Justice for Dead Journalists

The tragedy of the immoral war in Iraq is outrageous!

Video clip part 1 of 5 of Adrienne Kinne, former military intelligence officer speaks out


Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Justice for Dead Journalists

By Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate
Posted May 15, 2008

source


A military whistle-blower has come forward with information that contradicts the government's official story about the deaths of two journalists.

More than five years have passed since the invasion of Iraq, since President Bush stood under the "Mission Accomplished" banner on that aircraft carrier. While these fifth anniversaries got some notice, another did not: the shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad by a U.S. Army tank on April 8, 2003. The tank attack killed two unembedded journalists, Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and José Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Couso recorded his own death. He was filming from the balcony and caught on tape the distant tank as it rotated its turret and fired on the hotel.

Taras Protsyuk (1967 - 2003)
Photojournalist. The Ukranianian born Protsyuk worked as a cameraman for the Reuters News Agency at there Warsaw, Poland, bureau. He began his news career for Reuters in 1993, later covering stories from the war in Afghanistan on terrorism, to overthrowing and arrest of President Slobodan Milosevic ...


A Spanish court has charged three U.S. servicemen with murder, but the U.S. government refuses to hand over the accused soldiers. The story might have ended there, just another day of violence and death in Iraq, were it not for a young U.S. military intelligence veteran who has just decided to blow the whistle.


Spanish cameraman Jose Couso was one of the two journalists killed in the attack


Adrienne Kinne is a former Army sergeant who worked in military intelligence for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. Trained in Arabic, she worked in the Army translating intercepted communications. She told me in an interview this week that she saw a target list that included the Palestine Hotel. She knew that it housed journalists, since she had intercepted calls from the Palestine Hotel between journalists there and their families and friends back home (illegally and unconstitutionally, she thought).

Adrienne Kinne
democracynow.org

Said Kinne: "[W]e were listening to journalists who were staying in the Palestine Hotel. And I remember that, specifically because during the buildup to 'shock and awe' ... we were given a list of potential targets in Baghdad, and the Palestine Hotel was listed. [P]utting one and one together, I went to my officer in charge, and I told him that there are journalists staying at this hotel who think they're safe, and yet we have this hotel listed as a potential target, and somehow the dots are not being connected here, and shouldn't we make an effort to make sure that the right people know the situation? And unfortunately, my officer in charge ... basically told me that it was not my job to analyze ... someone somewhere higher up the chain knew what they were doing."

She said the officer in charge was Warrant Officer John Berry.

Listen to Javier Couso, the brother of Jose


Kinne's account directly contradicts the official line of the U.S. government. On May 2, 2003, Colin Powell, then secretary of state and a former general in the Army, visited Spain. He said of the Palestine Hotel: "We knew about the hotel. We knew that it was a hotel where journalists were located, and others, and it is for that reason it was not attacked during any phase of the aerial campaign."

If Powell was telling the truth, then why was the hotel included on the list of targets that Kinne says she read in a secure e-mail? Or was he just parsing words by saying it wasn't a target during the "aerial campaign"? Kinne also revealed that the military was spying on nongovernmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross, listening in on these groups -- also illegal -- and justifying the pretense on the grounds that they might by chance report on a cache of weapons of mass destruction, or their satellite phone might get stolen by terrorists. She also received and translated a fax from the Iraqi National Congress, the CIA-funded group of Iraqi exiles who were funneling false information about WMDs to the U.S. government in order to bolster the case for war. The intel was considered high-value and was sent directly to the White House.

Kinne has shown great courage and taken great risks to bring these revelations to light, to blow the whistle. She follows in the tradition of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. Ellsberg has called on government workers to blow the whistle:

"It's a great, great risk to have the amount of secrecy we do have right now that enabled the president to lie us into this war and is heading us toward a war that will be even more disastrous in Iran. And this is the time for unauthorized disclosures, which are the only kind that are going to tell us the truth about what's happening, and they should be done, in my opinion, on a scale that will indeed risk or even ensure that the person doing it will be identified."

The brother of José Couso, Javier, has tirelessly pursued justice for his brother, traveling globally to make the story known and pushing the case in the Spanish courts. Kinne's revelations created a stir in Spain, where the jurisdiction of the case against the three U.S. Army members is being challenged. The video of Kinne's disclosures was downloaded and quickly translated for presentation the next day to the court in Madrid.

