US airforce was poised to bomb Baghdad journalist hotel: media

Agence France-Presse | April 22, 2003

[HAL9000]

BERLIN (AFP) - US troops which fired on Baghdad's main hotel occupied by journalists, killing two, had called in fighter planes to bomb the building, a German journalist who witnessed the event said on Tuesday.

"The tank commander called for support from the air. But he did not know the building was a hotel," said Ulrich Tilgner, on ZDF public television.

It was a US journalist, "embedded" with the troops, who alerted them to the fact the Palestine Hotel was used as a base by the international media in Baghdad and the strike was called off, Tilgner said.

The April 8 attack on in Baghdad left two television journalists dead.

The US troops claimed they were targeted by Iraqi gunmen who had taken refuge in the hotel. This has been denied by journalists present at the scene.

A cameraman from France 3 television filmed the tank as it turned and raised its main gun, waited for about two minutes and then fired.

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I say shoot the guy who told and give the tank operator a medal....lolol

[Nucluside]

Yeah, and they are saying that we didn't screw anything up during this war! LOL

[ladyinred]

We are the bad guys again are we? Or is it just that President Bush is bad? This must be his fault. The journalists who chose to cover the war should have known they were in danger. Whining now about something that did not happen is suspect.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Shucks, if we had not been ratted out we could have....? The press should learn not to point things and pop flash bulbs at troops under fire.

[flying Elvis]

So during a firefight the gun barrel was pointed at them for two minutes before it fired and they didn't run? Dumb reporters.

[fleur-de-lis]

There was far too little damage to the hotel room to be from a tank round. A tank round would have wiped out the whole room and then some. All I saw was a few holes in the ouside wall.