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Analysis: More Journalists Killed in Iraq "Than During Vietnam War" - Watchdogs

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Text of editorial analysis by Peter Feuilherade of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 30 August

The number of journalists and support staff killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003 now exceeds the toll among the media during two decades of fighting in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975, according to separate reports from two international journalists' organizations.

The Brussels-based International News Safety Institute (INSI) reported that Walid Khalid, a sound recordist working for the Reuters news agency, was shot by US forces in Baghdad on 28 August. A Reuters cameraman, Haydar Kadhim, was wounded in the shooting and then detained by US forces.

INSI said in a press release on 29 August: "Eighty-one members of the news media have died since the war began in March 2003, according to figures compiled by the International News Safety Institute. More than half - 50 - were murdered by insurgents and other unidentified gunmen and bombers. American firepower is the next most significant cause of death. There is no firm evidence that US forces have deliberately targeted the news media. But there is widespread suspicion that American troops do not take adequate precautions to try to ensure the safety of journalists. None of the other Coalition forces has killed any journalists."

The INSI press release went on: "Iraq persists as the most dangerous location in the world for the news media. As well as the Iraqis, the war has claimed the lives of journalists from Algeria, Argentina (two), Australia (two), Britain (three), Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan (two), Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Poland, Spain (two), Ukraine and the United States (four). In addition to those killed by terrorists and US forces, seven died in crossfire, two were killed by Iraqi soldiers before the fall of Saddam Husayn, one was believed to have been shot by Iraqi troops working with the Coalition and eight died from accidents or health-related problems. By comparison, the Vietnam war claimed about 70 news media deaths over 20 years."

The Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontieres on 28 August reported that Khalid was the 66th journalist or media assistant to be killed in Iraq since the conflict started in March 2003. "A total of 63 journalists were killed in the Vietnam war, which lasted from 1955 to 1975," RSF added.

Plea to UN for independent inquiry

The International Federation of Journalists, meanwhile, has sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling on UN leaders to establish an independent inquiry into the killings of media staff at the hands of US and Coalition forces.

"The number of unexplained media killings by US military personnel is intolerable," said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. "Media organizations and journalists' families face a wall of silence and an unfeeling bureaucracy that refuses to give clear and credible answers to questions."

In a press release from its Brussels headquarters on 29 August, the IFJ said the shooting of Walid Khalid on 28 August brought to 18 the number of journalists and media staff killed by US troops since the invasion of Iraq. The federation accused the US army of "incompetence, reckless soldiering, and `cynical disregard' for the lives of journalists - particularly Iraqi - who are covering events in Iraq".

"The toll is appalling, but the fact that 18 of these deaths are at the hands of US soldiers and that there are still questions to be answered more than two years after some of the incidents is particularly shocking," said White.

The IFJ acknowledged that many of the incidents may have been unavoidable in the context of the war, but it said that in a number of cases "there were serious questions still to be dealt with that have given rise to suggestions of deliberate targeting of media staff".

"We need to clear the air, but we also recognize that in a period of transition to Iraqi authority it is necessary to set the highest standards possible for the investigation and reporting of all incidents in which journalists and media staff are killed," White said.

Another media watchdog, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), puts the media death toll in Iraq at 73, comprising 53 journalists and 21 media workers.

A CPJ press release on 29 August said in part: "The circumstances surrounding several of these deaths suggest indifference on the part of US forces to the presence of civilians, including members of the press, according to CPJ's analysis of the killings."

Source: BBC Monitoring Media

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