The Bush White House, we now know, used retired generals with ties to the Pentagon and to military contractors to deceive the U.S. public. Unembedded journalists in Iraq were a thorn in the side of the Pentagon spin masters. Might that April 8 attack been a message to them? Thanks to former Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne, we may be closer to finding out.

--- end ---

213 journalists and media assistants killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003,
two still missing, 14 are kidnapped

source

Two other journalists are still missing:


(JPEG)
Frédéric Nérac
of ITV News (UK), since 22 March 2003


(JPEG)
Isam Hadi Muhsin Al-Shumary
Suedostmedia, 15 August 2004

159 Journalists killed


4.05.2008 - Sirwa Abdel Wahab, Independant

25.04.2008 - Jassem Al-Battat, Al-Nakhil

27.02.2008 - Chihab Al-Tamimi , Iraqi Journalists Union

12.02.2008 - Haidar Mijwit Hamdan, Association of Young Iraqi Journalists

28.01.2008 - Alaa Abdulkarim Al-Fartoosi, Al-Forat TV

14.12.2007 - Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, www.aliveinbaghdad.org

27.10.2007 - Shehab Mohammed al-Hitti, Baghdad News

14.10.2007 - Salih Saif Aldin, The Washington Post

23.09.2007 - Jawad Al-Daami, Al-Baghdadiya

20.09.2007 - Mouhannad Ghanem Ahmed, Radio Dar Al Salam

03.09.2007 - Amer Al-Rashidy, Al-Iraqiya

27.07.2007 - Adnane al-Safi, Al-Anwar

17.07.2007 - Mustafa Darwich Germayani, Kirkouk Alyoum

17.07.2007 - Majid Mohammed, Kirkouk Alyoum

13.07.2007 - Khaled W. Hassan, New York Times

12.07.2007 - Namir Noor-Eldeene, Reuters

28.06.2007 - Louaï Souleimane, Nineveh

27.06.2007 - Sarmad Hamdi Al-Hassani, Bagdad TV

26.06.2007 - Hamid Abd Sarhane, Irakioun

25.06.2007 - Rahim Al-Maliki, Al-Iraqiya

11.06.2007 - Aref Ali Falih, Aswat al-Iraq

14.06.2007 - Filaih Wadi Mijthab, al-Sabah

13.06.2007 - Sahar Hussein Haydari, Aswat al-Iraq

08.06.2007 - Mohammed Hilal Karji , Bagdad TV

01.06.2007 - Saif Fakhri, APTN

30.05.2007 - Nizar Al-Radhi, Aswat Al-Irak

29.05.2007 - Abdel-Rahmane Al-Issaoui, Independant

26.05.2007 - Aidan Abdallah Al-Jamiji, Kirkouk TV

28.05.2007 - Mahmoud Hassib Al-Kassab , Al-Hawadith

20.05.2007 - Ali Khalil, Al-Zaman

17.05.2007 - Alaa Uldeen Aziz, ABC

17.05.2007 - Saif Laith Yousuf, ABC

9.05.2007 - Imad Obaid, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad

9.05.2007 - Nibras Abdel-Razak Obaid, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad

