Der Beschuss des Palestine Hotels


Die folgenden Absätze bis zur nächsten horizontalen Linie wurden nach dem Absenden des Briefs hinzugefügt, sind also nicht mehr Teil des Briefs geworden.

Associated Press

U.S.-led military strikes in the Iraqi capital Tuesday hit the hotel housing hundreds of journalists and an Arab television network, killing three journalists and injuring three others, Fox News, Tuesday, April 08, 2003.
....
"This coalition does not target journalists," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said in Qatar.

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera chief editor Ibrahim Hilal said the U.S. military has long known the map coordinates and street number of his network's office. Witnesses "saw the plane fly over twice before dropping the bombs. Our office is in a residential area, and even the Pentagon knows its location," Hilal said in Qatar.

Military officials offered different explanations for the attacks.

Brooks initially said the hotel was targeted after soldiers were fired on from the lobby. Later, he told reporters, "I may have misspoken."

U.S. Army Col. David Perkins, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, which deployed the tank, said Iraqis in front of the hotel fired rocket-propelled grenades across the Tigris River. Soldiers fired back with a tank round aimed at the Palestine Hotel after seeing enemy "binoculars," Perkins said.

More than 50 news cameras were set up on hotel balconies when the tank fired, according to Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay. "How can they spot someone with binoculars and not [see] cameras?" he asked.

Journalists said they heard no gunfire coming from the hotel or its immediate environs. They had been watching two U.S. tanks shooting across the al-Jumhuriya bridge, more than a half-mile away, when one of the tanks rotated its turret toward the hotel and fired.

...
"Clearly the war, and all its confusion, has come to the heart of Baghdad," said Reuters Editor in Chief Geert Linnebank. "But the incident nonetheless raises questions about the judgment of the advancing U.S. troops who have known all along that this hotel is the main base for almost all foreign journalists in Baghdad."

In a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it believed the attacks violated the Geneva Conventions concerning likely harm to civilians.

In Belgium, the International Federation of Journalists said it appeared Tuesday's attacks may have deliberately targeted journalists. "If so, they are grave and serious violations of international law," said Secretary-General Aidan White. He also said Iraq, accused of using civilians as human shields during U.S.-led bombing attacks, may also be guilty of war crimes. (compare this wording with the one Glattfelder used, addition by J. Gruber)
 

Yahoo! News - Report

Mon Apr 21,10:28 AM ET
Tank Captain Unaware of Baghdad Media Hotel

....

Capt. Philip Wolford, who led the Abrams tanks defending a bridge near the Palestine Hotel on April 8, was quoted as saying he authorized the attack after his men spotted what appeared to be someone using binoculars on the roof of the same building.

"We had been engaged in fighting for several hours," Wolford said in an interview with French weekly Nouvel Observateur. "Firing was coming in the whole time, from that area as well as others. I returned fire. Without hesitation -- that's the rule," he said, according to a Reuters translation of his remarks, which were reported in French.

 "I learned 20 minutes later that we had hit ... a hotel with journalists. I feel bad, my men feel bad."

Asked whether he knew the building was being used as a base for most of the foreign media in Baghdad, Wolford said: "No, I hadn't received any information of that kind. I can't imagine for an instant that any information sent by divisional headquarters would not have reached me."

....


Mitschriften von Pressekonferenzen

(Quelle: US-Iraq Policy Listserv)
(a) Transcript: U.S. Central Command Daily Briefing, April 8, 2003 (Operation Iraqi Freedom update) (9300)
Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, CENTCOM deputy director of operations,
briefed the media April 8 at CENTCOM's headquarters at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar.

.....

 Q: Adi (sp) Rivale (sp), ABC News. Sir, could we get an update on the investigation into the second Baghdad market explosion? And the second question is, given the severity of and the intensity of the bombardment in yesterday's building, is it possible that we may never know just who was inside that building in terms of identification? Thank you, sir.

GEN. BROOKS: I don't have anything new to report on the Baghdad markets. What we've found on these market explosions is there remains evidence that a number of things could have contributed to it. As with so many things, until we are in exactly the location where these incidents occurred, we can't make a full assessment and eliminated -- eliminate all possibilities.

