Hits on journalists raise questions

Cathy Kropp -- Staff Column

Are journalists in Iraq being targeted by the U.S. military?

This is a question several different journalist organizations, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have been asking the U.S.

In a letter addressed to Donald Rumsfeld, the IFJ expressed concerns over two recent attacks that seemed aimed at buildings housing media personnel.

The first of the strikes in question that occurred Tuesday began just after dawn in Baghdad. The office that housed the Al-Jazeera satellite network was struck by two U.S. air to surface missiles. Jordanian journalist Tariq Ayoub was killed and Iraqi cameraman Zuheir al-Iraqi was seriously injured.

The Pentagon explained that the attack occurred because the office was a "known Al-Qaeda facility." They also stated that the military was unaware that Al-Jazeera was located there.

This last excuse raises serious suspicions given that the CPJ has reviewed a copy of the letter that the Al-Jazeera network had sent to the Pentagon in February that contained coordinates of its office. These coordinates were sent in order to prevent any attacks on the building.

On April 7, U.S. State Department spokesman Nabil Khoun had visited the office and reassured the journalists of their safety; the next day, they were hit.

The second attack occurred less than four hours later at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. A shell from a U.S. Abrams tank hit the 15th floor of the building, killing two cameramen and seriously injuring four others.

This particular hotel was known to contain over 200 foreign journalists and had also provided coordinates to the Pentagon for safety purposes.

General Buford Blount, commander of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, was in charge of the troops that fired upon the hotel. He stated that snipers in the hotel were shooting at his troops.

Countless eyewitnesses refute Blount's statement about sniper fire, and a videotape that was running in the hotel before and during the attack recorded absolute silence until the U.S. shell hit.

Suspicions were once again raised when a U.S. spokesperson from Central Command war headquarters said, "Reports indicate the coalition force operating near the hotel took fire from the lobby of the hotel and returned fire."

When asked why the shell was aimed at the 15th floor if the attacks were originating from the lobby he stated, "I may have misspoken on exactly where the fire came from."

We need to demand that our government look into this matter and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

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Cathy Kropp can be reached at [email protected]