spanish journalist killed after us tank attacks press hotel

[Skunk]

At least the fallen reporter chose to put himself in harms way

You can try to hide it as much as you want - but I think that under that cold exterior of yours there *is* a compassionate heart.

[Mordenheim]

"Of course they meant to kill him - for Christ's sake, he was standing on the
roof! Two bombs came in and blew it apart," said Serene Halasa, a former al-Jazeera
correspondent whose first job in journalism was working under Tariq. "The lies
they tell - they're insulting. Without honor."

HAHAHAHAHAHHA

yes it was ALL aimed at him, the sniper was fiction

It is a real shame his death get's painted as some murder. Holy cow I see what we are up against in certain places. Delusion

[pritchke]

Originally posted by Mordenheim: "Of course they meant to kill him - for Christ's sake, he was standing on the roof! Two bombs came in and blew it apart," said Serene Halasa, a former al-Jazeera correspondent whose first job in journalism was working under Tariq. "The lies they tell - they're insulting. Without honor." HAHAHAHAHAHHA yes it was ALL aimed at him, the sniper was fiction It is a real shame his death get's painted as some murder. Holy cow I see what we are up against in certain places. Delusion

It is possible that they mistakenly mistook him as a sniper. The one thing I know about government and military is to deny everything until it is proven otherwise and only than apologize. It is the same for all countries.

Personally I see nothing funny about the situation.

[Mordenheim]

Of course it is possible but that is NOT what this propaganda people are yelling about. There is a huge difference in mistaken identity and deliberate murder of a journalist. I don't buy for one second and I see it as pure agenda driven garbage meant to stir up any negativity possible

[ 04-11-2003, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Mordenheim ]

Originally posted by Skunk: Quote: At least the fallen reporter chose to put himself in harms way

You can try to hide it as much as you want - but I think that under that cold exterior of yours there *is* a compassionate heart.[/QUOTE] Who's trying to hide it? I am loaded with compassion...for those who deserve it, and a ournalist who is killed in the line of duty deserves to be mourned. Truth is, I can't even go through a whole episode of ER if there are injured children portreyed on it...and that is just a fictional show [img]smile.gif[/img] ...but I also know how to be cold calculating and ruthless when it comes to those who deserve it.

I found this quote and thought it particularly apropo for this thread as it echoed some of my own thoughts.


Saddam’s Iraqis slammed rockets into American installations, blew up two journalists, and the world was silent. In contrast, our troops on the ground fired back at shooters in a hotel where Baathist functionaries were embedded among reporters, tragically killed three journalists, and the globe was afire in indignation. American teenagers inside tanks (no doubt glued to CNN video consuls) who were targets were apparently supposed to die rather than dare to endanger a crowd of elite journalists at Ground Zero of a war, with full knowledge that they were being housed and used by fascists — as if Patton’s tankers would have not fired back at shooters in a hotel in Vichy France because Nazis had allowed a UPI or AP correspondent on the verandah. Baghdad Bob assured the inhabitants of the Arab world that there was not an American in sight; later that same night Larry King hosted a panel of silly journalists and ex-generals who discussed such competing discourses and alternative “truths” — and meanwhile the subjective construct of American tanks rolled through the city, oblivious to both Middle Eastern mythmaking and hackneyed postmodern analysis.

[Davros]

Originally posted by MagiK: Quote: Originally posted by Davros: Thanks for the article Skunk [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] . Puts a more human face on the story of what until now has been a "One reporter died" story.

Im sure that many a fallen person could have an equally profound epitaph. Where are the lamantations for the tortured souls of opression, who crys for those who perished in the under ground cells and torture chambers....only those who loved them as father, or husband, brother, or son. At least the fallen reporter chose to put himself in harms way [/QUOTE]Jesus MagiK - what a wonderfully sarcastic buch of twaddle - what the hell are your reasonings for quoting my statement and imposing your own self-righteous judgements on it?

What compelled you to attack my reply as opposed to the post you didn't like? Did the nasty Davros express uncalled for compassion after reading a story? Was it a story that you didn't want to read and didn't want to know about and didn't want to hear had touched someone? Does Davros have less compassion for people that suffered under SadMan's hands? Who knows - certainly not anything that could be derived from my innocuous reply - certainly not anything that you could make judgements on Ray - but what the hell, why don't you imply it anyway. Certainly a case of READ MY POST RAY - READ WHAT I SAID - NOT WHATEVER THE HELL YOU THINK I MAY HAVE SAID OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO INTERPRET IT AS!!!

Was it simply that for one of the few times on this Forum someone had said "Thank's for that Skunk"? Certainly I don't have a history of agreeing with him or the anti-war stance - but in this case I read his article and said thank you for putting a human face to the nameless reporter.

People die in wars Ray - some people are doing their jobs as soldiers, and some are nameless innocents. I have compassion for all that lost ther lives before during and after the conflict. As far as your crappy remark about putting himself in harms way - he was at the television station when a missile took him out. I realise that he is in a war zone, but I believe there are some international laws or conventions against targetting television stations. At least in this instance no one is claiming that the television stations were firing rockets at them.

[Skunk]

Magik,
Tariq Ayyoub was a journalist who worked to report the truth in some of the most dangerous regimes in the world. Every day of his life he risked arrest by the secret police of half a dozen middle eastern dictatorships and his Jordanian passport offered him very little protection from their excesses.

Timber posted an article that showed what Tariq risked on a daily basis:
"A 31-year-old Kuwaiti woman, Asrar Qabandi, was captured by Iraqi secret police occupying her country in 1990 for "crimes," one of which
included speaking with CNN on the phone. They beat her daily for two months, forcing her father to watch. In January 1991, on the eve of the American-led offensive, they smashed her skull and tore her body apart limb by limb. A plastic bag containing her body parts was left on the doorstep of her family's home."
To face such risks every day showed extraordinary courage and he was arrested so frequently that his brother stated that he had "lost count" of the number of times.

In many ways, journalists like this are the real guardians of democracy - and they do it without body armour. Few people would have known about the worst of Saddam's excesses if it were not for people like this journalist.

True enough, he chose to be in Bagdad and face those daily risks, just as the Coalition troops choose to assume the risks by virtue of their profession - but at least they could defend themselves with guns. Tariq Ayyoub didn't have that luxury.

I know the part of the article that annoyed you - the part where the author made the allegation that the hotel where Tariq was killed was deliberately targeted by the coalition. I had considered editing out that section - but thought better of it because it detracted from the author's sense of anger. This man that battled against dictators was killed by the very troops bringing freedom to Iraq - what an irony.

Later, I decided to add Tariq's photo too - to show what a little man this was. The little man with the round face whose military helment "always went slipping down one side of his face or the other during stand-ups, making him appear like a rained-on goof". The little man who took on the likes of Saddam Hussein armed only with a pen. What courage! The unsung hero who would never get medals for his valour.

That piece, that obituary, was his Silver Star - and you urinated on it.

I have to add some back up for Skunk's post here.
I saw some of the last footage taken of that man and you could see in his eyes that he knew what was coming.

God rest his soul.

as for "who crys for those who perished in the under ground cells and torture chambers...." lots of people do...lots of people.

[ 04-12-2003, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Lil Lil ]