Journalism in warzones...

Most people should deduce that accidental deaths are an unfortunate but inevitable occurence in military hotspots, such as many places in Iraq are today.

Recently, a Spanish judge issued arrest warrants for 3 American soldiers, saying that:

"There is sufficient reason to believe they are responsible" for the deaths of Couso and a Ukrainian journalist killed in the same attack.

Not so fast, says Frederick J. Chiaventone at The American Thinker, who "is a novelist, screenwriter, and retired Army officer , who taught International Security Affairs at the US Army’s Command and General Staff College."

According to him:

It is a sad fact that journalists lost their lives during the campaign in Iraq but this was not unexpected by the news agencies and it is hardly unavoidable whenever reporters cover a war zone. To be rather blunt, it is the cost of doing business.

There is no disputing that the tank fired the rounds in question as, in the case of Couso and Portsyuk, there were any number of witnesses and, in videotape of the incident, the American tank is clearly seen on the bridge in Baghdad revolving its turret and firing in the direction of the camera.

None of these facts are in doubt but it helps to know that these were not deliberate assaults on journalists but tragic and understandable accidents of war.

Here is the most critical portion of his essay:

While teaching Media and Military relations at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College I had occasion to show to my students two photographs – one photograph was of a television journalist aiming a camera, the other of a man aiming a shoulder-mounted anti-tank missile of Soviet manufacture. To my students, all experienced officers of many years service and representing not only the United States but a number of other nations, the photos were virtually indistinguishable. It was a sobering experience for them.

The bottomline is that crimes require both an act, and an intent. Clearly in this case, the act was committed by Americans who were in a warzone trying to defend their lives and carry out their mission.

However, self-defense is always a defense to murder, and it appears that this journalist was nothing more than a casualty of circumstance, and an unfortunate victim of bad timing.

It's too bad that these "judges" don't spend more time condemning the murderers of Daniel Pearl or Paul Johnson instead of the inventing crimes in response to the unfortunate, but unintended, deaths of journalists like Jose Couso.

Jose Couso