Dear Mr. Secretary,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the
U.S. military strike on Haifa Street in Baghdad on September 12, which
killed at least 13 civilians and injured another 100 civilians.
Among the civilian casualties were three journalists who had rushed
onto the streets that morning to cover the fighting, the heaviest in
Baghdad in many weeks. Mazen al-Tumeizi, a reporter for the Dubai-based
satellite news channel Al-Arabiya, was killed; Seif Fouad, a cameraman
for Reuters news agency, and Ghaith Abdul Ahad, a freelance photographer
working for Getty Images, were injured.
We call on you to ensure that a comprehensive and transparent investigation
is conducted, including an examination of whether this attack may have
violated the principles of international law that prohibit the use of
indiscriminate fire. We also call on you to make the results of the
investigation public.
The civilians, including al-Tumeizi, were killed on the morning of September
12, when U.S. helicopters fired missiles at a disabled U.S. Bradley
fighting vehicle, according to eyewitness testimony and international
news reports.
Al-Tumeizi was taping a report about 20 meters from the disabled Bradley
when a U.S. missile hit the vehicle, killing the journalist. Dozens
of other civilians who had gathered around the Bradley were killed or
injured in the series of strikes by two U.S. helicopters. Some press
reports said the helicopters may also have used machine gun fire. Video
aired by Al-Arabiya showed that the explosion behind al-Tumeizi caused
him to double over and scream, "I'm dying, I'm dying." He died moments
later, the Dubai-based station reported.
U.S. military officials have provided differing justifications for opening
fire. Initially, military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Boylan told The
Associated Press that a U.S. helicopter fired at or near the disabled
Bradley to prevent looters from stripping equipment. But in subsequent
statements, officials said that the U.S. helicopters struck after they
came under insurgent fire. A military statement noted that "[a]s the
helicopters flew over the burning Bradley they received small-arms fire
from the insurgents in vicinity of the vehicle." It added: "Clearly
within the rules of engagement, the helicopters returned fire destroying
some anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of the Bradley."
On September 15, Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of U.S. troops
in Baghdad, and his deputy, Col. Jim McConville, told journalists at
a press conference that the U.S. helicopters fired several missiles,
one of which hit the stranded Bradley. According to The New York
Times, the officials said that the U.S. helicopters used
force only after they were fired on from the crowd but also suggested
that the helicopters might have fired on the vehicle to prevent the
insurgents from seizing its communications equipment.
Testimony from eyewitnesses, as well as press accounts from the scene,
contradict military accounts and raise troubling questions about the
helicopter crew's decision to open fire in a situation that appears
to have put the lives of civilians, among them members of the media,
unnecessarily at risk.
According to an eyewitness interviewed by CPJ in Baghdad and various
media accounts, the helicopter strikes occurred approximately one hour
or more after the insurgents had attacked the Bradley and its crew had
evacuated. Eyewitnesses said that no fighting or shooting was occurring
in the area at the time of the U.S. attack. Video of al-Tumeizi's death,
shot by Reuters and viewed by CPJ, shows no indications of armed Iraqis
in the area, or of armed fire coming from the scene before the explosion
that killed him.
We remind you that international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate
military attacks and those that are disproportionate to any military
advantage gained and recklessly endanger civilians, including members
of the press. To date, at least eight journalists have been killed by
fire from U.S. forces in Iraq. In CPJ's view, nearly all of those deaths
were avoidable. The accounts of eyewitnesses to last week's incident
raise serious questions about whether the use of fire by U.S. forces
was indiscriminate or disproportionate to any military advantage.
We await your response and the results of your investigation.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
