Another media person, Reuters TV soundman Waleed Khaled was killed in Iraq. I heard it described on Air America this morning. The man was wearing a press pass and two of the five sniper’s bullets hit him right through his pass, killing him.
“His U.S. military and Reuters press cards, clipped to his shirt, were caked in blood. In one, there were two bullet holes,” it said.
Outrage over fatal shooting of Reuters TV soundman by US sniper fire
[…]the Reuters TV crew had gone to cover an incident in [which] two Iraqi policemen were killed in the Hay al-Adil district of Baghdad. As they arrived, Khaled was hit by a shot in the face and four other shots in the chest, while Kadhem was slightly hurt.“I heard shooting, looked up and saw an American sniper on the roof of the shopping centre,” Kadhem told other journalists who arrived seconds later. He was subsequently arrested by US soldiers. Reuters said he had still not been released six hours later. Other Iraqi journalists who arrived at the scene were also briefly detained, but were then released. […]
The military explanation was :
“Task Force Baghdad units responded to a terrorist attack on an Iraqi police convoy [. . .] one civilian was killed and another was wounded by small-arms fire during the attack.”
“Small arms fire” is military speak for sniper fire by sharp shooters, apparently.
The US ambassador to Iraq at a news conference on the Iraq Constitution said it was unfortunate but he did not apologize.
more below…
Insisting on more than a dismissive ‘unfortunate’ from the US, the incident has been taken to the United Nations by a world media body:
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called on the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan Monday to establish an independent inquiry into the killings of media staff at the hands of US and coalition occupation forces in Iraq. […]
[Using very strong language against the United States military in Iraq, they demand a response.] “The time has come for the UN itself to step in and demand that there is justice and respect for basic humanitarian rights.” The IFJ accuses the US army of incompetence, reckless soldiering, and cynical disregard for the lives of journalists – particularly Iraqi – who are covering events in Iraq. […] The Brussels-based IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries.
Of course we know that US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton will give this case his undivided attention and committment. <sarcasm>
Since the shooting, the cameraman, Abrahem Al-Mashadani has been imprisoned. Reporters Without Borders has written a letter to the US military commander CENTCOM, Gen. John Abizaid, demanding his release. No comment, no reason for his arrest has been given by the military.
Uncle of slain soundman Waleed Khaled mourns for his nephew.
Two of Waleed’s colleagues who arrived at the scene minutes after he was killed, were briefly detained and released, Reuters said.
“They treated us like dogs. They made us … including Haider who was wounded and asking for water, sit in the sun on the road,” one said.
They said that Khaled was still alive when they reached him, and that US troops refused to give him water despite the blazing sun. (aljazeera.com)
66 journalists and media personnel have been killed in Iraq since the invasion. Two are still missing.
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Too early to be an update, I have just read this moving article entitled “An Appointment in Samarra.” (John O’Hara wrote a book called “Appointment in Samarra” a title which evoked a beautiful exotic city in those days.)
Reuters correspondent Luke Baker covered the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 as an embedded journalist and has reported on the country from our Baghdad bureau for the last two years. The following is his personal account of how the atmosphere of death and destruction has become ever more insistent as acquaintances and friends are struck down. It has been updated following the killing on Sunday of Reuters soundman. Waleed Khaled.
An Appointment in Samarra by Luke Baker
BAGHDAD, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Death creeps up on you in Iraq. The longer you remain amid the country’s violence, the more insistent, the more bullying it becomes.
Over time, more people you know die, or are maimed, or have scrapes with death that leave them psychologically scarred.
All along there have been stories about it — those killed by aerial bombardments, children blown apart by suicide bombs, families caught in crossfire, slain at the hands of insurgents or murdered by criminals.
In March last year, I stood in the street in Kerbala as suicide bombers exploded among crowds of Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims, killing more than 100 people, including dozens standing around me — strangers who became new victims of Iraq’s conflict.
But in recent months, the deaths have grown more personalised — it’s not just random people who die anymore, but people you’ve met, people you’ve interviewed, some you know quite well, colleagues you work with every day, friends even.
Almost every week, someone on the staff at Reuters, just one of a dozen or so news organisations still operating in the country, has a new tale to tell of a relative — a brother, a mother, a cousin, or a son — killed in terrible circumstances.
On Sunday, howls of grief echoed through the office for Waleed, the burly television soundman and driver, a jovial and busy presence these past two years. He was shot dead as he drove to a story — by U.S. troops, it seemed. We’re a close team and it hurt; his brother, our receptionist, was inconsolable.
More at this LINK.
