Iraq war logs: US fails to answer for deaths of journalists

 

Iraq has been one of the most dangerous recent wars for the media. Fifty-two journalists have died in crossfire or other combat situations and 89 have been murdered. Almost all of the murdered journalists were Iraqis, usually as victims of the sectarian violence that began three years after the US invasion.

After decades of repression under Saddam Hussein, Iraqis initially felt free to travel anywhere and report as they saw fit. While western reporters retreated to guarded hotels and villas in Baghdad and Basra when kidnapping became a major risk in the summer of 2004, Iraqi journalists carried on working, often for western newspapers and TV stations that did not want to lose their own staff.

Covering US military activities was especially dangerous. US troops killed several Iraqi journalists at checkpoints or near US bases, in most cases without accepting responsibility. Often they promised to hold investigations but never released their findings.

One of the most notorious incidents was the killing of Asaad Kadhim and his driver, Hussein Saleh, who worked for the US-funded TV station al-Iraqiya. They were shot by US troops outside a base at Samarra, 80 miles north of Baghdad, on 20 April 2004. At a press conference Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of operations for coalition forces in Iraq, said there were signs banning filming or stopping near the base. US forces at the entrance warned the driver to stop by firing several shots. When they were ignored, Kimmitt said, forces fired at the car.

The war logs show the base housed US special forces and was therefore especially sensitive, though the journalists may not have known this. An intelligence report says two Iraqi males were seen videotaping outside it. A soldier "requested and received permission to fire warning shots … IZ [Iraqi] males fled into a white Toyota sedan and drove towards the USSF compound, then turned north. Soldier fired at the vehicle which stopped and backed up toward the USSF compound."

An independent observer might assume the journalists were approaching to explain who they were – or if one of them was injured, to get help. In early 2004 suicide bombings were rare and journalists could still approach most US bases in vehicles or on foot. There was no undue risk, although looking like an Iraqi probably made it more dangerous.

The secret intelligence report goes on: "Soldiers fired again at the vehicle, stopping it outside the compound. A patrol investigated the vehicle and found two dead, one injured and one uninjured. The casualties were taken to the compound, treated, questioned and released. The casualties had documentation identifying them as members of the Iraqi media network." The report did not mention that the uninjured man was an Iraqi policeman whom the journalists had invited into their car. Angry Iraqi journalists questioned Brigadier General Kimmitt and the coalition's civilian spokesman, Dan Senor, the following day. Senor told them: "Let me say this. First of all you will get answers. There will be accountability. In a free and democratic society, which is what we are building here, authorities are held accountable. And we will provide information. You will be able to assess that information independently. That is part of our commitment to you, it's part of our commitment to the Iraqi people."

So far there have been no answers, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

In an email to the Guardian, Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the CPJ's programme co-ordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said: "They have not come back with results, not to CPJ, and as far as I know not to the families either."

The Guardian