Pentagon: Journalist's Killing Justified

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
June 18, 2008
Pg. 4

U.S. soldiers who shot and killed a Reuters journalist during a 2005 firefight in Baghdad were justified because "the cameraman and driver took actions during the incident that reasonably led U.S. soldiers to believe they were confronting hostile intent," the Pentagon inspector general said.
Reuters Editor in Chief David Schlesinger said he believes the inspector general took the case seriously and Reuters will examine its safety procedures.
According to the report, U.S. soldiers responding to an ambush on Iraqi police saw the car with sound technician Waleed Khaled, who died, and cameraman Haider Kadhem inside and mistook Kadhem's handheld camcorder and microphone for a weapon. The soldiers fired warning shots at the car. Following Reuters' safety procedures, the crew put the car in reverse and began to back away — an action the military is trained to interpret as an insurgent's combat tactics.
 
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