9.05.2007 - Raad Mutasha al-Issawi, Al-Iraq Al-Ghad, Al-Raad

6.05.2007 - Dmitry Chebotayev, Newsweek

12.04.2007 - Iman Yussef Abdallah , The sound of Mossul

06.04.2007 - Othman al-Mashhadani, Al-Watan

06.04.2007 - Khamail Khalaf, Radio Free Europe

05.04.2007 - Thaer Ahmed Jabr, Baghdad TV

19.03.2007 - Hamid al-Duleimi, al-Nahrain

16.03.2007 - Hussein al Jaburi, al-Safir

07.03.2007 - Yussef Sabri, Biladi TV

04.03.2007 - Mohan Hussein al-Dhahr, al-Mishrak

03.03.2007 - Jamal Riyah Al Zoubaidi, As-Safir

20.02.2007 - Abderrazak Hashim Al-Khakani, Jumhuriyat Al Iraq

19.02.2007 - Hussein Al Zubaydi, al-Ahali

28.01.2007 - Munjid Al-Tumaimi, Freelance photographer

15.01.2007 - Falah Khalaf Al Diyali, Al Saha

14.01.2007 - Yassin Aid Assef, Al Sabah

05.01.2007 - Ahmed Hadi Naji, Occasional cameraman, AP

12.01.2007 - Khoudr Younes al-Obaidi, Freelance

29.12.2006 - Akil Sarhane, Al-Riyadia

12.12.2006 - Aswan Ahmed Lutfallah, APTN

04.12.2006 - Nabil Ibrahim Al-Dulaimi, Radio Dijla

22.11.2006 - Raad Jaafar Hamadi, Al Sabah

20.11.2006 - Walid Hassan, Al-Sharkiya

15.11.2006 - Luma Abdallah Al Karkhi, Al-Dustour

02.11.2006 - Qussai Abass, Tariq Al Shaab

15.11.2006 - Fadia Mohammed Ali, Al Massar (daily newspaper)

13.11.2006 - Mohammed Al Ban, Al Sharkiya (TV)

3.11.2006 - Ahmed Al Rachid, Al-Sharkiya (TV)

31.10.2006 - Abdelmajid Ismael Khalil, Freelance journalist

29.10.2006 - Nakshin Hama Rashid, Atiaf

25.10.2006 - Saad Mehdi Shalash, Rayat Al Arab

16.10.2006 - Ali Halil, Al Iraqiya

13.10.2006 - Raid Qais Al Shammari, Al Iraqiya, Sawt Al Irak radio station

12.10.2006 - Nawfal Al Shumari, Deputy director, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Abderrahim Nasrallah Al Shumari, Station director, Al Shaabiya TV

