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Judgment

A Spanish court finally exercises some. Murder charges dropped against three American soldiers in the Hotel Palestine incident. BBC: 

A Spanish court has thrown out murder charges against three US soldiers accused of killing a Spanish cameraman during the war in Iraq.

Jose Couso, 37, died in April 2003 after a US tank fired on a hotel used by foreign journalists in Baghdad.

Madrid’s National Court dropped all charges, ruling there was “insufficient evidence” to continue with the trial.

The court ruling underlined that the case was being definitively dismissed, with no further opportunity to appeal.

US officials ignored two international arrest warrants issued for Sgt Thomas Gibson, Cpt Philip Wolford and Lt-Col Philip De Camp, in 2005 and 2007.

The men had been charged with murder and a crime against the international community. Under Spanish law, this is defined as an excessive attack against civilians during war.

Attack footage

The attack happened at Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, the base for almost all the foreign media crews in the capital during the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Mr Couso was working for Spain’s Telecinco television station at the time.

Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, was also killed in the blast and three other Reuters staff were injured.

The US admitted its tank crew fired at the Palestine Hotel but cleared the three soldiers of blame.

The soldiers say they thought they were being shot at when they opened fire.

Footage of the incident on the day before the fall of the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - which did not record any fire from the hotel - was witnessed around the world.

A US review of the incident ruled that the use of force by the tank was justified, but the family of Mr Couso decided to press criminal charges through the Spanish courts.

Best wishes and congratulations to my friends and companions in the invasion of Iraq, 1st Platoon tank commander Gibson, A Company commander Wolford and 4/64 battalion commander deCamp, on the removal of the burden of these accusations.

As I’ve stated before, I witnessed numerous examples of Wolford and the men under him, on his orders, withholding fire and placing themselves in danger to avoid needlessly endangering civilians, and other acts of compassion. 

In the case of the Palestine incident, I was under fire with them on the morning of April 8, 2003, witnessed by sight and over the radio headphones much of the runup to the tragic killings of Jose Cuoso and Taras Protsyuk.  They, like my dead colleagues Michael Kelly, David Bloom, Christian Liebig and Julio Anguito Parrado, went into war knowing they could be killed. They should be honored for their willingness to do so, but prosecuting honest soldiers for an accident of war was never more than an act of bitterness, fueled by distorted reports by groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontieres that lacked the evidence of a war crime but suggested it must be what happened anyway.

I hope CPJ, RSF, disgraced CNN chief Eason Jordan, and the Newspaper Guild’s Linda Foley will have the good taste to apologize for the aspersions they cast, particularly RSF with its entirely unsupported claim of “Two Murders and a Lie,” and Jordan and Foley with their claims that American soldiers have purposely targeted journalists. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

We’ll find out soon whether Foley has paid a price. Bernie Lunzer apparently has a lock on the union presidency in the election that ends tomorrow. A major plank in Lunzer’s campaign was Foley’s rank anti-American statements. That’s why I voted for him. 

The BBC article above repeats an oversimplified version of what happened that day. You find more detailed accounts, some accurate, some distorted, below. Related prior:

Al-Qaeda-cowed Nation Indicts U.S. Soldiers

April 8, 2003

Centcom report

CPJ’s “Permission to Fire”

RSF’s “Two Murders and a Lie”

Mudville Gazette’s Targeting Journalists, with Crittenden interview and excerpts from David Zucchino’s definitive “Thunder Run.” 

Topics: Iraq, military

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:46 am on Wednesday, May 14, 2008

5 Responses to “Judgment”

1. RebeccaH Says:
   May 14th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

   Good for Spain. Maybe they’re finally seeing the light (or that scimitar over their heads).

2. The_Real_JeffS Says:
   May 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

   Huzzah! Justice prevails!

3. MikeH Says:
   May 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

   The latest from the Froggy Front!

4. The Thunder Run Says:
   May 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm

   Web Reconnaissance for 05/15/2008

   A short recon of what�s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

5. davidp Says:
   May 17th, 2008 at 4:31 am

   I’m glad this finally happened. Its unfortunate it took five years for the charges to be squashed.
   Your series on the invasion was educating, compelling and well written. Thank you for it.

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