U.S. Troops Shoot Dead ******* Cameraman in Iraq

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=5&u=/nm/20030817/ts_nm/iraq_cameraman_dc_11

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20030817/mdf339301.jpg

******* cameraman Mazen Dana films in the West Bank city of Hebron, October 18, 2001. Dana was shot dead August 17, 2003 while working near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad, witnesses said. A spokesman for Iraq (news - web sites) 's U.S.-led administration confirmed a journalist had been killed and said an investigation was under way. (Nayef Hashlamoun/*******)

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030817/capt.1061145163.iraq_cameraman_killed_lon112.jpg



By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (*******) - U.S. troops shot dead an award-winning ******* cameraman while he was filming on Sunday near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.



Eyewitnesses said soldiers on an American tank shot at Mazen Dana, 43, as he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad which had earlier come under a mortar attack.


Dana's last pictures show a U.S. tank driving toward him outside the prison walls. Several shots ring out from the tank, and Dana's camera falls to the ground.


The U.S. military acknowledged on Sunday that its troops had "engaged" a ******* cameraman, saying they had thought his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher.


"Army soldiers engaged an individual they thought was aiming an RPG at them. It turned out to be a ******* cameraman," Navy Captain Frank Thorp, a spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ******* in Washington.


Journalists had gone to the prison after the U.S. military said a mortar bomb attack there a day before had killed six Iraqis and wounded 59 others.


Recounting the moments before the shooting, ******* soundman Nael al-Shyoukhi, who was working with Dana, said he had asked a U.S. soldier near the prison if they could speak to an officer and was told they could not.


"They saw us and they knew about our identities and our mission," Shyoukhi said. The incident happened in the afternoon in daylight.


The soldier agreed to their request to film an overview of the prison from a bridge nearby.


"After we filmed we went into the car and prepared to go when a convoy led by a tank arrived and Mazen stepped out of the car to film. I followed him and Mazen walked three to four meters (yards). We were noted and seen clearly," Shyoukhi said.


"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest.


"I cried at the soldier, telling him you killed a journalist. They shouted at me and asked me to step back and I said 'I will step back, but please help, please help and stop the bleed'.


"They tried to help him but Mazen bled heavily. Mazen took a last breath and died before my eyes."


AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST


Dana's death brings to 17 the number of journalists or their assistants who have died in Iraq (news - web sites) since war began on March 20. Two others have been missing since the first days of the war.


Dana is the second ******* cameraman to be killed since the U.S.-led force invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


On April 8, Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian based in Warsaw, died when a U.S. tank fired a shell at the 15th floor of the Palestine Hotel, the base for many foreign media in Baghdad.





"Mazen was one of ******* finest cameramen and we are devastated by his loss," said Stephen Jukes, ******* global head of news.

"He was a brave and award-winning journalist who had worked in many of the world's hot spots," Jukes said.

"He was committed to covering the story wherever it was and was an inspiration to friends and colleagues at ******* and throughout the industry. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his family."

Dana, a Palestinian, had worked for ******* mostly in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Paul Holmes, former ******* bureau chief in Jerusalem, recalled a towering, chain-smoking bear of a man with a ruddy complexion and expansive heart.

"The amazing thing about him was he was like the king of Hebron. Every journalist in the city looked up to him and any journalist who covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will know and love Mazen," he said.

******* Chief Executive Tom Glocer said he hoped there would be "the fullest and most comprehensive investigation into this terrible tragedy."

Married with four young children, Dana was one of the company's most experienced conflict journalists and had worked in Baghdad before, shortly after U.S. troops entered the city.

He was awarded an International Press Freedom Award in 2001 by the Committee to Protect Journalists for his work in Hebron where he was wounded and beaten many times. (additional reporting by Charles Aldinger in Washington)

[hood]

First, 2 Al-Jazeera reporters were killed in the hotel in Baghdad during the war, now a camera man for *******. I bet the Associated Press guys are double bagging their kevlar right about now.

[budanski]

Just damn. A cameraman looks an awful lot like a guy holding an anti-tank weapon.

Welcome to war, bucko-me-lad.
The oldest observation concerning war that soldiers and civilians in war zones have ever made is "Sh!t happens"

[hood]

yeah, the giant letters "TV" on the helmet, and front and back of his vest probably weren't a big enough hint. :) I think they're going to have to deploy the big bird outfit from now on.