10.10.2006 - Azad Mohammed Hassan, Dar Al Salam radio station

18.09.2006 - Ahmed Riyad Al-Karbouli, Baghdad TV

12.09.2006 - Hadi Anawi Al-Joubouri , free-lance

13.09.2006 - Safaa Ismail Inad, Al-Watan

09.09.2006 - Abdel Karim Al-Roubaï, Al-Sabah

7.08.2006 - Ismail Amine Ali, Freelance journalist

7.08.2006 - Mohammed Abbas Hamed, Al-Bayinnah Al-Jadida

1.08.2006 - Riyad Atto, Talafar al Youm

1.08.2006 - Adel Naji Al Mansouri, Al Alam TV

1.08.2006 - Abdul Wahab Abdul Razeq Al Qaisie, Kol Al Dounia

29.06.2006 - Ossama Qadeer, Cameraman, Fox News

13.06.2006 - Ibrahim Seneid, al-Bashara

31.05.2006 - Ali Jaafar, Al-Iraqiya TV

29.05.2006 - Paul Douglas, CBS

5.05.2006 - Abdel Magid Al Mohammadaoui, free-lance

7.05.2006 - Mouazaz Baroud, Al-Nahrain

5.05.2006 - Saoud Mazahem Al-Hadithi, Al-Baghdadia

22.04.2006 - Qussay Kahdban, radio Al-Bilad

26.03.2006 - Kamal Manahi Anbar, Institute for War and Peace Reporting

13.03.2006 - Muhsin Khudhair, Alef Ba

11.03.2006 - Amjad Hameed, Al-Iraqiya

07.03.2006 - Monsef Al-Khalidi, Baghdad TV Sat Channel

23.02.2006 - Atwar Bahjat, al-Arabiya TV

23.01.2006 - Hamza Hussein, sport journalist at private TV station Al-Diyar

28.11.2005 - Akeel Abdul Rwdha, AL-Iraqia

07.11.2005 - Ahmed Hussein Al Maliki, Tall Afar

19.10.2005 - Mohamed Haroun, Union of Iraqi Journalists general secretary

09.2005 - Sabah Salmane, Bagdad

21.09.2005 - Firas Al-Maadhidi, Al-Safir

20.09.2005 - Hind Ismail, Al-Safir

19.09.2005 - Fakher Haydar Al-Tamimi, New York Times

27.08.2005 - Rafed Al Rubaii, Al Irakiya

02.08.2005 - Steven Vincent, freelance journalist

22.06.2005 - Yasser Al Salihy, Knight Ridder

03.07.2005 - Maha Ibrahim, Baghdad TV

01.07.2005 - Khaled Sabih al Attar, al-Iraqia

28.06.2005 - Wael Al Bakri, Al Charkiyah

22.06.2005 - Jassim Al Qais, Al Siyada

15.05.2005 - Najem Abed Khodair, Al-Madaa and Tariq al-Shaab

15.05.2005 - Ahmad Adam, Al-Madaa and Sabah

23.04.2005 - Saleh Ibrahim, Associated Press

15.04.2005 - Shamal Abdallah Assad, Kirkuk TV, Kurdsat

14.04.2005 - Ali Abrahim Aissa, Al-Hurriya TV

14.04.2005 - Fadel Hazem Fadel, Al-Hurriya TV

01.04.2005 - Ahmed Jabbar Hashim, Al Sabah

14.03.2005 - Houssam Hilal Sarsam, Kurdistan-TV

10.03.2005 - Laik Ibrahim, Kurdistan-TV

25.02.2005 - Raeda Mohammed Wageh Wazzan, Iraqiya

09.02.2005 - Abdel Hussein Khazaal, Al-Hurra TV

01.11.2004 - Dhia Najim, Reuters

27.10.2004 - Liqaa Abdul-Razzaq, Al-Sharqiya

14.10.2004 - Karam Hussein, European Pressphoto Agency

14.10.2004 - Dina Mohamad Hassan, Al Hurriya Television

7.10.2004 - Ahmad Jassem, Nivive television

12.09.2004 - Mazen al-Tomaizi, Al-Arabiya

26.08.2004 - Enzo Baldoni, Diario della settimana

15.08.2004 - Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, ZDF

15.08.2004 - Hossam Ali, freelance

03.06.2004 - Sahar Saad Eddine Nouami, Al-Mizan, Al-Khaima, Al-Hayat Al-Gadida

27.05.2004 - Kotaro Ogawa, Nikkan Gendai

27.05.2004 - Shinsuke Hashida, Nikkan Gendai

19.05.2004 - Bassam Karim Al-Azzawi , Iraqi news agency WNA

07.05.2004 - Mounir Bouamrane, TVP

07.05.2004 - Waldemar Milewicz, TVP

19.04.2004 - Assad Kadhim, Al-Iraqiya TV

26.03.2004 - Bourhan Mohammad al-Louhaybi , ABC News

18.03.2004 - Ali Al-Khatib, Al-Arabiya

18.03.2004 - Ali Abdel Aziz, Al-Arabiya

18.03.2004 - Nadia Nasrat, Diyala Television

01.02.2004 - Simko Kareem Mohideen, free Lance cameraman

01.02.2004 - Salah Saidak, Itihad, editor in chief

01.02.2004 - Safeer Nadir, Qulan TV, cameraman

01.02.2004 - Nassih Saleem, freelancer

01.02.2004 - Mahdi Khashnaw, Nassree, editor in chief

01.02.2004 - Kamiran Mohamad Omar, freelancer

01.02.2004 - Ghareeb Mohamad Salih, KSC, cameraman

01.02.2004 - Ayoob Mohamad Salih, Kurdistan Satellite Channel, cameraman

01.02.2004 - Abdul Sattar Abdul Kareem, Photographer

28.10.2003 - Ahmed Shawkat, Bila Ittijah

17.08.2003 - Mazen Dana, Reuters

02.07.2003 - Ahmad Karim, Kurdistan Satellite TV

08.04.2003 - Tarek Ayoub, Al Jazeera

08.04.2003 - Taras Protsyuk, Reuters

08.04.2003 - José Couso, Tele 5

07.04.2003 - Julio Anguita Parrado, El Mundo

07.04.2003 - Christian Liebig, Focus

04.04.2003 - Michael Kelly , Washington Post

02.04.2003 - Kaveh Golestan , BBC

23.03.2003 - Terry Lloyd, ITV News

22.03.2003 - Paul Moran, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

54 Media assistants killed


05.12.2007 - Mohamad Jawad Ali, Biladi

25.08.2007 - Anwar Abbas Lafta, CBS

12.07.2007 - Said Chmagh, Driver, Reuters

9.05.2007 - Hakil Abdel-Kader Alouani, Driver, Al-Iraq Al-ghad, Al-Raad

3.05.2007 - Adel Al-Badri, Guard, Radio Dijla

05.04.2007 - Hussein Nizar, Bagdad TV

16.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Sabah

12.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Al Sabah

12.01.2007 - Identity unknown, Driver, Al Sabah

26.11.2006 - Fadhila Abdelkarim, Nainawa (local TV station)

