[Grovenet] A Matter of Perspective

[Ed Davie]

Not as likely to effect the election?
Ed
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron D'Eau Claire
  To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
  Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 10:30 AM
  Subject: [Grovenet] A Matter of Perspective


  How is it there's so much hoopla over a 
pedophile who doesn't kill anyone
  and almost nothing at all over US Marines 
shooting a British journalist in
  the stomach while he's riding in a plainly 
marked PRESS vehicle, then the US
  troops load him into a makeshift Iraqi ambulance 
and then shoot him dead
  with a bullet in the head?

  The result is for the British to call for the US 
soldiers and officers to be
  tried for 'war crimes'.

  If you haven't followed it in both the American 
and British press, here's
  some excerpts below with links to the full 
story.

  Ron D'Eau Claire

  ----------------------------------------------------

  One of Britain's most experienced journalists 
was unlawfully killed by U.S.
  soldiers in Iraq, a British inquest into his 
death ruled on Friday,
  prompting calls for the perpetrators to be tried 
for war crimes.

  Veteran war correspondent Terry Lloyd...was 
initially wounded in the
  stomach. He was then shot in the head by U.S. 
troops after he had been
  picked up and put in an Iraqi minibus, the court 
heard.

  Coroner Andrew Walker said at the conclusion of 
the inquest..."I have no
  doubt it was an unlawful act of fire on the 
minibus."

  The ITN News crew, which unlike most journalists 
covering the war was
  unattached to any U.S. or British unit, had 
first come under fire at Iman
  Anas, near Basra, while driving toward the port 
city in two vehicles marked
  "Press."

  His translator Hussein Othman, was also killed 
while French cameraman Fred
  Nerac, is still missing believed dead. The other 
cameraman Daniel Demoustier
  was the only one to survive.

  Louis Charalambous, the Lloyd family's lawyer, 
said those responsible for
  his death should be brought to trial for what he 
termed "a very serious war
  crime."

  "It was a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act," 
he added.

  He said the unlawful killing verdict had been 
"inescapable" and had come
  about because "U.S. forces appear to have 
allowed their soldiers to behave
  like trigger-happy cowboys."

  Reuters:
  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061013/ts_nm/iraq_britain_lloyd_dc_1

  Also in the BBC news:

  A fourth man in the crew, Belgian Daniel 
Demoustier, survived the incident
  but told the inquest: "I was absolutely sure I 
was going to die. I was 100%
  sure."

  The inquest heard that their vehicles, which 
were clearly marked as Press,
  were hit by US tanks.

  "Most of the bullets were definitely coming from 
the American tanks," said
  Mr Demoustier.

  Mr Lloyd suffered a serious but non-fatal wound 
and was transferred to a
  makeshift ambulance. But that vehicle was then 
fired upon and he was killed.


  Major Kay Roberts, of the Royal Military Police, 
told the inquest 15 minutes
  of footage appeared to be missing from a film of 
the incident which was
  supplied by the US military.

  Mr McLaughlin said the US authorities had not 
only failed to co-operate with
  the inquest but had actually obstructed it.

  "They have not sent anyone to appear at the 
inquest and have shown complete
  contempt for the British legal system and it 
makes a mockery of the
  so-called special relationship," he said.

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6040372.stm


  Ron D'Eau Claire


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