As to the results of this particular attack that occurred yesterday, like other places, it is possible that we may never be able to determine exactly who was present without some detailed forensic work, and that's just -- that's one of the circumstances we have to deal with as we go through this campaign.

Yes sir, please.

Q: (Inaudible) -- Al Jazeera. Today, your plane hit Al Jazeera office in Baghdad. One of our colleagues was killed during the attack. The office of Abu Dhabi TV also hit, as well as the Palestine Hotel where most of journalists are staying.

Do these attacks mean that you will intensify your military campaign against Baghdad and that you don't need the journalists to cover the bloodshed which will be (taken in?) Baghdad? Thank you.

GEN. BROOKS: Well, Hassan (sp), if I may, let me begin by saying first that we regret the loss of life from correspondents and we extend our condolences to the family of your journalist and to the families of other journalists who have lost their lives throughout this conflict. It's most unfortunate indeed.

We certainly know that we don't target journalists. That's just not something we do. We also know that the locations where the regime does its work in many cases will put civilians at risk. We've talked about that day after day.

The regime does not seem to want to change its methods of providing a higher degree of protection to journalists that in many cases we don't know where all journalists are on the battlefield. We certainly know where the embedded journalists are at any given time that are operating with our formations. And that was a conscious decision to take in embedded journalists.

There were some combat actions that also occurred at the Palestine Hotel. Initial reports indicate that the coalition force operating near the hotel took fire from the lobby of the hotel and returned fire. And any loss of life, civilian loss of life or unintended consequences, again, we find most unfortunate and also undesirable.

This is not something we seek to do. But at the same time, we know that we're conducting combat operations inside of an urban area, an area where the regime has chosen to deliberately defend and not stand down. And we can only be reminded that the risk increases for the population as we do these operations. But we have to remain focused on our objective of removing this regime before there's a greater loss of life.

Please.

Q: Jeff Reed (sp) from Sky News. If I can continue on the point you made there, if you're claiming fire was coming from the lobby of the Palestine Hotel, why was this tank round directed at an upper floor? And what does that kind of marksmanship, or lack of it, suggest about the risks to civilians as your forces penetrate further into Baghdad?

GEN. BROOKS: The response of fire is something that we always have to give details as time goes on for specifically where the fire was returned and what was hit, where the fire came from. So I may have misspoken on exactly where the fire came from.

What I can tell you is, (to?) the marksmanship, there have been plenty of examples of very accurate marksmanship not only from air but also from our systems on the ground as we've conducted operations over time.

We remain very confident in the capability of our crews and our folks that are doing the work on the ground, and we believe that where it is possible to avoid losses of civilian life, every effort will be taken. We've seen examples of trying to protect mosques where fire came, and we did not have to return fire at that point in time to protect ourselves, and therefore we did not.

Circumstances change in different places, and the tactical decisions that are made can only be made by people on the ground. So I don't have anything else that I can give you in real detail on that. And I appreciate the question. But we'll remain focused on trying to do the job as well as we can without threatening the civilian population.

Yes, please.

Q: (Inaudible) -- Reuters. Follow-up on the Palestine; one comment. First of all, journalists inside the hotel say that there was no firing coming from the hotel. And the second question is, did U.S. forces know that that was a media hotel?

GEN. BROOKS: What we know is that there are a number of places in downtown Baghdad where there are civilian populations who are at risk. And we know that there are practices by this regime to increase that risk deliberately, whether it's by positioning or whether it's by taking certain actions.

And we know that as we conduct operations inside of Baghdad, we should anticipate attacks from unexpected locations, that some of the military actions might be unconventional in nature, whether it's the use of car bombs or whether it's ambushes, the use of snipers, or certainly the consistent pattern we've seen elsewhere of using civilians as shields.

It's too early to be able to say exactly what happened at that site, and so I don't want to get into a who says what happened. We don't know enough to be able to say that definitely. And frankly, I don't know that anyone does to have the whole picture.

