OUTRAGE AT JOURNALIST DEATHS

New York Post ^ | 4/09/03 | Post Wire Services

[kattracks]

News organizations demanded answers from the United States yesterday after U.S. fire killed three journalists in Baghdad.

Journalists from Reuters news agency, Spain's Telecinco and Arab TV channel al-Jazeera died after a U.S. tank fired on a hotel packed full of journalists, and airstrikes hit Jazeera's offices, prompting calls for an investigation.

[kattracks]

U.S. forces said they had been responding to sniper fire when a U.S. tank fired at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel...

The very same hotel where our troops encountered hostile fire early this AM.

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[trebb]

they have left the impression that they bear no responsibility for protecting journalists operating independently in Iraq

They must have missed it when we told them that if they were there independently (not embedded) that Iraq could be a dangerous place. About the only "atrocity" most of them recognize is a journalist getting whacked.

[DainBramage]

We owe them no explanation whatsoever.

They were there at their own risk. Tough caca.

[toddst]

"We want proof this was not a deliberate attack on journalists,"

These journalists continue to have an attitude inappropriate for operating in a war zone. Everyone is to make special rules for them - not. Don't want to be near combat, don't go into a hot zone. End of story.

[Retrofire]

As tragic as the death of any innocent is...

After the barrage of questions General Brooks got at the CENTCOM briefing this morning, I don't see how anyone could look at these journalists as anything other than primping self-aggrandizing celebrity wanna-be's.

Christiane Amanpour's diatribe on CNN's website about "proportional respose" nearly made me choke on my tongue.

[YaYa123]

former Attorney General Meese on Hannity & Colmes last night had the best line:

War is not a spectator sport.

And this morning at CENTCOM briefing, reporters were still obsessing! The war has ended, the people of Baghdad realize for the first time that they are free, and goober reporters ask General Brooks if the military will investigate the tank shooting at the Palestine Hotel.

I LOL last night as Christianne Amanpour practically accused America of war crime atrocities, and then said she wasn't concerned because it was about journalists, she was concerned because of proportionality. A tank against a little ole sniper, why it just wasn't the right response.

[glockmeister40]

They can bite me. I have no pity for these pukes. I'm only sorry that baghdad pete arnett was not among the dead.

I wonder how many of these left-wing hate-america pussies will be hanging out with the enemy after this?

[biblewonk]

We owe them no explanation whatsoever.

They sat there in buildings taping an M1 aiming at them. What were they thinking? They think they are off limits in the combat and that they can go where they want and do what they want. "Embedded journalists" = code for journalist thinning.

[DainBramage]

Journalist Shields

[glockmeister40]

"The evidence suggests that the response of U.S. forces was disproportionate...

Since when do journalists decide what level of force we need to use? All of them put together are not worth the life of one American soldier.

[goldstategop]

Journalists think they deserve special protection. They needed a rocket right up their clymer. Its their outrage that can't be fathomed since they knew the risks of bedding with the Iraqi regime.

[CatoRenasci]

While U.S. officials have expressed regret for the loss of life in these attacks and stated that they do not target journalists, they have left the impression that they bear no responsibility for protecting journalists operating independently in Iraq," the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Dear Committe:
Your impression is entirely correct. We have warned journalists not embedded with our forces that we take no responsiblity for their safety. We do not target journalists, but neither do we let their presence or absence in any way interfere with military opeartions. If a reporter is where firing is, they run a substantial risk of becoming a casualty. War is hell.

Sincerely,
Don Rumsfeld

[showme_the_Glory]

"We want proof this was not a deliberate attack on journalists," said Severine Cazes "

Why couldn't Dan Rather have been there instead???????

[toddst]

10-4, Dan Blather!

[cricket]

"They must have missed it when we told them that if they were there independently (not embedded) that Iraq could be a dangerous place"

Something in the fine print here they did not understand? Don't think so. . .

Well they fixate on this; stomp and scream. . .but the work of Liberating Iraq moves on. . .with or without them.

[Cvengr]

I wouldn't be surprised if the tankers may have seen a camera flash from an upstairs window and responded with immediate fire.

If I recall correctly, it wasn't a journalist who was killed, but his cameraman and maybe a gaffer.

If you want to take live pictures of duck hunters,..don't dress like a duck and go 'Quack'!

[Cincinatus]

This reaction by the media is actually very telling. They are responding with indignation, which merely confirms what a lot of us have long suspected -- they feel entitled. Entitled to protection, special treatment, the best of everything. When they don't get it, they whine.

Now. Who here doesn't understand why the media is liberal??

[proud American in Canada]

"they have left the impression that they bear no responsibility for protecting journalists operating independently in Iraq"

um.. they don't.

[JudgemAll]

"It's hard to believe this was just a mistake. We want proof this was not a deliberate attack on journalists,"

Oh puleaze.