The Death of José Couso in Baghdad - journalist

[donsu]

http://www.counterpunch.com/


"I think war is a dangerous place, and I think that nobody would kill a journalist intentionally."

George W. Bush

"The death of José Couso was a premeditated crime, an attack on journalists to prevent us from telling the story of something the US has tried to hide from the start of the war: the slaughter of civilians."

Mónica G. Prieto, Baghdad correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

-snip-

The death of José Couso, a TV cameraman for Tele 5, is a case in point on the treatment meted out to troublesome witnesses to the outrages of the US empire. It also tells us something about the impunity demanded by US forces, its insistence on the freedom to act with no restraints or accountability for the consequences of its actions, in effect turning the entire planet into a free-fire zone. Moreover, the nature of the one-way "alliance" between the US and Spain, sealed at the Bush-Blair-Aznar summit in the Azores Islands three days before the war, comes into plain and sordid view. Most important, though, the mighty struggle for justice being waged by the family, friends and colleagues of Jose Couso should serve as an inspiration and example for all.

-snip-

Early in the morning of April 8, the day before the fall of Baghdad, a tank with the Third Infantry Division's Fourth Brigade, 64th Armor Regiment standing on the Al-Jumuriya bridge over the Tigris River aims its turret and knocks out a camera on the roof of the offices of Abu-Dhabi Television. From room 1403 in the Palestine across the river, José Couso's camera captures the tank carefully aiming at the "target," even though Abu-Dhabi TV had already given the coordinates of its offices to the Pentagon before the war.

-snip-

Then, Couso sees and records an Abrams M1A1 tank as it swings its turret round and points toward the Palestine; it pauses, then fires a single round at the hotel, some three quarters of a mile away, striking the 15th floor. This is the third attack on the media of the day, and it's not yet quite 12 noon. Couso himself and the Ukrainian reporter for Reuters, Tara Protsyuk, are struck by debris and shrapnel. Protsyuk dies almost immediately from his wounds. Severely wounded in the leg, Couso is rushed to the hospital by his partner Jon Sistiaga and Mexican cameraman Jorge Pliego, in scenes shown on Spanish TV. Couso holds on for a couple of hours, but succumbs to a massive state of shock, though doctors have done all they could despite the chaos and sheer number of Iraqi civilians coming in.

-snip-

In a public statement, the family of José Couso ask a question that not only exposes the masters of war, but also poses a challenge to us all: "If they're capable of murdering a journalist with credentials like our brother in the very center of Baghdad in full view of the international community, what won't they do to civilians or supposed enemies who get in their way?"
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Answer: anything they want to