Cameraman's Death Brings Demand for Public Inquiry

LONDON, Aug. 18 — International journalists' groups and Reuters demanded today that the American military hold a full public inquiry into the death of a Reuters cameraman who was fatally shot by American soldiers in Iraq on Sunday as he filmed outside a prison.

The cameraman, Mazen Dana, 43, was the second Reuters journalist to be killed by American troops in Iraq since the invasion began on March 20. His colleague Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian usually based in Warsaw, died on April 8 when an American tank fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel, from which Mr. Protsyuk was filming troops as they advanced into the city center.

"Coming so soon after the death of Taras Protsyuk, and also involving an American tank, this latest death is hard to bear," Tom Glocer, chief executive of Reuters, said in a statement. "That's why I am personally calling upon the highest levels of the U.S. government for a full and comprehensive investigation into this terrible tragedy."

Meanwhile, violence continued against American troops today. A soldier with the First Armored Division was killed by an explosive device at about 2 p.m. in Karada, a prosperous Baghdad neighborhood, the military said tonight.

Mr. Dana was the 12th journalist killed in action in Iraq — five as a result of American fire — since the war began in March, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group based in London.'

From Paris, Robert Menard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, another journalists' group, criticized the United States military for what he said were numerous "blunders" in Iraq and said that "until now, these have not been subjected to inquiries worthy of the name."

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the group called for an investigation into the latest killing that would be "honest, rapid, and designed to shed full light on this tragedy, not whitewash the U.S. Army."

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which presented Mr. Dana with an International Press Freedom Award in 2001 for his work in Hebron, where he grew up and spent much of his career, praised him as a "determined witness who took constant risks in order to tell the world the news from the West Bank — and, more recently, from Iraq."

Writing to Mr. Rumsfeld, Ann K. Cooper, executive director of the group, said that accounts of the shooting raised "serious questions" about the actions of the United States military in Iraq. "From the eyewitness accounts, it appears that Dana was fired on without warning," she wrote. "He was filming in an area where no hostilities were taking place, raising questions about whether U.S. troops acted recklessly in targeting him."

The military promised to investigate the shooting, calling Mr. Dana's death "a terrible tragedy" and "a tragic incident" that took place when "coalition soldiers engaged with an individual" who later turned out to be a journalist.

"It is under investigation," Col. Guy Shields of the Army told reporters, "and we will do everything in our power to make sure things like this do not happen again." However, Col. Shields suggested that changes such as requiring warning shots are unlikely to be made because of the incident.

Witnesses in Iraq told The Associated Press that Mr. Dana, who was married and had four children, was among a group of journalists reporting at the Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad, which is being used by the United States, after a mortar attack in which 6 prisoners were killed and about 60 wounded. He was filming outside the prison, they said, when he was shot at.

The videotape in his camera, retrieved after his death, showed two tanks coming toward him, The Associated Press reported. Six shots were heard, although the camera seemed to tilt and drop to the ground after the first shot.

Journalists in Baghdad said they were angered by the killing, and some also said they believed that the episode could easily be repeated.

"We were all there, for at least half an hour," Stephan Breitner of France 2 television told The A.P. "They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was an accident. They are very tense. They are crazy."

Other witnesses told the news agency that while it should have been clear that Mr. Dana was a journalist, the soldiers apparently thought he was preparing to attack them. Mr. Dana's driver, Munzer Abbas, told The A.P. that "one of the soldiers told us they thought Mazen was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade."

Mr. Dana's death comes just five days after the Pentagon released its official report into the shelling of the Palestine Hotel, which served as the unofficial headquarters for the world's press during the invasion of Iraq. The attack killed two journalists and wounded three others.

The report, which exonerated the soldiers, said that American forces, under heavy fire from an Iraqi battalion, had received intelligence that an enemy observer was on the Palestine's balcony, helping guide mortar, missile and grenade fire.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that the report, summarized in a government news release but not published in full, was flawed.

I knew something was fishy about this story.

