http://foi.missouri.edu/federalfoia/cpjdisturbed.htmlCPJ disturbed by lack of investigation into attack on Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureauReport
Commitee to Protect Journalists
October 10, 2003.
Six months after the U.S. shelled the Palestine Hotel in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and an air strike hit the Baghdad bureau of the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) filed three new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to the incidents with the U.S. Defense Department.
In addition, CPJ reiterated its recommendations, including urging U.S. Central Command (Centcom) to ensure that U.S. forces take all necessary precautions to avoid harming members of the media.
The FOIA requests seek information regarding the two April 8 attacks, as well as the August 17 killing of Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana by a machine-gunner near the Abu Ghraib Prison, outside Baghdad, and the March 22 death of British ITV News reporter Terry Lloyd, whose two colleagues remain missing. The requests seek information including but not limited to military investigations that have been conducted into these incidents, the details of which U.S. officials have not made public.
CPJ was disturbed to discover this week that no investigation into the attack on Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau has been launched. CPJ calls on the U.S. Defense Department and Centcom to ensure that a thorough and public investigation is started immediately.
José Couso, a cameraman with Spanish television station Telecinco, and Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk were killed on April 8 when a U.S. tank fired on the Palestine Hotel, where the majority of the international press corps in Iraq was headquartered during the U.S.-led war. Al-Jazeera correspondent Tareq Ayyoub was killed earlier that morning when U.S. aircraft bombed the Baghdad bureau's generator.
In addition to Ayyoub, Couso, Dana, and Protsyuk, recent information indicates that U.S. and Iraqi forces may also be responsible for the death of ITV News's Lloyd.
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