[garyfanclub]

Maybe it wasn't an accident :D

Pvt. Jones "Hey, see that Liberal bastard with that fvcking camera? Lets scare his ass!
Pvt. Smith "But Jones! You are only qualified as a marksman!"
Pvt Jones "Ahh Trust me"
*cocks M4 and fires*
Pvt Jones "****!"
Pvt Smith "****!"

[Shake n Bake]

http://images.thesun.co.uk/picture/0,,2003380176,00.jpg

''Last footage ... tank rolls towards Dana
before troops shot him dead''

''The veteran had survived being shot three times filming in his homeland.''


The guy was a total nutcase..

[HumanShield]

This sucks for the cameraman and his family. But...

I know you guys tend to give airsofters crap for "playing" war. But i have done my share of filming during an event, and i have been shot many of times because "I thought your camera was a gun". Now i can see that a shoulder mounted camera and a sony handycam are different in shape and such, but i will admit the shoulder mounted one can look alot like a rpg. Especially while moving, or at a distance.

I also kinda feel that the cameramen put them selfs in the wrong place at the wrong time. This one for instance was going to do a report on a site that was just mortar attacked, where people were killed. I dont know about you guys, but i would be a little "on edge" after something like that. And you have to realize, some of these guys have been getting shot at by rpgs since march.

It probably has alot with me feeling that CNN and FOX and all them are trying to make a movie out of a war. I mean come on...ITS A WAR! Im gonna qoute a friend of mine. One night a couple days after the war started, we were watching CNN and he looked over at me and said, "Operation Iraqi Freedom...best movie ever made". I feel that that is exactly what is happening to war...

just some thoughts...

[HumanShield]

Just to add another thing..

"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest.

If he was on a tank...wouldnt he be shooting a .50cal?
Meaning his chest would be about 15 ft behind him?

I mean not to be a smart ass about it...but this guy was F'ed from the begining.

::Sorry if ive offended anyone in anyway::

[US_Frogman]

It is very sad, but lets look at this from the gunners perspentive. He saw a person carrying a large object on his shoulder and pointing it at his tank. From that distance, unless you have the eyes of an eagle, it is going to be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a camera and an RPG. he did nothing except defend himself and his crew.

[Seraphim]

The guy was a total nutcase..

So just because he got shot and continues his job, hes a nut? I guess all the troops who got wounded are nuts to eh?

:bash:

[Seraphim]

Just to add another thing..

"A soldier on the tank shot at us. I lay on the ground. I heard Mazen and I saw him scream and touching his chest.

If he was on a tank...wouldnt he be shooting a .50cal?
Meaning his chest would be about 15 ft behind him?

I mean not to be a smart ass about it...but this guy was F'ed from the begining.

::Sorry if ive offended anyone in anyway::

Not true, I seen pics of SAWs and M60's on abrams...the guy could have also used his m16/m4. Im pretty sure once a better pic comes out someone is going to enlarge and see.

[HumanShield]

Not true, I seen pics of SAWs and M60's on abrams...the guy could have also used his m16/m4. Im pretty sure once a better pic comes out someone is going to enlarge and see.

Yea ive seen that too before....guess i forgot about that. Like said above, we will have to wait for a better pic/info on the situation.




It is very sad, but lets look at this from the gunners perspentive. He saw a person carrying a large object on his shoulder and pointing it at his tank. From that distance, unless you have the eyes of an eagle, it is going to be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a camera and an RPG. he did nothing except defend himself and his crew.

<---agrees 100%

I just hope this doesnt turn into a "point the finger at the big bad soldier that killed the reporter" type of thing...
I feel bad for both reporter and troop that shot him. Just think, that soldier has to live with that fact for the rest of his life. All because some Media Corperation wanted the closest shot...

[Shake n Bake]

The guy was a total nutcase..

So just because he got shot and continues his job, hes a nut? I guess all the troops who got wounded are nuts to eh?

:bash:


I consider anyone who goes into the middle of a warzone unarmed with nothing more then a flipping camera a nut.

maybe he was an adrenaline junky who got off on that sort of thing.

[martinexsquaddie]

hang on theSoldier ****ed up if he's on a tank has'nt he got optics ?
its low intenisty warfare that means you need to be sure what the hell you shooting at. Military Photos who takes the photos? huh.
Shooting the wrong people is just dumb

[Ratamacue]

a) If he was manning the .50cal or M240 on his tank, then he has no optics.
b) When you're faced with a situation when someone is pointing a shouldered object at your tank, "low-intensity" tends to fly out the window.

