Military Defends Shooting of Knight Ridder Reporter in Iraq [View All]

[sabra]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001220329

Military Defends Shooting of Knight Ridder Reporter in Iraq

NEW YORK The U.S. military investigation of the June 24 shooting death of Yasser Salihee, a Knight Ridder Iraqi correspondent, has confirmed that he was killed by an American soldier and then left dead in his car--but concluded that the killing was necessary.

Salihee, 30, a doctor and Knight Ridder correspondent, was on his way to get gasoline for his car to take his daughter to the swimming pool, on his day off.

The report concluded the shooting was justified because the soldiers thought Salihee could have been a suicide bomber or attempting to run them over as he approached an intersection in Baghdad.


The military made $2,500 in payment to Salihee's family for his death and an additional $2,500 for property damage to the car.
It also sent an unspecified number of soldiers to "remedial training on consequence management" after they left Salihee's body "in plain view" and then leaving the area, which "could not have had a positive impact on the local populace."