But we're winning, right?

[docwebster]

US sniper kills Reuters soundman in Iraq

US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said the incident was unfortunate but stopped short of apologising.

"This is unfortunate... but sometimes mistakes are made. We don't target civilians," he said when questioned by reporters covering the finalisation of Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein constitution.

(snip)

They said that Khaled was still alive when they reached him, and that US troops refused to give him water despite the blazing sun.

"They (US soldiers) treated us like dogs. They made us... including Khaled who was wounded and asking for water, stay in the sun on the road," Reuters quoted a television crew member Mohammed Idriss as saying.

(snip)

After a brief inspection of the car in which Reuters team travelled, US troops allowed Reuters staff and the dead man's family to have it towed away. They handed them a military body bag to remove the corpse, Reuters said.

"As Waleed's tearful relatives inspected the body at the scene, a US soldier said: 'Don't bother. It's not worth it'. A few other soldiers joked among themselves just a few meters (feet) from the body", it added.

Comments

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course not. "Targeting" would imply some kind of conscious choice. We're shooting indiscriminately at anything that moves, not targeting civilians. And if they weren't journalists, it wouldn't even earn notice, let alone calling it a mistake.

23,000 people is a damned big omelet.

I remember when, at the begining of the war, the army near enough threatened non-embedded journalists with bombing.

Note also how they say the "bulk" of journalist killings were by (or caused by the actions of, which sounds sketchy itself) insurgents, but they won't give us a number. From this, we're expected to assume this was the first time.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

"Entry and exit wounds could be seen on the face indicating shots from the victim's right. There were several bullet holes in the windscreen and at least four wounds in the chest," Reuters quoted its correspondent as saying.

"His US military and Reuters press cards, clipped to his shirt, were caked in blood. In one, there were two bullet holes," it said.

Sounds to me like he was damned well targeted.

[katharinakatt.livejournal.com]

I talk to my friend almost daily, he's a US soldier in Iraq Bagdad(sp). He said one day a press guy rode with them and they had a good day and were able to arrest some 'really bad guys' who had hurt some children. The only thing the press guy reported was that they put the cuffs on them too tight. (blink)

I guess what I'm saying is you never know if you're really getting the truth or not unless you were there.