13 Confirmed Cases of Journalists Killed in Iraq by U.S. Forces

US Military Failing to Probe Journalist Killings in Iraq

Chicago - Though American troops have killed 13 journalists in Iraq since the beginning of the war in March 2003, the US military has failed to investigate the killings fully, or implement its own recommendations to improve the safety of the news media, according to a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

New York City-based CPJ said that in most cases of killed journalists, the military has either failed to investigate at all, or has not made its investigation or conclusions public.

"The findings from the few investigations that have been released have not credibly addressed questions of accountability for shooting deaths, and whether US forces are taking necessary measures to differentiate between combatants and civilians in conflict areas," CPJ said.

In several cases, CPJ said, the circumstances of the journalist's death "suggest indifference by US soldiers to the presence of civilians, including members of the press."

In addition to the 13 journalists killed by US troops, at least 40 other journalists have been killed covering he war. (CPJ statistics do not include the death of journalists by accident or natural causes.) Another 21 media support staff such as drivers and translators have been killed in Iraq, two by US forces, CPJ said.

"By failing to account for all shooting deaths and demonstrate that it is taking steps to avoid future tragedies, the US military shows an alarming disregard for the safety of civilians, including journalists covering this conflict," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement. "As far as we know the military has conducted full investigations into only a handful of incidents and made public its reports on just two of them. With such a record the Pentagon needs to address its own serious credibility problem by showing some accountability and by providing real answers to outstanding questions about these shocking deaths."

Source:
Media Info

Interesting that None of these Journalists are American - all of them European or Arabian.

More Detailed Informaton:CPJ

u sure? i swore i heard some American journalist was killed recently in Basra. maybe im wrong. no American journalist has ever been killed in Iraq? let me find out.

deltaboy: the keyphrase with this is "by the coalition" or "by american forces".

Lets see, your last post regarding this topic mentioned something like 62 journalists dead in total, so ONLY 20% died at the hands of coalitions forces. So 80% have been killed by the terrorists.

Great stat Soul, thanks

I will rename this thread for ya:

"80% of all Journalists killed in Iraq were killed by Insurgents"

[edit on 19-9-2005 by skippytjc]

Originally posted by skippytjc
So 80% have been killed by the terrorists.

The thread doesn't have the correct title due to an effect called "spinning". You see when the truth doesn't look favorable to your cause, you have to flip things around and look at them from another point of view to get your point (twisted or not) across.

Let's not mention that some of these deaths are due to the fact the these journalist are working IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR ZONE!. Guess how many bullets actually hit their targets and how many miss or ricochet and hit un-intended targets? When a van pulls up and people get out and mount a large device on their shoulder (camera) and point it at a tank, guess what happens? Sure it's obvious to us that it's not a RPG or anti-tank missile, but we're not looking at it from the tank commander's point of view.

Whoops, I forgot to keep the spin cycle going. Did you know that more journalist have been killed in Iraq than in Geneva Switzerland this last year. Wow! The Swiss seem nice. What's up with the Americans?



[edit on 19-9-2005 by dbates]

"Spinning" is exactly what I was doing, and I did it very much on purpose.

Soul has an existing post about ALL the journalists killed so far, I think it’s Ironic that he has made a new one with the statistic of those killed by Americans specifically. Well, if over 60 have been killed as he has posted previously, what point can he be attempting to make here by making a new post about the ones just killed by Americans? That’s called spin too.

But when you use numbers to prove your point or agenda, those very numbers can be used to show the opposite story as well.

And in the story I have "spun" with those numbers is that the overwhelming majority of journalists killed were not by Americans, but by the terrorists. And I can make that deduction using Souls numbers.

Its ALL about the spin.


[edit on 19-9-2005 by skippytjc]

Guess journalists know to much these days....

According to the Original Article, from the CPJ Page:

Journalists killed by Circumstance:

• Insurgent action: 30 (Includes crossfire, suicide bombings, and targeted killings.) - makes 55%
  
• U.S. fire: 13 - makes 24%
  
• Iraqi armed forces, during U.S. invasion: 3 - makes 5%
  
• Crossfire or other acts of war in which source unconfirmed: 7 - makes 13%

And there are some mere casualties:

MEDIA WORKERS KILLED ON DUTY: 21
Media workers are those who work with journalists in supporting roles as drivers, interpreters, fixers and guards. CPJ uses the same standards in determining whether they were killed on duty.

So the Titles could be:

"55% of all Journalists killed in Iraq were killed by Insurgents"

&

"24% of all Journalists killed in Iraq were killed by US Forces"

Souljah are you still insisting that they were killed on purpose? Surly a suicide bomber that blows up his car and kills a journalist near by, only did it by accident right? US soldier kills one during a battle, it is considered intentional right? Surly you don think like this, right Suljah?

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Souljah are you still insisting that they were killed on purpose? Surly a suicide bomber that blows up his car and kills a journalist near by, only did it by accident right? US soldier kills one during a battle, it is considered intentional right? Surly you don think like this, right Suljah?

I honestly have no Idea how or why were they Killed.

Why was the Italian Journalist Giuliana Sgrena was Shot at? Why did the Agent Nicola Calipari die in this "Accident"? How many Accidents like this one occured in Iraq and we are not aware of?

Seriously - why do you think I would come to a Debate Forum named ABOVE Top Secret?

Anyway, this is what it's written in Wikipedia, regarding the Giuliana Sgrena incident:

Giuliana SgrenaAfter by being rescued by Nicola Calipari and another SISMI agent, Ms Sgrena was transported by car to Baghdad International Airport. However, a blocking position, put in place to protect John Negroponte's car convoy, shot on the vehicle, causing the death of Calipari and the wounding of Sgrena and of the other agent.

Makes me Wonder....

[edit on 19/9/05 by Souljah]

Ok, just had to clear up some things, and Souljah is there anything that doesn't make you wonder?

Working in a “war zone” requires more than just a will to ‘do’ if one is to truly survive.

Journalists are attempting to enter areas where professionally trained and seasoned persons in combat ‘survivability’ are dying daily.

Support the war or not, some journalists (regardless of nationality) entering into this type of arena will die, get in the way or get wounded. Keeping 'score' serves nothing more than to prove an unfortunate fact of contemporary warfare and reality.

.

Originally posted by Souljah
Why was the Italian Journalist Giuliana Sgrena was Shot at?

That's an interesting story, but most likely the answer is that they were speeding towards a U.S. checkpoint and the soldiers didn't like that fact that the vehicle was approaching at a high rate of speed. By her own accounts, the driver was driving fast and barely maintaining control of the vehicle. Not the best way to approach a military check-point.

can sombody ask me why Giuliana Sgrena was not completely killed. i mean she was in the car and the American troops had all the time in the world to pump bullet after bullet until there is no one left alive. so they leave her alive to tell her story. thats pretty weird.

Ah, nevermind.

[edit on 20-9-2005 by yanchek]