[Smintjes]

Some people on this board are awfully insensitive about the accidental killing of cixilians and reporters. Calling it collateral damage or "**** Happens" (jeez...) doesn't make it acceptable.

[FallenAngel]

no....its not acceptable, and I am sure that the troops will be given a bunch of talks about this. But at the same time, Tane is right. The guys on the tank saw a man with something on his shoulder pointed at them. At distance, they can't tell if its a RPG or a camera. What are they to do? Hold fire and possibly get blown to hell? Or do THEY fire and possibly kill a civilian? With the constant hit-and-run guerrilla strikes that keep happening (RPG attacks make up alot of them) I think the soldier who ALSO has a family will choose to take the chance and gaurentee his safety first.

[Ngati Tumatauenga]

Hind sight is always 20/20, funny that!.

Speculation followed by judgement based on second or third hand information is pointless. Few of us on this site have been in a situation whereby we've had to defend ourselves and/or our comrades with lethal force based on split second judgements.

Who are we to condemn the crewman for his actions?. We who sit in the relative comfort and safety of our own homes/accomodation.

hang on theSoldier f*** up if he's on a tank has'nt he got optics ?

Yes, the M-1A2 has optics. But aren't they optimised for long range tank vs tank combat?. How useful are they in close range 'low intensity' warfare. I don't know, does anyone on this site?. I'd like to find out.

I consider anyone who goes into the middle of a warzone unarmed with nothing more then a flipping camera a nut.

Does that go for Medicine sans frontiers and all the other NGO's who travel the worlds sh#t holes trying to save the world from itself?. Journalists are how most of us get our information about the wider world. Not all of them are honourable but show me a profession that is. Just cause you don't/can't understand his motivations doesn't make him 'nuts'.

Look at what was traveling behind the M-1, an M-113 right?. Your garden variety RPG round wouldn't do much across the frontal arc of an M-1, but an M-113 is a different story. How close was the camera-man to the M-1?. Hard to say, it looks pretty close but maybe he was using the tele-photo lens.
If it was as close as it looks then how much time do you think the tanks crew had to react when the camera-man stepped from the concealment of the car?.

It would seem the M-1 was part of some kind of QRF reacting to the mortar attack on the prison in baghdad. What do many terrorist/guerilla formations use stand off attacks for?, to entice the security forces into reacting in a way, at a time and in a place of their choosing. I believe in NI its known as a 'come on'. It appears to have been tried on a number of occasions in Iraq, so it could be assumed that the tank crew would be highly alert, even more so than normal(if that were possible in Iraq) and expecting a contact.

The crewman and the camera-man were volunteers. They knew what they were doing, the risks involved, etc.

It was tragic. But probably an accident.

Big boys games, big boys rules.

[Royal]

For once I'm going to stand up for the 'trigger happy Yanks'. As Ngati says, come-ons have been a terrorist tactic for alot longer than I've been in uniform. The M1 crew (& the rest of the QRF) must have been expecting/prepared for something. Yes the front of an M1 is pretty much impregnable, but the optics, antennae and the other vehicles are not. IMHO this is very similar to the two Al Jazeera journo's killed in Bagdhad - gunner see's shouldered object, gunner reacts, journo killed.

As to optic's and field of view/range. Anyone who's looked through a rifle optic/pair of bino's will know the tunnel vision that results - therefore wide angle sites are x1 or x2 (in Brit AFV's, I'm assuming about the M1). No better than the Mk1 eyeball. I would suspect the gunner was in his cupola when he fired, so had no optics anyway - he had to react and wouldn't have time to drop into the turret.

Very sad, my thoughts go out to the gunner, who will have to live with his mistake and the the family of Mr Dana.

[hood]

Here's a frontline story on Mazen getting shot twice before, which includes the video of the story.


http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/israel.palestine/thestory.html

[Smintjes]

They showed the documentary on Belgian TV only two weeks ago. Pretty shocking footage.

[James]

I agree with Royal. I think this was bad luck all around.

[Fargin]

Sometimes it's do or die.

[James]

Yeah. Still too bad.

[usa320]

"It is very sad, but lets look at this from the gunners perspentive. He saw a person carrying a large object on his shoulder and pointing it at his tank. From that distance, unless you have the eyes of an eagle, it is going to be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a camera and an RPG. he did nothing except defend himself and his crew."

AGree 100%...

The cameramen should stop using those big shouldered 1980's cameras and get some smaller, digital stuff that is handheld or something.