That's why we have to investigate these types of things and find out what the bottom line is. And when we find out, I think there will be more information for us to pass.

Second row, please.

Q: (Inaudible.) Can you detail what you're doing to try and find out who was in that building and also say whether you actually have coalition forces on the spot going through the rubble?

GEN. BROOKS: We have coalition forces that are operating in a variety of places inside of Baghdad and in a variety of different ways. In places where we can confirm on the ground the results of a strike, as in places where we've passed through and liberated, then there's more fidelity that we can gain on the precision of the strike and the actual results of the strike.

Until that can occur in every location, we certainly can't make full determinations of what has happened. At this point in time I'm not aware of anyone from coalition forces that have walked the site. When that's possible, we'll have more information about what exactly happened there.

Until then, we can only go with things that we can gain information on. And we believe the strike was effective in hitting the target, creating the desired effect, but we don't know all the circumstances of what happened to those who were contained inside.
 
 

(b) Transcript: Defense Department Briefing, April 8, 2003 (4540)
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke and Major General Stanley McChrystal, vice director for Operations, J-3, Joint Staff,
briefed the media April 8 at the Pentagon.

....

CLARKE: Charlie?

Q: Torie, I feel compelled to ask -- the general referred to the brave men and women who have died on the battlefield, and you've referred to the military people who have been killed as "heroes." And you did express regrets for journalists being killed. Overnight a Reuters journalist and a Spanish journalist were killed in the Palestine Hotel, I believe by a tank round, and I believe an Al-Jazeera journalist -- there are reports that an Al-Jazeera journalist was killed elsewhere.

There are reports that a tank took small arms and perhaps RPG fire from the direction of the hotel, although journalists say that they saw no sign of it. Do you think that's reason enough for a tank to fire a round at the hotel, where you know there are unarmed journalists?

MCCHRYSTAL: Sir, I think I'd start by expressing specific condolences at the loss of every one -- and that's what we meant to do -- but journalists in particular, because particularly with this war, journalists have been closer to coalition soldiers than probably ever before, with the embedded program, and those who are not.

But then I'd go on and put ground combat into perspective for everyone. The forces that were moving up and into Baghdad didn't just end up in Baghdad, they fought their way there. They fought their way across Iraq through a number of Republican Guard divisions, and they did it with extraordinary skill, but they also did it with extraordinary restraint, and the embedded journalists with us have seen that the entire way.

When they get into combat in the cities, which from the beginning we have specifically said would be dangerous and difficult, you put yourself in their position, they have the inherent right of self- defense. When they are fired at, they have not only the right to respond, they have the obligation to respond to protect the soldiers with them and to accomplish the mission at large. So when they receive fire, and regardless of how specific they can be of where it came from -- and normally they're pretty good at it -- they have that right and they have that responsibility.

Q: Torie --

CLARKE: I -- I would just add -- and as the general said, we've had example after example after example reported by the media of the coalition forces going to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties. That is the practice. That is the policy.

I'd also say, as we have said for a long time, even before we knew whether or not there would be military action in Iraq, a war zone is a dangerous place. Baghdad in particular, we believe, would be a dangerous place. We continue to warn people -- we continue to warn news organizations about the dangers. There are -- we've had conversations over the last couple of days -- news organizations eager to get their people unilaterally into Baghdad. And we were saying it is not a safe place, you should not be there.

Q: Do you know if military in the area of the hotel were told that it was a hotel where journalists were staying?

CLARKE: Which military?

Q: Whoever fired the tank round, for example.

CLARKE: Well, I'd just say you go over the last several days, as we've been working our way into Baghdad, we have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties.
 
 

(c) Transcript: U.S. Central Command Daily Briefing, April 9, 2003 (Military operations in Iraq) (8960)
Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, CENTCOM deputy director of operations,
briefed the media April 9 at CENTCOM's headquarters at Camp As Sayliyah near Doha, Qatar.

....

Q: (Inaudible) -- representing the Committee to Protect Journalists. General, my committee sent a letter yesterday to Secretary Rumsfeld requesting an investigation of the events yesterday regarding the journalists in Baghdad, and we hope that'll be undertaken.