15.11.2006 - Identity unknown, Al Massar (daily newspaper)

02.11.2006 - Identity unknown, Tariq Al Shaab

29.10.2006 - Anas Kassim Nejm, Driver, Atiaf

12.10.2006 - Hussein Ali, Technician, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Sami Nasrallah Al Shumari, Head administrator, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Identity unknown, Guard, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Ahmad Shaaban, Producer, Al Shaabiya TV

12.10.2006 - Dhakir Hussein Al Shuwaili, Producer, Al Shaabiya TV

07.10.2006 - Jassim Aarif Hassan, Al-Charkiya TV

03.10.2006 - Hamad Ibrahim, Al-Iraqiya TV

29.05.2006 - James Brolan, CBS

5.05.2006 - Abdel Chaker Al Dalimi, Independant photographer

7.05.2006 - Ismail Mohammad Khalaf, Al Sabah

7.05.2006 - Leith Al-Doulaïmi, Al-Nahrain

11.03.2006 - Anwar Turky, Amjad Hameed’s driver, Al-Iraqiya

23.02.2006 - Adnane Kahïnallah, sound recordist Al-Arabiya

23.02.2006 - Khaled Mahmoud Al-Falahi, cameraman Al-Arabiya

25.01.2006 - Mahmoud Zaal, Television cameraman at Baghdad TV satellite channel

16.01.2006 - Luaay Salam Radeef, Al-Baghdadia Cameraman

07.01.2006 - Allan Enwiyah, American journalist Jill Carroll’s interpreter

21.09.05 - Ahlam Youssef , Al-Iraqiya TV

17.09.2005 - Sabah Mohssin, Al-Iraqiya

28.08.2005 - Waleed Khaled, Reuters TV

23.07.2005 - Adnan Al Bayati, Rai, Mediaset, TG3 and Panorama

02.09.2004 - Ismaïl Taher Mohsin, Associated Press

25.08.2004 - Jamal Tawfiq Salmane, Gazeta Wyborcza

29.05.2004 - Mahmoud Ismael Daood, bodyguard, Al-Sabah al-Jadid

29.05.2004 - Samia Abdeljabar, driver, Al-Sabah al-Jadid

27.05.2004 - Muhammad Aldin, translator, Le Soir

25.05.2004 - Unknown, translator

21.05.2004 - Rachid Hamid Wali, cameraman assistant, Al-Jazira

29.04.2004 - Hussein Saleh, driver, Al-Iraquiya TV

26.03.2004 - Omar Hashim Kamal, translator, Time

18.03.2004 - Majid Rachid, technician, Diyala Television

18.03.2004 - Mohamad Ahmad, security agent, Diyala Television

27.01.2004 - Duraid Isa Mohammed, producer and translator, CNN

27.01.2004 - Yasser Khatab, driver, CNN

07.07.2003 - Jeremy Little, sound engineer, NBC

06.04.2003 - Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed, translator, BBC

22.03.2003 - Hussein Othman, translator, ITV News


14 Journalists kidnapped


28.07.2007 - Talal Mohammed, Associated Press

09.05.2007 - Salam Douhi Al-Soudani, al-Zaoura

03.17.2007 - Thamir Sabri, Radio Dijla, driver

03.17.2007 - Karim Manhal, Radio Dijla, newsreader

03.03.2007 - Talal Hachim Birkdar, Al-Diyar, journalist

02.14.2007 - Ihab Mohammed, Al-Hurra, employee

01.11.2007 - Karim Sabri Sharar Al-Roubaï, Al-Dawa, journalist

01.09.2007 - Akil Admane Majid , Al Sabah, accountant

12.25.2006 - Samir Ali Saoud, Sada Bagdad, deputy chief editor

08.14.2006 - Bilal Abdelrahman Al-Obeidi, AFP, journalist

mid-september 2006 - Mohammed Abderrahmane, Dijla, journalist

04.04.2006 - Salah Jali al-Gharraoui, AFP, accountant

02.01.2006 - Rim Zeid, Sumariya TV, journalist

02.01.2006 - Marouane Khazaal, Sumariya TV, journalist

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