Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

Matthew Dulin    Geronimo Rodriguez      Cara Sarelli          Lisa Street

Sloppy shooting?

U.S. officials have used words like "calculated" and "successful" to describe some attacks since the start of the war against Iraq. Some even boast about how U.S. troops easily penetrated Iraqi forces in Baghdad. So why did three journalists die in what some officials are calling a questionable decision by coalition forces?

American forces on Tuesday struck a Baghdad hotel where hundreds of foreign journalists are known to have set up offices to report on Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The three men killed -- Tareq Ayyoub, Taras Protsyuk and Jose Couso -- were not wielding guns or posing a threat to the military forces.

Many media organizations have called for an investigation of the attack, which they believe intentionally targeted journalists. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks denies the allegations and, according to The Associated Press, said that troops were being fired on from the hotel lobby before a tank located nearly half a mile away shot a missile that pierced floors 14 and 15 of the 17-story hotel.

Journalists residing in the hotel say they did not hear any weapons being fired from the location and are skeptical about officialsi claims of targeting the building in self-defense.

"It had been very quiet ... then I saw the turret turning in our direction," said Herve De Ploeg, a cameraman from France 3 television who filmed the attack. "It was not a case of instinctive firing."

Now why would a U.S. tank fire at a balcony when the suspected targets were on the ground? U.S. military officials claim they saw enemy binoculars spying from a balcony, but how could a heavily armored tank at that distance determine if the binoculars were those of enemies or journalists?

This attack would seem to contradict the U.S. militaryis claims of concern for civilians. They were aware of the journalists occupying the hotel and yet they still engaged the building as if it were one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Since military officials can't get the story straight about the event, one can deduce that either this attack was a huge mistake or the U.S. military has violated the Geneva Conventionis international humanitarian law.

The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague should thoroughly investigate all footage recorded from the Palestine Hotel balcony Tuesday and determine if the United States is abiding by the humanitarian code it claims to be so adamantly defending by waging this war.

Until then, let us hope our forces wonit make this mistake again.

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