I wanted to ask you about the future and ways of possibly averting similar incidents. You mentioned in yesterday's briefing how the military takes particular care with sites such as schools, hospitals and mosques. I wonder if a system could be arranged where similar care could be taken with sites where it's known that journalists are operating.

GEN. BROOKS: Well, first, let me say that sites where journalists or any other civilians or non-combatants are operating are already a focus for us to ensure that we have knowledge and that we're careful about our targeting. But we should be very clear that, first, Baghdad remains a very dangerous place. We've always said that.

And we've also informed that those who choose to stay in that location are putting themselves at risk by their own decisions. The circumstances of yesterday revealed that there was fire occurring inside of Baghdad and fire was returned.

It's important to note at this point that the regime will also use any civilians that are available to provide a degree of protection. Civilians may be located in places where the regime conducts other work. And when the two join together, they move into a targetable area that increases the danger.

So what we'd encourage is decisions to be made -- now that the danger is well-known, even more known than it has been throughout time, that new decisions would be made. And we'd certainly like to see all non-combatants that are close to regime facilities or regime leaders to move away from those areas before they increase the danger any further.

......

Q: (Name and affiliation off mike.) I'd like to insist (sic) on the investigation of what happened at the Palestine Hotel. You probably don't have yet a full picture of the investigation, but according to the footage from the French TV crew, there were -- there were no shots coming from the hotel at least 30 seconds before the Abrams tank fired back. Could you tell us what did the crew inform their superiors before firing, please? Thank you, General.

GEN. BROOKS: I don't have any reports of what the crew specifically said before engaging or what decisions were made in that moment of time. What we know at this point is that the reports that have come up to us from the force involved in the fight was they received fire and returned fire. Everything else beyond there is speculative and must be investigated much more thoroughly, and I certainly am not in a position to describe anything further at this point in time. ...

Q: (Off mike) -- Irish Times. General, could you just clarify in relation to the Palestine Hotel is it possible that there could be future attacks by coalition forces on the Palestine Hotel? Or has it been now designated as having the same status as a heritage site or a mosque?
 

 GEN. BROOKS: As we've said a number of times, downtown Baghdad remains a dangerous place. There's still potential for combat action. The area in and around the bridges last night we reported there was some contact. Our efforts remain focused on the regime and regime targets that present themselves. We retain the inherent right of self-defense. There are still choices that can be made by those that are inside of Baghdad as to whether they believe themselves to be in a safe position or not. Our approach remains the same and consistent.

...

Q: Martha Brant with Newsweek magazine. I'm trying to understand what coalition policy is in the case of civilian deaths. Do you investigate all of them, or are they considered collateral damage of war, inevitable? Is it only when they are controversial that you'll look into them? And the case may be of Al Jazeera might be illustrative. If it was an airstrike, will the pilot be interviewed? Will Predator video be reviewed? What will happen in that particular case?

GEN. BROOKS: As you can imagine, the number of combat engagements that have occurred over the last 20 days, down to the lowest level, where someone makes a decision to deliver a weapons system against some target, whether it's a physical target or human being, is a number that we cannot begin to count. And, so, every engagement that occurs is certainly not investigated. Where there is an indication there may have been something that didn't go the right way, commanders have the opportunity to investigate. We regret the loss of any civilians on the battlefield, and we have done all that we can reasonably do to prevent that from happening either from air or on the ground. But we know for certain that there have been civilians killed in this operation, because of the decisions taken by the regime to put them out in front, to hide behind them, to use pregnant women to blow up cars at checkpoints. We have seen this happen on the battlefield. Those are not being investigated by us at this point in time. If we think we have some involvement in other cases where we need to look deeper, we do, and we look very closely at ourselves to see what procedures need to be changed; and, if there is accountability, then that accountability is taken care.

Q: So are you saying in the case, in this particular case, you would look into it because it's controversial? And has that process started?

GEN. BROOKS: What I am saying in this case and all cases is when we believe we have something to look into, we do look into it in greater detail. I'm not going to specify this particular one.
 
 


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