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Actually, since the Ministry of Information has set up shop in the Palestine Hotel specifically because of the presence of the media and therefore the assumption that the US won't attack the building, they are in essence using the reporters as unwitting human-shields. That is a violation of the Geneva Convention, and the reporters should demand that the Iraqis either leave the hotel, or allow them to leave, period.

By staying in a situation in which legitimate military targets (Baghdad Bob and his cronies) feel a relative degree of safety using the Palestine Hotel due to the fact they think it won't be targeted, the "journalists" are complicit in the act, and shouldn't be surprised if they find themselves on the wrong end of US firepower.

Nice read. Thanx. Earlier today I saw a clip of the Marines fighting snipers in a village. The camera was right next to our M60 blazing away from a window. If the bad guys had hit the cameraman I would feel sad for the camerman and his family - and gratitude that by taking the risk he had enhanced my understanding of the war, but I wouldn't claim the Iraqis had done anything wrong. It's war.

What happens if the Iraqis grab the Palestine Hotel journalists as hostages in a dying gasp? That, too, would be sad, but who could claim they didn't ask for it?