[Argyll]

Yep,I agree a bad deal all around!
The cameraman knew the risks otherwise he would not have been there,and the poor GI who shot him now has to live with it!
Condolences to his family and friends and sympathy to the tank crewman!

[lefador1]

"

The cameramen should stop using those big shouldered 1980's cameras and get some smaller, digital stuff that is handheld or something.

Yeah, then they will think it is a carbine or a pistol.... :( And we will start all over again.

[Seraphim]

"

The cameramen should stop using those big shouldered 1980's cameras and get some smaller, digital stuff that is handheld or something.

Yeah, then they will think it is a carbine or a pistol.... :( And we will start all over again.

I think they use a Betacam...those digital camcorders tend to not have as good as quality. But Canon and Sony make some nice shoulder held ones, that come pretty close to broadcast quality.

About journalists being shot at in Israel is a very comon thing as in the link Hood posted. I seen this one video on the news, 2 Israeli solders were talking to a Palestinian(sp) and after a minute one of them shoots him in the calves and he yells out why did you shoot me and then one of Israeli solders notice the cameraman and starts yelling at him...I cant remember what happened next though, anyone else see this?

[Ballistic]

Maybe the press over there should be given specific clothing to be worn, all combatants told of this and shown pictures so they know what to look out for (and not shoot) and see how that goes ?? Or simply just expel the TV and camera crews because of the dangers and risks that are most definately there for them. (Both probably not really practical, but it's an idea)

I agree that the gunner was acting in the best possible way, ie, defending his tank and crew members from what he perceived to be an unidentified threat....it's just terrible and unfortunate that he didnt identify his target in time. Condolences to the family of the cameraman and best of luck to the gunner.

[SOG]

love the wholly one sided news story as usual. any optimism or interviews with non related soldiers on possibilities on the editors part if they couldnt interview directly related personell? nah, because one of his own got shot so hes going to tell the story the way he sees it.

dana got his footage of the attack area to do his story, why did he need shots of a moving column after the incident? this usually wraps into late night news as the viewer thinking that column was part of the attack etc. wholly misleading and a push by his peers for sensationilsm. i feel sorry as hell for his family and even the gunner who will have to live with that and probably see interviews witht he guys wife on tv. hard stuff. but sorry, no reason to put ur **** at risk so some hard happy monopoly at home can get thier pence. if you get shot multiple times on the job and you have no way to fight back you better seriously evaluate wether you want to live or not specially with how many kids at home? i think his job was 1st just like some in the military. maybe your hearts in the right place to be your best but at a heavy cost.

[Apogee]

As usual, I agree with Tane. Trying to recognize friend or foe in a situation like that would be very difficult. Especially if there is an immediate precieved threat (possible RPG). Also the recent history of RPG attacks against US Army convoys and personel, adds to the tankers decision to fire.

[steel bonnet]

Well personally for me,sorry he lost his life,though then again he is MEDIA.

If anything they walk the double bladed sword & more often than not,assist the enemy. As the West are Forced into Being OPEN,whilst everyone else can keep there secrets.

How many times do we hear of Media members going to Secret locations with REBEL/TERRORIST/etc groups,do they report thse locations so that they are taken out,NO.
They like a lot of people are bothered only about there own Media coverage & fame,NOT for Showing the TRUTH or Destroying what is Known to be People committing Acts of TERROR.

So with that,My heart or tears do not weep for ANY member of the Media.

After all look at the way the Media has been against the Liberating Forces of IRAQ. Always placing them as the ENEMY not the Bringers of Peace.
If the shots were purposely placed on him,Give the soldier a Medal. As how many US & UK Service personnel have lost there lives through the Medias Involvement with providing Intel to the enemy.

Ja
Steel Bonnet

[Argyll]

Steel Bonnet,
That has to be the most stupidest statement I've ever heard!!

If the shots were purposely placed on him,Give the soldier a Medal. As how many US & UK Service personnel have lost there lives through the Medias Involvement with providing Intel to the enemy.

I ain't standing up for the media here,but the guy was doing his job,as was the soldier,he was a cameraman for fu*k sake,he is not responsible for the written articles,thats journalists!!.......what a moron,to wish that on another human Being is just absaloutly absurd!I bet you watch the news,and read the papers.......hypocrite!!

And regards to these guys getting taken to secret locations,you never heard of blindfolds,you think a terrorist outfit is going to be so stupid as to allow the media to broadcast it's location to the world,without taking precautions........what a totally ignorant jerk off!!