"Witnesses in Iraq told The Associated Press that Mr. Dana, who was married and had four children, was among a group of journalists reporting at the Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad, which is being used by the United States, after a mortar attack in which 6 prisoners were killed and about 60 wounded. He was filming outside the prison, they said, when he was shot at. "

But an earlier report said this
"...Recounting the moments before the shooting, a Reuters sound technician, Nael al-Shyoukhi, who was working with Dana, said he had asked a U.S. soldier near the prison if they could speak to an officer and was told they could not.
"They saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission," Shyoukhi said. The incident happened in the daytime.
The soldier agreed to their request to film an overview of the prison from a bridge nearby."
"After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film," . Shyoukhi said. "I followed him and Mazen walked three to four meters. We were noted and seen clearly.
"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest. I cried at the soldier, telling him: You killed a journalist!"

http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=106787

>>>>So by his own words, they were not where they were supposed to be and a tank convoy COMING IN who would not have know about him saw this guy that looked like this.

another damning bit of information that the Nytimes left out

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8400-2003Aug18.html

Dana and Shyoukhi had traveled to Abu Ghraib prison, once of the country's most notorious, after the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority announced that six Iraqis had been killed and 50 wounded in a mortar attack on the prison the day before. The two men, veteran Palestinian journalists based in the West Bank, were dressed in civilian clothes, and neither wore a flak jacket.

Shyoukhi said they spent 20 minutes at the prison gate, which was tucked behind sand-filled emplacements and barbed wire. When a U.S. soldier came out, they asked to interview him. He declined. They then asked him permission to film from a bridge about 500 yards away, which gives a commanding view of the prison's two-story cinder-block walls and series of guard posts.

"He said, no problem at all, you can go," the 31-year-old Shyoukhi recalled.

They chose a wide-open vantage point on the bridge, where they filmed for about 10 minutes, he said. At least two other camera crews were in the area, along with two photographers and a print reporter.

"We wanted to be sure they saw us, that we were close to them and that they knew we were journalists," Shyoukhi said.

They then drove a short distance to the base of the bridge. As they saw convoy approaching from the nearby village of Khan Dhari, they pulled over and got out with the camera. With Shyoukhi standing next to him, Dana filmed a few seconds of footage, which shows a tank heading toward them with two soldiers visible. Another tank was behind it. The footage captured the crack of at least five shots in quick succession. The camera appeared to lurch forward, then fell to the ground.

"We didn't expect at all they would shoot us," Shyoukhi said. "It was an open area, there were civilians, other cameras. If I thought one percent we were in danger, that they couldn't see us, we would have avoided it."

Shyoukhi said he saw bullets hit the pavement, spraying small plumes of dust. He dove to the ground. Dana, he said, screamed, put his hand on his chest, then fell. "I started screaming, 'Mazen, talk to me! Talk to me!' He didn't say anything."

"We were all there, for at least half an hour," Stephan Breitner of France 2 television told The A.P. "They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don't think it was an accident. They are very tense. They are crazy."

Oh, I see, it was premeditated murder. Thanks for clearing that up, jacques-ass.

And thanks for reminding me why I don't trust 95% of the garbage the European press peddles. That's in comparison to my distrust of 85% of what the U.S. press spews. Nice work.

If you really think it was murder, Breitner, file charges instead of slandering soldiers you aren't worthy to lick the boots of.

And, when you get the time, consider the wisdom of hoisting camera equipment on your shoulder and pointing it at U.S. tanks at a time when they are being attacked by shoulder-launched RPGs all over Iraq.

Tragic accident? Definitely. Murder? The only murder in this story is the murder of the truth by journalists closing ranks around one of their own, and declaring war against our troops.

I suggest that those unwilling to coordinate closely with the U.S. military leave Iraq without delay, or learn to respect the fact that our troops are under attack every single day, and avoid looking like the attackers.

Breitner said it himself: "They are very tense. They are crazy." If that's true, then you better get the hell our of there, slanderous idiot.

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