a pitched battle, looking down on a tank taking sniper fire. I would get the frick off the balcony and take cover. But that's just me.
Chater has been critical of the U.S. from day #1. When the presidential complex was hit with precision strikes in the middle of the night, Chater was babbling about civilian casualties with no evidence whatsoever.
Anyone who's watched the live feeds from the hotel for any length of time can tell, by sound, and occasionally by sight, that the place is crawling with Iraqi "minders." How convenient that Chater and others in the press neglect to mention these people in their remarks.
Everyone also knows that Hussein's regime has a history of using civilians as human shields. If Chater doesn't understand that, he has no business being in Baghdad.
Is this the same incident in which two Al Jazeera employees were killed?
Perhaps the journalists should look around.
How could he possibly tell? There is probably almost continuous firing going on in that area. How does he know? Does anybody really believe that a tank purposefully fired at the building with the intent of killing journalists?
I just heard shots from the ROOF.
Maybe shots from the lobby, roof, and points in between, hmmmmm?
Why are you so ANXIOUS for the coalition to be at fault? It's obvious you are dancing with anticipation for that to be the case.
Not too smart on the part of the journalists. The tankers weren't taking chances.
Al Jazeera was hit at its point of business and this is hotel where journalists were staying. Two different strikes.
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