Coroner: U.S. killed British TV reporter

[Totally Committed]

Coroner: U.S. killed British TV reporter



OXFORD, England - A coroner ruled Friday that U.S. forces unlawfully killed a British television journalist in the opening days of the Iraq war, and said he would ask the attorney general to take steps to bring those responsible to justice. Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker made his ruling in the case of Terry Lloyd, a 50-year-old reporter for the British television network ITN who was killed on March 22, 2003.

The Pentagon said its forces had followed proper rules of engagement. Witnesses testified during the weeklong inquest that Lloyd — who was driving with fellow ITN reporters from Kuwait toward Basra, Iraq — was shot in the back by Iraqi troops who overtook his car, then died after U.S. fire hit a civilian minivan being used as an ambulance and struck him in the head.

"Terry Lloyd died following a gunshot wound to the head. The evidence this bullet was fired by the Americans is overwhelming," Walker said. "There is no doubt that the minibus presented no threat to the American forces. There is no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire." In Washington, the Defense Department said a U.S. investigation "determined that U.S. forces followed the applicable rules of engagement."

>snip

ITN cameraman Daniel Demoustier, the sole survivor, told the inquest that ITN's pair of four-wheel drive vehicles were overtaken by a truck carrying Iraqi forces and that gunfire erupted. "The hell broke loose completely. I was absolutely sure I was going to die," Demoustier told the inquest. Driving blindly in smoke, Demoustier said he realized the passenger door was open and Lloyd was gone. Demoustier, a Belgian, said he jumped from his flaming car and lay in the sand, waiting for the shooting to stop. Demoustier said he tried to stand to signal U.S. tanks in the area but that they resumed firing at the clearly marked ITN vehicles.

>snip

Lloyd's widow, Lynn, in a statement read by her lawyer, said U.S. forces "allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger-happy cowboys in an area in which there were civilians traveling." She called the killing a war crime — "a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061013/ap_on_re_eu/britain_reporter_inquest

TC

[Totally Committed]

1. Shameless kick

This is an important story.

TC

[Greyhound]

2. I agree it is important.

Therefore it will not get any attention. Hope I'm wrong.
:kick: & R